The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-03-09
.PICkPOCKETS ROB
new YORK BROKER
OF VAST FORTUNE
Men Knowing Habits of Victim,
Lay In Wait for Him In Cor
ridor Of the Safe De-
post Vaults.

New York, March z. Aaron Bans.
croft, a broker Sc years old, was
robbed last Thursday afternoon OF
securities worth approximately $100,000
In the vestibule OF the Produce Elk,
change Safety Deposit & Storage cons
pany, but he did not discover his loss.
until today.
For the last rs years 1t has been Mr..
Bancroft's habit every Thursday after.
noon to deposit the FIRMS %yaluables In
q box rented from the deposit company,
The distance 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 windows. Thursdag
Mr.. Bancroft placed securities WORTH
about 100000 in a large envelope, tied
with red tape and with the firms nams
printed in the corner. Alone he walked
from his office.
MI. Bancroft says he noticed a young
man whom he only remembers as rathl
er understood leaning against the corri>
dor wall.
Collide With Victim.
Just as the broker was about to turn
the corner at the end Of the corridor a.
tall man came running around the core
ner in the opposite direction and cols
lided with him. The shock threw Mr.,
Bancroft off his feet n in falling he
dropped the envelope.
The understood young man, who waS
Yeaning against the corridor wall STEP
ped up to Mr.. Bancroft, assisted hin,
to his feet and was solicitous to tuck
the fallen envelope under his arm. Az
least Mr.. Bancroft thought it was the
envelope that fell, as he went on I'd
deposit it in the vault.
This morning 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 envelope there contained thres
old newspapers.
Knew Victims Habits.
The robbers undoubtedly knew on
VIA day it was the firms custom to
deposit it's securities and at what hour,
They knew that Mr.. Bancroft habitual.
Iy carried them in an envelope of q
certain appearance, for they provided
themselves with SO close an imitation
that it deceived the broker.
The securities were of railroad and,
industrial, stocks, which could easily
be hypothecated in any stock broker'A
house in the United States having con-
nections with the New York exchange
The certificates included 100 shares of
Lehigh Valley, 800 shares of Shelters
30 shares Of New York Central, 200
shares of Brooklyn Rapid Transit, SOC
distillers' securities, 6 shares of Steel
common 10 shares of Atchison, 80
shares of American Beet Sugar, AZ
shares of A~malganlated Copper and 100
shares of Missouri Pacific.
So bold q robbery in the daylighs
IN the very heart of the financial dis
trict shocked the police like an ex.
ploded bombshelL. Years g inspectors
Byrnes a drawn a deadline across
the city at Fulton, below which he
ordered that no crook or ~pickpockeh
should go on wen an innocent errandt
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
financial district was the safest place
in the world for a man with large
sums of one or valuable securities
on his person.
William M. Sullivan, attorney for the
Bancrofts, said this afternoon that the
numbers of all the missing certificates
We're in the firms possession. Part OF
the securities had been transferred to-
the name of the Bancrofts, he said,
and less apprehension was felt about
the robbers realizing promptly on the
securities so transferred than on the
others, which had not undergone the
transferring process.