New-York tribune., 1884-11-16
memoirs we must give really remarkable story OF
a bank-note robbery:

A letter containing large sum in bank-notes, ad-
dressed to firm I'm the City. failed to reach ts des'
| tinatOn. The numbers OF the notes were known;
payment of them was stopped. all the banks and
leading financial houses were warned ana proViucu
with the requisite information on which 10 act IN
case any of the notes were presented lime passed.
and nothing was heard of the letter or Its contents
-Four five years had elapsed since the date OF the
theft. when my principal assistant came TO me ~ u
state of great excitement and told me ne had Just
received notice that one OF the notes IN me - case
had been paid into the Bank of England.
In accordance with our usual custom we procured
the note from the bank, and began TO try ana trace
its career. Ii was GlU note. and had been paiu
INTO the bank III IA total OF several thousands ny
firm of wool llen-drapers IN 81. Martins Lane ihsy
were visited they examined their books and de-
cared they had received It from tailor at oxford
One OF the travelling officers was at once dispatched
to oxford with the nOtr. saw the tailor VINO ecog-
nized the note by bis own private mark on IL, ana
said that it had to him from former customer
who, while an undergraduates had got rathr heavily
INTO his debt. aud whowds Hqnidating" by sending
his old creditor a small amount Whenever lie coull
spare it; Wou.d he give his customers naWe ana
address I Certainly; his name was Fiiay. ne was
now reading for the Bar, and lived III chambers III
| Elm Court. Temple.
So far so good. tlought | would 60 in person TO
call on Mr.. fifay. who might require delicate hand
| Ing Mr. FIlay was at home IN plea ant chambers
with more signs of the productions OF Dumas h's
| and XAVIER dc MOntepin than OF Blarkstone ana
| Byles visible; a pleasant young fellow. VINO was
| glad TO see me- knew nv name, of corrse-had real
many of those charming. etc. in fact, thought he
! had met me at Jack StOkc,'s II not aI Tom Stycss
| HIS face changed considerably when reminded him
that was an official OF the ioSt Once, and IN
formed MN OF the particular m nnsnfIs WGcn Sasn
aback IA have frequently seen others under SINH
lar circumstances; lie had evidently. entirely for
| gotten--if he had ever known-anVthing about my
! connection with ST. Martin s-Ir-trand
| Mr.. FIiay was little frightened at first rs most
people uuder any kind of legal or official ex-
| animation; but he soon recovered himself when he
| found how much abont his affairs alrca ly knew
| lie admitted having sent tlo note TO ,owrcr Of
| Oxford aud that 1t Was the one IN question there
| ua very If ~ = told.
| was the only one he had had for very long time
Where did he get it : Oh. all on the square: didn't
truth vas. Gowucr had been dunEiug like bazcS
and me- Fiiay had written 10 his guardian, the Rev
llr Primrose. ' Icdr OF NhKoheiu, Wno Pnr MN IN
| allowance. Tor n ! ttle advance" ne doctof ~
letter ~ admunition had incoscd twenty pound o.
tcnnrr and two iivors and the tcnnrr" fiiay
| had iorwa.d .ded to Gowncr. " Many thanks; gOOd-
morning; aud | left fiiay apparently much re
| licyel that nothing wors' hal happened to him.
1t looked as though tlie tracing % this note wond
| be long and difficult job. Country clergy do
not unfoTtunltely rs rule. have very munY go
notes. are not o,erburdencd with them ~ 10
make il difficult 20 say whtn'c this or that was re-
coiycd; but. on the other hand, they are Tor the
most part poor men Oi business wholly unnethod-
cal and with limp powers OF recollection. Dr
| Primrose. however tn my great delight. proved Il
| very different KIND of person. little round apple
| faced old gentleman hs person aud bs parsonage
wcrc moios OF noalnrs' ana order Scaien at a
large old fashioned Csci 0ir winch nearly hlIcd ms
little study. he listened u all had to say, and
when ceased he struck in AZ once:
V.
April referring 10 = mtmnrandnm book ne hah
tax from drawer sent II Gl0 nole to Charles
! FiaV."
