Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-06-17

The written statement OF Silas NJ Waite,
which we publish In full to-day, is an emil
nently Characteristic production. Instead of
doing what he might undoubtedly do-give
| plain, correct statement Of the losses Of the
broken bank, telling when and where and how
they occurred-he chooses to continue his
tactics of dust-throwing, in an attempt to
cover up the real issue. The thing which
Mr. Waite evidently does not wish to do is to
tell what he knows about the history of the
First National bank and his dealings with its
funds. We have good reason for believing
that the statement, as it now appears in print,
has been materially modified by his counsel
since it left Waite's hands. It contains less
of figures than we had been led to believe,
and much less of direct personal allusion and
accusation Of guilty knowledge on the part of
other persons In this statement the venera-
BILE ex-president of the bank is the chosen
target Of Wate's wrath. The solemn denial
of Mr.. Williston, heretofore given, of any
guilty knowledge Of affairs in the bank, will
go as far, at least in the mind of the public
as the accusation of Mr.. Waite But, how:
ever this may be- Waite forgets, while declar-
ing that Mr.. Williston had full opportunity to
know the condition of the bank, to also recall
the violent and shameful abuse which he was
regularly in the habit of showering upon the
old mans defenceless head whenever he offer
ed a suggestion or ventured an inquiry. And
it is notorious that Waite's treatment of Mr..
Williston was the same which he visited on all
his directors whenever they presumed on an
inquiry touching anything beyond or behind
what he chose to reveal. We do not mention
this, however, as shielding any director from
fault in not Drawing Waites abuse and going
to the bottom of things
There is one thing which the public would
greatly like TO know, and which Waite alone
can tell. That is, where the private fortune
came from which he claims to have sacrificed
to save the bank from ruin. When he became
the cashier of the bank his means were un.
derstood to be very limited; and since that
time he has only had moderate salary to de-
pend upon, not having made any especially
successful business venture within the knowl-
edge of the public. His talk about the debt
which the stockholders owe him, and his allu-
sion to the value" of those forged paper as
SETS, and his right to use them, are both so
weak and even contemplate as not to deserve
serious mention.
Whatever the fault of any other person may
have been, Silas NJ. Waite was the chief fac
tor in the ruin which he has brought on him
self and the bank. and the most painful and
pitiful feature of the whole business is that
he should now show an utter lack of CON-
Function for his headstrong and criminal
course, by setting up cry of injured inno-
cence, claiming that no wrong has been done,
and trying to cast on others the responsibility
which belongs to him, instead of coming out
frankly and telling the whole truth in a man
ly way. We have no desire to follow to his
grave man who probably cannot outlive the
sentence which the court has imposed upon
him but Mr.. Waite's own attitude compell
these remarks, and the interests of public
morality require that, in Diminishing this pain
full subject from further extended mention
as we hope, the truth should be spoken.