\

“|The Castlegar Sun

Wednesday, May 1,1991

Every..con man worth his salt has dreamed of
aving a licence to print money. I’m not referring
:t9 counterfeit bills here; I’m talking the real-thing.
the long history of the confidence trade, the trick
only been pulled off once.
~The con man was Alves Reis. The country was
ortugal and the year was 1924,

e

at the age of
i beach at

7

print the real thing 22

“up an iP trade
with Angola, Alves tried another one of his shortcuts
and ended up behind bars for two months, -

While in
nal scheme to divest the Bank of Pi fa every
ible escudo that Institution could Il! afford, to

jose.

Our boy studied his country's banking system, He
tearned that a law. had been passed In 1887 giving
the Bank of Portugal the exclusive licence to issue
bank notes to the amount of twice its paid up cap!-
tal. Alves also found out that, whenever pressed by
the government, the bank notes far In-excess
of the allowable ratlo, No one at the bank checked
the serial numbers on the bills.

In 1924, Alves drew up a rather ridiculous
document. In essence it stated that an international

roup of financlers would lend Angola five million
lollars, In exchange, the consortium would receive

ie right to issue bank notes to the value of five
million dollars. It sounds inconceivable that a
government or any thinking person would take such
a document serlously,

Undaunted, Alves pressed on. He had the docu-
ment notarized and took the contract to the British
Consulate, where It was adorned with the British
Consular stamp, authenticating the notary’s signa-
ture, That same afternoon, the French and German

the phony Alves
traced the signature of Francisco da Cunha Rego
Chaves, the High Commissioner of Angola, onto hi
impressive contract.
Ives was as slippery as an eel. He gathered a
gone of Influential rascals without really lettin:
em in-on the scheme. At least, not at first. Karl
“Marang, Jose Bandeira and Adolf Hennies were
influential businessmen who had varying degrees of
larceny in their hearts. Marang had been Persia’s
Consiil-General in Amsterdam. Bandeira was Portu-
al’s representative in Holland. He used his
Influence to acquire a diplomatic passport for
Marang from the Portuguesc Chancellory at The
Hague, establishing Marang as an ac ited cou-.
rier for the government of Portugal.

« The conspirators met at The Hague on Dec. 2,
1924. They decided to do with the

é Tana Usa mae 9 iam's office.
Bx 1 were the details of the Angola
iy 5 f currency ‘order that Morang

prison, Alves came up with his phenome- |

; Bank of. Portugal, which Marang promised to Instt-
Peete ha

oT ks later, Maran
aida second visit to Sir wie
0 confidential

suggested Sir Willlam welt
t ty nor of the bank
written. permission
, Suave Maran,
ellver the confl-
ersonally. TI
weeks later, farang paid a
third visit to Sir Willlam. He
brought with him the bank's
reply, suitably forged, of
course,
In regard to serial numbers,
Marang explained to Sir WIl-
liam that they could use the
i same serlal numbers os they
2 had used on previous orders,
It simply didn’t matter, because this batch would be
rinted “For circulation in Angola only.” The

Marang was 80
}, fie took
Unbeliey-

ort,

P The four jubilant conspirators met in The Hague.
[Milllons, of dollars in 500 escudo notes would be
flowing Into Marang’s own company. How could
they handle such large’ amounts of money without
focusing suspicion on themselves?

The boys opened their own bank - Banco da
Angola e Metropole in Operte, The money flowed in.
They lived high off the hog. Reis bought his wife a
large mansion, Bandelra was 80 grateful at becom-
ing a milllonaire, he gave large sums of money to
all five of his mistresses. :

The bank was just’too prosperous. After all, it
isn’t every bank that receives a continuous flow of
funds with no outlay other than the cost of printin,
the bills, Nosy newspaper reporters on the finacla
beat made embarrassing inquiries. A rumor was
born. Was something wrong with the country's
600 escudo notes? In certain Portuguese towns,
storekeepers refused to accept them. Word had it
that the relatively new bank was responsible.

Police paid a routine visit to the bank. In the
basement, they found all four conspirators stuffing
bank notes into suitcases.

Three of the four members of the consortium

were given tong rison sentences. Jose Bandelra

? which printed the Portuguese government’s 500
escudo notes, the ones which feal the likeness
of Vasco da Gama, The unfortunate firm was
Waterlow and Sons of London, England, a reputable
firm which printed banknotes for many govern-
ments of the world, _ _ 4

Marang, dignified, meticulously dressed, showed

| up in the private office of Sir William Waterlow. His

was al hee serving 20 years in prison. He
ended up as the maitre d’ at a cheap night-
club and died in Lisbon in 1960.

