Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-01-02
COMEDY OF TRADE.
The Tor. p.Billow Career Of q New York
Firm.
From the Boston Advertiser.

Firm.
From the Boston Advertiser
r Five years ago the house of Lagrav
! Il Co., consisting of two young men q
3 good credit and family connections @
, great respectability, were carrying on
fioarishing dry good business on Broad
way, near Broome street, New Yorl
city. They made professions of CONTROL
ing unlimited capital, and their dis
plays of splendid purchases and sails.
captivated the elect among the mer
chants of that thriving town. They
bought heavily, and received unlimited
credit. The Oldest and shrewdest mer
chants trusted them the farthest.
When this had been going on two
years or more, some of them began to
think of settlement. The young mer-
chants asked for time; steps were at
once taken to investigate their condi-
ton. One morning in the spring of
1872 their fine store was found deserted,
every piece Of goods having disappeared,
and the partners flown. There was
astonishment and modification in
high mercantile circles that day,
where, on comparisons of accounts, the
losses were found to exceed 81, ,O0O, 900.
1t was found on investigation that the
vast stocks of goods sold on credit had
been quietly shipped to Philadelphia,
Baltimore and other cities, where they
had been sold at auction. To facilitate
the transfer, the wall between their
store and another had been broken
through, and the goods smuggled off in
that way.
Indictments were found against both
the partners, charging them with con-
spiracy to defraud, and with burglary,
and then the pursuit began. The prin-
cipal, Albert Lagrave, took with him
besides his pecuniary plunder, the
young wife of friend, who soon after
died of grief in lunatic asylum. Six
months after Lagrave was arrested at a
watering place in the south of France,
and brought home for trial, the extra
dition papers being based on the inaict-
ment for burglary, When the case came
on, his council, the well-known criminal
lawyer, John Graham, maintained that
to constitute burglary within the
of our treaty with France, it
must have been committed in dwelling
house. The court so ruled, and Lagrave
was released and again disappeared.
The decision was substantially reversed
by the Court of Appeals, but the culprit
was beyond reach, and is now living
in Europe.
His partner, Jacob G. Otis, with the
woman who fled with him, was pursued /
IN vain. He was arrested once in Queens.
own, but escaped on some technicality
n the treaty, and recovered 5000 from
The magistrate, whom he sued for detain-
ng him illegally. He was shadowed by
detectives again and again. "One night
n Paris" he says, ~ slept under the
anne roef with London and New York
detective, who suspected that was in
he house, and the following morning /
would certainly have been apprehended
lad not my hair changed during the
light from black to gray, and when the
ollowing day came / further disguised
myself, and was able to pass from the
ouse unnoticed. After that l dined
With the men who were in pursuit of me,
nd they had no suspicion of my identi-
""
The excitement of the pursuit being
yer, and tired of wandering life, he
eturned to New York a short time ago
nd opened an Office rs a stock-broker in
is own name. His audacity did not pro-
ect him. His slight disguise was soon .
by his watchful creditors, and
e was again arrested on warrants for a
cry large amount. :