The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-02
HOW FOREIGN BANKERS
ARE VICTImIZED.


easy prey IL may be said in passing. be-
cause bankers naturally surround them
selves with precautions which seem To defy
al criminal attempts. Though the English
banker has reasons constantly to fear the
xorger and to guard against his, exploits, he
has rarely to dread violence or the knife OF
The assassin. 1 say rarely, because. as we
ell remember. there was made. but short
time ago. ut suburban London branch OF
q banking company, an attempt by despe-
x1do to hold up the bank officials. the ac-
count of which reads like a page from
Robbery Under Arms" or a news item
from some paper published in the far West
q America On the continent in general, on
che contrary. and in France in particular,
murder Is Of the dangers with which
the bankers have to count. Not the bankers
themselves, Of course. but their employees
The reason for this difference lies in the
fact that abroad the banking system is al
together different from that practiced in
England. II England. merchants and trades
people have banking accounts, and pay their
bills when due by checks sent direct to
their creditors. In France. and elsewhere on
the continent. checks are still very little
used. 40 little indeed that 1t is certain that
nine cut OF ten Frenchmen don't know what
. check is. or that 1t may not be worth
the paper 1t Is written on: in which connec-
zion. IL may be remarked, much swindling
- done on the continent by English rogues
by means OF worthless checks. and even
foreign bankers, who have a curious and
persistent faith in the natural honesty of
IN Englishman, are frequently victimized
a this way. In France, when manufac-
furer. for instance, sends his goods as per
order 10 a customer in trade. he at the same
f1ne draws upon him for the amount of the
invoice. This draft, which is really nothing
else than a check on his customer. is made
payable at a date agreed upon when the or
Ger was taken; at thirty. sixty or ninety
days, for instance. The manufacturer then
X sends his draft to his bank. vino discounts
e for him and credits Him with the amount
| The draft. when 1t becomes due. is presented
at the house Of the debtor by a bank clerk,
who. In exchange, receives the amount for
which IL is made payable.
DANGER TO THE MEN IN BLUE"
Anybody who has been some time in
France must have noticed these collecting
clerks as they hurried briskly along the
streets in their smart blue uniforms and
cooked hats. with huge leather satches
| chained to their bodies. AS for convenience
sake these drafts are usually made pay
able at the middle or at the end of each
month. 1t will be easily understood that on
| such days these garcons de recette. or col
lecting clerks, each dealing with hundreds
| of payments have very large sum to bring
back to the bank at nights. On certain days
| Che clerks who collect accounts i'm various
business quarters of Paris may, when their
rounds are finished. find their satchels
| weighted with from twelve to twenty thou
sand pounds in notes and gold. 1t may be
added that these men are often old and that
they are not usually armed Under these cir
substances IL il not surprising that they
| should occasionally be marked out as VIC
| tin,s by criminals of more than ordinary
~eudacity- This degree of audacity, indeed.
/ & requisite, for or such crime almost i'm
| mediate inquiry follows. Investigation is set
On foot within half an hour after the time
| 1t which the receiving clerk is due at the
bank 1t Is known exactly at what houses
! be had to call. and his steps can be followed
From house to house Again, the appearance
Of the IMAM in blue Is always noticed at
each house which he enters; he attracts not
| altogether favorable attention. A debt col
! 1ector, he Is known as the degraisseur, or
. FIAT remover" If blue clerk were seen
| 20 60 into a house and not to leave it, the
| house porter. the neighbors or the people
over the way, would Immediately begin to
| talk. In spite OF all these difficulties. how
| ever, desperate men have been known to lay
traps for these bank clerks, and cruel muir
ders have been done to obtain possession OF
| the heavily-weighted satchels. There is al
| ways. II should be observed. the chance that
| the bank authorities may suspect the miss
| ing clerk of dishonesty and attribute his dis
| appearance to flight So that investigation
| would go astray and time be gained.
AwOMAN AS BAIT"
| Occasionally ruse is employed in the place
| of violence to get hold of the coveted spoils
Thus, there is now awaiting trial for plum
| 0ering garcon de recette of 2SOO a gang
which includes a woman, who was used as
&rohe bait in the trap that was laid for him.
whilst he was praising Dulcinea's eyes the
R0man's accomplices were emptying his
Dafchel-
A similar sum was the reward of the bru-
lal murder Of bank clerk named Sebalte
which was committed on July 8. 1878, by a
marine store dealer named Martin, whose
oudacity may be gagged by the facts that
1ts shop was In one of the busiest streets OF
Paris. the Rue st. Lazare. and that the COM
zsission of the crime took place at o'clock
we're passing the shop every minute Imag-
me killing bank clerk in a shop in Fleet
street at that hour! 1t transpired that Mar
tin had laid trap. He had managed so that
draft should be presented to him for pay
ysent with the deliberate intention of kill
ing and robbing the man with the satchel
And when Sebalte handed him the oblong
Dnp OF paper. he ran him through the body
with a sword. emptied the satchel into his
pockets. scS decamped. Arrested soon after
wards AID sent for trial he had the luck 10
appear before a merciful jury. who found
extenuating circumstances in a case where
malice prepense and cold-blooded cruelty
were pre-eminent- He got of with transpor-
tation and is probably enjoying life under
the magnificent skies OF New Caledonia
| TRACED BY A COIN.
The man Carrara. who was executed a few
years ago for a similar offense. might with
better justice. have benefited by the Glenn
ency Of the jury, fer he had laid no trap
and there was nothing to prove that he had
premeditated his crime. The draft was pre-
scented to him In the ordinary course of his
A FERRYB0AT N0CTURNE.