The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-03-02
The Latest New York Thief.

THE means by which Augustus M.
Turney swindled the Bank of North
America out of 100000 was given to a
reporter this morning by gentleman
connected with the bank, and one who
spoke of his own knowledge. The
method was so simple one that it is
scarcely to be wondered that the bank
officers refused to make it public, and
the statement of one of them that it
would only be furnished to the Clearing
House Board in order to prevent other
banks from suffering in a similar way
was purely gratuitous, since, with
proper oversight, it would be impossi-
BILE to carry it out. 1t is also very far
from being new, and has been adopted
by hundreds of embeZzlers, especially
in private firms, the system of oversight
commonly carried out in banks render
ing it difficult. 1t is, however, the
same by which Moses Taylor lost $780,
600 in 1868 or 1862
Turney borrowed the money out of
the actual cash balances, and it is I'M
derstood that about $50, 900 has been
due ever since 1872, when he would
seem to have first taken the receiving
teller into his confidence. Having taken
the money, it only remained to hide the
deficit, and this was done in a very SIM
pie manner. The bank closes its ac-
counts at three o'clock promptly and
the books are balanced from that hour.
AT three o'clock, however, there arc
usually a large number of depositors
waiting at the receiving teller's desk,
and the deposits made after that hour
run daily from 100000 to 100000.
Out of these receipts Turney made good
his balances and his accounts ran over
until the next day. Only an actual
count of the cash received after hours,
and a comparison with the receiving
teller's check slips, would show the
cash account to be short, and enough
care was never taken to make any such
count or comparison. So longas this
was not done, the only thing necessary
to enable the defaulting tellerto con
ceal the fraud was that he should know
exactly each day the amount he was
short, so that there should not appear
any discrepancy in the accounts as they
appeared on the books. How far he
was successful is shown very con-
clusively by the fact that no less than
seventeen quarterly and semi-annual
examinations had been made by the
bank directors without discovering the
deficit, When, however, the examina-
ton came to be made by the State eX-
perts, who would go into every posi-
BILE detail of the accounts, safety was
no longer possible and Turney con-
fessed his crime.
The Vice-President acknowledged
that the method of concealment adopted
could only have been carried out with
the connivance of the receiving teller,
whom Turney had taken into his conf
dence, and also that some S35, 900, or
more-though he refused to go into de-
tails-had been probably taken after
this confidence had been given to the
receiving teller Whether any proceed
ings would be taken against the latter
he refused to say, nor would he state
what was likely to be the position the
bank would take toward him.
Augustus M. Turney is a pleasant
faced man of forty-ive, rather stoutly
built, and always dresses with scrupu-
lous neatness. His habits have been
irreproachable, and personal friends
say that while he has lost heavily in
gold he has lived quietly at rate of
about $4,000 year, while his salary
would have warranted living much more
extensively. His wife has always
moved in excellent society, and been
much respected. Joseph, the eldest of
his six children, who is between twenty
four and twenty-five years old, is in a
downtown bank, and Pascal, who is
eighteen, is employed in brokers'
office. Until recently, when the family
moved to West One Hundred and Thir-
ty-second street, they have always lived
in Morrisania, in very unostentatious
fashion.-N. Y. Graphic.