Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-04-30

| no chances. 1t must be absolutely
sure that the man for whom it stands
good does not place it in position to
Hose money. And to save money that
isurety company will spend thousands
| of dollars.
4 The burglar may break into a house,
lsteal the family jewels. and unless the
| family itself spends money on private
detectives the search Will end when
the robber leaves the city. He. may
be caught at some time in the future
| by accident He may not. He may
even remain in the city and steal from
other houses and still be safe. The
confidence man may work his schemes
| and get away The ordinary hold-up
Imam may be successful. The police
department admits that it is not in
fallible and that now and then crimi-
Trails elude it. But In the code book
of the surety company there is one
great rule which blazons forth the or
der:
NO one must escape. No matter
what the defalcation or the shortage,
| whether it be cents or S. or $5000
the refugee must be caught No mat
| ter what the cost, he must be brought
back, from Africa, If necessary. Spend
! Thousands, tens of thousands, chase q
man around the globe and back again,
but do not let him escape."
-Four agencies are constantly ready
to track his every step. First of all,
there is the employer, who by the
terms OF the bond must see to the
Iauditing of his accounts and be re-
sponsible for the reporting of the
| first sign that he is doing anything
out of the way. If the information
comes that the bonded man is spend
| ing more money than he should, then
icomes the time when the second
agency of guardianship springs into
active life. There is a telephone call
| TO the general offices of the bonding
company and for a few moments the
employer and the special detective of
the bonding company confer over the
| phone That night when the bond
| ed man leaves his work, he has ae-
| quired a shadow. The shadow sees
his every movement. lie follows him
on the cars. He watches him at his
ilome. He notes every time he leaves.
where he goes, what he does. He
learns the names Of his Intimate as :
soeiates, of his "hangouts. p He knows
TO the penny how much money he is
spending. He finds out exactly in
what manner that money is spent
and he makes his reports.
The defalcation may amount to $50
The chase may begin in Chicago, ex-
tend TO San Francisco, into Mexico,
thence to South America, across a
continent 10 Rio Janeiro, on to New
orleans. to Kansas City, thence to
New York again, then London. Paris,
Madrid, St. Petersburg makes no
difference. The loss was $50. The
chase may cost $4,000. But in the end
| the man will be caught.
| AS a rule. the chase does not 60
| far, according to officers of various
surety companies of Chicago. The
| man who embezzles. who steals be-
| cause the money seems easy to get, is
not born criminal, used to the ways
and tricks and foils Of the criminal
world. He knows not the wiles of
the paid eatehers of men nor how to
guard against them. And in nine
eases out of ten before he even gets a
chance to board the train that is to
carry him away he is under arrest.
| And when all other means of catching
the thief fail there is one which misses
ire only about once in hundred times
| That means is the tie Of blood, the tie
that viii pull a man back across oceans
and from out of the deepest hiding places
o. the earth. The cry of a child has
called more men back from apparent
safety to a life in prison than any other
medium that is known to the surety
| companies The tear of a lonely wife
4 has sent more embezzlers over the long
| road and into the big house on the
river than all the Sherlocks who ever
Travelled the pages of fiction. The en-
bezzlers and bonded men who turn thief
do not know this. But the bonding COM
panies do, and they profit by it.
| At the first report of disappearance
there comes question from the man
catcher:
| Married.
| Yes"
| "How long?''
"A year and a half"
| rs there child?"
| Yes, three-months- boy"
Good. Married life happy?"
Apparently So"
'It makes no difference about that
1
him back"
And so the shadows come to life. They
haunt the house in which the wife aud
the baby live. They do not worry. They
do not inquire what the national branch
les of the detective agency are doing, for
they do not care much. They know that
sooner or later the memory OF that
child win call the quarry back, for just
one moment with it, just one kiss. And
when that time comes they will be ready
and waiting to catch him.
lie wonders il the small picture theater
he so carefully built up is making
money, if his wife and child are living
lwell from the income.
| Conscience enters the scene. The
thought of retribution comes strong up
on him. He feels alone in the world, II
he is married. he finds himself wonder
ing day after day and night after night
what the wife and child are doing,
whether they have enough to live on.
lwhat they think of him. The idea, slow