A NOTABLE DETECTIVE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 83, 16 July 1910, Page 9

A NOTABLE DETECTIVE.

sum k Ix -mi KSTixi.; r ai.'tl'r en. Sonic reminiscences are published of Mr. Robert McGonchie, who lias just retired after long service from the Liverpool detective force. He is the last, but by no means the least, of the old school of Liverpool detectives. During his career he was associated with many outstanding cases, and was no fewer than sixty times the recipient of special rewards for exceptional service in connection with various forms of serious crime. In the late seventies in Liverpool ; base coining was a very common offence. ! widespread frauds being perpetrated j upon the public, and it was in this parI ticular class of oll'ence that -Mr. Mcj Conehie was extensively engaged. The coiners required a deal of ingenuity to discover, and oftentimes he had to resort to all sorts of disguises in order to find the particular locality from which the spurious coins emanated. On many occasions dressed in ragged attire, with a blackened face, did he venture into the haunts of offenders against the law, and generally succeeded in finding his men. At this time a gang from Dublin had arrived in Liverpool, and turned out large quantities of coin, which went all over the country before they were discovered and put away for long terms of penal servitude. One man, who was familiarly known as "Dick Turpin," was a modern edition of Dickers' Fagin, and early in the eighties conducted an extensive business as a receiver of stolen property and educator of young thieves. The man, whose name was John Rogers, lived in a somewhat abstemious style, being teetotal, and fond of milk. He was regarded as the king of receivers of stolen property, and for a long time battled the police, who endeavored to discover his manner of working. Travelling thieves from all over the country deposited their goods gith him, and some of his ''lieutenants" were accustomed to dress in clerical garb and lure unsuspecting railway travellers into playing cards. Eventually, however, McGonchie was put upon "Turpin's" track, with the result that he was sentenced to fourteen years' penal servitude, some of his gang receiving seven years each. The notorious fellow died only recently, leaving house property to the value of £2OOO. Although bearing a seemingly harmless aspect, he always carried a loaded revolver, and on two occasions told McConchie, who was ever watching him, that he would shoot him but for the "loss of his own neck." In 1885 the head cashier of a big (inn of millers disappeared, leaving behind serious defalcations, but McConchie, by clever tactics, traced him to Lewes; while in the case of a confidential clerk who embezzled a large amount belonging to a leading German firm, he found the man in Derby with £4OO in his possession. The criminal received eighteen months' hard labor. One delinquent, who had embezzled £I4OO, was about to step on board an outgoing steamer at Southampton when the detective, who had unsuccessfully searched two vessels there, came across him and brought him back. For some time a leading firm of coffee dealers found a serious leakage of goods, and, the matter being put into" McConchie's hands, he eventually unearthed an ingenious scheme by means of which 23 tons of coffee, each worth £9O, had been removed from the warehouse and conveyed to a public house.

In 1804 some sensation was caused through a mesesnger boy being robbed of £250 while crossing one of the streets near the Town Hall on his way to the bank. McConchie, who had had some trouble with American swell mobsmen about this time, guessed who were the culprits, and did not take long to find them, for which smart work he was raised to the rank of first-class inspector. Mr. McConchie is a native of Kirkcudbrightshire.