Tahiti’S “Crime

Wave”

Foreigner Tries a Little “Chicago Business”

From Our Own Correspondent.

Papeete, Dec. 18.

CONCERNING the reports of thefts and “hold-ups” in Tahiti, sent to the P.I.M. by private correspondents, which have been previously commented upon in these notes as being sensational and misleading, we have been asked to give publicity to the following account of an incident, not without its amusing side, which occurred in the Paea district a little ago.

A young American couple were taking supper one moonlight evening on the verandah of their bungalow. The meal concluded, the lady repaired to her bed room to discover that all the drawers, lockers, and closets had been opened and the mattresses pulled away from the beds.

At first, it was thought that some friend was playing a practical joke, but when two pocket books were found to be missing, containing personal papers, passports, and letters of credit, as well as a certain amount of cash, the seriousness of the affair became apparent. Evidently, the burglar was someone familiar with the habits of the house, who had found no difficulty in doing his work at one end of the building while the meal was in progress at the other; and the police, who were immediately informed of the occur rence, were inclined to attribute the robbery to some escaped native prisoners, who were still at large, and who, it was certain, had been responsible for some thefts of food, etc., of a less serious nature.

Nothing more happened until three days afterwards, when our American friend received through the post a blackmailing letter couched in the best style of the Chicago crook, as expounded in sensational crime movies and detective stories.

And, so that there could be no mistake about the matter, the half of a club membership card from one of the stolen pocket-books was enclosed.

The writer, who used the French language, demanded a sum of 25,000 francs, which he estimated as half the negotiable value of the letter of credit, as his price for returning the papers. If this was satisfactory to the victim, he was to make a sign of the cross in the dust of the roadway near his house, and deliver the sum demanded, done up in a small pack age of 1000-franc notes on the Bank of France, to a party who would present himself the next evening, and who would identify himself by showing the other half of the club membership card. The letter then went on to say that should these instructions be followed the papers would be returned by post within a few days, and was signed “Your evil Spirit.”

The police were duly informed of this latest development and soon afterwards apprehended a Czecko-Slovakian, who had acquired a shady reputation before his arrival in Tahiti, and who latterly had the Americans’ maid-servant as his paramour, and was living with that lady in a house not very far distant. None of the stolen papers were discovered in his possession, but sufficient incriminating evidence was found to convict him of the theft. He is now serving a two years’ sentence, at the expiration of which he probably will be deported.

Let us hope that this will be the last of Tahiti’s so-called “crime wave.”