A TEXAS SHERIFF.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 9

A TEXAS SHERIFF.

EIGHTEEN MONTHS ON TRAIL

SPECIAL POLICE METHODS

EXTRADITION LIKELY TO BE

CONTESTED.

Mr. John E. Bigham, sheriff of Bell County, Texas, ill an interesting chat this morning, stated that for tlie last eighteen months he hud been concentrating on the arrest of A. 15. Crouch, of the A. B. Crouch Grain Company, Temple, Texas, who had " put over'' the greatest fraud that had ever been perpetrated iu Hell County. "In gram business in our country/' he said, "it is customary when grain is Chipped and the bills of lading are signed, that cash can be drawn against these at the. banks, the waybills being the- security documents, it is quite apparent that Crouch had been prepariii", for a big coup for some time, as lie was able, by forged waybills, to fleece two banks in Temple for 100,000 dollars. One of these banks was only a small concern, and it lost 40,000 dollars, and the company in consequence had to be reconstructed. The second bank was a big concern, and the 120,000 dollars it lost was made good by the stockholders. '•The firm of A. B. Crouch and Co.. did an enormous business in Bell County, and also operated in Oklahoma, Arkansas and other places. h\ fact, it operated all over Texas. Within ten days of the forged documents going into the banks, the fraud was discovered, and a hue and cry was raised for Crouch, who had disappeared, but Ins wife and family remained in the township. No trace was found of him for some time, but subsequently, information drifted in to the effect that lie had sailed for Australia or New Zealandunder an assumed name of Campbell or Cameron, and in 1918, an officer of the United States Police Department was sent to Australia and Xew Zealand, but failed to locate him. It is evident that after he got to both Australia and >e\v Zealand he returned to America to bring out his family, who had, in the meantime taken up residence with relatives at Arkansas. "The methods that I adopted to find out where Crouch was located, was to send out letters every thirty days to merchants, the police and others in Australia and New Zealand, with a description of Crouch, and his photograph, and it is this method that has eventually brought me out' to Xew Zealand. The banks were very anxious at all costs to have this fraud investigated, and up to the present time something like 20A30J dollars has been spent in the effort. The crippled bank and the State Bankers Association have contributed to the cost. The penalty for forgery in Texas is a penitentiary sentence of from two to ten years." Mr Bi"-hani stated that the sheriffs ai'c elected in the United States, and he has held the position for the last five years. He had known Crouch all his life Referring to police methods in New Zealand, he said they were very mild compared to his country, where a man never went after a criminal without one or two pistols in his possession. The Texas Sheriff intimated that it was likely that the application for extradition would be contested by the accused man, Grey.