The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-02 00:00:00

BANK FRAUDS AT FALKIRK.

The trial which has just taken place at Stirling
has resulted in a verdict which promises to form a
very useful example. Mr. Salmon, the manager of
the Falkirk branch of the Commercial Bank of
Scotland, wa, recently discovered to have misappro-
priated between 25,000/. and 30,0001. of the sums►
entrusted to him. He was a justice of the peace,
an elder of the church, an ex-provost of the town,
and a prominent political leader. When he found
that his delinquency had become known he ab-
sconded, and hanged himself in the stable of a
public-house. The course of legal justice was
therefore in his case ended. But there had been
two clerks in the establishment, named Reid and
Gentles, who had been fully cognisant of his
proceedings, as they had abetted him in falsi-
fying the books, 'although they do not appear to
have participated in the slightest degree in the
plunder. These men the bank were advised to
prosecute criminally, and the jury by a majority of
nine to six has just pronounced them guilty. The
considerations that as very young men they were
greatly under the influence of a personage enjoying
the local pos.-Lion of Mr. Salmon, that they had
hitherto conducted themselves respectably, and that
they had not personally had a single farthing of the
money, were at the same time allowed due weight,
and they were recommended in the strongest pos-
sible manner to the leniency of the Court. Lord
Handyside, the judge, concurred in this view within
proper limits, and instead of transportation their
sentence was eighteen months' imprisonment in
Perth Penitentiary. The wholesome lesson will ac-
cordingly go forth that all persons who wilfully
assist in concealing pecuniary malpractices, even
though they may themselves take no share of the
proceeds of the fraud, are liable to ignominious
punishment. Generally, in such cases, the plea
that the parties have derived no pecuniary or other
benefit from the defalcations which have been tole-
rated excites a certain kind of false sympathy, as if
they had been actuated by no bad motive, or, per-
haps, even by a kindly and unselfish one. Nothing
could be more vicious than such a doctrine, and
there will be no safety in the management of any
public companies until it is put down. All who ac-
cept situations of trust have a clear duty before
them. If they neglect that duty it must be for
some motive of personal gratification. Many who
are indifferent about money will break a trust
solely that they may feed their vanity. Thus, occa-
sionally, in Boards of Direction humble men will
wink at misdeeds by which they ostensibly gain
nothing, merely to curry favour with more pre-
suming spirits. Some again, from a grasping conceit
or a desire .to have a field for favouritism, will
accept positions of responsibility to watch over the
property of others which they never intend in the
slightest degree to fulfil, or for which they may be
utterly incapable. They take the reward and cheat
their clients of the service—an unstigmatised sort
of larceny of which two or three notable instances
have lately been furnished. Others will assist a per-
sonal acquaintance to help himself to the funds of
strangers just as they would let a favourite dog
commit depredation on the premises of their neigh-
bours. Some are corrupted by social amenities and
a dazzling patronage. But for such people the
tribe of which Colonel Waugh and Mr. Salmon are
apparently specimens would enjoy a very limited
career. Yet, although the motive in each of
these cases is as selfish and despicable as if it
had sprung simply from the acquisitive pro-
pensity, society has hitherto taken little account
of them. Let it be understood that every breach
of duty written or implied is primarily alike dis-
graceful and involves liability, whatever may be
the subsequent pleas of mitigation of punishment,
and such exposures as have defaced the commercial
records of the civilised world during the past four
or five years will gradually cease. The public have
the matter in their own hands, and the case now
reported from Stirling gives them an important
precedent in the right direction.