RECOLLECTIONS OF A LONDON DETECTIVE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 5 March 1891, Page 4

RECOLLECTIONS OF A LONDON DETECTIVE.

No 2 — Borrower Bank Notes. - f r fjo in good Bank of England noles had been lifted at the; very door of tli^ Hank, by a fluke the numbers of these notes were known, and they were stopped accordingly It v/n". the boldness and neatness with which the job was done which attracted «jo much attention, and made everyone who had the handling of big notes anxious lor a list of the numbers, and thi:; very notoriety made the slipping of these noles again inic rifcuJation a difficult mailer When I read the account of the affair first in the papers, and saw at the bottom the words "The numbers of the notes arc known," I said to Davie Macintosh, a Scotch mate of mine, who often worked with mo, "These notes v will b<: hr.-p.rd o( first in l'ark— i lie noibe « will bo t'.'O great on this nide of Hie water." Lpavie if; tlin coolest customer I ever Knew, and, like all Scotchmen, abominably dibpu- „ tatious. If 1 h.-.d said they would be heard of in the nc:\t Miccl, he v.-cul'.l have said " the moon wx; v likelier place, " jum for contrariety. " Mair. likely at Ihe LJank," ho said, so in pity 1 let him have his own way of it. A day or two after I changed my opinion about IVuis, for I saw an account of the smart trick in one of the Trench papers. and the number of the note:; at the loot, so 1 saw that the game was blown there 100 This is how the notes were taken. A lady hnd jura drawn the amount at the counter ]!)*:«:>., and put the notes in a little reticule, which she carried out carefully guarded under her cloak. The ordinary thief on the watch, and meaning to get those notes, would have grabbed al the reticule just as she , reached the open air, and run like the wind |. with it before she could draw her breath lor ■ fi scream This one worked in a betterstyle He came after the lady without his hat, and and with a pen in his hand, as if he had just run out from behind the counter, and just as she was stepping into a cab he said deferentially. — " 1 beg your pardon, ma'am, but would you just lot us look at those notes again for a moment till we take thenum/iers? " The simple woman handod over her rcliv cule bodily, and the hallsss man vanished into the Bank with it, and she saw him no more. She got tired waiting in the oil). and at last went back into the building andaiked for her notes. Then the trick was known, and with great dif/icuily they convinced her that she had been robbed, and that by somr one who had no connection with the Bank Her reticule was lour.d lying in a coiner, among the feel of ihe busy throni/, but, ol course, the clean, cusp notes had ilisap * peared • > There was a good deal of excitement and activity among us when the report came in, and the description of ihe thiel as lurnishcd by the lady was scanned, with many a comment, in the muster-room of the station to which I was attached. One peculiarity of the thief was that he had a "gash mouth," which made his teeth i show prominently, and we went over a long list of known men in the hope ol remembering one so distinguished, but Macintosh only said, in that cool, stubborn way of his— "Dinna bother your head ; thai gash ' mouth was put on. When we get a baud o" him he'll ken fine boo to keep his mcuth shut." I give the remark as an example of Macintosh's aggravating manner and disposition Strangely enough the first note did turn up at the Bank, and as it had been paid in by a firm in our division I was sent for to look into the matter. The firm which had paid in the stopped note was quite as anxious to have the note traced as the Bank people and the real owner, for upon them was to fall the loss of the money The cashier, I found, had no very distinct recol lection of how that note had been paid to him, among so many others, but it was for £50, and he had only a few of thos;e in li is possession when he went to the Bank, lie bad, however, a faint idea that the stopped note had come in the ordinary course of business from another firm, also of hi, ( ;!i standing, the principal of which was a gentleman named William Powder No one suspected Mr Powder for a moment, for, he was a kind, good man, was on all kinds of Boards and Committees having lor then Him the good of the city and the helping or the poor. However, my work v.as to trace the note, and I went to the place, and got into conversation with the cashier, who, I f learnt, was the only one who paid away money for the firm, except on rare occasions, when it might be done by Mr Powder himself. When that was done, the payment was generally made by filling up a cheque, so" I thought the cashier far enough for me to go. I did not expect this cashier to be any wiser than the last, and I am quite certain there was nothing about my appearance or manner suggestive of an officer of police. And yet, before I had spoken ten words to the young man, I noticed something queer ■ about him. His name was Charles Morri c, and he appeared an ordinary specimen of the average clerk — a little fast in dress, and possibly so in his life also, but otherwise frank and honest-looking. But apart from all that he seemed in dread of some unseen calamity. I read that in his manner and his face, while his words betrayed nothing. I was therefore at once upon my guard, for I have seldom been mistaken in the reading of a face. " You paid an account to Mandrake and Company on Thursday, didn't you ?" I at length carelessly observed, turning over my papers as if busy looking for the account. " Yes, and I have the receipt for it," he readily answered, turning to a file to produce the paper. " Oh, it's all right — you needn't bother showing me that," I said with a smile. " All I want to know is, if you remember whether you paid them, among the monney, a /50 Bank of England note ?" He took some time to think and during that time I watched his face closely. There was nothing like positive guilt about the expression, but it did strike me that there was something which he was afraid of me reading there, and so kept his eyes on the book before him. My idea was that he was surprised by the question, and wondering whether a truthful answer could possibly affect him injuriously. Whatever his thoughts and fears really were, his answer was almost a negative. "There might have been a /sp note among the money— perhaps two of "%sm," he slowly answered, as it still busy thinking the matter over, " but I paid away so , much money that day that I couldn't say for certain." Having said that much, however, he was very curious to know why I asked the question, and my business generally. 1 fenced him off laughingly, and finally refused point-blank to say why I had come an:' asked the question. I do not believe i> showing my hand to the man who is playin o against me. When I got out of the office I took a stroll - along the busiest streets in the city thinking of that cashier and his queer manner, i 'can always think best in the crowded streets |; with plenty of noise about me ; and before I H had gone far I had come to the conclusion H that Morrice was innocent of the crime i was K trying to trace, but guilty of something. KWhat was that something ? I did not ted ■ktttte shure that I had any rijzht to inquire. WLg (To be continued.)