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

i N mind, in an idle sort of way, to
write on Fugutives That | Have Met"
said an officer of the navy. During
til past 20 years, in several cruises, l
have crossed the trail of or met up
with perhaps two score or more Amer
leans living out of the reach Of Amer
acan law in various parts of the world
A few of them have been in countries
with which the United States had ex-
tradition treaties, but most of them
looked to the safety end OF 1t to the
exclusion of everything else and settled
in lands where the arm Of the United
States law did not extend al their time
OF fight. None of them, that | can re-
call, has looked to me like man IN
the enjoyment Of peace Of mind Or
happiness.
i have happened upon the majority
Of these absconders, fOrgers, embeZ-
zler, defauIters, what you will, my
self, possess a strong partially for the
good old English word thief as most
applicable to them-in Central and
South American ports, in Egypt and in
Japan.
Had | been, before the day of prac-
tically universal extradition treaties,
a top-notch, high-grade embezzler,
capable Of getting away with large,
satisfying pile, | would not have lit
out for any of the Americas. I'd have
gone either to Japan or Egypt. There's
comfort for hiders in Egypt, for there
the fugitiVes from all countries fra
ternize on perfectly even terms and
get all the pleasure out of life that
may come to men whose consciences
bother them, provided they have such
inconvenient affairs as cOnsciences.
"Egypt's a better place to live in
than any country | know in Central or
South America, too. While in Central
ana South America the man who is
known to be a fugitive from the
United States is not looked down upon
to any large extent, but goes his way
on even terms with the best of the
natives-some of them even float
around in the best society-all that an
American thief who settled in Japan
or Egypt mad to do in order to es-
tahlish himself perfectly with the best
class of natives was to give it out
that he was an exile for political of
lenses and he not only walked in the
WAYS Of the best, but he was locked
upOn as something of a figure, even as
a sort of mysterious lion. | have met
three political exiles' from the United
States the aggregate amount of whose
stealngs was considerably above the
s. goo COO mark.
Most of the United States fugitives
have met brought large portions OF
their speculatiOns along with them to
their new homes, and going into some
sort of business or other, did we'll from
the go-off | recall a few exceptions
to this rule, however. For example,
I once stood and watched for an hour
or two a man who was running mer-
rv-g0-round in TruXillo, Peru, a town
that | wouldn't live III for five years
for less than 81 900. 900 This man, who
was prematurely White-haired, though
under middle age, was surely hard
worker, and the energy he devoted TO
Whacking the mule that furnished the
motive power for the merry gO-round
and in collecting the coppers OF the
half-ndian women and children who
patronized the outfit was worth watch
ing He had been the cashier OF a
Chicago savings bank, and while his
speculati0ns had amounted to over
$500 600. ne had only got away with
about $40, 900 in cash. | addressed him
by his right name. and | felt sort or
sorry to see the fellows face become
SO ashen in hue as it did. | asked him
how much he had got away with from
the United States i'll the course OF the
talk we had after he had become some
what treasured, and he told me what
| already knew-that when he Jumped
Chicago he had close on TO $4,000 IN
gold in two leather trunks, and that he
mad been robbed OF every dollar of II
hY brigands while crossing Mexico
When he had struck the west coast OF
South America he was broke, with the
exception of his jewelry, and he had
yawned that to get his merry o-round
outfit. with which he had made liv-
ing. hauling it around small Peruvian
aud Chilean towns.
Another man whose stealingS were
very large, but who only got away
with an indifferent portion of them
was running a shooting gallery in Ric
de JaneirO when | saw him. about ten
years ago. He, too, was an eX-caShle1
of a bank-an Iowa national bank. He
had thier cd on a heavy scale for !
number of years, and he had wound
himself up by getting in with a clique
OF bond forgers and accepting a lot
of forged bonds as collateral, knowing
that they were forged. Wher
he landed he had few thou,
hands in hand, and he quickly
got rid of this in drink and genera
dissipation. Then he started his shoot.
ing gallery. His wife who was still
3 handsome, if somewhat worn, wo
man when I visited the shooting gal
lery, and had been one of the leading
figures in the social fashion Of the
state of Iowa before her husbands dis
honesty was discovered and he took Il
fight, was attending to the loading 0
the target guns. while her husband dix
the marking. They struck me as tn,
heaviest-hearted pair of human beings
l had ever seen. I'd never been called
upon before to feel so sorry as 1 dit
foS- that good, loyal woman who stoot
there behind the little counter jam
ming cartridges into target guns ant
handing the guns to silly. oglins
gpanish-spitting bucks.
Coming to the chaps who got ava,
with big hauls, there's a famous cluI
down in BuenOS Ayres which used +,