Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-03-11
s42,5OO

Both hwiththe.................-....s2l,276 with the. ,276
And. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. .......... 2l,224
s42, 500
Up to January, Is4S, the bank gets interest
on State Stocks for only 50 1903, and $500,
making 81, 1903 purchased through Goddard &
st. John; but in May and July, 1s4s interest is
paid on $53 s03-which is on the $40, 500, as
above, and SIl ,304 ofGoddard & St John; and
so again six months after; and through ls49
and 1850 --t
We had looked into this matter with due pa
tienee and most persevering care and scrutiny,
without being able to clear up satisfactorily to
ourselves, the mystery that hangs about this
transaction. We would not do injustice to any
one by ungrounded suspicious, but yet, when
conclusions are forced upon us by attending cir
cumstances, we must adopt them, and state
them as they are We shall be most happy to
see this matter yet fully explained.
In January and February, ls4s, arrangements
were perfected by which the Bank passed from
Goddard & st. John to Joseph S. Lake and his
friends. This is doae by few entries IN the
books without the payment of any money God
dard and St John owe $685. ,S53. They hand
back S3s, 500 of the stock of the bank, which, as
| explained already, and understood at the begin
HluB3 CunSlLutcS Tic llcLuS lIOul WHICH 0OQQGiu
& st. Johns indebtedness arises-stock install
ments being merely charged to them as they are
called for and they also then for the first time,
charge on the books of the bank for State stocks
purchased by these parties, SlI, 1903, as previ-
ously stated, which, with premiums and inte-
rest, make up their balance. The bank books
however, look as if $50, ,s53 had been drawn up
on Goddard d st. John, and as if S39 500 had
been remitted to New York. Joseph S. Lake is
charged with SIS, 500; ]. C. Coleman SO, 600,
and State stocks and premiums with the remain
der
TIE stock books, however, show stock pur-
| chases and transfers for corresponding amounts,
and explain the real scope of the transaction=
Thus Goddard d st. John disappear, and Joseph
s. Lake becomes owner of the bank, and Its
eastern banker, his stock indebtedness now
being the eastern exchange .rt
March l, ls4e, s. II. Mann resigns, and War
rem Jenkins is sent out by Joseph 5. Lake from
New York to be cashier. -
On the same day Gaylord ceases to be Presi-
dent, and j. L. Hewitt Lakes son-in-law, be-
comes President.
April IL, ls4s, Joseph S. Lakes Indebtedness
becomes suddenly wiped out, and when we ex-
anime into the cause, it is done through the
notes of Hewitt, Jenkins, J. P. Bishop, Bray
ton Gates and l.. II. Bishop, they buying his
stock in the Bank
Their stock afterwards gets in great part to
r. Kruger, thence to Kruger d Tucker, thence
to H. A. Tucker, thence to McNulty, another
son-in-law of Lakes, thence to A. d o. Klemm,
one son-in Law, all in succession, owners of
the bank, and its eastern banker IN Lakes in.
terest, and finally to NJ johnson, Mcmillan and
Hewitt, the latter being all the while a nominal
stockholder with the others named, and its
President. We think and believe that after
Goddard and ST. John left, all stock changes
were mere kItiDg operations for Joseph
Lakes benefit, and that he all the while was
the real owner-Kruger, MeNulty and Klemm
being eastern bankers in their own name but
really for Joseph s. Lake; at any rate we find
Lake, in 1854, the sole possessor of the nom
inal stock of the bank (Sl0O, ,000) although not
so on the books, less on the 81, 500 of Mr..
Wood, who was SO disgracefully swindled out
of his public stocks, all of which we will advert
to hereafter in due order of time
January 8, lS49, Warren jenkins resigns as
cashier, and same day T. c. Severance is elect
ed in his place, who occupies this position to
the last Alter that date no elections of direc-
tors are recorded, nor any examination OF books
madei T. G. Severance became sole and abso-
Lutte manager of the bank, adroit in book entries,
financial makeshifts, and paper metamorphosis
of every description and his talents in that line
alone kept the bank afoat. Probably there
have been few bank officers in the United
States who could make their bank appear so
clean, when at the same time it was so very
foul He appears to have thus imposed upon
his very associates In business, the public ex
aminers, and ultimately Mathew johnson, Nc
MILAN and Hewitt lIi1l1 -=
That Severance and Lake should have de-
ceived Mathew Johnson, himself banker, an
old business and banking acquaintance, speaks
volumes for their expansive financial abilities
1t reminds US forcibly of that interesting con
test between the two great painters in oden
time, which was yielded by the one On being
presented by his rival picture represented as
covered by a curtain, who on being asked to
remove the curtain, replied, ''the curtain is the
picture" Severance deserves the palm Of dis
tinction this fact gives him, and bank examiners,
who have been deceived by him, may well plead
this fact 10 extennation of their failure to see
what was 50 well hidden i
We have procured from the present Receiver,
Mr., J. NJ. Armstrong. the tabular statement
which is annexed as Document No. l TO this
part of our Report, and to which we refer the |
reader in explanation of the items and periods |
herein before spoken Of The statements con-
talns in tabular form every balance sheet ever
made by the Bank, and as it exhibits most |
clearly its workings, it win be extremely use
tpl to ell reading tins report as convenient
reference. l
We invite special attention to the item
"Stocks furnished by stockholders" an account
pretending to contain the State Stocks furnish-si
ed or purchased by Stockholders, while no such