Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1901-07-11
A TRICK OF
All SINS.
SA@ BY ~. Quad

in one way or another with every peo-
pie to the north east south and west
OF It, including all the larger islands.
Money reaches Singapore by the boat
load and Is distributed rs literally. 1t
is sort OF clearing house for the east,
and the Malay and the Iavanese jostle
against the American and the Holland
er at the counters of the banking
houses.
For five years | was what Is called
the transfer agent At Singapore. Pro
vided with II steam launch and trusty
crew, received or sent out all the hard
money arriving and departing. Ex-
cept in case OF four or five lines of
steamers, no money is received at the
wharf. All the native craft lie at an
chor 10 discharge or receive. There
are several reasons for this. but the
main one Is TO save time at the banking
houses The money will arrive in bags
or boxes and Is in copper. brass, sill
yer and gold. 1t has bss0 counted and
IL
A Malay ChiEauan or . Borneo trader
would rob his blind grandmother. If
he has tagged a box 81. 600" you can
be sure that it is short from $50 to
500. Assisted by two clerks, l board
ed the craft and receun,ed. rstagged
and resealed the treasure and. after
giving certificate Of the correct
amount, loaded II In the launch and de-
posted 1t on shore.
Ny work was anything but easy.
Every consignment carried counterfeit
coins to be worked of on me, and ev
cry native was up to all kinds Of tricks
to come out ahead. Under the law l
had n great deal OF power, but there
were scores of ways In which | could
be delayed and annoyed. or all the
people I encountered the Chinese were
the worst for trickery. There are plen-
ty Of honest Chinese traders located at
Singapore. as honest MS the same num-
ber Of foreigners, but as to the Chinese
afioat never met square man. Ifound
each and every one to be the slickest
kind of liar and swindler. What pur-
ported to be silver bars would turn out
to be lead thinly coated, gold ingots
would be a deception and n snare, and
they would even go to the pains of
counterfeiting such cheap coins that it
takes % OF them to make an American
cent 1t was stipulated in my bond
that should make good all losses aris-
ing through any carelessness of count
Inc hon nd rtsoo a
moment when my vigilance could be
relaxed.
Almost at the beginning of my career
/ had business with a Chinese trader
named Whang Ton. That was the
name he gave, and he pretended to
deal in honest goods, but | have no
doubt he was an out and out pirate.
He came into the port about three
times q year, and he had ten tins too
much money aboard for an honest trad
er. He never disputed my count or
tried to work off bad coin on me and
In this was an exception. He won my
gratitude II not my respect in this mat
ter, and after having dealt with him
three or four times I ceased to watch
him for tricks.
In three years he came into port at
least II times, and he never brought
less than $4,000 worth Of stuff. He
did not always have the same junk,
but his men were always the same.
His money was Of ali bations and all
coinage, and 1t was fair to believe that
he robbed all alike. Al there were no
charges against him ] did not think
best to say anything ashore, and SO
Whang Ton arrived and departed with
out let or hindrance. On what turned
out to be his last visit, SO far as l
know, he brought only about $4,000 TO
be exchanged, and he Informed me that
he had decided to leave the sea and
settle down ashore. He was more COM
munlcative than had ever known him
to be before, but there were only two
or three points l remembered after
ward. One was bis retirement from
trade, and the other was about Phil
ippine craft lying astefn Of him. She
had brought in $4,000 to be exchang-
ed, and was to put the money aboard
of her that evening. he asked many
questions about her, as I remembered
later, and / answered all as far as
could and gave no weight to the mat
ter.
While 1 received and shipped mostly
between o'clock a. m and o'clock p.
m, 1t happened now and then that q
craft wanted to sail after hours, and
so / stretched a point in her favor and
charged a percentage. This percentage
was to cover my increased risk. In
the case Of the Philippine craft the
money was to be on board at G o'clock,
which was IN hour after dark at that
season Of the year. 1t was placed In
the launch at 4:20, and | steamed out
to a Malay craft and counted and re
sealed the $2S,00O she had aboard.
Then ! spent Is minutes talking with
the captain OF an American whaler and
was ready to run down and get rid Of
my cargo. l had to pass Whang Tons
junk en- route, and he was on the look
out for me. He said he had overlooked
n box containing about thousand dol
lars and was anxious TO have 1t count
ed and credited with the rest. As he
had n basket Of wine and a box of ci-
gars for me, could not we'll refuse,
and l went aboard with my two clerks
to rush the count through. Five armed
men were left in the launch, and had
no anxiety. We had counted half the
money and old Whang Ton was stand
ing by with n grin on his face when
five or six natives who had sneaked in
to the cabin suddenly flung themselves
upon us, and we were made prisoners.
At the same moment n dozen of the
crew dropped over the rail into the
launch and made a fierce attack, and
in two minutes she was captured and
her crew passed up. Then followed the
treasure, and as the launch was Sc
cured alongside the junk lifted anchor
and set sail for the north. The bold
ness OF the trick compelled success.
The old pirate smilipgly Informed me
that no one would be hurt and that his
only object was the money, and after
l had got over swearing and threaten
ing and realized my helplessness we
got along fairly well together. 1t was