The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-15
A BOLD YOUNG SWIsDLER,
How the hank Of Belgium was Robbed
Of MIlIions-Eussne T'kind'ts Clever
Manipulation of Funds.
London Telegraph

London Telegraph
Eugene T'Kind't was clever youth, and
soon after entering the bank he did what most
criminals OF his ability do-he detected a
weak spot n oophole of laXity-in the work
ing Of It's ''system," The Bank Of Belgium
resembled the City OF Glasgow Bank in one
respect it was the favorite Of petty traders
the thrifty folks whose small savings are n
valuable as deposits i'm n concern where lit
tie swindling is meditated The depositors
of small sums have too hard fight with the
world to trouble much about ptylng INTO the
system upon which their bank Is managed.
They trust 1t all in all or not Mt all. The Bank
of Belgium was then the favorte receptacle
for the deposit Of small tradesmen's securi-
ties and savings. The weak suOt In its plan
of working was this: that when securities
were lodged with 1t no record IN detail OF the
fact was made. In a vague way the general
title of the security was entered In the books,
and the depOstors name was noted. But
beyond the fact that such person had on
given date deposited shares or scrip OF n Ger
tain company, to M amount named, the books
of the bank took no cOgnizance OF the transac-
ton Any sharp clerk could see at glance
what was wrong In this system. No accurate
note was taken OF the securities 50 as 70 eiia,
BILE them in each case TO be exactly identified
with the names of their dcpositrrs. No at
tempt, in other words, was made to check
the "numbers as well rs the amount
of these securities and OF this
fact young r Kindt soon made profitable use
He had El60 year OF salary, and had sole
charge of these securities, amounting IN value
to many millions sterling. We do not say
that because man gets ElGO year Tor taking
care OF property worth many millions he must
necessarily become thief, or that men must
be made rich in order to be made honest. At
the same time it IS q Tact that poverty Is q
strong incentive to crime, and that even so
wicked n person ms the late Mrs. HawdOn
Crawley has left it on record that she
thought-She was careful not 10 say that
she was sure-that El0DO might mako her
good" In TKind'ts case the $1,000
wear that might have made him viz
fuous was never offered by his econorn-
icaI employers, and, as they poured
money through his fingers without stint, he
simply tapped the golden stream whenever he
wanted to purchase pleasure: II never oc-
Cured to his worthy chief, NJ Fortamps "A
great financier and a Senator to boot rs odd
that clerk with Ef6O year could live like q
lord and enjoy life with the prctligncy OF Il
prince; that he could have town house,
rural villa q picture gallery, box at the
Monnais, d racing stable aud all sorts Of de-
lightfully wicked but ruin0usly expensive
Injuries. Belgium Is n cheap place 70 live IN,
and perhaps NJ Fortamps thought that his
clerk had genius for thrift. and could make
the income Of q beggar go rs FIR as the rev-
enue Of a king. L 50, NJ. Fortanps merits
our sympathy His credulity, however, Is
reckoned by his countrymcn a. too chldlke
to be natural, and an unCharttabe and suspi-
cious police have placed him in the dock as
his clerks accompltce in one Of the most
colossal swindles Of modern times.
Yet how, it will be asked, even under the
laxeSt system and most crodHfOHa manager,
was a young bank clerk in T'kind't IS position
able to steal C92O.Og Nothing could be sim
Dler than the modas opcrG,bi When he
w" saS m2RsE he msrey approptiatsd scrip
When the depostor asked for delivery Of the
said scrip TKindt blandly handed him scrip
similar In kind and amount that had been
deposited by somebody else. As he always
took care to tap a large area Of deposits, he
never exhausted any single one 81 such an
extent MS 10 render 1t impossible 10 meet
an unexpected or sudden call from some
depOsitor whose lodged securities might
have been emhezzIed. As nobody
took note Of the number Of their
"shares." and as the bark kept no
record Of anything but their amounts nobody
knew or could know, on Withdrawing hiF
property that what he got was identical with
what he had lodged. Then no one had any
motive to suspect T Kind't. He was an unu-
sually obliging young gentleman lending
people money on easy terms getting favors
for them, paving their divid.nds at sight
without deducting commission III fact, he
behaved "a though his one object IN life were
to popuarize the bank with MI classes of the
community As for the directors why should
they ha suspicious OF young fellow who dI
SO much good work for them on S60 a
year, and never asked fuE ftn Increase
of salary? One day. II - true, they
We're startled by NJ. Bi-hotfsheim, the
the effect that 1853 shares Of she Namlr and
Liege Railway, belonging To him whose num-
bers he had noted, had. witlouf his know
ledge, been distracted from the bank and a.
posted in another establishment OF which
he was himself director. He went and de
p1anded the scrip, but was told by Tkindt
that as the Office was closing he must come
the next day. He came next Gay, and after
waiting for quarter OF an hour. had his
shares, which had been meanwhile recovered,
rendered 20 him az II nothing was out Of