National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-01-16
TRACING A STOLEN BANK NOTE.



Some years ago was q resident in New
York. One day a gentleman, who an
nounced himself as the British consul at
that port, entered my fathers office, saying
that he wished to speak with Mr.. Nj.
"That is my name" replied,
"Pardon me- said the consul, "but
was under the impression that Mr.. Nj,
whom am DESTROYS Of seeing, was an older
man than you are"
"Ah! II is my father, then, whom you
want. Unfortunately he is confined to the
house by indispositiOn. Can you commu-
nicnte to me the nature Of your business,
and II may be in my power to attend to It
in his absence2n
81 am obliged to you," said the consul.
well, y he added, after some slight hesita-
ton, ~ should like to speak with you in
private for a few minutes, IL convenient
"Certainly;" and having shown the old
gentleman into an inner room | requested
him to be seated, and waited for him to
breach the matter concerning which he had
sought the interview.
Without preface the consul took out from
pocketbook a go Bank OF England note,
handed 1t to me, and said; ~ believe this
note passed through your fathers hands
about two months ago"
Every possibly,nI replied, rather sur
prlsed at the question. "But can asccr-
tain for certainty in moment Then,
summoning junior clerk, / desired him to
bring me the rough. cashbook. On looking
over its pages | soon came across an entry
regarding Bank of England note, the
amount, date, and number Of which CORE
sponded with those OF the one before me.
~ find" said, "that this note was IN
my fathers possession at the time you men
tion. But may | ask the object Of your
making the inquiryp
at Is this: Some fourteen months since
this note was distracted from n letter posted
at Glasgow for Aberdeen. Nothing was
heard Of the stolen money until five weeks
ago, when the note was stopped, on being
paid into the Bank of England by firm of
private bankers. They stated that 1t had
been received by one OF their customers In
the ordinary course OF business. The GUS
toner, when applied to, said that II had
been RENTED to him by Mr.. NJ, Of
New York. ! have, therefore, been in
structed by my government to trace, II
possible, the note during the period 1t was
in this country. Can you inform me from
whom your father had itPn
Easily / said, referring to the book be-
fore me. II was bought OF a Mr.. White,
who has an exchange office in Wall street,
but fearn / added, "you will find II very
difficult, II not quite impracticablo, TO carry
the matter further, since It Is the usage
with brokers to buy English bank notes
offered for sale without asking any ques-
tioIs, hoiDg aware that, even II they have
been stolen, the innocent holder can le-
gally enforce the cashing Of them"
"That is true. / agree with you thatiti is
most unlikely that Mr.. White viii Gs able
to let me know who was the person from
whom he pu;is-,,.. the not": however, shall
call upon him without delay, since it 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; aud /
presumed that should hear nothing more
of the affair.
However, some months later, was din
ing one day when the consul entered the
room. Recognizing me, he came over to
the table at which was seated and took
chair beside me. In the course of CONVEX
sation he said: "You recollect the circum-
stance Of my calling upon you some little
time ago With respect to stolen Bank of
England noteY'
"Perfectly.n
"Well, after all, was successful in trac-
in. the note"
GLOW was that?n inquired.
"When left your Office went to that Of
Mr.. White. lie referred to his books and
found that he had changed the note for the
manager Of one of the agencies Of the Cen
trail Railroad Company. | then called upon
that gentleman. 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 employer, he said Mr..
Suydam, we had the note in question from
q man who bought through ticket for
Chicago. He came In to inquire what was
the fare to that city. | told him. lie said
that he would 20 by our line, but that he
must first change some Englieh money at
brokers'. | informed him that this was
quite unnecessary, as would take 1t In pay
ment Of his ticket at the current rate Of eX
chGnge. To this he agreed, and thus the
note came into our hand. Why remember
so clearly the transaction is that the mans
name was q rather unusual one-Blenkiron,
and had to ask him how he spelled 1t. Mr..
Blenkiron mentioned incidentally that he
was going west to fill situation in large
manufacturing establishment, 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" con-
tinued the consul, 81 met the difficulty Of
putting myself in communication with the
man in this way. i wrote to him, stating
| the Information / sought, and addressed
my letter to him at the Poste Restante,
| Chicago. At the same time / caused adj
vertisements to be inserted in two Of the
leading. daily newspapers In that city, noti-
| flying Mr.. BlenkirOn that there was a letter
for him ut the head postofiice. Well, some
days afterward l had a reply to my com
municatlon, informing me that the writer
| had received the bank note from an uncle
| in Bombay, whose address he gave me.
This information forwarded to the postal
authorities In England, on whom, of course,
devolved the duty Of pursuing all
further inquiries with respect to the matter
| and for some little time thereafter heard
| nothing more about the business. However
subsequently learned the sequel Of it. The
| Mr.. Blenkiron resident in Bombay, when
communicated with, stated that the note
had been sent to him by a merchant in Glas
| gov. The merchant had received it from 9
tradesman in the same place; that individual
| in his turn, had taken 1t from a clerk In one
Of the branch postofilces in that city, In
| payment Of his account Thus, finally, the
| home to the clerk In question, he was duly
| tried and convicted OF the ofrense."
This was the consu's story, which struck
| me as q rather curious one. IL Is said, will
| justice, that the strength of a chain Il
simply the strength Of its weakest link. II
this case some OF the links Of the chain o.
circumstances which had rendered 1t pos
sible to trace the people through who's,
hands the stolen bank-note had passed hat
been Of the slightest, and had threatened
on more than one occasion to part. Yet
by a concurrence Of purely fortutou
events, they had not done so; but, on tn,
contrary, the chain had held together 81
strongly as to bring an offender to justice
after so long period had elapsed since tn
commission of the crime that the crimina
doubtless supposed himself quite safe from
| detection.