, 1888-09-08

the money, and I wish You would get me
notes for the amount. I'll bring the bonds
in tomorrow q tnoon, and shall be in a
hurry"
This order, too, was accepted and exc
cuted without question, and Mr.. West
bury passed in turn to every brokerage
house in the street" which had been
honored with his acquaintance, and with
which he had paved a way by his desul-
tory speculations. To one set of brokers
he gave orders to buy various mounts of
a diversity of bonds or other securities,
and in each case gave orders to another
set for the sale of the same, supplement
ing it by a polite request that the pro-
ceeds be handed him in cash when he de-
ivered the bonds on the ensuing day.
Westbury made his appearance about
noon at the office of the first firm on his
carefully prepared list, and tool posses
sion of his bonds, rendering in payment q
check on his bank with the usual certif-
cation scrawled on its face. After a little
of his usual pleasant chat, he left, and
then few like the wind to the offices of
the brokers who had sold the same bonds
for him.
Having delivered the securities and re-
ceived his money, which he carelesslv
thrust in his pocketbook, he departed
only to carry out the like programme with
two other houses to which he had in
trusted his precious orders. In short, by
this ingenious plan of obtaining bonds
and securities, paying for them with his
certified checks and Immediately receiv-
ing cash for them from the houses which
he had directed to sell them, he became
possessed within a couple of hours of
something like $780, 900 in United
States notes; and although he was tread
ing on a volcano, and was liable to de-
struction at any moment, it was after
ward a subject of remark among the vic
Tins that Mr.. Westbury's manner was
never more charming and friendly, nor
did his blue eyes ever wear a more honest
look and wholesouled expression.
He had almost completed his round,
and was in fact delivering to the last of
his victims $4,000 worth of a certain
issue of bonds which he had but a mo-
ment before obtained from another firm
in return for his check, apparently bear
ing the certiication of the bank, when
one of those contretemps which some
times oyertake the ablest ~stratepists al
most upset his calculations.
The firm in question had but the pre-
ceding day sold precisely that amount of
the bonds in question, and when Mr..
Westbury handed the head of the house
his package of bonds, the latter passed
them on to his head clerk for examination
before giving Westbury the proceeds.
Now the clerk was a sharp youngster,
and as soon as his eyes fell upon them he
recognized from the number that they
were the identical bonds which his firm
had sold the day before to another house
in the street"
Without a word he slipped out the back
door of the Office and ran to their Office.
In answer to his hurried inquiry he
learned that the young stranger had but
a few moments before taken the bonds
away, having paid for them with a certi-
fed check. A messenger was at once dis
patched to the bank, and the clerk few
back to his own Office, full of suspicion.
Westbury, however, had already taken
alarm at the delay, and pleading that he
was late in keeping an engagement, and
asking the broker to put the money to his
credit, he called q cab and drove away
just as the breathless clerk came back.
OF course the messenger came back
with the news that Westbury had drawn
all his money out of the bank the day be-
fore, and the news quickly went around
the street. Some of the firms which had
been victimized with the forged certif-
cation kept silence with regard to their
loss, but enough was known to show that
the clever scamp had made away with the
sum of money which has been mentioned.
The last known of Mr.. Westbury was
that he discharged his cab a few blocks
away from Wall street, and the entire de-
tective force failed to trace him. 1t was
perhaps a satisfaction to his victims to
learn that just prior to his appearance on
these shores, the confidential clerk of a
leading London banker had been dis
charged for dishonesty, and had only es-
capped prosecution by accident. AS he
correspondent in appearance with Mr..
Westbury, it was judged that they were
one and the same person.-Gavin PEN