Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-03-07
HUNDRED THOUSAND STOLEN
Aged Broker in New York Loses Valu.
able Securities.
PACKAGES SWITCHED ON HIM
Was Taking stock to Security Vault
when He was Tripped by Tall
Man-OId Newspapers Found
in Envelope.

NEW YORK, March 6-Aaron Bancroft,
broker, Sc years old was robbed last
Thursday afternoon of securities worth
approximately 100000 in the vestbule OF
Produce Exchange Safety Deposit and
Storage company but he did not discover
his loss until today
For the last twenty-five years It has
been Mr.. Bancroft's habit every Thursday
afternoon to deposit the firms valuables in
box rented from the Produce Exchange
Safety and Storage company. The dls-
tance from his offices to the vaults Is not
more than 200 feet and any one making the
trip is in constant sight of the office win
dows. Thursday Mr.. Bancroft placed
securities worth about 100000 I'm large
envelope. tied with red tape and with the
firms printed card in the corner. Alone ne
walked from his offies. Mr., Bancroft SAYS
he noticed young man whom he only re-
members as rather undersized leaning
against the corridor wall.
Just as the broker was about to turn the
corner at the end of the corridor a tall
man came running around the corner In
the opposite direction and collided with him
The shock threw Mr.. Bancroft off his
feet and in falling he dropped the en-
velope. The understood young man who
had been leaning against the corridor wall
stepped up to Mr. Bancroft, assisted him
to his feet and was solicitous to tuck the
fallen envelope under his arm. At least
Mr.. Bancroft thought 1t was the enveIOpc
He went on to deposit it in the vaults.
This morning, when his son, George Ban
croft, unlocked the box to check up the
securities before the opening of business
for the week he found that the only en-
velope there contained three old news
papers.
Trick Carefully Planned.
The robbers knew on what day it was
the firms custom to deposit its securities
! and at what hour. They knew that Mr..
Bancroft habitually carried them in an
| envelope of a certain appearance, for they
provided themselves with so close an imi-
tation that II deceived the broker
The securities were made up of railway
and industrial stocks which could easily
be hypothecated in any stock brokers'
house in the United States having connec-
tions with the Stock exchange. The stocks
included 100 shares of Lehigh Valley s2O
shares of smelter, 80 shares Of New York
Central. 200 shares of Brooklyn Rapid
Transit, 800 Distilers Securities, 60 shares
Of Steel, common, 10 shares Of Atchison. 30
shares of American Beet Sugar, 40 shares
Of Amalgamated Copper and 100 shares OF
Missouri Pacific.
Sharp shock for Police.
So bold a robbery in daylight, in the
| very heart OF the financial district
\ shocked the police like an exploded bomb
she'll Years ago Inspector Byrnes had
drawn a deadline across the city at Fulton
street below which he ordered that no
crook or pickpocket should go on even an
| innocent errand under pain of instant
| trouble with the police.
| The order was tested and found to be
seriously intended. Having tried It the
! criminals obeyed and for years the finan-
! cal district was the safest place in the
| world for a man with large sums OF money
/ or valuable securities on his person
+ William NJ. Sullivan, attorney for the
! Bancrofts, said this afternoon that the
numbers Of all the missing certificates
| were in the firms possession. Part Of the
| securities had been transferred to the name
! OF Bancroft, he said, and less apprehension
| was felt about the robbers realizing
] promptly on the securities so transferred
| than on the others, which had not under
! gone the transferring process