Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-10-11
ANOTHER sWlNDLER.
warehouse Receipts OF Over
s4oo,ooO-Ruin of a Prominent Pork
Tacklng House-rhe Partner Flees to a
Country of Refuge.

WIS CHICAGO. Oct 9.
~ NJ. Neeid, partner in the we'll known
packing mouse of j. G. Ferguson & Co., is
!" Nahaua- de has issued bogus warehouse
receipts aggregating s4O0, 900. He has prsc-
licaiiy ruined his firm. The loss will fall
''seehe, on the banks, 500 900 on a single
New ork bank. The banks here who lose
by it, said prominent doctor ..ara al r;ct
ana VIII not know the loss. The worst loss
Is on the New York institution. Ne.ld left
Tor Canada night before last and no one ha.
hearo from him." Neeld was fine loeking
man. ABOUT 4o years of age. He was the
managing partner in the firm which was a
ser' old and rich one, and came originally
from indianapolis. He has been a big sp-c-
uiator on The board and in stocks, aud has
oeeh wrong tor long time. The biggest
loss mas been IN Wall street. No particulars
al ali are yet obtainabe concerning the fail
ure. Mr.. Ferguson is locked in his private
once ana refuses to make any state
ineht Whatever, until he has had an op.
pottuhily 10 ascertain exactly the extent of
the disaster. The firm of j. C. Ferguson &
oo' IS an old one, and stood high They
owned warehouse, and this was made sreg-
ular short time ago. 1t is stated that
Neeld Issued number of fraudulent ware
mouse receipts and that the Chicago and New
Y ork banks loaned money on them TO IN.
extent above stated Neeld was one of the
directors OF the Chicago Board of Trade
The manager of the r. G Dun & Co. COM
mercial agency said that j C. Ferguson &
20. mad been doing fair business, prin-
cipally through the Exchange National Bank
al the stockyards, which has more intimate
business relations with the First National
Bank OF Chicago than with any other. The
agency refused to give the rating of the in
volved packing firm. except to say that it
was very good, and that S4OO, 900 might Grip
pie 1t, but it would not necessarily cause a
complete failure.
Ihe superintendent of the Bradstreet
agency sald 81 know very little about the
facts as yet, but If what is talked on the
street is true, it is the biggest swindle
Chicago has had for many years The house
has done its banking with the First National
Bank of Chicago and the Corn Exchange
Bank of New York"
The fact that Needs partner, young Fer
guson, did not know of the defalcation, is
considered remarkable by those who did not
know the methods of the firm. But there
Is no one who is familiar with Neeld and his
management who believes that Fergusion
knew, until perhaps within day or so,
anything of the crookedness of his sisters
husband. There were certain of the banks
who were preparing to arrest young Ferguso
this morning, but it is believed that the step
would be cruel and unjustfiable one.
Neede is big man physically, and assumed
the whole management. 1t is undoubtedly
true that +. d. Ferguson. within week or
so, must have known of the embezzlement,
but it was so late there was no help for it
then.
Attachments were taken out against the
firm this afternoon by William Kirkwood &
Co. for $500 and by William E. Webb Co.
tor Sl340. The banks will probably take out
DO attachments, for the reasons that all that
was fonnd in the warehouse, where there
should have been $500, 900 worth of property
were 300 bags of salt. The method of the
fraud was this: Need issued receipts to the
banks on the pork, meat and lard in
the Ferguson house at the stock
yards to the extent of about
100000. On these he borrowed money
from the banks. share of the firms bank
ing was done in New York, and for that rea-
son about 500, 900 is owed at one institution
there. The First National is among the
heavy sufferers here. The firm banked there.
Last month Neeld sold the stuff in his ware
houses over again to other parties and got
the money that. 1t is said by man who
went through the warehouses last night
There is not meat enough left to grease a
wheel to represent those $4,000 ef re-
celpts." Neeld was here up to Thursday
noon. 1t was known three days ago that the
firm was in trouble. No crookedness was
suspected until yesterday, when bank,
alarmed at not finding Need, tried to attach
certain property on which they held receipts,
and found no property there. By that time
word was received from Neeld, who was in
Canada.
r. P. Hutchinson says: at is the worst
that has ever happened in the trade" Mr.
Ferguson was in no condition to talk today
He was in terrible state of mental anguish
The clerks about the office were hardly less
wrought up. When one of them was shown
the report of the embezzlement. he took one
glance at the paper and threw it aside with a
vail of woe. The actual amount of the en-
bezzlement cannot be told until a thorough
investigation has been made of the books of
the firm.