The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
PROTECTION FROM CRANKS
How New York Bankers and Banks
Are Specially Guarded.
The Men Who stand Between Luna
ties and Criminals md Those They
Strive to Reach-Most of Them
cx-PoIfcemen md Detectives

Between the man of position and the
people who want to see him on real OF
fictitious business some sort of barrier
| has to be erected, and there is always
some one deputed to see that none but
| those properly accredited obtain person
al interviews. If access to prominent men
of affairs were easy, they would not only
have the greater part of their business
hours taken up with trivial matters, hut
| would also be subjected at times to no
little personal danger from 'cranks' and
| criminals. Accordingly. in big offices OF
every kind in this city. hall men. detec-
| tives, special policemen, clerks. private
| secretaries. or ordinary Office boys are
| assigned as Intermediates between the
| visitor and the man he desires to see
II is in the financial districts, where
large sums of money. well as important
men. have to be protected. that this work
is best systematized Nearly every bank
or large financial institution employs one
or more men as special officers. Their
duties are usually three-fold. They ac-
| company and guard the messengers when
carrying large amounts of money through
| the streets; when in the bank, they watch
for "cranks' and criminals, and many of
| them act as confidential man to the
| president or cashier.
At least 90 per cent of these men, it is
| estimated, are ex-policemen. They get
their jobs, as one of them expressed it,
through infooence, like everything else. "
| As matter of fact, many have the high
| est of recommendations for honesty and
| faithfulness. They are physically power
| full, and their experience on the force" is
| supposed to have familiarized them with
| the under world and its methods. A
| member of one banking house said that he
| had watched a certain patrolman's record
| for more than twenty years, had seen him
promoted to roundsman, and when he was
| retired. offered him at once the Wall
| Street position which he still holds. One
| former London bobby" holds a position
! in the street
| Up to about fifteen years ago the police
| department regularly assigned policemen
| to watch each of the large city banks, the
! institution paying salaries and expenses.
! When this arrangement was discontinued,
many of the policemen so assigned re-
signed from the force and kept their bank
| positions, being sworn in as Special DO
| licemen.
| As an additional protection to the finan-
| cial district and the jewelry district there
! is a force of detectives, now under Ser
| geant Dunn, with headquarters in the
stock exchange building There is. more
| over the famous dead line" established
| by Inspector Byrnes, along Fulton Street,
and below which no man with a criminal
| record is allowed to go.
| Inside the doors OF a bank there is little
danger from the criminal classes. and the
duties of most of the special officers are
| chiefly those OF "crank-catchers. The
lie ha -bn TO-
money. usually several million dollars,
which he must have right away The fol-
| lowing letter is typical production of the
more harmless type of dunning crank
Dear Sir: Trusting you will readily uu-
| derstand the following: Being known or
termed an outsider by an organization
| called Swim. secret. of course, If the latter
name is correct. l can hardly conjecture.
Il am supposed to be dead to the world
| by this same secret organization, and am
| left to my own resources to find the rea-
| sons. l trust TO your kindly advice to en-
| tighten me under the above peculiar cir
| cumstances. knowing you to have knOwl-
| edge of such matters, being in your line
| If it is necessary to be enrolled and en-
| tered on any list of Freemen to be in the
so-called Swim, l shall be most happy to
| comply. l have also claims of a lifetime
| to be considered and adjusted. Hoping
you will have no trouble in comprehending
| the purport of the above, I remain
| yours, -"
on the envelope enclosing this effusion
was written: Full claim, 81, 10000; will
| compromise for 100000"
| Not long ago long haired person with
wild eye came into the United States
| Treasury, and asked to see the AS
sistant Treasurer r. ID. Braley, the de-
| tective at the Wall Street door, asked the
man what his business was. After glanc-
| ing furtively about he led Mr.. Braley into
a corner and in a mysterious voice I'M
| folded his mission. He had invented
machine. he said. which was guaranteed
| to make all the Government clerks work
| hard for not less than eight hours a day.
For this discovery he asked the very mod
crate compensation of So, O00,000. Now, it
is said to be a fact that a machine really
accomplishing such a result would be
worth much more than s.. 600 900 to the
Government, yet Mr. Braley was skepti-
cal He referred the man to the custom
house. At the custom house he was told
to 80 to the city hall steps and that
man with a black hat, who would soon
come out of the building, was the man to
see. That particular crank was never
seen again, and ii is not known whether
he found the man with the black nat.
common performance of these eccentrics
is to write themselves checks for fabu-
lOus amounts on slips OF scrap paper.
and are furious when the money is not
forthcoming.
All these varieties are harmless enough,
but the actual bomb-thrOwing which KILL
ed a well-known bank officer a few years
ago in this city has created in the minds
of many almost morbid fear OF
.'cranks' More than one bank president
keeps a revolver in the top drawer of
his desk, and one has devised contriv-
ance which is concealed inside his desk,
and would blow visitor into eternity at
4. lava V.NlS hi
bombs or nitrOglycerine are concerned, he
believes. trifling is out of place.
Quite as ingenious as the ''cranks' are
the ''grafters" of various kinds who pick
up what they can in the financial district
before the police run them out. The com
monest graft and consequently the
least successful nowadays. is the fake
subscription list circulated for some oS-
tensibly charitable purpose and headed by
a list Of prominent names. all forged, of
course.
\ swarthy man wearing a sombrerO
made tour of the Wall Street offices a
number of years ago selling what he
called the Mexican ''cozeta' plant. He
had some curious half-grown plants with
him as specimens, but did not sell these
Instead. for several dollars package he
would sell minute seeds from which he
said anyone could raise the wonderful
plant in a short time bv merely laying
them ON pads OF moIstrneu cotton A
good many brokers and bankers bit.
and he went away with Il good sum of
money. The seed turned out TO be COM
mon grass seed. About year ago this
man came back to begin work again. His
first call was at the Sub-Treasury. Mr.
Braley recognized him as the same old
Mexican. and OWNED that he came to sell
''cozCta'' seed. He did not sell any this
time
1t is one of the most important quail
fications of "a hall man to be prepared
for all possible emergencies. but occasion
ally even the best of them are out-man-
euvred one of tine most powerful and
Influential In wall Street hos.