Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-08-11
THE GREAT BIG STEAL
In PeunsyIvnnIa-O Hundred Thou
sand Dollars in Bonds Over Issued
Disappearance of the state
Records and
DIGicuIty in Tracing the FTnud-Which
Are the Spurious Bonds the CUES
ticn OF the RzOuI-SuspiciOnA At
taches TO John "a. BickeL


act OF May 4, 1912. authorized five per cent
/ loan Of Eve $5,UO0,0OO with interest pay.
/ able semi annually IN February and August
/ The bonds were redeemable in fifteen ano
/ twenty-five years. All the issues of this loar
were in bonds of the denomination O.
( $1,000, and were numbered from
! No | to No. 5000 inclusive. BY the act o.
/ April 10, 1858, an additional loan was au
thorized OF such amount as might be neces
. sary to take up the overdue loans of the com
mopwealth. The treasury books show that
T the whole amount of the $1,000 O0t
loan of 1852 was issued and has since beer
redeemed, with the exception of S39, 900 il
coupon, and $4,000 in registered bonds. The
loan of April 19, 1853, began at No. 500I
where that of 1912 left off. The minutes o.
the sinking fund commissioner show that
/ only $4,000 of the loan was issued, and
the money paid to the commonwealth. Moth.
ing appears in the official record concerning
/ this loan until FIVE years later, in 1858, when
/ the following is found IN the report of State
/ Treasurer Magraw:
Received f;om the Girard bank on &C.
count of coupon loan of April 19, 1853, the
coupon bonds having been left In charge Of
| the Girard bank 10y J. NJ. Bickel, former
state treasurer, and but recently accounted
! for, $28, 000."
! The loan book shows no decrease of the
/ old debt, and no increase of the new, to that
Y
| commissioners show that on the twenty ninth
of December, 1859. the commissioners can
celed and destroyed bonds numbering from
5501 to 800, under the act of April 19, 1858,
which were found in the vaults of the treas
ury numbered but not signed. Had not the
bonds from 5401 to $500 inclusive been is
sued, they would have been found, and would
have been destroyed at the same time.
But they were out and gone. The
treasury books show that bonds num-
bered from 500l to 5400 were issued and
sold for the credit of the commonwealth, be-
ing 100000 in the year 1858. There is no
account or minute on record of the sale of
any other amount under the act creating this
loan. On the first of February, 1878, the
amount of coupon bonds of the loan of April
10, 1858, outstanding, according to the treas
ury books, was 1926, 900, and to meet the in
terest due on that date $500, being the
amount of two hundred and twenty-six cou-
pons of $25 each, was RENTED by the treas
ury to the financial agency of the State in
Philadelphia; but it was not enough. Up to
February, 1878, nothing in excess of $5,-
428, 900 of the two loans had appeared for
nineteen years, the interest being regularly
RENTED to the financial agency In Philadel-
phia by the treasury In Harrisburg. There
was never the slightest discrepancy in the &C.
counts. About the first of April, 1877, it be-
came apparent that there was some ''irregu-
III J1e ISSUE Oh April Ia, 1000, as COu-
pons maturing February l, 1873, were pre-
scented in excess of the amount regularly re-
mitted by the treasury until this date
Fwenty-one coupons of $25 each, represent
ing twenty-one one thousand dollar bonds,
had been presented in excess OF what the
treasury officials had any knowledge. Pre-
vious to July l, 1873, one hundred and forty
ing with No. SOIL and ending with
No. 5499, scattered through the
series, were redeemed. Thirty four of
these bonds are above the 542S. This goes to
prove that five hundred bonds $500 0O0) of
this loan were issued, though only $40O, 900
were put TO the credit of the commonwealth.
Who disposed Of the remaining 100000?
The fact that for the period of nineteen years
the coupons of none of the bonds in excess of
the $4,000 except the SIS, 900 that turned
up In 1853, have been presented for payment
indicates that these bonds, until very recently,
were in the hands of the person or persons
who fraudulently converted them to their
own use without equivalent to the common
wealth. The bonds were in their hands at
least as late as August, 1877, when the call
for the loan of 1852 was made. This was
ample notice for persons conYersant with the
treasury that the next call would be for the
loan of 1858. They must get the bonds into
innocent hands, or lose them from the refusal
of the treasury to pay on discovery of the
fraud. As the interest would cease they
would no longer serve as colaterals for the
loan of money, and must be taken up and
disposed of. On the twenty-ninth of May
last, the clearinghouse of ]. & W. Seligman,
of New York, sent to the Farmers
and Mechanics bank, of Philadelphia, eight
cen bonds ($l8, 000) with the August coupons
attached. In the letter accompanying the
bonds the Seilgmans say, ''We don't expect
you to redeem them yet, but merely to exam
than fin iu tn
row, by wire at our expense, whether they
are genuine and regular in every respect, and
in order for redemption. We ask this infor-
nation, inasmuch as they come from a
strange party in Europe" This caution was
sent, with the bonds, to the sinking fund
commissioner, and gave to those officials the
first serious alarm In regard to the loan
which they were about to redeem. The bonds
were returned to the Seligmans at their own
request. What increases the difficulty in
reaching the solution of this treasury mystic
ry is the fact that the old sinking fund books,
containing the accounts prior to 1858, includ-
ing the time of the transaction, are missing.
When those loans were issued, William Big
Ter was governor, and Ephraim Banks was
auditor-g general, but their connection ending
with signing the bonds, which were then is
sued by the State, of course there can be no
suspicion OF wrong in regard to them.
John NJ. Bickel, the State treasurer
who negotiated the loan of 1852
and 1858 lives in a fine mansion on Broad
street, Philadelphia, and is believed to be in
good circumstances. He has recently suffered
from illness, and when called upon by the
sinking fund commissioner for an explanation
he was not in physical condition that would
permit an interview. The slnkingfund COM
missioners have decided to redeem the loan
OF 1898 as 1t comes IN until the amount of
$500 600 is reached. Payment of the excess
will be withheld until authorized by an act of
the legislature. AS the loan issued was for
only $400, 900 they do not consider them
selves empowered to redeem a greater
though the genuineness of the bonds
of this fund is unquestioned. There is no
means of distinguishing them or of tracing
them by their numbers. The amount al
ready presented in excess of the 100000 is
S49, 900. Interest on this loan has now
ceased, and the bonds outstanding will be
rapidly presented for redemption As they
are presented tue officials of the treasury
will keep a close lookout for the sources from
which they come.