Evening star., 1880-02-14
TIE Territorial Building AsSOcia-
ton.
A REPORT ON THE RECENT DEFALCATI0N OF TERRY,
THEIR SECRETARY,

A REPORT ON THE RECENT DEFALCATI0N OF TERRY,
THEIR SECRETARY.
The annual meeting Of the Territorial Loan
Savings and Building Association, was nei0 laSt
night at SOvereignS' Hall on 11th street. inere
was large attendance OF members ID antlclpa-
ton of reports on the recent defalcauon OF Ihe
secretary, Seth Terry. Mr.: 7. T. sharks, VICE
president, called on Gen. w. H. Browne to make
statement. That gentleman, chairman OF the
committee to endeaVor to effect settlement
and to save as much as possible, commenced by
stating that they had by this time learned that
recently, ard Unexpectedly, the secretary had
acknowledged having made use Of their money.
some s25, ,OO6 to some he had stated s35 900. He
did not attempt to extenuate his offense
and he had assisted the committe in
without which nothing could have been done
what he called his petty cash book. 1t had been
stated that when arrested he was on the eve OF
vious to prevent him leaving, and had he done
so he would have carried away much of the evil
dence. In answer to questions as to how he
was able to commit this crime and keep the di-
rectors ignorant so long he explained that a
large number Of the stockholders were In the
habit of paying their dues to the secretary and
he In many cases saved them the trouble of
going to his Office by calling on them, and they
all thought that he was doing them favor by
saving tnem the trouble Of attending the meet
tngs. These moneys he would put in
ms petty cash book, and the accounts
ON the real books Of the association. When the
directors complained the excuse would be made
that the times were hard and the members were
not paying. Those members who paid direct to
the treasurer have the satisfaction of knowing
that their money Is safe. When the secretary
was asked what he had dore with the money
he stated that 1t was to pay interest; that he
had invested In claims to the amount OF $50 900;
and had the test case on the 20 per cent claims
Din which the bulk of the money had been in
vested) not been appealed by Attorney General
PierpoEt he would have paid up all arrearages
Handsome
would have never known anything about
it. All the claims it is proposed by Terry
and his friends to turn over to the asso-
may realize few thousand dollars. They had
made proposition to the directors to turn over
TO them certain property, and If this PROPOSE
GUS as it now looks to be, the loss will be very
small. Their object is to get their money back,
and as business men they proposed to do all
they could to save the stockholders from loss.
They had, however, no compromise to make
with the law. He urged that they should not
get up panic or go into law, asking for a re-
ceiver, and they should take warning from the
adage, "a shell for he; a shell for thee,
but the oyster is the lawyers fee' It
was proposed now to continue the ex-
mination of the books to ascertain exactly
how each account stood, and Mr.. Bryan, the
temporary secretary, being unable to attend to
the duties, it was proposed to elect another
MIR. F. w. Pratt. question was asked as to
the liabilities of the secretarys bondsmen and it
was stdleu W dlnouHC W aUOut SZ,OOO, ana Une
point was raised that as the money was paid
him as the agent of the association, the treas
urers bond was liable, and the,board OF directors
responsible for the loss. Mr.. W. b. Evans asked
If 1t was not the directors duty to examine the
stubs of the receipts MI. Brown said that that
was regarded as private book. motion was
made that the Office OF secretary be filled; and
the meeting then adjourn; that the same officers
may be continued until the final report on the
subject, and after some discussion this was
agreed to, and Mr.. F. w. Pratt being elected
secretary the meeting adjourned, subject to the
call of the directors