Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-08

| funds. This man went into business
ventures on large scale Immediately
after he struck Buenos Ayres, not TAX
ing him many years to quadruple his
stolen half a million He was running
a big stock brokerage office in BuenOs
J Ayres. He gave enormous sums to
! charity, Joined the Catholic church
and became about as prominent a
foreign figure as there was in BuenOs
| Ayres
I believe the man succeeded in
some way or other in inducing the
people Of Buenos Ayres, native and
foreign, to believe that he was more
slnned against than SHINING, and that
he had to flee the United States be-
cause, as treasurer of his state. he had
| been goodnatured and foolish enough
TO indorse the notes of lot of his
political friends who had not made
good when the pinch came. In what
fashion he contrived to explain, how
ever, just how he managed to strike
| BuenOs Ayres with his huge bundle of
money was a matter which his defend
ers kept still. | needn't say that, as
d rule, naval officers are not prigs or
canters or moralists, but there are GER
tain details of conduct which they OBJ
serve the world over. This is why
a good many of US were put to the
embarrassing necessity of placing our
hands behind our backs and walking
away when we met this public thief
on the streets of Buenos Ayres and
were about to be introduced to him by
mutual acquaintance.
Down in Pernambuco there was an
eX-Assistant State Treasurer who got
away with a very large amount. He
was one of the most successful coffee
shippers in Brazil, and he stood ace
high in the estimation of all the prom
inent people of Pernambuco. His
history, too, was thoroughly well
known, but, like the Buenos Ayres
embezzler, he had cooked up a pIausi-
ble-sounding fairy tale. He claimed
that he was not the real embeZzler at
all, but that his chief, the treasurer,
was the man who got away with all
the money. The treasurer and real cul-
prit, he said, was married to a member
of his (the fugitive's) family, and as
this lady was dying with consumption
at the time the shortage was discover
! ed he, in order to save her the shock
that would have been caused by her
husbands disgrace, had nobly deter
mined to play the part of scapgoat and
assume all the responsibility for the
treasurer's populations.
About dozen years ago this man,
who was introduced to the officers of
the ship Lancaster, and whose actual
history his introducers kept dark, was
a guest of honor on board the Lancas-
ter at dinner. He drank too much and,
when he became maudIin, began to
relate the history of his life in several
hiccoughed languages. Taking it for
granted that the Lancaster'S officers
knew all about his reason for passing
his life in an unattractive Brazilian
seaport he began to cOndOne his Of
| Tense by relating the ghost story which
he had successfully worked off on the
people of PernambucO. The officers
| then remembered his case perfectly,
| and thy felt pretty cheap over their
guest of honor He 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
drop into the harbor of Pernambuco he
| kept pretty dark until she went to sea
again.
I have looked over on two or three
occasions the colonies of American
! fugitiyes in Alexandria and Cairo
They were a notwithstanding lot, but
was told my men that knew that they
eagerly listened to every scrap of news
from the United States, and that in
cultivating forgetfulness they con
sumed a great deal more liquor than
! was good for them. Egypt used to be
! the haven of most of the financial fug-
itives of Europe, and, as you may i'm
agine, Egypt isn't a half bad place tC
while away lotus-eating sort of al
existence, if you're predispOsed to thai
sort Of thing.
Three American fugitives were
pointed out to me in Cairo a number
/ of years ago. Two of them were
Young men and the other was Bit
! beyond middle age. All three were
said to have plenty of money. and they
all seemed to me to be more than
middling drunk at the time they were
shown to me. They were not received
into the homes of the English people
living in Cairo, nor were the abscon.
ders from European countries recog
lniZed socially there; but they appeared
to lead pretty comfortable lives in the
hotels among themselves, with theil
women folks around them. Everybody
knew just who the newcomer was ant
how he stood, and he soon found ou
that they knew | was told that the
caste and precedence idea prevailed
among the women folks who used K
accompany their husbands into Egyp
tan exile. but the men themselye:
were content to take each other a:
they were and keep mum.
After ALL" concluded the naval Of
ficer. <'the truest maxim of the lot is
S'Be good and you'll be happy. New
York Sun.
MILITARY LIFE IN BERMUDA.
The British Soldiers's Athletic Sports