The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-01-14

not excepting Australia and he more than coined
money. lie gave enormous sums To charity.
Joined the Roman Catholic Church, and becams
about ~ prominent u foreign figure as there was
In Buenos Ayres His history was perfectly
well known 70 the people down there. and yet,
Tor some inscrutahle reason ~ other, he stood
pa, even With the large c, luny oiAmericnns and
hnsllshmen 10 buenos Ayres, and they defended
MIN eluguently.
II believe the man succeeded in some way or
other In inducing the people u Buenos Ayres.
native and foreign, 10 bel icye that he was more
.lnned against thNn SHINING, and that he had
To icc the United States because, aS Treasurer
OF hs State. he had been good nalurcd and fool
iSh enough 10 endorse the notes II "A lot II his
political friends who had not made good when
the pinch came. In what fashion h8 contrNp ed
meAplaln, however, lust how he managed 10 stnke
Buenos Ayres with his huge br 9dle Of money
was a matter with reference 10 which his defend
ers kept still. The mans case WAS Known
to all the naval officers Of the countries that
sent ships 10 the South Atlantic station, and
they didn't feel that II would be precisely the
right thing Tor them To accept the we'll meant
hospitality of u club, swell and Otherwise high
grade ~ II un1uestionably was, that included
a notorious embeIller among 10 members. |
needn't say that, as a rule. naval uhi cers are not
prigs. or capters or morslists. but there are GER
tain little details Of conduct which they are re-
CURED to observe and which they do observe
o~!placing our hands behind our backs and walking
away when We met this public thief on the streets
OF buenos AyreS and were about 10 be introduced
To him by mutual acquaintance.
Down IN fernambuco there was mn eS-Assist-
ant STATE Treasurer who got away with a
very large amount Of money stolen about twenty
years ago, and whose offence. at the time saw
him, was said to have been outlawed By the stat.
ute Of limitations, which may or may not have
been true, I'm not very c0nyersant with these
matters: A, any rate, he Was one Of the most
successful coffee shippers in Brazil, and he surely
stood ace,high IN The estimation Of all the promi-
nrnt people 81 PernambuCo. His history, too,
was thoroughly we'll known to the people Of Per.
nambuco, but, like the Buenos Ayres embe2ller,
hH MAD cooked up a very plausible,soumding
fairy tale with which 10 conduue his theft. lie
claimed and he made the point stuck with
everybody down there, that he was not the real
embezzler at all, but that his chief, the Treas
urer, was the man who got away with all II the
money, The Treasurer and real culprt, he SAID.
was married 10 a member Of his. the fugItlVr's,
family, and as this lady was dying with con
sumption at the time the shortage was discuv-
cred, he, in order To save her the shock that would
have been caused by her husbands disgrace.
hid nobly determined to play the part Of scare-
goat and assume all the responsibility for the
Treasurers populations. Affecting, very, wasn't
~ II didn't doyctall IN any manner whalso-
ever, however, that story, with the facts in The
case as they were known in this country at he
time the large embelllement was discovered.
About a dozen years ago this man, who was
Introduced 10 the officers oi the [ nted States
ship lancaster as the real thing and whose actual
history his introduCets kept dark, was a guest
OF honor On board the Lancaster at dinner. iIs
drank considerably too much, as some guests
IL honor az man o'war dinners unfortunately
nave n habit Of doing once in n while. and, when
he became quite mHudlIn, he began 70 relate the
history othi' litei in several hiccoughed Languages;
lie sNmpaihlzed with himself a great deal, ard
IachfNm"Srly Taking II for granted that the
LaucaSter's officers knew all about his reason
Tor passing his life IN an unattractye Brazilian
seaport he began to Cundunr hS offence by re-
latlng the ghost story which he had successfully
worked off on the people Il pemambuco The
officers then remembered his case perfectly, and
they felt pretty cheap over their guest Of honor.
lie found himself IN The ships steam launch,
bound for the beach, before he had half finished
his yarn, and, after that, whenever an American
man O'War happened to dTop into the harbur
OF P~ernambuCo, he kept pretty dark until she
picked up her mudhook and went to sea again
! have looked over on two or three occasions
the colonies ~ American fHgluves IN AlaNaudua
ana caro-. They were q care ireeluoking lot.
but Was told by men that knew that they eagerly
listened t. every scrap Of news from the nited
States. and that in cultIyaung forgetfulness
they consumed n great deal more liquor than
was good for them Egypt used To be the haven
Of most Of the financial ~fUgltives Of Europe, and,
as you may imagine, Egypt ism a half bad place
to while away II lotus eating sort Of an p%Nlstcuce,
II you're predisposed to that sort If thing. Three
American tngiuves were pointed out 10 me in
Cairo a number II Yeas ago. Two uf them were
young men, and the other was a hi beyond middle
age. The stories of their thefts attracted the
usual amount of attention AT the time the details
OF the populations We're made public. All three
OF these men were SAID To- have plenty # money,
and they all seemed 10 me Ia he more than mid
ding drunk at the time they were shown Ia me.
They were not received into the homes Of the
English people living IN Cairo, nor We're the alb
sCnnderS from European countries recognized
socially there; but they APPEARED To- lead pretty
comfortable lives in the hotels among themselves,
with their women folks around them, and all u
them relieved Of the necessity # passing up and
around any bluffs as To- tho and what they were
In their own lands. In fact II used Ia be the
case that any foreigner no turned up with plenty
of money in any " the Egyptian towns and set.
tied down to live there simply spared the pains
~ putting on any Tugs, rs we call social fOur-
flushing in this country. Everybody in the
Town kne" lilst who the newcomer was and how
he stood, and he soon found out that they knew.
! WAS told that the caste and precedence idea
prevailed among the women folks who used to
accompany their husbands into Egyptian exile,
hut the men themselves We're content to take each
other rs they were and keep mum.
After all" concluded the naval officer, "the
truest maxim Of the lot is, BE good and you'll
be happy"