Evening star., 1899-02-11

lZen DOWN tnere-ln
Self-defense, the ex-
judge claims-got himself into the double
irons and dungeon that have held him ever
since, despite the herculean efforts of his
Alabama friends to leffect his restoration to
freedom said lieutenant commander of
the navy whose last three cruises have been
of the world-encircling order. My club
mates mention of this story-all of the de-
tails of which have been in the hands of
the State Department officials for a long
time past-propelled me into a train of
recollection which 1 may group under the
heading. Fugitives l Have Met During
the past fifteen years, in the progress of
three unusually comprehensive cruises, 1
nave crossed the trail of or met up with
perhaps twenty Or more Americans living
out OF the reach Of American law in various
parts of the world. Some of them have
been in countries, with which the United
states has extradtion treaties, but most of
them have looked to the safety end of it to
the exclusion of everything else and set
tied In lands where the arm of the Ameri-
can law does not extend. Quite q few of
them have been famous, all of them have
been more or less infamous-I refer partic-
ularly to several of them who eloped with
the funds of poor peoples savings banks
ana none of them, that l can recall, has
looked to me like man in the enjoyment
of peace of mind or happiness. ] have hap
pened upon the majority of these abscon-
ders, forgers, embezziers what you will,
myself, possess a strong Partially for the
good old English word thief as most ap-
plcahle to them-in South American ports,
IN Egypt and in Japan. l remember a,
couple of them living very quietly in small
towns on the west coast of Mexico.
Central s.,r &puth America.
Mexico is gessraliy the first stop of the
American fugitiHA. on his way to Central or
South AmericaB Now, when you reflect
that embezzlers, orsapsconders of high de-
old, that haveAme1 were in the extent of
their thefts-when you consider that these
fellows are usually laxurious. pleasure-lov-
ing men, it's hand tsH understand why they
exhibit such peculiar unanimity in strik-
ing out for Censral or South America I
South America worried their way into the
picture when it -eamesto matter of having
run, and there Yfe few countries in either
ty well. On the easTcoast of South Ameri-
ca there is, of course. a lot of high-rolling
In some of the big cities, and the man who
wants to forget himself and his past may
plunge into a feversh way of living in
some few of these places, and throw dust
INTO his own eyes until he wearies of that
game. But if l We're top-notch. high
grade er-bezZler, capable of getting away
with a large pile, woudn't light out for
any of the Americas. I'd 90 either to Ia.
pan or to Egypt: There's more comfort in
Egypt. for there the fugitfves from ali
countries 1raternlZe on perfectly even terms
ana get all the pleasure out of life that
may come to men whose consciences botber
them, providing they have such attach
ments While in South or Central Anerin.
the American who is known to be an an
sconder is not looked down upon to anv
large extent, but goes his way on even
anl aeins win the pest of the natives, and
even hoats around in the best society. All
that an American thief who settles in Ia
pan or Egypt has got to do in order to es
tablfsh himself perfectly with the best class
OF natives is to give 1t out that he is 'exiIed
for political offenses,' and he not onTy waits
in the ways of the best, but he isS looked
upon as something of figure. even a sort
nt;dn3y nt mysterious lion hon | have met three 'po-
ntlcal exiies. from the United States. two
or them In Egypt and the third in Janan
the aggregate amount Of whose thefts
figured considerably above the 81 900 600
mark. '''"
Their Latter Lives.
Most of the American fugitives bave
met brought large portions of their necuIo-
tions along with them to their new homes
and, going into some sort of business or
other, did well from the go-off. recall a
few exceptions to this rule, however For
example, I once stood and watched for an
hour or two, man who was running a
merry-go-round in TruxflIo. Perm tewn
that | wouldn't live in for five Years for
n hnn nd
This man, who was prematurely white
haired. though below middle age was sur
iy hard worker, and the energy he d.
voted to whacking the mule that furnished
the motive power for the merry-go-round
and in collecting the coppers Of Tho ha ~
Indian women and children who parronizad
his outfit, was caution. There was some
Kind OF an animal fair going on in TruxilIo
ae .he ume' ana l suppose the merry-go-
round man, at the conclusion of a hard
days work, picked up the euuivalent of 60
or a in our money. W
A Queer Meetinr
II happened to know, as 7 stood ond
watched this man at his work that he had
been the cashier of Chicago savings ha nj.
and that, while his peculations had amount-
ed to over 100000, he had only got awav
with abou- $4,000 in cash. addressed hin,
by his right name, and felt sort of cor,
TO see the fellows face become so ashen
in hue as it did. / asked him how mncb
he had got away from the IJnjted states
with in tne course of the talk we had after
he had become somewhat reassured. and he
told me-what | already knew--tb.t 80 -.
he jumped Chicago he had close on To s50
900 in gold in two leather trunks ana that
he had been robbed OF every dollar Of II hI
origands while cfosslng Mexico When he
struck the west Coast of South Amarica he he
was broke, with the exception of his level
ry, and he had pawned that to get his mer-
ry-go-round outft, with which he had made
a living, totingsit around small Peruvian
and Chilean towns, ever since.
Robbed by bpigatS1s, eh? eou,dn,t ro
sist the temptation to say to him. That
was the irony OF fate with vengeance.
wasn't it,?
1T was what was coming tn mo, bo
said, gioomily. Them he ciubbed and pses
upped his poor .old<EmuIe, and l walked
away. e.t =,
A Heayy-Hearted Pair,
Another maniwh hose stealings were very
large, but who only got away with an in
different portion of Them was running a
shooting gallery in Rio de Janeiro when I
saw him. about six years ago. He too
was an ex-cashier Of bank-an Iowa ma
tional bank. He had thieved on a heavy
scale for number of years, and had wonnd
himself up by getting in with a clique Of
PONG PONG rorgers ana acc accepting lot of forged
When he landed in South America he only
quickly got rid of this in drink and dissina-
ton. Then he started his shooting gallery.
His wife, who was still very handsama
II somewhat worn. woman when / visited
the shooting gallery. and who had been
one of the leading figures in he coo,,I