The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-10-24
A rLEECED LAMB.

A FLEECED LAMB.
The Defalcation OF John A. Atkinson, q
Chicago, Brought About BY Unluck.
Deals In Futures-Fhat Was the " Lont
and " Short" OF It-His Firm VIII Suffer
to the Tune Of e2OO, 200.
CHICAGO. H., October 16.
A reporter who went to the house o.
John A. Atkinson, defaulting member o.
the pork packing firm of Davies, Akin
son & Co., on Lake avenue, was told that
he was not at home and that there wa,
no telling when he would be home. Mr.
Davies was seen at his hotel. He said
"When arrived here on October Sd 8
CLERK handed me letter written by Mr.
At inson which will explain much, II moi
ALL" The letter is as follows:
CHICAGO ILL.,, October 8, 1Ss4.-I have
q most terrible confession to make.
have lost large sum of your money In
speculatIons on the Bard of Trade, and
have used money borrowed from the
banks to pay sses. don't know the
amount, but it must be over SllO, 000
This eception on my part has been going
vi q iOhS SAuuCs hauC uuOuCy ~ HISt,
aud encouraged by the hope of making
up some portion Of last years losses,
l took larger lines and was
the panic came last May. Then II
was impossible to sell out, so I sold
guam ity of pork short, add was
caught In the Armour corner. l still
he. d on to all the stuff, after paying the
loss on pork, aud about five weeks ago
was within q few thousand dollars OF
being even, but prices collapsed and left
m tiers worse than ever. All these
months have been deceiving the
banks as to the position we were In,
hoping that it would come out all
right. But 1t went on from
bad to worse, and every effort made to
make money only plung d me deeper into
the mire. A great many trades arc still
open, but the market shows little sign oil
doing any better. l know there is nc
pa. iatiou for the baseness and ingrati-
In IL of my conduct, and, were it not for
nv vile d little ones, would end my
life. As 1t is, l am broken down by the
terrible strain. 1t has been d."
The letter ended abruptly at this point.
Mr.. Dawes, the senior member of the
firm lives In England, where he disposes
of all tn. products of the Chicago house.
Finding 1t impossible to get straight
account of his business, Mr.. Davies re
solved to come to this country and inves.
tigate for himself.
The firm was started by Mr.. Davies,
who is a wealthy commission merchant
of Liverpool, and Isaac Atkinson, q con-
fidential clerk in bis employ, who came
TO This city for the purpose. Mr.. Atk,n-
son was accidentally drowned in the lake
of his residence in Kenwood, some four
years ago, and hu A. Atkinson succeed
ed to membership In the firm on his
fathers death.
"The first intimation had of anything
Irregular" said MIR. Davies, "was Atkin-
sons letter which is corroborated by the
most painful facts. l permitted the at
tachment by the Continental Bank for
S25, 600, because this note Is discounted
Oh the strength of warehouse receipts,
the property of which really belonged to
the Bank of Montreal"
"Let me expain," continued Mr.. d.
vies, some OF the strongest clauses in the
partnership contract is to the effect that
Atkinson should not speculate or do any
thing outside of legitimate busint IS
without my consent, as he had no capt.
tai IN the firm. The business here was
simply to supply the Liverpool house;
there was no outside trade. Some
twelve months ago Atkinson asked for
money. Knowing that there was
ample capital here, wrote to
him asking HIM why he was
drawing sti moe, amounti' g to $780,
900, and suggested that there must be
something wrong. In reply to that he
cabled that an employe of the firm
named Harbers had been specializing,
unknown to him, and had paid up losses
in margins by exces I've overdrafts. Har
bers, Mr.. Davies explained, was man.
aging the commission department of the
establishment, and represented the firm
on the Board. His connection with the
firm is, of course, at an end, and
what has become of lin Mr.. Davies
PROCESSES not to know. Regarding
the latest developments, be said !:
"The mother of Mr.. Atkinson has
started suits against the firm, one OF
which is for an entirely fictitious amount,
which she knows. The claim Is for
money on deposit Believing Atkinson
to be honest and reliable, l never
doubted the Harbers transactions; Har-
bers himself wrote me q letter to
Liverpool, admitting his irregularities.
l have not gone into the books
yet, but this late development leads
me to believe that the peculations
amount to not less than $4,000 That
Is as far as can judge. 1t is very prob
able that further developments will be
made in day or two"
1t Is said In commercial circles that the
Bank of Montreal is still out some $780,
BOO. which 1t carried, because TIT. Davies
Is not In any way In financial distress.