Adolf Hennles was released from prison in 1936,
after perving 11 years. He died penniless shortly
after his re lease. His share of the loot has never

rang hired the best lawyers he could find.

The Castlegar Sun :

Page:7B

Nancy Lingley

a diplo-

were le
matic passport. His documentation to act on behalf

of a consortium which, in turn, had the blessing of
ie no

the Bank of Portugal

end.

The con man par excellence produced mock-up
§00 and 1000 escudo notes. They featured the faces

of Luis de Camoes, Portugal's 16th century poet and
Joao de Deus Ramos, a 19th century romantic poet.

woul

Sir William d that th

e fine engl ould
be a difficult job and would take months. He Sug:

ested that the regular Vasco da Gama notes wou

io as well. Marang quickly agreed. The, notes were,
he could’ get around

only.”
the m

joo G HAMPOHE

them over-

ro

Tecovered, Marang opened an electrical business in
Paris, which prospered. He lived in splendor until
his death of natural causes at age 76.

THIS IS FIGHTING
THE WAR ON
DRINKING DRIVERS }

Of Moose and Men: Alaskans try to coexist

David Hulen - Los Angeles Times

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The
traditional Easter egg hunt was not
going well, even before the

of the- |

Anchorage, and as many as 1,200
wild moose remain living among
them. People bere see them all the
time. The animals navigate across

1,000-pound bull moose.
Two feet of snow covered the

FRONT DISC
GRAKE PACKAGE
METALLIC PADS

INCLUDED

syster:.

park. of children’ fanned
out across the snow, but soon many

1 highways. They. stroll
through mall parking lots and sub-
urban neighborhoods. Last winter,
two bulls spent a day smack in the

middle of downtown, ambling past’

were complaining of freezing fin- ¢:office buildings and through alleys.

gers and toes. Several got stuck in
waist-deep snowbanks. Several
were reported missing after wan-
dering into a thick forest.

Veteran police Officer Fred
Jones was dispatched to help round
the kids up. He was trudgii

‘s. Haphazard urban sprawl has left
patches of moose paradise in the
city - miles of woods, swamps and
empty lots between subdivisions
and malls give the animals room to
feed and bed down away from peo-
ple. They jally like city parks

through the woods when he saw

something out of the comer of his +

eye. He tumed and there it stood-a
seven-foot-tall brown hulk with
antlers. It was just a few feet away
and was apparently not happy to
have company.

The moose lowered its head and

charged.
It’s hard to blame the moose for

Anchorage was settled early this
century, the area’s lush wetlands
and willow patches were prime

Today, 230,000 people live in

and the strips of birch forest that
hug creeks flowing through town.
But sharing the city is not always
easy for man or moose. Common
are exasperated tales of a hungry
moose cleaning out garden beds of

sprouts, and munching their way
throu, Jawan plantings.
“We have yuppified moose,"’
said Jeff Lowenfels, a local lawyer
who hosts a weekly television gar-
dening show. “They have finely
developed tastes. They only eat the
most expensive shrubs."”
Despite their bulk - between 600

and 1,500 pounds and up to seven

feet tall at the shoulders - moose
are seemingly docile. But no ques-
tion: They are wild. They kick furi-
ously when comered. Attacks on

people are very rare, although .

moose often turn obnoxious after
being fed, rubbing against win-
dows, nosing up to doors and chas-
ing people to their cars in pursuit of
another handout. Biologists plead
with residents not to offer food.
Moose are also stubbom. Cross-
country skiers routinely face-off with
moose that prefer the cleared trails to
deeper snow. Last year, a moose
into a city intersection and
refused to budge. A policeman
arrived and inched his car forward to
try to get the animal to move on. The
moose reared up, stomped on the
hood and walked off,
_ Until recently, about 100 moose
a year were killed on Anchorage

streets and highways in collisions «

with cars. The worst spot was the

VANCOUVER (SNS) - The num-
ber of vacant nursing positions in
BCis now the lowest in five years.
In February, nursing vacancies
reported to the Registered Nurses

dre only afer you approve our writen estimate
And, we back up Midas-installed brake pods

rocks, St penny :
fagher or ower on salected makes and models "professionals. Wl nt ony da tha fb right, ight

i Nobody tops the.Top Guns.

ie 618 Lake Street.
_ 3 Nelson, B.C...

