The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-10-23
4 ELEECED LAME.

The Defalcation of John A. Atkinson, of
Chicago, Broush. About by UnluckJ
Deals i'm FWures-That Was the "LOnz
and '' Shors' of It-His Firm VIII Suffer
to the Tune of 100000.
CHICAGO. Ill, October 16-
A reporter who went to the house Of
John \. Atkinson, defau;ting member of
the pork packing firm of Davies, Atkin-
son & Co., on Lake aSenue, was told that
be was not at home and that there was
no telling when he would be home. Mr..
i. vIeS was seen at his hotel. He said:
''Wheu | arrived here on October Sd q
CLERK handed me q letter written by Mr..
At insOu which viii explain much, if not
all" The letter IS as follows:
CHICAGO ILL, October ), 1SS4.-I have
q most terrible confession TO make.
have lost Il iarge sum ofyour .mhney In
speculat:OnS OIL the B ard of Trade, and
have used moaey borrowed iron The.
banSs to pay SScS. | don't know the
amount, but it must be over SllO, 600.
This eception on my part has been ing
on long time. niGe money AZ first,
and encouraged by the hope OF making
up some portion OF laSt'year'S losses,
took larger liueS and was
the panic came last May. Then it
was Impossible to sell out, so | sold
quan ity OF pork short, and was
caught in the Armour corner. | still
he'd on to all tn. stuff, after paying the
loss on pork, and 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 l have been deceiving the
banks as to the position We were in,
hoping thas 1t would come ous ali
right. Bat it went on from
bad 10 worse, and every effort | made to
make money only piung d me deeper into
the mire. :. great many trades are still
open, but the market shows little sign of
doing any better. / know there is nc
pal iatiou for the baSene>S and iugrati-
III of my conduct, and, were it not for
nv vile q little ones, would end my
life. A ii is, / am broken down by the
terrible strain. 1t has been d"
The letter ended abruptly at this point.
Mr.. Dawes, the seciOr member of the
firm lives in England, where he diSpoSes
of ali IN products of the Chicsgo house.
Finding it impossible 10 get Il straight
account of his business, Mr.. Davies re-
solved to come TO this cOunlrs aud inveS-
tigate for himself.
The firm was started by Mr.. Davies,
who is wealthy commission merchant
of Liverpool, and Isaac Atkinson, 4 con-
fidentlal clerk in his employ, who came
to This city for the purpose. Mr.. At6In-
SOC was accidentally drowned in the lake
off his residence in kenwOOd, some four
years ago, and j hu 4 Atkinson succeed
ed to Il membership In the firm on his
fathers death.
''The first intimation had of anything
Irregular" said Mr.. Davies, "waS Atkin-
sons letter which is corroborated by the
most painful iacts. | permitted the at
tachment by the Continental B INK for
S25, 900, because this note is discounted
on tine strength of warehouse receipts,
the property OF which really belonged to
the Bank of Montreal"
''Let me exp ain," continued Mr.. Da-
vieS, cone OF the strongest clauses in the
partnership cout act is TO the. effect that
Atkinson should not specuate OEdo any
thing outside of Legitimate business
without NV consent, as. he. had no CAPT
tai IN the firm. The bu>iness, h-re was
simply TO supply the Liverpool house;
there was no outside tralc. Some
twelve month, ago AtkinSOu asked for
money. Knowing that there was
ample capital here, wrote TO
him asking h m why he was
drawing stii moe, amount Q to $780,
00J, aud suggested that there must be
something wrong. In reply to that he
cabed tEaJ an emplOye OF the firm
named HarberS had been speculating,
unknown to him, and had pail up losses
in margins by eXces- i've OyerdraftS. llar
berS, MIR. Davies explained, was man
aging the commission department of the
establishment, and represented the arm
on the Board. His connection with the
firm Is, OF course, ut an end, and
what has become of lin Mr.. Davies
processes not to know. regarding
the latest developments, he said:
9Th. mother of Mr.. Atkinson has
started suits against the firm, one of
which is fOra entirely fictitious amount,
when she knows. The claim IS tor .
money On deposit Believing Atkinson
to be honest and reliable, - | never
doubted the Harbrrs transaction; Har-
bers himself wrote me q letter to
Liverpool, admitting his Irregularities.
have not gone into the books
yet, but this iate deye 7Opment leads
TIE to believe that the pccu!ations
amount to not less than $500, 600 That
is as far as can judge. II is very prob
able that further developments will be
made in 4 day or two"
1t IS said in commercial circles that the
Bank of Montreal Is still out some Sl40,-
200. which il carried, because dr. Davies
. -, H,o ,f.alI Il Ifofra