Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-12
MILLIONS CARRIED
BY MESSENGER BOYS
YOUNGSTERS ARE VERY OFTEN
TRUSTED WITH 100000
Are Considered Same as Bank Presi-
dents on Wall Street, and Loss
of a $4,000 Bill Is Only
an Incident

NEW YORK, March 1.-THE disap-
pearance of a $4,000 bill from the
pocket of Benson Lang, a 17-year-old
messenger boy, while on his way from
the brokerage house of Hornblower &
Weeks, at No. AZ Broadway, to the
National City bank, was but an in
stance in a traffic in millions that is
being carried on daily in the financial
district below the dead line" at Full
ton street. with no more security than
the hands or pockets of youngsters
whose ages range from Is to "a years.
Yet with all the temptation put be-
fore the youths instances of misap-
preparation are exceedingly rare. Wall
street trusts them as implicitly as it
does it's bonded express companies, it's
highly paid bank presidents and CASH
iers and insurance presidents and di-
rectors, who go astray with much
more frequency than the small boy
custodians of great wealth.
One boy will frequently handle
million dollars in checks, cash and Sc
curity. Charles f. Sullivan, who lives
in Jersey City and works for one of
the messenger companies which have
stations in the financial district, has
often handled as much money as he
could carry He toted more than
100000 in small bills from one of the
banks to a brokers' office last Au-
gust.
The idea that a messenger boy should
be intrusted with such a sum of money
may seem strange to many persons
who are not familiar with the scope
of the messenger business in Wall
street. Such transactions are not un-
usual Some of them carry large for
tunes in money, bonds, jewels and Sc
a
a cake of soap.
one day prominent Wall street
house sent a boy to bank with cou-
pOns calling for $4,000 in currency
Three hours later he was found play
ing craps in a hallway. He had won
80 cents. He had obtained the cur
rency on the coupons and it reposed in
his inside pocket.
A crap game was raided on the side
walk in New street two months ago
and in the pocket of John Connor, a
district messenger, the police found
$S960. 1t was brought out in court that
he had been sent by a broker to de-
post the money in bank.
Boys Sent to other Cities
Messengers carrying thousands Of
dollars in securities also travel every
week day up and down town in the
elevated and subway. Boys are even
sent to Philadelphia, Boston and Chi
cago with large sums. A boy will take
a million dollars in bonds to Phila-
delphia at an expense of about $6,
whereas an express company's charges
would be about $40
On another occasion that has been
recalled a boy collected $4,000 on a
certified check and turned it over to
tile cashier. AS he was going out the
head of the firm handed him a 81 bill
with a request that he purchase a
dozen oranges. The temptation of this
small bill was too great for him and
he disappeared. A week later his
mother returned the 81 to the firm
The boys regularly employed as mes
sengers by banks and firms get from
S4 to SIS a week. They are known
as runners" With some banks and
private firms, though, the regular en-
ployment Of district messengers has
become a custom. 1t s-.Ves the trouble
of hiring boys and the looking up Of
their references. and the employers
have the advantage of looking to a
responsible company if anything goes
wrong. Each downtown messenger
office has number of boys who are
called "trusties" by their companions.