An a-MACE-ing Mystery

In 1891, Melbourne was in the midst of an economic depression, a land crash, a maritime strike and a locust plague. To add insult to injury, the sewers caught fire and (much to the horror of the political establishment) women chose this time to start demanding the vote.In the midst of all these calamities, someone stole the Legislative Assembly's mace, a gold-plated stick with purely ceremonial value. But what should have been a back page story became headline news as more and ever more salacious gossip about the mace's whereabouts began to spread. To this day, despite a $50,000 reward on offer, it's never been seen again.But who took it? And why? And what does Madame Brussels, Melbourne's most famous brothel keeper, have to do with it?References for this episode can be found here: https://skepticalhistory.com/sources/