The banker (Part 1)
Findlay Nicholson was a young man in his early twenties. He had recently relocated to Johannesburg from Durban in pursuit of a job at the Barclays Bank DCO, leaving behind a beautiful young lady he had courted. A stable career in banking beckoned. The year was nineteen thirty-nine. Findlay’s job description as a new recruit involved fairly menial clerical tasks at the branch on the corner of Simmonds and Market Streets. After a short while he was assigned a mentor and had to learn the ropes while studying assiduously towards his first “Bank Exams.” One of his duties was to shadow his mentor who daily had to take responsibility for a briefcase containing cash and cheques to the value of thousands of pounds. This briefcase had to wend its way along Simmonds Street to the recently completed South African Reserve Bank building on the corner of Simmonds and Fox. Upon arrival, the day’s transactions would be escorted through enormous, ornate wooden doors to the clearing house flo...
