Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-20
"Welle" ,~nterrogated the listeners,

ceived a letter from the Treasury De,
partment stating that the missing notes
had been presented, together with some
other currency, in payment for some
registered bonds. / wrote for the name
of the person who presented them, and
by return mail 1 received information
that staggered me. The $4,000 OF
Treasury notes had been sent to Wash.
ington to complete a private purchase
of bonds by the President of the very
bank to which my messenger had been
sent with the package. That man is
no longer a bank President, but he is
a rich man. and you doubtless both re-
member him. I had a personal inter.
view with him and showed him the let
tiers that [ had received from the Treas
urv Department. He turned as pale as
a sheet, and tremblingly invited me to
accompany him into 9 private room.
There he broke down completely, con-
tcsscd that he had stolen the notes, and
begged me to accept back the amount
with interest, and not to expose him.
My first impulse was to denounce him.
i reminded him Of the disgrace and
suffering that his crime had brought
upon an innocent boy. He offered to
find the boy and give him a better stu
alton than he had before, and then he
began pleading for the good name of
his own family. l asked him how he,
a comparatively rich man, could bring
himself to steal $4,000, and he told me
that he did it under a momentary i'm
pulse. and that subsequently, he would
gladly have returned The money
could he have done so-withuut COM
promising himself. He said that the
messenger laid the package down on his
desk and e away. The package
remained there %unnoticed until after
banking hours, when he tore one end of
he wrapper and saw what it contained.
Nobody else in the bank had seen the
notes, and he slipped it into his drawer
with the idea that he might as well keep
it. as no person would be any the wiser.
got my money, with interest,"" con-
Guided the speaker, land it was owing
to my knowledge of his dishonesty that
Mr.. - soon afterward retired from the
presidency of the bank"
"What became of the boy?" asked
one of the bankers.
HE is n of the most trusted clerks
il my banking house."
"That is a curious story" remarked an
elderly member of the party. 81 heard
agood one, however, in which Russell
Sage was concerned. The incident
happened only a few months ago., and
it was in a financial institution in which
Mr.. Sage is a director. After the rou-
tine business of directors meeting had
been disposed of one morning, the direc-
tors ut Mr.. Sage's request sent for the
President of the institution. Mr.. -
questioned Russell, whats the amount
of the bond that our cashier
gives us? The President replied
that, as is usual in most banks, the
cashiers bond was purely nominal.
The amount was $4,000. 4 see that
two or three bank cashiers and tellers
in this city have IL away lately said
MI. Sage. I think we had better in
crease the amount of our cashiers
bond to s15, 900. You please talk with
him about it and let us know what he
says
The Directors went away and the
President with much difidence ap-
preached the Cashier on the subject.
The Cashier flushed UP at once and
manifested some indignation. He re-
minded the President that he had
served the bank for sixteen years and
handled more than 5000. 600, 600 during
that time. yes, 1 know said the
President. apologetically, Nobody
doubts your honesty for a moment. but
you know how queer Mr.. Sage is, and
1T won't trouble you any more to give a
$4,000 bond than to give q bond for
$4,000.
THAT is true answered the Cashier,
calmly. Now let me illustrate the mat
ter from my standpoint. Here is q
package of greenbacks taking a slen-
der package out of q compartment of
the vault near which the President and
himself were standing1. How much
do you think there is in this little pack
age?"
I do not know and can not guess'
answered the President
"There are $500, 600 in good United
States currency. Now l will slip this
into my trousers pocket [suiting the
action to the word . and after button
ing my coat you would not notice any
bullying OF my pockets. What, there
fore, is to prevent my walking out of
this bank some afternoon with $500, 900,
OF even Sl,OO0,O00? l would be in
Canada before you would ever suspect
that l had stolen anything"
'But you are not thinking of doing
such a thing, are you?:" asked the Presi-
dent, with deep concern.
"'No, l I'M no thief" said the cash
Ter, with dignity, but a bond for S15,-
900 certainly would not stop me if 1
was dishonest
"The President assured the cashier
that he appreciated the significance of
the illustration. The next day the
President described his interview to
Mr.. Sage and some of the other direc-
tors. He suggested that the directors
would gain nothing by requiring the
cashier to increase the amount Of his
bond.
"'I don't know about that! l don't
know about that!' said Russell Sage, in
his quick, way. as he stopped
to pick up a pin off the carpet; money
is money nowadays. l think you had
better get a good bond for SIS, 900 from
u Cashier. Then if he does run away
with some of our funds we will have
$l5,00 instead OF S., 200. That is q