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Glenn Highway leading out of
town, an expressway that crosses a
moose migration route. Moose
were not the only casualties - peo-
ple were regularly hurt, and a state
study found that moose collisions
on the Glenn caused an average of
$5,000 damage to vehicles,

Then three years ago the state
erected a nine-foot mesh moose
fence lining both sides of the high-
way, and constructed a special
moose underpass to funnel them
beneath the road safely. Biologists
had to put cabbage in the tunnel to
Ture the moose at first, but now the
animals use it regularly and moose
kills on that stretch of road are
down 70 percent.

But there does not seem to be
any way to avoid accidents in
many other parts of the city, espe-
cially on busy highways. And
when people and moose have run-
ins, the moose usually loses.

Nurses needed now

Association of BC by the
province’s hospitals, long term care
facilities and other employers

This compared with a monthly
average of 600 during the first half

great difficulty recruiting nurses,
this doesn't mean that the nurse
shortage is over,’’ Margaret Neylan,
President of the nurses’ association
says.

“There are still signs that there
are too few nurses to provide quali-
ty patient care in some places.”
__‘Neyian also noted improvements

tions thus improving retention,
there has' been an ase in the
-purses who choose to work part-
time are now willing to work more

354-4866)

b.

it's the berries

After plotting and scheming and, finally, just taking the
plunge and doing it, I simply dropped out of sight Jast Friday
and took a whole day off.

“Do not even call me unless somebody dies,” I instructed my
staff on.T “Somebody imp Inder cir-

Unexpectedly. In a sp 1 ”

I was serious about this. 4

Early Friday morning I packed Nearest and Dearest off to his
place of employ looked lly at the house we had
moved into three weeks ago that I hadn’t really seen much of
yet, and decided maybe I should have gone to the office instead
— it would have been easier. Much, much easier, :

But, apparently, nobody had died in the manner I had stipu-
lated by 9:02 a.m., so I rolled up my sleeves and got started on
making this new house some kind of a home.

By necessity, I started with the houseplants which were look-
ing a little limp around the edges and gasping for fluids having
spent the past three weeks in close proximity to the wood heat-
ing stove in the living room without benefit of a drink as I
hadn't yet located the watering can — or the energy to do any-
thing creative, like use a glass or something. :

Ce ing a ful revival of the greenery,
most of which was actually brown, I then hopped right to
unpacking some of the kitchen — then I worked at the pantry a
bit — next I started the living room — and I took a stab at the
upstairs bathroom as well. ‘

My t king efforts were ingly parable to a
shrapnel strike — little bit here, little bit there — and, like
shrapnel, probably nicest where they didn’t hit. After several
hours of unpacking portions of boxes, the house looked much
worse than it didto start with, "

In the end, I had to virtually sweep everything off of the
kitchen counter so I had room to turn the flat of strawberries I
recently purchased into jam.

The flat of berries I ly p d they
were on sale, and I didn’t want to miss strawberry jammaking
this year even though I knew it was entirely ridiculous to plan
j king in addition to all the g-into-th: h
chores that needed to be done that I wouldn’t have time to do.

The flat of strawberries I purchased just hours before Nearest
and Dearest went out to work up the garden and found we had
three whole rows of strawberries of our very own that will ripen
much later in the season when I should have many less moving-
into-the-new-house chores and much more time for strawberry
\jammaking. »

8, a ‘ 5 :
... Three whole rows of strawberrie that Iwill be able to use in,
these recipes. nm Fe aunt .

Seeing as how I now already have two dozen jars of jam in
the pantry. The pantry that is still only partially unpacked —
along with the kitchen and the living room and the upstairs batli-
room.

ee

Frozen Strawberry Squares

A lot like strawberry ice cream. Nice on a hot summer day.

1c. flour :

1/4 c, brown sugar

1/2.c. chopped wainuts

1/2 c. butter or margarine melted

2 egg whites

1c. sugar.

