The top story in the Caymanian Compass on Tuesday, 1 June 1976 was “Crown seeks extradition order for missing Jamaicans” and was on the ongoing issue of the trial involving the four Jamaicans who were charged with committing assault and false imprisonment against New Zealander Gerald Brian Chambers and his former secretary, Angela Palomino of Jamaica. The trial had been adjourned to take place sometime after 1 Sept. In the interim, the Crown planned to expedite extradition proceedings to bring back three of the men whose bail was forfeited by the Grand Court after their non-appearance.
There was a photo and an article on the Rotary two-day fishing tournament, where Andre Jackson caught the largest fish – a 110-pound blue marlin.
The top article in the Friday, 4 June 1976 issue was “Jean Doucet plans to pursue appeal by all means”, which was on the banker who founded Interbank, the home of Sterling Bank, and The International Bank, which was in liquidation. Doucet had been released from the George Town Prison, having spent six months of a sentence of nine months – but he planned to pursue an appeal “by all means”. He also had completed a 400-page book ‘When all The Banks Failed’ and sent it to publishers in New York. Many friends and family were at the airport to wish him ‘Bon Voyage’ and were heard to say, “He has done more good than bad” and similar phrases.
A small article appeared with a story on how local bank managers stopped a swindle by chasing down the culprits directly. “In an attempted confidence scheme, two Canadian men managed to withdraw nearly $100,000 from five different local banks on a bad check deposited in Canada, and attempted to leave the island,” the article stated. However, due to “quick thinking among the bank managers”, they were able to stop the men before they departed and return the alleged stolen funds to the banks. The bank managers went as a group to the airport, approached the men and demanded their money. The FBI was alerted in Miami and Ottawa (where a third man was waiting) and the men were reported to have been taken into custody.
The editorial in the Friday edition covered two topics: “British pound falls” and “Bicentenary stamps”.
“The steady deterioration of the British pound sterling has given rise to the question as to what effect this will have on the Cayman Islands,” it stated.
“On the overall assessment, Cayman is not suffering as a result of the current sterling devaluation, because the government of the country had the foresight two years ago to break with sterling and join the dollar area.”
The new stamps, which were issued to commemorate the bicentenary of the US, were on sale in Grand Cayman. “The five denominations all depict the seals of the first 13 States that joined the union when America achieved Independence 200 years ago.”
A small advertisement appeared on page 10 for the 19th Hole Restaurant and Bar.
The Cayman Compass searchable archives, going back to 1965, are now available here.
Related Videos
