New-York tribune., 1882-03-04
A DISHONEST BOOKKEEPER

! Since the tailurc of V. W. Macfaranc < Co.. lard
rcncrs, Of No 10 South Wiliilm-st., whose factory
| is at the foo: OF West Fourt ,onh ST., two weeks
ago, there hayo been soverli, meeting, of creditors
held, aud a committee has been app intel 10 iHyes
| tiglc the causo of the failure and u recommend
tDc best methol for settlement. Various
/ rUmor have been circulated to the effect that
the talur' Ian been found 20 be dHc b. Ger ain IL
! Tcguluics connected with the financial affairs of
the concern. 1t is now authoritatiyey st ted that
the bookkceper Peter Rona'dson, is a dcfanltrr to
considerable amount and that he IN, loft the city.
The frs. discovery OF these ire guartio5 made
in the cash account last Saturday. ana when Rom
alison called before Mr. Macfdrllne, at the fac
tory in Wc,t Fou;taeIl-st., Oh the following Mon
day, he admitted tAa. the casa account Wa'
deficient TO the anoun, of several thou auds Of do.-
lars, and tai ho woUi make 10 goOI II the INN
would be- cuicut with him ami give him few
days time. On Thursday he sent q note 10 Mr.
llacfaranc, from his home in Brooklyn, stating
that he had been running about considerably and
had succeeded in borrowing enough to meet the
amount OF the deficiency; but he Was rather
sick lie would uOt comc over 10 th" Oiicc until yes
tcrday. As he dd not come at the al-
pointed time, messenger was sent to Ronald
sons house and learned thai he had fcl. No
information n TO where h had gone could be OBJ
tanned and then it was decided 10 put detective
on his track. II is thought that be may have gone
to CUBA,
One of the members Of the firm sail last evening:
"The failure of or business was aS much sar-
prise to us to any Of our creditors, AMI at the
time we suspended we supposed would have
enough assets to make good our liabilities. cur
sorry examination of our cash account disclosed the
fact Saturday last that our boolhceper, Pctet
Ronaldson was dtfauter to the extent of several
thousands OF dollars The exact amount OF the
deficit we unable to state al present ana il may
be impossible to get at the exact figures. 1t can
readily be how man in whom every conf
dcnce is placed, the fact in R0nadsol's ease,
can, by taking snal! amounts at time, finally rob
the firm of thou iand5 of dollars. Oar weekly pay
rolls at the flctory amounted TO between $1,000
and II 400 and besides, it was necessary that the
book keeper sh Jud always have certain amount of
money by him to pay small expenses for packages
delivered, express charges etc II was in this way
that deficiencies occurred, he could readily slip
hundred dollars or into his pocket without being
discovered
"When these Irregularities were discovered we
waited until ROnaldsOn came over on Monday, AMI
then ca led him before us and made our chlrg'. lie
did not hesitate 70 admit that the cash account was
deficient to the amount of several thousand dollars,
but said that he would be able t. make il good if
we would give him until Thursday. Yesterday ne sent
to-day surely After the appointed time had
passed We sent a me mei>engcr over to the house to
learu why he did not fulfil his promise and then
leaned that hn had fed Where ne has gone we
have not yet been able to find ont; but have some
reason to believe that he has gone to Cuba Since
We found the deficiencies in the cash account We
have employed experts on our books and we find
that there are several errors which indicate that he
is Il greater dcfaulter than We at first supposed
How great these we shall not know until
the expcr.s have finished with the books.
"Ronaldson is married man, about tl.irty-liye
wears old and lives in Brooklyn. lie came to our
business about five years ago from Duncan Shcr-
mgn 4 Co.. and was highly recommended to us.
| Ne kept close supervision upon him for about
three years and - all appearances he was perfectly
honest. However, if he was inclined to be dis
honest he might readily have deceived Us without
| our knowledge or suspicion. | cannot understand
how he has disposed Of this money IN any Other way
| than IN spccu,ation He was not drinking man.
| nor did he seem to be inclined t) BE- fast | learn
that ne ha, specuat ID in cotton to considerable
extent. and has also speculatcl IN proyiions.'
| One OF the creditors said yesterday afternoon:
| ave have held daily meetings since the failure Of
Nacfarlanc d Co.. and there have been various IN
timoons of irregularities. The entire matter Is In
| the hands Of a committee which VIII PROBABLY dig
to the bottom of the matter he firm has ihe sym
| pathy of manv but l'dOnt see how II i possible
that il can meet oil It's Liabilities, rs the assets are
! NOT sufficient sIh lHDllilieS amount 10 dpouI
| SlSO,OOO.'
The amount of the deficit in the bookkeeper's ac-
cOI'nts has not been ascertaned. one oi li' mem
Der, of the finn said yesterday that donaldson nat
| taken e. 200 from the money y-drdWtr Tor ne iad
confessed having taken thar amount; but that ap.
parcutIY, was the OuIy certainty doout Nit eAtNu VI
4 TRnTNE reporter who had learned that ir2g-
uartic~ had been discovered called AT 'ht ho1r, OF
kuualtsOn, 40. II LrMngi0h-aNc" br3"hyh'
Wednesday evening. The house l. a small brown
stone structure with single large pac-glass WIN
dow in the front of the paror lnSide tl"re was no
| cravings ycrtd the walls; there was Ntl-hutd
| Lo0i, ease and on Sideboard near the basement
! window was II rather prctcnuOuS display 0l
! Silverware. A young man, who sad he WAS Ron
alds5u's brother came to the door atter ic servant
girl who appeared to have been crying, had opened
| it. lie arptdTed very nervous ana otlu till ms
| brother was out, and II Wa uncertain WH1h nc
! would return. When asked # ne would probably
! be back inside OF an hours tHne ne 5tamlried mat
! his lrothcr WAS hardly ever back inside OF an
| hour" Ga ling an hour later, the reporter found
Peer RoualisOn iu. He Is OF medium htght, ap-
| pears about thirty years old, II Oh rather slght
| huid and has somewhat sallyw face,
with heavy mo"1tarGEg E1r ana Dio1r shoI, H.,
| received the reporter with an ar OF mixed non
chalance and uncasinr-s. Inc later san thal Ne
had oecu uforne ther, were causes tor lie l.I1e
of MacFaIanc y GO. winch the hIn qua not care 10
diyulgc and asked donaldson, II IN MS couhlehiIal
! position, hc had known ol any such oi',' 3h'I
| Than iIO,c given in the me- .Pap'f' is'""i"7'H
| sYL tLat thr f. lure was AL Straight ana wa
rlus.d Sy a falling oil in the foreign demand Tor
| lard. and a continual shrinking in values lAe
reason o,hcr firms in the sumo business had not
failed lc said Wa, the fact That they HAD MOI be1h
10 Won thiuh," said the reporter
that thcs, is any suspicion oi one Of the rrd, or
onr Of II, clnp,oy,. having ab,tHccd part OF the
company funds;
! "Nc" sal be-. If anyone had taken money
shoull have Baowu II, as was the ca'iei'. ana
! v.,uid h.. lie one 90 Dee suspected, II anyone.
Then hc q He'd after a mom'nt" ih"I%nt;
heard tia, tacro were rumori beng ,irthi"cl that