2c. sliced strawberries

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1c. whipping cream, whipped

Stir together flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and melted butter.
Spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F. for 20 minutes,
stirring occasionally, to toast evenly. Sprinkle two-thirds of the
crumbs in a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Combine egg whites,
sugar, strawberries, and lemon juice in a very large bowl. Beat
at high speed until stiff peaks form, about ten minutes. Fold in
the whipped cream. Spoon over crumbs in pan. Sprinkle with
remaining crumbs. Freeze six hours or overnight. Cut in squares
to serve. Makes 12 (3x4) servings. Trim with whole strawber-
ries and puffs of whipped cream, if you wish.

a

Unbaked Strawberry Cream Pie :
This is the recipe for that really good strawberry pie that has
a strawberry pudding-type sauce over fresh strawberries. ©
1 quart hulled strawberries
3 tbsp. comstarch
1c. sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
tbsp. butter or margarine,
baked nine-inch pie shell
1c. whipping cream
2 tbsp. icing sugar ‘
Crush half of the strawberries with a potato masher or fork.
Stir in the cornstarch, sugar, and lemun juice. Cook over medi-
um heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Continue cook-
ing and stirring for two more minutes, The mixture will be
ickened and from heat and stir in butter.
Cool. Cut remaining berries in half, saving the six nicest ones.
Fold sliced raw berries into cooked mixture. Turn into pie shell.
Chill at least two hours. Whip the cream with the icing sugar,

* and spread over the pie. Gamish with the whole berries that you
‘ saved. Makes six or eight servings. ;

Dear Ann Landers; You print-
eda letter from a woman who
loathed her husband and made it a
point to tell her children every rot-
ten thing he did. You advised her
to get counseling and dissipate her
rage before she did irreparable:
harm

Please don’t quit saying it, Ann,”
I'm at an age (40) when many of
my friends are cither recovering

+ from a divorce or are in the middle

of one. The way they talk to their
children about their spouses is
appalling.

My parents divorced when I
was 6, and I've never stopped
thanking my mom for the’ classy
way sbe handled it. My dad was a
terrible husband and a lousy father,
but I came to those conclusions on
my own. Mom never uttered a
word against him. Not once did she
say, “We can't afford that because
"your father hasn’t been sending the
support checks,” I knew. without
being told that he. dressed like a
prince and iad plenty of money to
spend on partying and trips for

himself, ;
Ifa father is abusive, imesponsi-
ble and never around when he is
needed, the children know it. No
child needs to. have these things
spelled out, When marriages fall
apart the children invariably get hit
by some flying debris, How much
better for everyone if there is no

Ann
Landers

Syndicated
Columnist

tall the new officers in our organi-
zation.’ Everyone was in formal
attire, There were 200 people in
attendance. — .

When the chairperson raised
her baton to quict the crowd and
open the meeting, the zipper on her
gown broke. That zipper went
from the back of her neck down to
her hem. She gracefully finished
her speech-and walked over to
where the other officers were seat-
ed. They all removed their name
badges and pinned her gown
closed. She then proceeded to
chair the mecting without missing

abeat.
My busband, who is usually

placing of blame, — Vancouver
Dear Van: Children always see
+ and understand more than we think,
Thanks for saying it so well.

Dear Ann Landers: Your col-
umn on zippers made me laugh. It
also reminded me of my favorite
story. Perhaps you'd like to share it
with your readers.

Last year we had a banquet to in

very |, said in a loud voice,
“Now THAT'S what I call a classy
Indy!” —LK. Seattle

Dear Seattle: The lady is not
only classy, but cool-headed in the
face of disaster. She gets my vote
for Woman of the Year. :

Dear Ann Landers: A close
friend asked me to be a bri i

Appalling bahaviour by spouses

Out of the blue her mother
announced to the wedding gtten-
dants that she was giving a befdal
shower at a restaurant and inviting
100 guests, She then told us thacwe
would need to contribute $150 cach
toward the luncheon. ae

Ann, I have been an attendarft in
a number of weddings, but never
have I been expected to Hite
toward a bridal shower. The show-
ers I have participated in have béen
intimate gathering of 20 to 40 close
friends and relatives.

I can't afford this added expense
in addition to buying a gown, shoes
and headpiece. Since the wedding
is almost a year away and the
dressed have not yet been ordered,
I could still bow out, but I'm afraid
it will damage my friendship with

her daughter. Tell ber you can’t
afford to partici Period. If this

in her wedding. I was delighted

and accepted without hesitation.

means you are out of the wedding,

so beit.

~ews:of-. the

Wer

flee three times. Kanflee then did
flee, put police picked ber up later,

Schemes

¢ A 23-year-old woman, nine
months pregnant but freshly arrest-
ed for shoplifting jewelry in Madi-
son, Wis., in January, was rushed to
the hospital when it appeared she
had gone into labor. However, doc-
tors found that she was not in labor,
but rather that some jewelry she had
hidden in her vagina had moved
dangerously into ber birth canal.

