Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-07-02
THROUGH A DETECTIVES EYES.

An Assertion That There Are Mary More
Dishonest Clerks Than Meet Exposure.
''An investigation into the charac-
tiers of good many of the well-dressed,
elegant men who float about town at
night would bring some startling facts
to light" said Detective Wilkinson
yesterday. Recently a number of
cases have been exposed of men who
were supposed to have large fortunes,
and who turned out to be everyday
thieves. The instances of two clerks
who have been arrested within a fort
night show which way the wind blows.
One of these precocious youngsters
he is only twenty-four years old-had a
dog cart. twelve or fourteen suits of
clothes, was regular attendant of the
theaters and opera, dined at Delmon-
ico's four nights out of six, and had
the reputation of being a bowling
swell of the $25, 900 year type. Half
his friends knew that he was in a
fancy goods house in the dry-goods
district, and they should have known
that his salary could not have been
more than So. 600 a year, yet he spent
III,
parently nobody suspected him of
wrong until exposure came. His was
just such a case as that of the Sixth
avenue dry goods clerk who made a
great splurge on about 50. 900 year,
and another instance is that of a
youngster who was exposed for steal
ing a woman's diamonds week or two
ago. He was Il good-looking young
chap with no end OF clothes and phe-
nomenal amount of assurance. The
wonder is not that so many of these
men are exposed, but that SO few are.
ANY man who goes about at all can
call to mind acquaintance who spend
a good deal more than their incomes,
and yet no one suspects anything
wrong. Still that something is
wrong goes without saying unless
there is positive proof that they
have private sources of income, and
yet no one thinks for a moment of sus-
pecting them of d shonesty. | know of
a man who is connected with Wall
street house in a confidential capacity.
His salary is 81. 600 year. Ibelieve very
many of the better-paid Wall street
clerk do on the SLY take a flyer now and
then but the prime pals of the firm do not
know of this. and the rule on the street
is that employees must not speculate.
The clerk l have in mind has been liv-
ing at the rate of $4,000 year ever
snce 1873. The rent of his house alone
is 81, 200. 1t may be that he makes
surplus income by iudic:ous specula-
ton, but the chances are heavily
against him, because if he could make
as much by speculation as he spends,
he would soon grow ambitious and cut
loose of the routine and hard work of
his duties, but he doesn't. He gets up
at eight o'clock and works as hard as
any man in the office. When the fact
comes out that he is defaulter or an
embezzler, everybody will be immense
ly surprised"
..Everv instance is not exposed
though"
That's exactly it. A great many
cases are never heard of by the public;
business men realize that it hurts their
financial stand ng to have. any expos
ure of dishonesty or carelessness on the
part of their employees. The number
of cases that are hushed up and
smoothed over far exceed those that
we hear of, but the suspicious swells
who float about town increase and
multiply every day IN. r. Sun.