Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1882 — French Detectives. [ARTICLE]

French Detectives.

An agent de change who had in his custody a great number of bonds and other valuable documents belonging to his clientele was robbed of a number of shore certificates stolen from the safe in his offico. The value of these articles was considerable, amounting to close upon 300,000 francs (£12,000). As in France all scrip is payable au porteur (to bearer), it is much more easy to dispose of this sort of property ttm-n it would be in England, where a formal transfer has to be made. In the present case, the plundered party did not want to make the affair public for two reasons. In the first place he was convinced that the robber was his own son, who had absconded from Paris a day or two before; and, in the second, the fact of his having lost the documents would, in all probability, have greatly injured his credit on the Bourse. He went to the prefecture de, police , saw one o£ the chiefs, and a few hours later an agent secret was sent to his office. He related his story, saying at the same time that he suspected his son to have been the principal actor in the affair. In return, without a moment’s hesitation, he was told the name of a firm in Paris whose chief business was to deal in stolen property of the kind. He was, moreover, informed a few hours later that some days previously his son had been seen more than once in the office of this firm; and that it was more than likely the bonds were in their possession. The police agent went to the suspected offioe and, with money advanced him by the plundered man, transacted some stock or share buying and selling. He returned there again and again, each time doing some business which gave the firm a certain profit. This went on until he had gained a sort of footing with the suspected parties. He then asked them to purchase for him a few thousand francs’ worth of the kind of bonds that his employer had lost. This was done. The numbers on the scrip given him corresponded with those whioh the agent de change had shown him when he first commenced the inquiry. His work was then plain enough. The head of the firm was accused of having in his possession documents which had been stolen, knowing them to have been so. By making a olean breast of the matter, and by restoring all he had bought from the son of the agent de change (for which he hod paid about a fourth of their marketable value), he escaped with a year’s imprisonment. In England the affair would have been impossible. But the question remains whether it is not better to fight rogues with their own weapons than to allow them from motives, whioh are correct in themselves, to go scot free. There can be little doubt that, in the present state of the world, when so many men live by preying on others, it is very necessary to keep some sort of supervision over scoundrels, or it will be very difficult for honest people to come by their own.— Macmillan’s Magazme. - { Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Selfcommand is the main elegance.—Emerson.