New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-07-29
FORGED TRANSFER POWERS.
CAUSE on A STOCK EXCHANGE FAILURE.

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The failure of Do Wolf y swan. " No 30 Broad
st.. WIS announced ~ the Stock Exchange ycttcr-
day The firm waqa youug ono aud 10 wtH known
That u h'd hc"u doing htfio busiucu recently,
It's engagements ut th' Exchange were small
and tho rausartnnq under the rule for it' account
amounted to only 500 alnrra uf stock. Tho failure
was oI litto Importance hut d. aroused couVidcr-
able anxiety m Wall street, Tor the reason
that 't Was SAID Co have been caused by
the discovery of forged securities. Iho char
actrr and extent of tine forgery were not
stated, bat the umlrs were SO alarming that
ola" secretary of the Exchange visited the firms
office 10 ascertain the correctness of the stories.
He wa. told By the members of the firm that the
securities were not listed" at the Exchange and
thar they were genuine, but the powers of attorney
acAed to them bor. forged signatures.
i. ID. DE Wolf, senior partner of the firm, SAID
afterward TO a lEBCNE reporter that the failure
wold not nave occurred if the powers of attorney
had not been forged and that soon a. tine fact
was discovered IL was decided To suspend payment
To protect the creditors of the firm Mr. De Wolf de
Glued to give furtherinformatIon about the forgery
on the ground that by doing 50 he might defeat his
own purposes.
II - understood. however. that the securities,
which are manly bank and gas stocks, were given
10 the firm by of ITS tstomers margin on his
account. They We're not TO be sold but
used to borrow money on If necessary
They were not deposited all at one time
but were brought to the Office in small lots a. the
account required additional margin. 4 friend Of
the firm SAID Yesterday that no suspicion had been
excited that the customer had not perfect right
+I,. not l.
name. There had been no occasion to transfer the
certificates, when the forgery would have been
exposed and the character Of the customer such
as to preclude the idea of intentional dishonesty It
is understood that the customer WAS profitable
one and had occasionally had a line of 10000 10
:. 600 shares of stocks Il was rumored yesterday
that he had made money IN his specuatlons but that
he had been In the habit of withdrawing his pront'
promptly and then dcpositing securities when
more margin was required by the firm
The name of the mysterious customer was care
/ fully concealed yesterday by the members of the
broken firm and by those of their friends who pro-
/ fos-cG 10 know It, II was rumorcd that he had
not been seen m Wall street sire Saturday, when
/ n wa. SAID b, wt- al bis brokers office. Tie was
/ asked then to furnish fresh Margin. u ~ uhlrI-
stood that thr trim IFS trying to find HIM IN ORDER 40
/ recover something from the losses. but tA"C't
what has h'eu done b. not made Pu9ll,' A' llH''
tom detective agency ~ SAID thdt tine case h@d
not been placed m It- hands.
Tho extent of the forgery was variouslv estimated
| at from $4,000 tO 100000 ye-terd1.. VT. p'
Wolf said lu reply ~ inquiries that he gId nor KNOW
how large 10 might prove 60 he ana ne I"Iu7'u T"
/ indicate Iu amy way thD amount t4ai h'd n''H "I7
covered or Inns own t-t'mato of the po-slpI' loss.
lia aid that thc amount va- large enough io wipe
our tI, entire crulfaI of th" hrn.
n was hunted yc.ter'lnr th1' The i'rE'r was
proo Ism lawyer uuu thtt tu' securities "h WIcI,
. h, L.t sp,ruIlfoI belonged to au estate aud had
. hrcu pH,rI u us hands M iIl. '... wv wv