And this s tho note ~ asked, hhndlng III 10
him.
"Oh. no, It isn't !" he replied quickly. 81 can tell
that without lUokIng at II. ms Is n crnmplrd,
dirty mnchnscd note; that which sent to Charles
| was brand-urw one, which had Just got from
! Wigg.csworths bank. II was numbered AM ho
| referred again e. The memorandum book
.S-N2G,7U,: London. May - 1867; and this
one--blcss me! this IL R-,i o,2}l: London, March
-. 1850 Qntc different thing" -,
J "Iou'rc cert1in Won remember the numl lcf" !
| askcd. someN hat susplciously.
| Positive! i.Ook for ynu sell at my entry wien
| sent the money Ia Char g.
| / loo+ci and satisfied myself there was no mis-
tako-thcrr could he no collision; and tor the tune
we were completely at ianlt. Other bnnk-noicS'
| however nolOuging 10 he same parcel soon began
TO come in, AMI from what was learned during the
| tracing of them an old end mucl-rrspcccd letter
carrier. the fleetst. walk, was arrested on su5-
picnn, aud committed for trial. Before he was
charged at the Old Bailey he made clean breast of
II. confessed his crime. and explained hls modas
| Oyeranfi.
| II oprenrs that he originally stole the baukers
| letter aud took II 10 his home But lie had heard
80 much talk in the ,iicc about the way IN whlrh
hauk-noto, were traced. etc., that lee rightc ed
| to make any immediate use OF his iilgoti'n sp"il
and kept The hunllr of notes securely locked NJ IN
| loN for years, At 'ength the time came wheh ne
! thoucht he mieht profit hy his teneriiy; ANA ne
adopted n rcmn rkahlv ingenious scheme. lie wnuId
So ect certain letters who from hi' mnnipu ati"n
| of them during the sorting pro css he inngined con
| tanned hnnk-notos. and iaid them aside. Al nigit
hr cnnVevr them One. orcnrd them. took out tie
| banl-notcs when they contained, replacing them
| hv notes of equal value iaSrn rom the loug-Slncc
| stolen hund'" scn'cd the lct rs again. and tcok
thcm io the Office next day to b. forwarded 10 thclr
dcsiinniion Ia this fshlnn nc was grnlun ~ work
| ing o hs stock al stepped not a. and mukngui
| little shcai Of more srrviccnhle ones ~ the
place when he wns detected, aud sent into penal
| sciytude.
Mr.. Yates does not ezpa'ia,o much upon his visit
to the inicd states IA lo,-. aud ho has very litic
10 say that ~ not Kind aud corla' ol tue American
people though he can hardly he sail Ia be speaking
! kindly of Susan y. Anthony when he r"rT to her
us"a veteran resembling PhN's portrait OF sally
| Brnss" though hc ndinits thn' Niss Anthony was
the bt II speaker" at tie meeting ne is describing
lie concludes his American chapter thus:
went II stranger; / retained leaving troops Of
| friends | went Nitb "a lean purse auu vague pros
| ucciS I returned with . 800 and an apnoiniment
| worth Il 200 "A year. IL II any wonder that
should rceaid with aIcctnn ana grhtlnnc p 'bn'l
| where hgd such an cmpatlcoliY g'ol limr, ana
from which received such snhstani'al benefit
The remainder OF tir "reminiscences consist Of ac-
counts uf the writer's work ,cil correspondent
of an American Journal in Europe. / he pay for 'his
work wa. good, but the work was getting to be too
ha,d for one who hal reached mi idlcaer, and rs
hs own Inper. TIE Uortd. by this time firmly
established. he decided to concentrate his energies
upon TIM, ror tn futuio.
Mr. Y,tct has plcnsant style aud tc' his storr.
iovonqly and gcually. and while he m ELF would
be- the last to clam any serious value for such
,rrprls OF cphomeril episodes, IL may oc cheeriuy
ronr,d Il a that he knows how to aniuse publir
,L.,h dors not want g. BE- instructed and is botrl
bv MI but th, sparkling champagne of literature.
And this apparently is all tlat hs molcst ambition
aims at. ...---.--------.----
A 4