Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-12-30

. - Y~OSISNN wa VA va
6 money orders = ostensibly to
send to husbands overseas.
{ The Filipinas, he was sure
wouldn't talk but the seamer
4 might, particularly after Ad-
!. miral Olds authorized him to
E say they wouldn't be court
/, martialed for their black mar
: keting if they co-operated.
: One by one, as a typhoon
S ragged over Cavite, the seamen
$ admitted they had a good thing
6 going. A Filipino vegetable man
driving a yellow jeep, they said
, would come on the base with
, a fistful Of Military Payment
, Certificates, the currency used
!, to buy money orders at the
naval post office. He would give
them the certificates to buy the
! orders and pay them 20 pesos
= ($l0) for every 500 order they
|, ught. The seamen would
l make the orders payable to a
parent back home, but immed-
lately transfer ownership and
! give them to the vegetable man
! Pass Is Cancelled
Ogden persuaded t m to
point out their benefactor and
the next time the vegetable
man came on the base, his pass
was Cancelled.
Within four days, Ogden had
accumulated enough proof to
cable the Chief Postal Inspector
in Washington recommending
that Filipinas be barred from
; buying money orders at military
post offices and that sales to
servicemen be restricted. Or
; ders carrying out his recon-
! mendations were promptly is
sued by the Secretary of De-
tense.
Ogden had put a crimp in
black marketing Of money or
; ders. but he still didn't know
how they wound up in Hong
Kong or what use was made
of the dollar credits. BY now,
he had been made an officer
of both the Philippine Military
Intelligence Service and the Ma
tional Intelligence Co-ordinat-
ing Agency to give him some
official status and agents when
he needed them. His new COL
leagues gave him his first posi-
tive link to Hong Kong.
Only a month before, he
learned, Hong Kong authorities
had reported that more than
$40 900 in American dollar in
Struments - money orders,
Treasury checks and green
backs-had been seized at Hong
Kong's Kai TAX airport. as an
airline employe tried to smuggle
the bundle off a Manila plane.
Ogden caught the next flight
to the British island. AS his
plane Swooped down between
the peaks for the breath taking
landing at Kai TAX, he looked
forward eagerly to studying the
Struggled money orders as thy
appeared before being plastered
/ with Hong Kong chop marks.
Claimed by Merchants
1t wasn't to be that simple.
The Is envelopes taken from
the airline employee had been
claimed by two Chinese mer-
chants who insisted the money
was payment for merchandise
they had shipped to Manila.
You didn't believe them?"
Ogden asked Detective Sub
Inspector Stu Chung Yin, who
had been detailed to help him
in the British Crown Colony.
mo-" the Chinese detective
replied. Neither of them could
show a bill of lading and nei-
ther operates a store, just an
office"
Ogden nodded happily and
asked for a look at the snug
gled money orders.
I'VE haven't got them any
more" Stu said apologetically.
THE judge ordered us to turn
the envelopes over to the mer-
chants"
Ogden pulled stack of pho
tostats out of his pockets, the
chop marks he had collected in
Hawaii.
"Well csr In the owners of
the chop marks" promised Stu.
ogden developed a strong ad-
miration for the detective pa
tiently interviewing the mer-
chants in Cantonese dialect
and translating their replies in
perfect English with a decided
Harvard accent.
All the merchants told the
same story. An overseas Chi
nese from their old village
would stop off on his way back
to China. II he had a money
order to cash, the merchant
would put his chop mark on 1t
as a sort Of endorsement, since
his fellow countryman was I'M
known in Hong Kong.
Reody TO Quit
This isn't getting us any,
Where, ogden finally blurted
out. by golly, I'm about ready
to throw in the sponge and go
back TO Manila.
You're looking at this with
an Occidental mind" Stu
pointed out. Being an Oriental,
know how these merchants
think. II we can get something
to prove we know what's going
on. we'll get the truth.
ogden thumbed through the
rest Of his photostats until he
came to the chop mark that
had piqued his curiosity in Ha-
wall because II appeared on only
one money order.
Mean anything TO your" he
asked.