The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-12-22
THE YERKE5 CASE.

ttOnB An Insight Into Wall street TranDuc.
tioBs- aeport Of the Special Committee Of
the Philadelphia Board Of Brokers.
From the Philadelphia Press Dec. 1871
Soon after the failure OF charles I. Yerkes, Jr,
the Board OF Brokers Of TINS city appointed COM
mittee to make On examination OF MS AFFAIRS and 20
report the result OF such examination to the Board
As Will DO seen from the annexed report. the COM
mittee Immediately entered upon the discharge or
their luty, and In cioslng their report state that
they ind no evidence OF any Intention to defraud.
The following is the result
The committee appointed to report upon the
failure OF Mr.. q. I. ierkes Jr., have made some-
what EXTENDED examination OF h,s affairs and beg
to present the following as tue result
In u business amounting TO from SIX TO nine mil
Hons Of dollars month 1t would, Vi course. be i'm.
possible AS II Is unnecessary, to enter into an
examination OF Items or to trouble themselves with
exact amounts, oar object being principally TO In
qulre into the character OF his transactions. the
cause Of ms failure, and as far as possible, the
present position Oh MS anars; ~ AS some o. MS
II would be unwlse IN us to pass Judgment upon
them, but we are free to say, aud wu do so most
unreservedly, that after careful examination we
cannot find evidence o, any Intention To deiraud or
deceive. Assisted by an almost Unlimited credit,
allowed himself 10 De drawn into enormous
III the stock market with every prospect or
was suddenly arrested by the panic growing out OF
the Chicago ire, and forced TO suspend, and ven
lures which without that Unforeseen event would
being bold and successful operator, have brought
upon MIN financial ruin ana brought him before
the court OF law to be Judged upon criminal
charge.
stOcAs received aud not paid for about. $500
That he has paid for STOCKS not delivered
aoout. ........................ 71OO
In all about. SIS, 100
very small amount when VIC consider the fact
that his books show that there Is due him by mem
bers OF the Board who have famed from time TO
mp D.
Wnlle customers Tor whom he operated owe
Nun. soOu0
oHr attee feel assured and speaI aaviseasy
when they say that the failure 10 deliver stocks
winch were paid Tor, ana to make checks good fol
wnicn stocks were received grew entirely our OF The
cation, and the sudden and absolute failure OF those
means OF credit on which he had Deen accustomed
to rely. These facts not OF course alter the ma
ture OF this transaction, or In any way lgften the
loss which some vi our mem oers suffer- but thev
eve MI. Yerkes OF many mputatons as to his lnten-
TONS and may probably have some effect In deter
mlnlng the course OF action which ought to De pur.
In reference 10 his transactions with the city OIL.
ciai we, OF course, refrain from going Into partcu-
lars, Us they are now being examined before
proprley that, according TO his books on
October /, the amount OF city loan held by
MIN NEARLY all Of which was hypotnecatedJ
lie n0ugnt from October TO To- ............. 900
He bought IRON the CITY treasury, payable
In ali Observation-Disclosures. $50 900
He sold from October l 10 10, to brokers and
He sold 10 the Sinking Fund. 49,. $4,000
- 114,O00
Leaving to mis- credit. ........ $396, 600
SO thai, had there been no interruption to his
usual manner OF conducting his transactions with
the City Treasurer. his transfers would have been
made, and there would have been o large amount
still under his control. Mr.. Yerkes estimated his
assets on the 1st OF June last, as per his balance
sheet OF that date, $294 $50
His balance sheet, made up TO october IL,
shows debt o.. 643, $3.50
difference in little over four months or $sss, 47s
The following are some or the Items which 90 to
make up this very large amount:-
He spent upon the Swatara coal
properly ABOUT ................. SZoo, OoO
Estimated value by appraisers. ...... 10000
LOSS. flI5,0
Loss on estimated value of 1000 shares OF
seventeenth and Nineteenth streets Pas.
senger Railway. ......................... $4,000
Loss on Reading Railroad. ............ n, 600
Loss on Lenlgh Navigation .-........... $4,000
Loss on Philadelphia and Erie Railroads.. 10000
Loss on sundry stocks generai account. IA, 900
Loss on PENNSYLVANIA Railroad. ........... 10000
Loss on on creeK. IL, GOO
Loss interest account $1,000
Board and others. ......... .............. $4,000
Estimated value OF assets. ..............2 $50, 900
Total. .................. ...... $780, 900
These items, as we said before. are not exact and
are given In round numbers merely 70 show the
channels through which these heavy losses were
made.
In conclusion we cannot refrain from expressing
actions no evidence whatever OF any intention 4
defraud, and, while we would not extenuate me
fants Of MT. Yerkes or tako one iota fromtne
Odium which naturally attaches itself 10 sush .
reckless risking OF borrowed MONEY! we ma. saw