« Among the items the venerable
Stanford University was accused of
billing the federal government for
recently in some expense account
rigmarole (as uncovered by the
General Accounting Office) were
the enlarging of president Donald
Kennedy’s bed, the purchase of
special sheets for the bed, and
$6,000 to line his bedroom closet
with cedar. (Kennedy stood by his
interpretation that federal regula-
tions permitted the expenses.)

« Eugene Roscoe, 55, was
indicted by a grand jury in Houston

current compilation of | in February for defrauding prospec-
themostpeculiarthings _ tive employers in at teast 38 states

people do, edited by. Chuck
Shepherd os
Proof that true stories.are

i
weirder than made-up
stories. .

Wilma Jean Kanflee, 28, of
North Wilkesboro, N.C., went to
Tumer Gwyn's front door in Jan-
uary to apologize for having robbed
him twice, but he refused to let her
in, claiming that, as per the Bible,
he had already forgiven her.
Demanding to face him, the hefty
woman broke the door down.
Gwyn grabbed a gun and shot Kan-

out of travel expenses during the
time he, was, interviewing for jobs.
He ‘apparently ‘avoided landing the
jobs by feig@iinig ignorance at cru-
cial points in the interviews. Said
one investigator, “he was making
very good money (more than
$100,000 a year) doing job inter-
views as a career.”

« According to a lawsuit filed by
a former Fordham University stu-
dent in October, Dr. Julio M. Soto
(Affiliated with the school) told ber
two years before that she had her-
pes and somehow managed to con-
vince her that a “secret vaccine
could be administered most effec-

tively if it were immediately pre-
ceded by sexual intercourse with
the administer.
° Salviano Williams, 29, was
convicted in New Bem, N.C., in
September of defrauding the gov-
ernment by claiming to be a
“bermaphrodite” married to a male
U.S. Army sergeant so the
sergeant's military pay would be
higher. A government physician
said Williams is male, but
Williams insisted that he (or she)
is female.

¢ David A. Brown was found
guilty of murdering his wife in Los
Angeles last June, despite a confes-
sion by his daughter, Ci

ed on drug charges in Jackson,
Tenn., earlier inthe year, and she
was arrested at her league team's
weekly match,
Khari Fulton of Louisville,
Ky., wanted on a 1986 drug
charge, came to officers’ attention
in February when a former co-
worker said she had seen him sev-
eral months before as a contestant
on “The Price Is Right.” (Police
were able to track iim down form
biographical information he had
given the show's producers)
* A Chicago detective was.in a
store in June, showing, the
clerk an artist's drawing of aynan

then 14, four years ago. Cinnamon
had served nearly four years in
reform school before tuming her
father in. Brown’s motive was that
he wanted to marry his wife's sister,
then 17 (and who also subsequently
went to jail in the murder plot), and
convinced Cinnamon to be the hit
woman (persuading her that her
youth status would nearly excuse
ber from punishment). Brown sub-
sequently allegedly plotted the mur-
ders of three other people.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

* Police in Williamson County,
Texas, panicked in November,
flooding the area with squad cars
after a woman reported seeing a car
driving off with a body partially
sticking out of a trunk. When police
located the car, an auto mechanic
said be was riding there to locate a
rattling noise for the driver.

¢ Amanda Guild, 30, got her
name and photo in the
Saginaw(Mich.) News in October
for bowling a 587 series to earn
“bowler of the week” honors. An
IRS agent recognized ber as want-

of writing bad checks.
beside the detective atthe
counter, preparing to write svyet
another bad check, was the suspect,
Rick Bosco. Bosco abruptly fled,
drawing the detective’s suspicion,
and was soon

¢ In Birmingham, Ala., repeat
offender Issac Peterson happened
to have his bail hearing set in
Febmary for the moming after Dis-
trict Judge Jack Montgomery had
become fed up with criticism from
the mayor that he sets bail too low.
Peterson's bail was raised.from
$5000 to $9000 trillion. Bo

« Israeli prison inmate David
Hagnazer, 35, asked the supreme
court Iast year to move convicted
Nazi war criminal John Demjarijuk
(“Ivan the Terrible"), who was
being housed in the cell formerly

+ (Send your Weird News to
Chuck Sheperd, P.O. Box 5714],
Washington, D.C., 20037) t

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