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Lesser Known But Intriguing Historic Criminals

Khalid Elhassan October 17, 2019 32 min

U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History - Crime

23. Stealing the Crown Jewels

The Tower of London. Encyclopedia Britannica

England’s Crown Jewels were available for viewing, upon payment of a fee to their custodian. Blood disguised himself as a parson went to see the jewels with a female companion whom he presented as his wife, and befriended the Keeper. Over the following days, Blood ingratiated himself with the Keeper and his wife, whom he won over with gifts of fine gloves. He won them over even further by playing matchmaker, and proposing a marriage between a fictitious wealthy nephew, and the Keeper’s spinster daughter.

The Keeper, eager to finally marry off his daughter, invited Blood and his nephew to dinner. So on May 9^th, 1671, Blood arrived for dinner with his “nephew” and two “relatives”. While waiting for dinner, Blood convinced the Keeper to show his nephew and relatives the jewels. Eager to impress his prospective son-in-law, the Keeper unlocked the door to the basement. Once inside, Blood and his accomplices threw a hood over the Keeper’s head, knocked him out with a mallet, stabbed him, then bound and gagged him.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.