New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-02

| cured month ago it would have caused much
| greater loss. About the middle OF September he
| paid loan of $50 900, due the Water Board;
1t was though at one time yesterday that more
arrests would be made, but nothing was uoh1 III
that direction. The absence from his posi- OF Pe o
jamin Sites the bOokkeeper who had charge OF tne
account with the Mechanics Bank of New-l Ork' AT
one time brought him under suspicion 1t was as
certained, however that he was Ill III BED ana iIau
heved that the clerks in the bank were aDsolu!ei5
ignorant of the cashiers TRANSACTIONS lhey iignt ~
have noticed some discrepancies in the accounts az ~
times, but they thought that II was not theI uu'y W
crlticise their superior officers.
PRESIDENT HAIsEY SUED.
A suit was begun yesterday by warren AcAer-
man. large India rubber manufacturer, ana de-
positOr in the bank, against Joseph A. Halsey tno
president. He alleges in his complaint that MI
Halsey accepted the presidency of the bank and
was paid a salary for wa ching the interest OF the
depositOrs that being an old man he was not q
proper person to perform the duties of PRESIDENT
and through his negligence an olhcer OF the Danh
had been able to embezzle large sum OF money, 10
the great detriment of the depostors. Inc COM
pl ainant places his damage at $4,000 for this
criminal negligence.
THE CAREER OF CHRISTOPHER NUGENT.
HOW THE MAN LEARNED HIS TRADE-Ins FARM
ING ENTERPRIs AGAIN IN THE LEATHER BUsI-
NEss-MANAGEAiENT OF HIS AFFAIRS.
c. Nugent & Co.'s storeroom at William and
Sprnce-sts in this city, was deserted all day yester-
day by everybody except one clerk. The floor was
covered with cases filled with morocco leather
each one of which, said the clerk, was
worth $500; but the law had laid It's
clutches upon them, and the active hustle so
common in the house had ceased. The shutters
were up and business was suspended. James MI
gent, who was in the city on Monday, was in New
ark yesterday at the factory, which was continued
in operation as if nothing had happened. He is the
practical man of the firm, though his brother Chris
tOpher, like himself is q journeyman morocco
dresser.
1T was his business to take care of the factory"
said the clerk land don't believe that he knows
any more about this thing than l do. Christopher
is the man who can talk probably, but he is in bed
with cold it isn't serious and he Will be out i'll
day or so, l think
Down in the "Swamp" the failure caused great
deal of comment Nugent was, of course, very well
known to the leather trade, but was far from popu-
lar, if the burden of conversation which TRIBUNE
repor ter had with number of dealers in Gold and
Spruce-sts furnished test, yet no effort was any
where made to deny the immensty of his business.
Among the subordinates employed in the Swamp .
there are many who once worked for {. Nugent *
Co.. and such, as a rule, were chary in all express
sions of sympathy. He was a hard task-master,
they said, and some of them recalled with express
sions of amusement the episodes of Denis kcar-
ney's visit here, in September. 1873, when
he spoke at q meeting in Union
Square, and denounced Nugent & Co. for having. as
he asserted, coerced their aborers to hold meeting
in opposition to him CKeaney), while they sympa-
thized with him and had taken active part at his
meeting in Newark few days before.
Among the anecdotes related of Christopher
Nugent there were several very characteristic Of
the man and his methods. An old acquaintance
said that Nugent had learned the trade
of morocco-dresser in Newark with George
DougheIty the pioneer in the business IN
this part of the country In 1857 there was
collapse in the morocco trade and Nugent went
into the far West and workeda Government claim
i'm Minnesota, breaking IN virgin farm ana hauling
wood to the steamboats,. He had been known as
remarkably skilful workman and his loss had been
felt at the factory in Newark. One Sunday IN 1898
he was surprised by visit from his old foreman at
Dougherty's who had jOurneyed 10 Minnesota for
the purpose of bringing him back to the tannery.
The offer ne brought tlatterinG one and before
night Nugent had disposed of his farm to
neighborng squatter and was on the way TO
Chicago. year later he, his brother
James and four Others of the best of Dougherlys
workmen left the tannery and began business on
their own account the style of the firm being Nu-
gent Kelly d. Co. Almost from the beginning Nu-
gent was known as very bold operator he was
exceedingly aggressive and carried his point al any
some daring ventures in the line of his business
and the rapid advance in prices during the war
brought Nugent great deal OF money and set hlm
upon what seemed tide that sure 10 carry him
to prosperity. He bought out all his
partners except his !s brother ana .. kept fpTI
manufactures amounted. about 1872, TO nearly
$50 dozen skins a day. He has since turned out as
many as 800 dozen skins. His sales have currently
beeli reported for several years nj million and a
half of dollars; butnevertheess, if the statement
of the guilty cashier is correct he has long been
staggering under weight that was bound to crush
him In 1873 inc was seriously embarrassed by the
strike of his workmen, =, numbering then
about 300. He paid small wages ana so
cnrtailed their earnings that the Morocco Dressers
Union went on strike against him. 1t was very
bitter contest but Nugent met it with determined
front He surrounded his tannery with policemen,
and substituted machines and common laborers OF
all kinds for the skilled labor which heretofore
had been considered Indispensable. lie won the
day, and ever since the mechanics OF Newark nave
had a deep grudge against him. II is sad that his
victory cost him dear, however as his products sank
greatly in the estimation of the trade and have
never since commanded as good prices, within 10
TO 10 per cent, as they did formerly. lie has
never since been able to restore skilled labor.
Nugent suffered, too, by, the panic Of 1873 and
1874. and an estimate Of the amount of bad debts
made in these and the two years following places II
at $1S0,000 1t was q thing very well understood
at the time by the trade. that the Mechanics Bank
of Newark tided him over that crisis and it was
the burden of much comment yesterday that a fact
so generally known as was this at the time, should
seemingly have been passed without notice by the
the other officers of the bank, for it was in 1873,
Baldwin confesscs, that he began TO make the If
regular loans whose accumulation has now brought
such widespread ruin
A resident of New ark who is familiar with the
business of the Nugents and also the bank, sug-
gested as an explanation that the directors of the
bank were all men who had active busnessiuteTests
of their own and were not at all Intimately ac-
0uaInted either with Mr.. Nugent the affairs of
the bank which they suppose to manage. Nu-
gent is said 10 live very extTavagantiy, but 10 have
acquired any of the polish which would
seem desirable in occupying the prom
nent position he has hitherto filed in the affairs of
Newark. The loans which he was forced TO make
in order TO save himself in 1873 from private per-
sons as well as from banks are said to have cost him
enormously on the interest account, but there is
have been used up in eight years without leaving
any trace except the pile of notes in the bank vault
which Caalier baldwin saNs is two feet high.