Theft of a safe and money at Agra
The India Office, like all government departments, received a large number of enquiries every year from members of the public. Occasionally these enquiries could be a little out of the ordinary. This was the case on 2 January 1862, when the India Office received a letter asking for information relating to a safe allegedly stolen from the Cantonment in Agra.
The letter was from a woman named Alice Buckley of Harisson's Alley Way, off Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn, USA, dated 16 December 1861. She asked about a safe containing a large sum of money, stolen from Agra in India. She believed it was situated 9 or 10 hundred miles from Calcutta and thought that there was a large reward offered for its recovery. She said it had been stolen before the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny (more commonly referred to now as the 1857 Uprising). She claimed that she could give the India Office all the information required for the recovery of the safe.
Alice's letter was forwarded to India, and on 30 April 1862 Sir George Couper, Secretary to the Government of the North Western Provinces, replied. Sir George wrote that enquiries had been instituted through the Commissioner of Agra. He had advised that in consequence of the destruction during the Mutiny of the records of the records of the Magisterial Officers and police stations, and in the absence of former police officers who were no longer in the service, it was impossible to discover any traces of the theft. The current Magistrate of Agra District reported that no information on the subject had reached him or the city police. Sir George recommended asking Alice for more information and offering her a reward if it led to the recovery of the safe.
The India Office wrote to Alice on 3 July 1862, and she replied in a letter dated 17 July giving more information on this tantalising affair. She stated that the safe was taken from the Cantonment office in Agra by a clerk named Spelman and two other men. They hid the safe, but a short time later were ordered to Lucknow as they belonged to the First Fusiliers. Spelman died on the march, and another of the men was wounded and sent home but died on the passage back to England. The remaining man ended up in America where he later died. Whilst dying he Alice the story and even gave her a map showing the spot where they hid the safe. She described it as green with a black stripe round each end, about 2 feet square. She said that Spelman told the two men that he saw £30,000 in golds 'mores' (mohur) being put in the safe plus a bag, although he didn't know what was in the bag. The hid the safe in Agra not far from the Artillery Lines. Alice said she was the widow of John Buckley, a pensioner who was discharged from the 73rd Regiment of Foot on 11 October 1827 in consequence of a wounded right hand.
Disappointingly, Herman Merivale of the India Office wrote back to Alice on 15 December 1863 that a strict investigation had been made into all the circumstances stated by her, but no information whatever could be obtained which tended to the recovery of the safe or throw any light on the transaction to which she had referred.
So, was it just a tall tale told to Alice by a dying man, or is there a hidden safe still waiting to be discovered?
John O'Brien
India Office Records
Further reading:
Iron safe containing money alleged to have been stolen from the Cantonment Office at Agra before the Mutiny broke out, 1861-1863, shelfmark: IOR/L/PJ/2/40, File 7/24.
The National Archives hold the discharge papers for a John Buckley, born 1805 in Carragh, Kildare, who was discharged from the 73rd Regiment of Foot on 26 September 1827 due to a gunshot wound to the right hand, reference WO 97/847/130. This may have been Alice's husband.