The times., 1901-04-21
PROTECTION FROM CRANKS
How New York Bankers and Banks
Are Specially Guarded.
The Men Who stand Between Luna
ties and Criminals and Those They
Strive to Reach-MOst of Them
eX-POIicemen and Detectives

Between the man of position and tn,
people who want to see him on real ol
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 mer
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 nc
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.
| 1t is in the financial districts, where
( large sums of money. as well as important
men, have to be protected. that this work
| is best systematzed. 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 80 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 a 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 it's methods. A
member of one banking house said that he
had watched certain patrolmau'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
licemeu."
As an additional protection to the fnan-
cial district and the jewelry district there
is 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 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
tyFT1if4 nj elYlIr fc. -
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. can hardly conjecture.
i am supposed to be dead 20 the world
by this same secret organiza ton, and am
left to my own resources to find the rea-
sons. | 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-calIed Swim, l shall be most happy to
comply. 1 have also claims of a lifetime
TO be considered and adjusted. Hoping
you win have no trouble in comprehending
the purport of the above, I remain
yours, -"
On the envelope enclosing this effusion
was written: Full claim, $25, $50 900; will
compromise for $4,00O0OO"
Not long ago long haired person with
a wild eye came into the United States
Sub-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 fuTtVely about he led Mr.. Braley into
a corner and in mysterious voice un-
folded his mission. He had invented a
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 S6,00000O. Now, it
is said TO be fact that machine really
accomplishing such a result would be
worth much more than So. 900 to the
Government, yet Mr.. Braley was skepti-
cal. He referred the man to the custom
house. Al the custom house he was told
to go to the city hall steps and that
man with d black hat. who would soon
come out of the building, was the man to
see. That particular crank was never
seen again. and il is not known whether
he found the man with the black dat. a
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 DOmD-thrOW1ng which KILL
ed a Well-knOWn bank officer "A few years
ago in this city has created in the minds
of many an almost morbid fear OF
''cranks.' More than one bank president
keeps a revolver in the top drawer of
his desk and one has devised a COutriv-
ance which is concealed inside his desk, |
and would blow a visitor into eternity at
3 h. - = lgih 10
bombs or nitrOglyCerine are concerned, he |
believes. trifling is out of place.
Quite as ingenious as the "cranlIs" are |
the ''graftcrs' 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 |
list circulated for some os- !
tensibly charitable purpose and headed by |
a list of prominent names, all forged, of |
course.
A swarthy man wearing a sombrero |
made q 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 a package he |
would sell minute seeds from which he |
said anyone could raise the wonderful J
plant in a short time by merely laying !
hem on pads of mOistened cotton A |
good many brokers and bankers bit 80
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-TreaSurV Mr.
Braley recognized him as the same old |
Mexican. and OWNED that he came to sell
'coZcta' seed. He did not sell any this
ime.
II is one of the most important duaIi-
icatiOns OF a hail man to be prepared
'OT all possible emergencies, but occasion |
tly even the best of them are out-man-