A DETECTIVE'S CAREER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10037, 25 January 1896, Page 2 (Supplement)

A DETECTIVE'S CAREER.

RETIREMENT OF A FAMOUS OFFICER, After a seryicq of 20 years Inspector Henry Taylor, ono of the principal officers in the detective department of the Old Jewry, Holbprn, has retired on a pension, There is porhaps (says a London paper) no better known officer than Mr. Taylor in the City force, both on aocQunb of his many good qualities and the almost phenomenal success which has attendod his efforts in running to earth the expert criminal, more especially tho forger. During his long service ho has lytd mjuiy curious adventures, but none more so that which happened during his last visit to Normandy, whither he went in company with another officer to arrest Mrs. Osborne, of Pearl-earring fame. Landing in a village, it is unnecessary to observe' somewhat quietly, the officers became objects. of great suspicion on the part of some rural French officers, both military and civil, and in the result they were arrosted on a charge of boing Gorman spies, but after a short detention, during which they were within an nee of being placed in the cells of a police depot, they' wore released. There is hardly a banking establishment in the City, from the Bank of England downwards, that hiu,not availed itself, and with advantages, of the services of this officer, but- theso services have on many occasions beon of great moment to the community nt large. Tnko, for instance, his work in connection with the recent raoooourso bank-note forgeries. The Bank of England authorities discovered that forged notos of £5 and £20 were being circulated freely and frequently on racecourses, and by this means not only bookmakers, but the general public, were boing defrauded. The matter was placed in tho hands of Mr. Taylor, who within a very short time succeeded in running to oartli a gang of American forgors, who, having headquarters on the Continent, wore in the habit of sending to London weekly largo parcels of notes. How they obtained the paper remains a mystery, but it is known that the notos were copiod by means of pon and ink, and so cleverly was this done that it was not until they roughed the department of the Bank of England in which notos are checked and destroyed that tho forgeries were detected, The presence of Mr, Taylor on several racecourses put the wily Yankees on their mottle and they flod, but although no arrests wore effected, the forgeries were stopped.

THE SHARPEST BIT OF WORK which is credited to this officer took place some three years ago, when ho was successful in securing tho arrest in Hamburg of four Italians, who by means of some forged Spanish four per cent, bonds obtained from various foreign banks iu London nearly, £'25,000, tho Credit Lyonnaiso being a very heavy sufferer, Receiving tho information of the forgcrios oil a Monday morning, Mr. Taylor made inquiries, and before two days had passed he obtained such good clues that ho was enabled to proceed direct to Hamburg, whore, with the assistance of the German police, the men were arrested the day following the officer's arrival there. The valuo of this promptitude was estimated rightly wlion it became known that £12,000 in English money and notos was found in the possession of the moil arrested. It was through Mr. Taylor's instrumentality that Bavan, tho most notorious and expert forger living, was arrestod by the French police atLille, whore lie was living in a small palace with ono of the handsomest of tho demimonk of France. An inquiry from Lille made to Messrs. Cook, tho well-known tourists, for a letter of credit was surrounded by so many suspicious circumstances that tho matter was referred to Old Jewry, where it was passed on to Mr. Taylor. He at once recognised the scheme as one of Captain Bovan's, and oil his communicating with the police at Lille Bevan, who had managed to keep out of the hands of the police for many years, was arrested. That a mere detail omitted by the most expert forger may lead to detection is shown forcibly in the case of a couple of forgers, who passed through Mr. Taylor's hands as long ago as 1870. A Borough tailor made some clothing for an American gentleman, and when tho time cainu for payment the latter handed him a cheque drawn in his favour on the Joint Stock Bunk, Borough branch, which the tailor duly paid into his account. Tho cheque, however, was returned " Refer to drawor," and the mutter was placed in the hands of the police. The cheque proved to be that of a customer who had only recently opened an account, and it was for the whole amount standing to his credit, but in tilling it in the drawer forgot that ho was debited with the small amount of 8s 4d for 100 cheque forms ho had had on opening the account, and thus the bank refused to honour the cheque, and marked it as stated übovo, Tho Borough tradesman, happening to see his customer pass his shop one evening, followed him and

GAVH HIM INTO CUSTODY, and lie was taken to Stone's End Polico Station. When searched he was found in position of 11 number of bank-notes, some chemicals in phials, and other apparatus used by (orders. The numbers of the notes were circulated, and they proved to be tho«o paid by a bank in the East End of London in payment of a very cleverly forgod cheque. The cheque in question had been inado out for £."> 0* Bu, but had beon chemically treated and the amount altered to £500 0s Bd, This led to further inquiries, and tho man was identified by Mr. Taylor as an American physician, who used his chemical knowledge in the preparation of forged cheques and notes. The cheque which tho man handed the Borough tailor was perfectly genuine, although it was that of another forger. It seems that a notorious criminal named Watson (ho had some hundreds of aliases) had succeeded in robbing a London magistrate travelling on the Continent of aomo ten circular notes of £10 each, but without the ktirt (Vindication, Time notes were practically worthless until he was introduced to the American physician. Under tho latter's direction Watson obtained a letter of indication and some circular notes, and the numbers of the stolon notes were altered so as to correspond with those issued with Watson's lettor, and thus enable them to be cashed. This was dono on the Continent, but tho two men quarrelled, and after they had eventually agreed on a division of the spoil, Watson gave the American physician a cheque for the whole amount standing to his credit at a Borough bank, forgetting tho debit, against) him for his cheque-bonk. The American proved to bo an escaped convict from the American prison of Sing Sing, whero he was serving out a sontonco of fifteen years. It was some time before Mr. Taylor found Watson, which he did in London, and on tho way to tho station ho threw a pocket-book out of the window of the cab, which proved that at various London banks Watson had standing to his credit, under various names, over £15,000. In the result tiie American got ten and Watson seven years' penal servitude. The American gave valuable information to tho Homo Office, and ho was released after "doing" five years, hut in 1892 he was again arrested at St. Louis, and is now serving out a sentence in Sing Sing.