New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-05-07
THE BROWN PAPER SW1NDLE
ALL THE BANK OFFICIALS RETICENT.
,o clyw TO THE MISSING $4l,000 OF THE AMERI-
CAN EXCHANGE BANK.

CAN EXCHANGE BANh
Tbe package of brown paper, labelled SAL
oooo which was delivered to the Treasury Depart
,,snt on Saturday by the Adams Express Company
.s that much genuine money from the American
Excbange Bank OF this city, returned TO the
hark Yesterday and the Central Office detectives
and hank officials clerks, etc, inspected the seals
and label carefully, thereby hoping to discover
some cew TO the thief who SO adroity made the
constitution The result of the investigation could
not no learned yesterday, for everybody who knew
anvtbine maintained discreet silence on the sub
,ect lust where the package of paper was sub
stitu,ed for I he bills it is hard to say. After the
nacxage had been made up sealed with five seals
rd labelled il was delivered according TO the
hanks custom TO two messengers or runners, who
took it from the bank, at No. 1913 Broadway to
the office of the Adams Express Company. at No.
20 Broadway The messengers brought back the
.xnress company's receipt and everything was
.unnosed to be all right until the startling news
came from Washington that the bogus package
had been received there.
There are several men who perform this service
of messenger for the bank. The men on duty on
Friday and Saturday were Earl and Crawford,
both old employees Of the bank, Earl being the
oldest in it's service He is, it is sad an eX-
nreacher and is called Dominic" by his associates.
These men delivered the package on Friday and
ON Saturday were at the bank as usual, attending
"a their duties Both men left the bank for their
homes at the usual hour in the afternoon The
hanks capital is So, 0O0 900 and the sum involved
is trte TO it.
MR. CoE HAS LITTLE TO SAY
George s. COe, the president of the bank spent
Yesterday at his home in Englcwood, n. j. in close
consultation with Dumont S. Clarke, the vice
president. When inquiring reporters became too
numerous for Mr.. Goes peace of mind he and MIR.
Clarke drove out along the beautiful green Jersey
lanes in buggy and thus avoided answering ques-
tions To TRIBUNE reporter MIR. Coe said that
he was not at all worried about the loss OF the
money as he was confident of getting 1t back
again 1t is police case now,' said he, and
do not to say anything about 1t. Tor talking
might interfere with the recovery of the money
/ do not know if the money was taken while IN the
banks custody, or while in charge of the express
company We hold the receipt of the express
company for package marked SAL, l,OOO' do
not think the express company is Ill the habit OF
counting money delivered to it for transmission"
Is it customary for messengers to carry such
large sums of money from the banks to the ex-
press oilices?'
1t has been the invariablc custom for fifty
years. We never had reason 10 think it was not
a good custom, and shall doubtless continue here
never fear We are not losing any sleep over IT,.
WAS the money insured?'
"Wen, yes. That is consider that the Adams
Express Companys responsibility is insurance
enough"
UNWILLING TO TELL THE AMOUNT
The cashier Edward Burns, whose home is at
No. 4O4 Degraw-st, Brooklyn, did not seem to be
worried about anything except the persistence with
which he was being sought for by reporters lie
laI Tho
loss of s41, 900, as reported from Washington. He
admitted that package Of bills had been ex-
pressed to the Treasury Department for redemption
on Friday but the amount was another matter
Did the package contain sl00,0OO?" Mr..
Burns was asked
No, it did not Neither did it contain $4,000,
nor $50, 000-and it didn't contain 81 5000"
That was as near to $4,000 as he would go.
in the bank Such parcels were wrapped III
brown paper and five seals were put upon them
They We're then taken to the
ment, and were always delivered within an hour
after being wrapped up. Mr.: Burns said that he
really did net know which OF the messengers had
at the bank, he said
He had been to the bank Yesterday, but had
age" He had not received any official informa- ma
ton of anything being wrong, but on reading the
papers had decided to be clam
SOME STIR AT THE BANK.
A TRIBUNE reporter who visited the bank, No.
l2S Broadway, yesterday afternoon, saw two or
three men, evidently clerks tellers of the bank,
standing at the window. He rang the bell and
voice through the sheet-iron door inquired ms
errand. The reporter said he had come to ask
for information about the Sal, 900 defalcatlon
Ny dear man." replied the voice, this is not
the place to come to; 80 TO the Adams Express
Company The reporter asked if any of the
bank people were inside, and the voice answered
that none of the officers of the bank was there.
The reporter then asked whether an examination
Of the books not then In progress -.
Why examination Of the books ?' asked
the voice excitedly. The watchman and the
janitor are always here on Sundays My dear
man. go to the Adams Express Office"
Inspector Byrnes visited the bank yesterday IN
the search for informatlon and 1t Is SAID that ne
took flying trip over 10 New-Jersey TO consult
with President Coe. The Inspector refused to
talk about the robbery last evening. He would
not say whether suspicion pointed TO any partlcu-
lar person, but said that he had carefully ex-
amined the course of the package, through whose
hands it passed from the bank to its destination
in Washington, and he believed that the thief
would soon be caught The police here do not
believe that the transfer of worthless paper to the
package and the removal OF the money was done
In this city.
Several of the directors were away from home
yesterday. $. d. Babcock is in Washington;
Frederick Billings and Josiah Nj. Fiske were found
at their homes but the first intimaton to either
Of them that there had been defalcation was the
dispatch published in yesterdays TRIBUNE,
he had seen the cashier at 8 o'clock on Saturday
afternoon Up to that time no suspicion was cast
upon any particular person, and Mr.. Cutting had
Washington on Friday. he believed. The bank
was notified Of the shortage early on Saturday
morning and detectives were at once put on the
case but what their theories are or along what
lines they are working Mr.. Cutting does not know.
No special meeting of the directors has yet been
called.
DETECTING THE CIPHER USED.BY DOHNELLT.
ST. Louis, May o." The Post Dispatch will to-
morrow publish article the Shakespeare Donnclly
Bacon cipher, written by John J. Jennings, of that
paper, In which 1t will be shown that the key number
from which Donney obtains his vor root numbers, and
which he has persstently refused to DISCLOSE Is 222