The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22
LED TO RUIN BY THE BICYCLE.
Type of EmbezzIer Developed Among
"PrO. Amateurs"
From the Boston Herald.

From the Boston Herald.
New York. March ban entirely new
type of embezzer has been developed by
the modern bicycle. The criminal is gen.
orally young, as a rule his home and up
bringing have been respectable and hon
est, and his populations run from the
hundreds far into the thousands of dol
lars.
That the type has remained concealed
up to this time is due to the fact that
friends or relatives have always made
good his stealings and that his victims
have preferred to conceal their gullibility
rather than parade it by public crimi-
nal prosecution.
The history of the new type of thief goes
far to corroborate those criminologists
who declare that moral turpitude often
results from environment rather than
Upon reading the record of the bicyclist
embezzler one feels that he probably
would have remained poor and fairly hon
est all his life if some maker of wheels
had not discovered speed in his legs, and
so unwittingly started him on a down
The writer learned of the existence of
this end of the century criminal from a
chance remark made the other day by a
well known private detective. We We're
talking of a young fellow who had forged
his firms Endorsement to a $500 cheek and
was now held for trial.
Nothing will be done to him. He's a
bicycle embezzler,'' said the detective
1.-The bicycle embezzler's friends or rela-
tives always come up and settle and the
''BIt this was the forgery of a check"
| said; and, besides, how could bicycle
be embezzled?"
"I mean that the bicycle drove the young
fellow into crime replied the detective.
"It used to be fast horses. Now it's
fast wheels that run men into trouble
They are an inferior class of criminals
as a rule-not much ingenuity and back
bone. Break down the minute you arrest
'em. Queer thing how they fall. I've
brought in more than fifty of 'em in the
last eight years-most of the lot since
@Wherever there is a series of bicycle
races you will find some manufacturer S
agent looking for promising material
Most of the amateur wheelmen who race
are boys anywhere from IL 70 ~ years
old. AS soon as a young fellow has
won few races in style that proves him
a flyer he is approached by an agent
How would you like to ride for the
Big Sprocket Wheel Company" he asks
the boy. Well give you $50 week and
train you. Think ii over.
'tOf course, the thinking process doesn't
last very long. The boy is poor clerk
somewhere earning IS or $40 week. He
has had to scrimp on car fares, lunches,
cigars and everything else for months
to buy his wheel. Now he sees fame
and fortune ahead of him-races to be
won. with fat prizes, the applause. of
| the crowd, the worlds record for nine
teen-twentieths of a mile from a standing
start and all that sort of thing. He
/ Jumps at the offer and presently finds
| himself living in a kind Of sporting heav-
en-. Instead of pinching himself to sup
ply a very ordinary bike, he learns that
all he has to do is to express the wish,
and he is promptly measured for the
finest, lightest wheel his company can
turn out. He has fantastic costumes in
profusion. He adopts his colors. When
ever he finishes a practice spin on the
track two men rub him down with all
the care he used to devote to rubbing
down his wheel. A trainer gravely con-
fers with him and delicateIy offers advice
about pace and the right time to go to
the front in race. The boys head is
turned. He sees his name in the sport
ing columns every day with statements
about his speed, his staying power, his
ability to sprint at the end of long
race, his pluck-in a word. everything
about his racing qualifications No more
getting up at 6 o'clock in the morning
and rushing to a stuffy desk in an Of
flee at s. He lives a life of luxury, rises
at 8 o'clock, takes his morning spin at
IL and enjoys his new-found prosperity
Immensely. He is a full-fiedged profess
sional-amateur' wheelman
His salary of $50 a week is more money
than he ever dreamed of earning. He
doesn't know what to do with il. He can't
spend 1t, for his employer feeds and keeps
him. Generally he buys gorgeous suits of
clothes, a gold watch diamond ring
and then a diamond headlight for his
scarf. He wins prizes worth anywhere
from $50 to $500 nearly every week. You
can truthfully say of him that he has
more riches than he can count or handle
This would be all very well if it was
not for the winter, the season of dull
learns the taste of champagne. He has
more FUN than he ever dreamed Of The
chances are that he will come out a lit
tie rusty IN the spring and lind it hard