The Washington critic., 1886-06-12
THE STOLEN BANK NOTE.

LNSW ioih' cuc uty bcuticiuuu,
who announced himself as the British
consul at that port, entered my fathers
office, saying that he wished to speak
with Mr.. M.
"That is my name" l replied.
Pardon me-" said the consul, "but
1 was under the impression that Mr..
Nj, whom l am dcsirous of seeing,
was an older man than you are"
"Ah | 1t is my father, then, whom
you want Unfortunately he is confined
to the house by indisposition. Can
you communicate to me the nature of
your business, and 1t may be in my
power to attend to 1t in his absence"
81 am obliged to you," said the con.
sui. We'll" he added, after some
slight hesitation, 81 should like to
speak with you in private for few
minutes, II convenient"
Certainly" and having shown the
old gentleman into an inner room re.
quested him to be seated and waited
for him to broach the matter, concern
ing which he had sought the interview.
Without preface the consul took out
from pocket-book geo Bank of Eng
land note, handed it to me, and said.
II believe this note passed through
your fathers hands about two months
ago."
"Very possibly" l replied, rather
surprised at the question. But can
ascertain for certainty in moment"
Then summoning junior clerk / de.
sired him to bring me the rough CASH
book. On looking over its pages | soon
came across an entry regarding Bank
of England note; the amount, date and
number of which corresponded with
those of the one before me.
II find," / said, that this note was
in my fathers possession at the time
you mention. But may ask the object
of your making the inquiry"
TT is this: Some fourteen months since
this note was distracted from letter
posted at Glasgow for Aberdeen. Moth.
, until five weeks ago, when the note
was stopped, on being paid into the
Bank of England by a firm of private
bankers. They stated that 1t had been
received by one of their customers In
the ordinary course of business. The
customer, when applied to, said that 1t
had been remitted to him by Mr.. NJ
of New York. have, therefore,
been instructed by my government to
trace, If possible, the note during the
period 1t was in this country. Can you
inform me from whom your father had
it,"
Easily" 1 said, referring to the
book before me. 1t was bought of a
Mr.. White, who has an exchange Of.
flee in Wall street. But fear" I
added, "you will find 1t very difficult,
if not quite impracticable, to carry the
matter further, since 1t Is the usage
with brokers to buy English bank k.notes
offered for sale without asking any
questions, being aware that, even If
they have been stolen, the innocent
holder can legally enforce the cashing
of them"
"That is true. l agree with you
that it is most unlikely that Mr.. White
will be able to let me know who was
the person from whom he bought the
note; however, shall call upon him
without delay, since 1t is just possible
that he may have 1t in his power to
afford the information l seek" Then,
after thanking me for my courtesy in
the matter, the consul took his leave
and / presumed that l should hear
nothing more of the affair.
However, some months later was
dining one day when the consul en-
tered the room. Recognizing me, he
came over to the table at which | was
seated and took chair beside me. In
the course of conversation he said:
you recollect the circumstance of my
,ollinu titt1p TINA n
with respect to stolen Bank of
England notei"
Perfectly"
"Well, after all. I was successful in
| tracing the note"
Glow was thatY | inquired.
"When | left your Office ! went to
that of Mr.. White. He referred to his
books, and found that he had changed
the note for the manager of one of the
agencies of the Central Railroad Com
pany. then called upon that gentle
man. He had no recollection of the
individual from whom he had received
the money, and, disappointed, was
leaving the establishment when clerk
interposed, and addressing his en-
| ployer, he said. Mr., Suydam, we had
the note in question from man who
bought through ticket for Chicago.
| He came in to inquire what was
the fare to that city. | told him,
He said that he would go by our
line, but that he must first change
some English money at brokers',
| informed him that this was
quite unnecessary as / would take 1t in
payment of his ticket at the current
rate of exchange. To this he agreed
and thus the note came into our hands.
Why | so clearly remember the trans
action is that the mans name was q
rather unusual one-Blcnkiron, and ]
had to ask him how he spelled 1t. Mr..
Blenkiron mentioned incidentally that
he was going West TO fill a situation
in large manufacturing establish
ment, but he did not say the nature OF
the business nor the name of the firm
which had engaged his services.
Furnished with these particulars,
continued the consul, II met the diff
Guilty of putting myself in communica
tion with the man in this way. / wrote
to him, stating the information !
saught, and addressed my letter to him
same time l caused advertisements tc
be inserted in two of the leading daily
newspapers in that city, notifying Mr..
Blenkiron that there was u letter fol
him at the head postofllce. Well, some
days afterward l had reply to my
communication informing me that the
writer had received the bank-note from
an uncle in Bombay, whose address hC
gave me. This information forward
ed to the postal authorities in England