Daily globe., 1880-06-17
A DELIBERATE SWINDLE.
w. II. Stormer Accumulates Several Thou
sand Ducats and Departs.

sand Ducats and Departs.
The GLOBE day or two ago contained
brief allusion to the sudden and somewhat
mysterious disappearance of MIR. W. H.
Stormer of the grocery firm of Stormer q
Otto, doing business on the corner OF
Seventh and Broadway streets. Although
the GLOBE was fully informed of all the par
ticulars at the time, it refrained from giving
them to the public, in hopes that the mys-
terry might be cleared up, and Mr.. Stormer's
disappearance satisfactorily accounted for.
All hopes of such a result being abandoned
by his partner and those interested IN the
matter, the facts can no longer be With
held.
1t is some ten or eleven years ago that Mr..
Stormor commenced business in the grocery
line on the corner of Seventh and Broadway,
in his own name. Several years ago he took
in partner named Rode, who IN turn was
bought out little over year ago by Mr.
Peter Otto, since which time the business
has been conducted under the firm name OF
Stormer & Otto. Mr.. Otto, while mem
Der of the firm, was engaged in other busl=
ness, and left the management OF the gro
Gerry on Seventh street almost entirely III the
hands of his partner, having confidence In
his integrity and honesty, as well as IN his
pecuniary responsibility. On Saturday last
Mr.. Stormer disappeared and has not been
heard of since. This naturally led to inqul-
ries which prove conclusively that MIR.
Stormer has skipped out" leaving large
number of his friends in the lurch
to the amount of several thousand
IL J., \ 49, UQc
premeditated it has been discovered that on
Friday, before he left he called upon
number of his business acquaintance, with
whom he had had dealings and settled
small bills by giving checks of the firm IN
amounts ranging from $50 to $50, receiv-
ing the difference in cash. He also bor-
rowed all he could on checks dated ahead,
and on due bills. How much these
checks and due bills given in his name of
the firm will amount to, Mr.. Otto is unable
to state, but he has learned sufficient to
know that he is loser to the amount of
from 81 200 to ST., 500 and probably more,
over and above all the assets of the firm.
These obligations Mr.. Otto will meet as he
is able to do SO, although it will make Sc
rious inroad upon his hard earned accumula-
tions of years past. In addition to this
many others are losers on Stormer's indiv-
idual account, the heaviest of which are
Messrs. Ferdinand Knauft and Mr.. Henry
Hsbighorst, who are sufferers to the extent
of some S., 200 as follows:
On the 9th of November, 1873, a gun
smith named Herman Zwierzynski, doing
business at No. 1876 East Seventh street,
died leaving no relatives in this country, his
only heirs being his father and mother in
Prussia. His possession consisted entirely
of personal property in the shape of stock in
trade. Mr.. Stormer was appointed special
administrator by the judge of probate No
vember IL, 1878, and general ad Illustrator
December 10, 1878, with Messrs. Knauft and
Habighorst as bondsmen in the sum of
$4,000. The property inYentoried $685.
46, with outstanding debts amounting to
little over $3.50. A license was granted Stor-
mer to sell the property at either private or
public sale, and he did so sell it, realizing
something less than $500 below the ap-
praised valuation. Proof of heirship in the
father and mother was established,
and the 10th of this month, (June), fixed
for final settlement. It is needless to say
that the settlement never was and probably
never will be made, as Mr.. Stormer skipped
out on Saturday, as above stated, leaving
Messrs. Knauft and Habighorst responsible
to the heirs for the sum of over So, 100, as so
far as is known, not one of the debts against
the estate has been paid. Nor is this the
only breach of trust of which he is guilty.
He was prominent member of the German
Literary society, and when that was disbanded
he was appointed as agent to dispose of the
effects, consisting of fine library, furniture,
etc., all of which he converted into cash,
and has never accounted for. A short
time ago he made strenuous efforts to
secure the appointment of deputy treasurer
of the German American Lodge |. 0. O. F., of
which he was member, upon the occasion
of Mr.. Habighorst's (who is treasurer of the
lodge) departure for trip to Europe. In
this he did not succeed, however, and Mr..
Habighorst's loss is not SO great by several
hundred dollars as it might have been had he
complied with Stormers' entreaties. In fact
every day is developing new instances of his
perfdy in the betrayal of friends, the full ex-
tent of which is not known as yet AS
specimen it may be mentioned that yester
day Woodworking farmer residing some
five miles from the city, on the Alton road,
came into the city to see Stormer, alleging
that he had entrusted Stormer with $40 of
his hard earnings to purchase a ticket from
Germany to st. Paul for his son. Stormer
bought ticket from Germany to New York
only, and pooketed the balance, and letter
received from the son on Monday, stated that
he had been in Castle Garden, N. Y, for two
weeks, IN almost starving condition, unable
toget farther,a he had neither ticket ormoney
Numerous cases of a similar nature are COM
ing to light every day, showing that Stormer
has been contemplating skipping for some
time past.
The supposition is that he got away with
several thousand dollars, as he was single
man, and so far as known of a miserly dis
position. The above facts were obtained by
the GLOBE reporter from the records of the
probate Office, from his partner, Mr.. Otto,
and from Mr.. F. Knauft, one of his bonds
men, and can be relied upon. Mr.. Knauft
informed the GLOBE reporter yesterday that
he had decided not to make any effort to
trace the whereabouts of Stormer, as he had
ample time to get out of the State, and it
was doubtful, even if he could be overtaken,
if anything would be gained by his arrest
and return to this city. 1t would be throw.
ing more good money after poor. In the
meantime, Mr.. Otto, the swindled partner,
is endeavoring to bring some order out of
the chaotic state of things he finds thus un-
expectedly thrown upon him.