BLACKMAILING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 272, 16 November 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

BLACKMAILING.

BOGUS DETECTIVE AGENCIES. < ■ ( "IF YOU ARE IN TROUBLE." ] , ( ENSNARING THE VICTIMS. J (By EDWIN. T. WOODHALL, late ! New Scotland Yard.) i j It is said that the police contemplate j a clean-up of bogus private detective 1 agencies, and when this has been accom- ' plished the country —and particularly London —will be all the sweeter for it. These "agencies" flourish in an atmosphere of sordidness and vice. Mushroom growths, they spring up in the dark and carry on their furtive, dirty games in the background. They exist for one purpose only—blackmail, and this is the hardest crime of all to bring home because it demands unusual courage from the victim. One of the most notorious of the London bogus detective agencies specialises in buying letters from prostitutes. Then it blackmails the foolish writers. There is no need to labour that question. It- is the most loathsome trade in existence. Some time ago I was asked by a solicitor to see a certain captain in a well-known regiment. This, man had lost certain papers. In point of fact they had been stolen from the bureau in his flat by a well-dressed caller who, on ascertaining from his valet that the captain was not at home, had asked to be allowed to leave a note for him. The valet showed him into a room and left him while he wrote. The caller rang a few minutes later, said he had changed his mind, and that he would see the captain at the club, and left. When the captain did return, on happening to look into his bureau, he found that a number of most private letters had disappeared. The valet told him about the caller, and the captain anxious to get back his property, foolishly wrote to one of the advertising private detective agencies and put the affair into their hands. In due course he heard that the letters were recovered and that they would be pleased to hand them over on payment of their account —five hundred guineas! The Common-sense Course. For the first time, then, - the captain used his common-sense and went to his solicitor. After a lot pf trouble the letters were obtained, but he had to pay very highly for them, and there is no doubt that should anything of the kino happen again, he will do what others in trouble should invariably do—go first to a reputable solicitor, and leave advertising private detective agencies alone. If a detective is of sound experience and integrity, a really goo'd firm of up-to-date experts, the solicitor will know the fact. Private detectives are like the oldest programme on earth —a necessary evil. There are a number of agencies. Some of them are conducted by ex-officials of Scotland Yard, men who know their job thoroughly and whose honour is beyond question, but there are others who word their advertisements, with such especial appeals as, "If you are in trouble come and let us help you," that the poor victim of some blackmailer, or the wife bound to an unfaithful husband, or the man who has got himself into a mess, appreciating a friendly atmosphere and an offer, which Just touches the right j spot at the right time, accept. They go and seethe principal, pour out all their troubles, and when it is too late realise that they have confided tliQir secret to an unprincipled scoundrel who is now applying the "screw." Readers will recall a trial where a number of men were sentenced to long term 3 of penal servitude —the leader to life imprisonment —for blackmailing an army officer. One of these men posed as a private detective. He had cards which he used to hand out to women in the West End and elsewhere who were in' ; trouble, and ever afterwards he made money out of their stupidity. Tn 1904 some men were sent to prison ' for long terms for conspiracy over tendering false evidence in a divorce cast. \ Divorce is particularly a speciality of the bogus agency. There are such places which will provide "a woman unknown ' to facilitate a divorce at any time, and ; there are shady solicitors who take | advantage of the services thus offered. The strange ways in which people ' make a living are many, but whenever anything of a criminal nature is con- • cerned agencies of the type in question • can always help. Some of them are known to be the disguised headquarters of a gang of crooks; some of them are the collecting places for incriminating : letters "stolen by faithless servants from > their masters and mistresses who have • plenty of money to pay blackmail and a ! position to lose. Some were used exten--1 siveiy 'by moneylenders, and are to-day, ! despite the new Moneylenders Act; s master crooks employ them to help find ; out all about jewel merchants and other ' business men whose premises they intend 5 to rob; all kinds of sordid shadowing and 5 spying falls within their scope. > | For a long time one particular private , detective agency has specialised in pro--3 vidiU" 1 evidence for litigants of question- ; able respectability who want to obtain i damages from insurance companies, and others over accidents, r Nefarious Partnerships. • There used to be a porter at a welll" known hospital who, on a commission basis, supplied information concerning people who. were brought in aftpr acci--3 dents to such an agency. _ The agency had working with it a solicitor who wae ' notorious throughout the profession, and hardly had the victim recovered con- " sciousness" than a man was beside the v bed telling him what damages they coulc " cvet for him and offering to take tht 1 whole matter in hand. The victimi especially the poor victim was usual]j , only too pleased to get something don< f for him. The action for damages woulc be commenced if a claim was nol instantly attended to, and the agencj provided the witnesses, who went intc the box and swore details they had nevei witnessed. When damages were obtainec all the expenses of the agency and th< solicitor had to be paid, together _ wit! their fees, and the result was that if tin r victim got '£5 out of £250 he was i 1 luckv man. The settlement was si 1 cleverly worked that he had no redress A cheque for the full amount would b 6 handed over the desk for the plaintiff k r A clerk would then take it to tli e bank and get cash. With the cash befor •> him the solicitor would then apportioi - it and the dazed victim would be sen >. a way with his very small share. I there were any complaints, the signatur e on the cheque proved that he had hai » the moliey in full. y Women often make use of bogus detec o tive agencies. I refer more particularl. if to that type of woman who seems neve ), to have anything to do. You can see he about the West End, dressed decent!;

and looking into shop -windows every afternoon. Slie does not always look into windows! Actually she is looking out for some man she can victimise, and once she has made a street acquaintance slie inveigles him. Tlie man is lianded over to the agency for their report upon - him. If it shows that the game is -worth while, a business of ensnaring him is developed, and in due course, when he has paid heavily for his amusement, he never sees the woman again. The whole business is a degrading and sordid one; everybody seems 'to know about it, and in consequence those great detectives of Scotland Yard of the past who start for themselves on private work are tarnished by the reputation that gathers round all detective agencies. It should be stopped at once. There is always room for the genuine, and, as every good solicitor knows, there are many things which such gentlemen can do, because of their knowledge of the underworld and of the men who roam through it, which would be impossible to a Scotland Yard official. If you are in trouble, go to a solicitor. Leave all detective agencies alone. Your solicitor will know the right one.— ("Star" and Anglo-American N.S. Copyright.)