The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1879-11-08
A BOLD YOUNG SWIyDLER.
How the Bank Of Belgium was Rob.
ed Of Millions-Eugene T'indt's
Clever Manipulation Of Funds.
Living In Splendor on Eight Hun.
dred q Year,
(London telegraph

[London Telegraph
France often supplies us with uni.
que specimens OF Ingenious rOguery,
and her courts Of justice occasionally
furnish the world with thrilling reve.
lstions OF weirdly brilliant sooun.
drelism. Belgium, als0-which
would he q second France II che
c,uld-n0w and again enters the lists
with her illustrlOus neighb0r as q
competitor for renOwn In the arena
Of vice: and for a nation 90 small it
10 wonderful TO see how strenuOusly
she can bold her own with her most
formidable rival In iniautty. Just
now for example,, 1t is to tho little
kingdom that we are indebted for
the last great sensational crime,
though It Is de- void Of that savage
coarseness Of incident which too Of.
ten mars the artistic toute ensemble Of
French rascality. The c0nscien.
tious critic 70 forced to admit that in
originality OF conception. not to cay
delicate executive ability, Ito author
would have done France-the land
Of neat. handed art-n0 discredit.
Still, To parody Mr.. Gilbert's song 10
spite Of all temptations to belong to
other nationa, he has remained q
Belgian; and It is accordingly, the
Asslze Court of Brussels that has
now tho inestimable advantage OF
familiarizing itself with the roman.
tic details OF his career OF infamy.
The crime In question 10 connected
With q bank fraud, by no means an
uncommon class Of roguery In these
DAYS. The criminal is one Eugene
T'Kindt Roodebocke. q respectable
young fellow, who como years ago
Was started In life a. q subordinate
clerk 10 the Bank OF Belgium, and
be stands charged with having em.
bezzled or stolen no less than $780,.
QUO. He has managed to pOssess
bimself OF this enormous sum In
such an open, barefaced manner that
W. find IL hard TO understand Why
he Was able tO 60 on r0bbtDg 90 long,
or why, II he had to deal With euch
careless persons 40 these who allow.
I'd him to swindle them with scarce.
ly any effort ut c0Dcealment, he vas
ever detected at al. Hence 1t may
not be uninstructive to glance at the
his,ory Ut his case, which IL all the
more fairly open to comment stOce
b. has practically admitted his guilt.
Eugene TKindt Was q clever youth,
Hhu coon otler entering the bank be
did what most criminals Of his abili.
~ do-he detected q weak SPOT. =
l0OphOle Of la1ily IN the working Of
lts ''sysiem." Tue Bank Of Belgium
resembled the City OF Glasgow Bank
10 one respect; It vac the fxvorite Ut
Inc petty traders, the thrifty iOlks
whose email savi0gs are Invaluable
" deposits In q 0OuOern where y ltt.
tle sWindliDg 10 meuitxted. The de.
poeit0rs ot small sums have too hard
y tght Win tue world 70 trouble
much about pryiug iutO the system
upVn which their bank 10 managed.
lucy rust It xll IN WI or mol Ut I'LL.
Tue BAuk Of Bvlyium was then the
favUIlte receptacle tor the deposit Ut
small trxdesM-n's securities and
savIugs. The weak spVt IL tts plan
vi working WAS thls, thxt when %:
curlties were lodged with It no record
IN ,,et.atl VI the fact WXs made. III
Vague way the general title Of the
security Was entered IN the books,
aud the depooitOr's name vas noted.
But beyond the record that such aud
such y lersOn had N . given date
deposited shares or scrip Of = certain
company, To 10 amount named. the
books VI the bank t0vk no CVgni.
lance Of tho transaction. Auy sharp
CLERK could see Vt y glance what Was
wrong In this system. No accurate
note Wxs taken Of the securities 20 a.
TO enable them 10 each case to b.
exactly identified With the nance OF
their dep0sit0ro. No attempt, in
other words, Was made to check the
plumbers" % we'll - the amount OF
these securities, and OF this fact
young I 'Klndt soon made profitable
use. He hsd El60 . year OF salary,
and had sole ChwIge OF these securi.
ties amounting In value 70 many mil.
lions sterling. We do not cay that
because . man gets El60 Q year for
taking care OF properly worth many
milliOnO he must necessarily become
q thief. or that men must be made
rich In order TO b made honest. At
tho came time, II b . feet that pov.
erty d Q strong incentive 20 crime,
aud that even % wicked q person %
tho late Nm. Rswdoo Crawley has
left Il on record that che thought
sho Was careful not 70 cay that che
Was ouee-thse $1,000 Q year might
make hee good" In T'Ktndt's case.
tho 81, 900 . year that might have
made htm VirtuOus Was never offered
by bic economical employers, and,
q they poured money through his
ilu9er5 without stint, ha simply tap.
ned the golden stream WhenSver lie
wanted to purchase pleasure. It
never occurred to bic worthy chief,
n. rortaMps-a great tloapcier and
q Senator 10 b0ot-as odd that . clerk
with CLEO Il year could live like q
lord aud enjoy Mo With tho peoAlxa.
oy Of . psince; that b could have Z
Itovn house. . rural villa. apaeeszs