Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-20
BANKERS ANECDOTES.
How Persons Who Handle Other
p-vp,e-s Money are Tempted.
II Was the President, Not the Boy, Who
Wa, theThief-Russel Sagc's Econ.
omy-An Honest Clerk Declines
to Steal 800, 900.

TO Steal &1OO,OOO.
Three downtown bankers sat at a
lunch table in Il of the cozy eating
rooms on the top floor of the Mills
building. 1t was after banking hours on
apleasant autumn afternoon. The mild
sunlight peered through a bull eye win
dow facing the bay and danced merrily
over the entering silver and glass para
phernalia of the table. 1t also caused q
blaze of light to flash from the jeweled
scarf of one of the bankers. The three
gentlemen had met by accident. and
they tarried over their coffee and cigars
to enjoy a half hours social chat. One
OF the number had suggested the de-
STABILITY OF throwing greater safe
guards around the cash vaults of banks.
additional checks should be placed
npon the cashiers and tellers,' he said.
"banks must either pat 4 stop to these
frequent defalcations or they will suf-
fef through the speedy loss of public
conlidcnce.n
The youngest .and smallest men,
bel OF the trio, who is q brisk,
:atty gentleman, with grayish side
whiskcrs. . dearth Of hair on his head,
and q keen, observing eye. exclaimed:
"Pshaw! what & you do? 1t is i'm
possible to keep a man honest by
watching him. You must trust your
cashier and you must trust your teller
to Il certain extent, no matter how strict
your methods are. If a man has q
grain Of dishonesty i'll him the realiza-
ton that he is being watched will en-
cite his baser qualities. and in nine
cases out of ten will make a thief of
him. There is that in human nature
that makes q man-espec' ally a clerk
proud of being trusted. Some men,
however, are bound to be thieves, and
whether yon watch them or trust them
makes no difference. Ihave in mind a
natable case of what l call instructive
dishonesty"
.'Let us hear it," exclaimed the other
two gentlemen, setting back comforta-
bly, in their chairs.
IAN right, you shall Rave it. When
NY clearinghouse was in Wall street I
lo t $4,000 in United States Treasury
notes of large denominations. One Of
my customers had left the notes at nv
Office with 4 request that they be sent
to the bank OF -, which wa then, as
you know, one of the soundest financial
institutions in the city. My customer
wanted his notes exchanged for q GER
titled check draw by that particular
bank. OF c urse, after taking the or
der,'I turned the matter over to one of
my clerks aid thought no more about
it for the time being. A few days at
terward the owner OF the Treasury
notes came tor his certified check and 1
called upon my booSkeeper for it.
''Shl, | have seen no such check said
the bookkeeper.
"'But you must have it, 1 insisted.
i remember distinctly telling you to
send the notes to the Bank of - and
exchange them for q certified check.
IL recall the circumstance now,'
said the bookkeeper, but no check was
ever brought 10 me-
"a diiigent search was then made
throughtEe Office and it die not take long
to find the clerk who had dispatched the
package OF treasury notes to the bank.
He speedily picked out the messenger
whom he had sent to deliver the notes.
The boy was young. and, as | thought,
very honest and faithful. He remem-
bored having taken the package to the
bank, but he said that he did not re-
member any instructions concerning q
certified check. He was positive that
he took the notes where he was told to
take them. but he could not recollect to
whom he gave them. He came directly
back to my office and nothing was said
to him about a certified check. Well, 1
sent my confidential clerk to the Bank
OF -. and he saw the president, cash
ier end receiving teller, and was as
sured in the most positive by
each one of them that no
such package of treasury notes
as DIES. ribed had been received at
their bank. Next I subjected my mes
,senger boy to a searching cross-exami-
nation. He stoutly insisted that he had
delivered the package as directed, but
being q mere lad he naturally became
nervous and began to cry. 1 told him
that If he had lost the package and
would tellIme all about it ould l forgive
him. He, however, persisted in his
first statement, and believing thas he
had either stolen or lost the notes |
discharged him. At the same time l
the numbers of the missing notes
\Treasury Department at Washing
Nth the information that the notes
timer been lOSt or StOlen.n