The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-01-17
MISCELLANY,
THE MISSING BONDS.
How $4,000 was Taken from the
Fountain Savings Bank---And
HOW the Money was IT,
Recovered
TFros1 the New York Times ]

i
do not think that any story in this IN
credulous. age gains additional strength
from the assertion that it is founded on
fact. All have to say in regard to what
follows IS that, as to the main events OF
my story, what | write is absolutely and
unequiveeally true, and that if It was
necessary | could place my finger to-day
on some of the principal actors. / have
purposely disguised all the names, places
and persons, and have with intentional
carelessIiess, thrown the story-teller's dra-
perry over the main facts, as an artist might
cast somewhat flimsy fabric over lay
figure.
Wall street is full of stories of stolen
bonds, and the efforts of the police and
detectives to ffnd out where the missing
values have gone to- To catch the thief is
one thing; TO find the money stolen is
something else. To detect the former is
not so very difficult but to find the latter
is quite another thing. 1t may, | think,
be safely said that twice out of three times
the missing values are undiscoverable.
Why should we mouth it? Compound
ing felony is, if not quite whispered, very
often limited at. That such arrangements
made with thieves and robbers are of fire.
quent occurrence, no one doubts. Human
nature is weak and detectives are unreli-
able. The banker has $50,000 worth of
United States bonds stolen from his safe.
This amount of money or its representa-
tive suddenly withdrawn from his capital
4nay ruin him. If he leaves the matter
with the detectives he may or may not get
his money back the probability ofehances
is decidedly against it. Say heis fortunate
enough to recover his money, he will
have to pay roundly for it. The fact of
his having lostaSlch a large amount of
money, if his credit is sensitive. may wreck
him financially. If the banker or mer-
chants nervous man and of an excitable
disposition, his name and the circumstarl-
ces OF the robbery, printed in large letters.
VIII be published in a thousand papers
throughout the country. Very frequent
~ the facts of the larceny will be written
IN such an exaggerated manner. contain
ing even innuendoes expressed as to his
carelessness and imbeciIity in regard to
money, or just as often the suspicion sta
ted that the amount was nothing like as
much as reported, that the unfortunate
loser may be driven to desperation. 1t is
hard enough to Lose money, without being
called an lmbeclse or rascal. The most
cool and cold-blooded men often. under
such circumstances, would be clad to
compound felony.
VI course | am no advocate of treating
with robbers, and what I write is not to
De understood in the least as advocating it.
he bonds are lost. They are worth 100
cents on the dollar. The loser may have
10 pass twelve months of constant agony
before he gets them back 1--WE are taking
one OF the cases of the more fortunate
cnaTacter1, and then has to pay for them,
IN detective fees, say but 10 per cent. in
money, but at over SO per cent. in personal
wear and tear and mental anxiety.
say that in some mysterious way the
banker receives an intinlation that the
ulleVes would like to arrange matters for
~ mere 10 TO 70 per cent, and he accepts
ne mas Deen robbed only week ago. and
tiieh ne gets his bonds safe back again.
tnough he may have paid several thousands
o dollars to secure them. The facts |
nave briefly deseanted on are known to
many on Wall aud Broad streets, and on
Exchange place.
some hFe years ago two or three good
piaees were wanted in Templeton for GER
1Sl IAN quite respectable old gentlemen.
Ihey We're by no means superannuated
men, nor had they gone beyond their
PERIOD OF usefulness. These old gentle
men, VINO We're perfectly suaye, honest.
and correct, had been unlucky in life. but
were fortunate enough to have Younger
friends whom they (the old gentlemen)
nae mad helped at the outset of their careers
clerks had got TO be men of wealth and
position, while the old heads of the firms.
VINO had first employed them had gone
down in the world.
A savings bank, the Fountain, with an
ample capital, furnished by the younger
men, was founded, not so much for the ac-
eommodation of the thrifty poor, as for
the. personal advantage of the eminently
honest, quiet, and respectable old gentle
men, who, ,irawing modes $1.500 to-
satisfactorily for the Fountain Savings
Bank the Stockholders. the depositors.