As promised, this week’s blog will return to the theme of crimes in the milling world. This week’s crimes, however, took place after roller milling was introduced and have come from the pages of different Milling Journals from around the world that reported the crimes.
Case Number One is the tale of a Canadian flour dealer on the run after skipping out of town with his customers’ money. Fugitive: Leon M. Carrier. Aggrieved Party: Canadian Pacific Railway. Tracking Mr. Carrier down: Pinkerton Agency.
On 29 November 1893, the flour dealer, Leon M. Carrier, arrived in Quebec under the care of Detectives Patry and Walsh. He had left that city 203 days previously, leaving 45 carloads of flour – amounting to $35,000 – unpaid for and many flour merchants without their flour. Carrier had ‘skipped out’ with the money received from these merchants for their flour, leaving the Canadian Pacific Railway to deal with the bank. The railway company was forced to either give the banks the grain or the money, they paid the $35,000 all the while ‘determined that Carrier should not escape’. They hired the Pinkerton’s Agency to track him down and soon a worldwide chase began…
Carrier’s journey took him from Quebec to New York City, then to Southampton, then Havre, then Paris, then Geneva, Paris again, London and back to New York. Once in America he met his wife in Chicago and then went on to Mexico without her. Next he travelled to Denver, to be with his wife again, and it was here that his worldwide travels finally ended. He was arrested ‘on nine warrants issued at Quebec and charging him with the larceny of the cars’. However, this was not the end of his story. The offence of ‘obtaining goods under false pretences’ was not one that was ‘extraditable under the extradition treaty’, so Carrier’s four lawyers fought to prevent it. Judge Hinsdale of Denver decided to hold Carrier for extradition after hearing the case for three weeks. Carrier and his lawyers then appealed to the Secretary of State, Walter Q. Gresham. He upheld the decision of Judge Hinsdale so Carrier had to return to Canada to face charges, but not before bribing the gaolers in Denver with $7,500 to let him go, which they did! This act was discovered and the gaolers were indicted before the Grand Jury whilst Carrier returned, under guard, to Quebec.
Case Number Two is the story of an English engineering firm whose machinery was seized by the Commissioner of Customs in Australia. Engineering Firm: Messrs. T. Robinson and Sons Ltd. Customers: Messrs. Gillespie, Aitken, and Scott, at Dights Falls, and Messrs. Kickham and Co., Echuca.
On 15 November 1887, The Argus reported the seizure of milling machinery after an ‘alleged attempt by the local representative of the firm of Messrs. T. Robinson and Sons Limited, of Rochdale, England, to pass through the Customs-house a quantity of roller-milling machinery at an undervaluation’. They believed that the machinery imported for Messes. Gillespie, Aitken, and Scott, should be valued at £7,000, whilst the invoice stated £2,064. The machinery for Messrs Kickham and Co., on the other hand, was only invoiced at £629 whilst it was estimated that it should have been valued at £3,000. On the back of this information, Mr. Walker, the Commissioner of Customs, seized the machinery and regarded the invoice as being ‘valueless’.
The ‘local representative’ for Messrs T. Robinson and Sons Ltd., however, was not concerned. Indeed, Mr. Woods stated that ‘he is not at all afraid of the issue of the investigation’ and was confident the case would be settled in his favour. Unfortunately this report does not state the outcome of the case as Mr. Walker was waiting for the rest of the machinery for Messrs. Gillespie, Aitken, and Scott to arrive so he could have ‘further ascertained the merits of the case’. Whether Mr. Walker or Mr. Woods was correct, a crime does appear to have taken place here, even if Mr. Woods was successful in blaming a third party.
Case Number Three is the case of the advertising burglar! He was not a real thief, nor did he advertise his crimes. Instead, this so called “Dust” Collector was used to advertise real Dust Collectors in this advert from The Northwestern Miller. I’ll let you judge the effectiveness of the advert for yourself:
