Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-24
HE LIVED VERY FAST.
Young Harry Flamm Spent Money as
Fast as He Got Hold of It.
CARRIAGES, WINE AND SUPPERS.
The Bank is Not Affected by the Loss, Ex-
cept in Its Profits.
THE BOY WILL SURELY BE PROSECUTED

Harry Flamm, the individual bookkeepel
of the Marine National Bank, who was ar.
rested Saturday night, as fully reported in
these columns yesterday, spent his first
Sunday in Jail. No one was allowed to see
him, even if any person had called; but no
one did. The case is one of the most re-
markable in many respects of all the bank
| defalcations which have taken place in the
United States. Never before has so young
o man. placed in responsible position, got
away with so much money by a systematic
method of stealing.
All day yesterday the 13 directors of the
bank were in session in the temporary build
ing that is now occupied by the bank while
the new bank building is being erected.
Captain j B. Sneathen and Cashier Macrum
are authority for the statement that the de-
falcation will not exceed 5000, and may
be not much more than S32, 900.
THE BANK is SOLID.
''There is not one of the directors of the
bank" said Captain Sneathen, who is not
able to pay the full amount of Flamm's de-
falcation at any moment. The bank has
only lost its profits. The stealing has been
going on for two years, nearly ever since
Flamm came into the bank" Continuing,
the Captain said:
Mr.. Macrum, the cashier, was imposed upon
or he would never have taken Flamm. There
were SO many friends of the young man who
said he was perfectly honest and upright that
do not blame Mr.. Macrum for employing him.
But neither Mr.. Macrum nor any of the direc-
tors knew that. Flamm had been an embez-
zler before. We didn't know it until Satur-
day, and then We learned that while he was a
clerk at Joseph Horne's store he stole over
81, 900. The amount was made good by his
friends.
81 want you to say" continued Captain
Sneathen. ''that the bank is entirely solvent.
All that it has lost through Flamm is simply
the cutting down of profits. Every time that
story gets out that there has been defalca-
tion in bank, the depositors get scared, and
think that all the money has been taken.
Please say to the public that the Marine Ma
tIonal Bank will be open for business at the
regular hour on Monday morning, and will re-
main mere boy fsil4w ep who is not of
ries me is that he could steal over $4,000 in two
years, but we will have to stand it."
A GUARANTEE BOND.
Then Mr.. Macrum. the cashier, spoke up:
ST certainly was imposed upon" said he.
''The boy had many friends who came to
me and insisted that he was all right, but
the strongest argument made to me was that
he could get a bond from the New York
Guarantee Company. The guarantee COM
panies look up mans history very care
fully and when Flamm brought me bond
in So, 900 had no further hesitancy in en-
ploying him. He was always attentive to
his duties and 1 had no reason to suspect
that he was not doing right until the re-
ports came in about the wav he was spend
ing his money. The Guarantee Company
will have to pay the So, 1000, that is certain,
but it is equally sure that it will see that he
is prosecuted. His friends may make the
amount of the defalcation good, but doubt
if he will get off,"
"Yes," remarked Captain Sneathen, ct
suppose his friends may make the amount
good and try to have our charges with
drawn. We would like to have the money,
of course, but 1 think Flamm will 60 to the
penitentiary nevertheless"
HOW THE MONEY WENT.
When "the boys" around town read of
the arrest of Flamm, each one fshed up
some memories of how he spent his money.
81 thought the blanked fool would get in
a scrape," said well-known son of a coal
operator last night. "Why, 1 was present
at party at Fair Oaks that Harry gave.
There were about 40 others there. There
was big supper, and nobody was allowed
to drink anything cheaper than champagne,
and Harry Flamm paid the whole bill, not
only for the supper and the wine, but all
the carriages. 1t must have cost him $500.
I get S125 month, but am often at loss
for dime to buy cigar. Harry was GER
talnly blooded, but We all thought he was
the biggest fool we had run across"
Little rivulets of news also flow from other
places in which Mr.. Flamm spent his
money. It is established beyond a doubt
that he in one night spent S125 in one house
that he visited.
Another method of getting away with the
cash of the bank was by getting up theater
parties for which Mr.. Flamm paid all the
expenses. He kept up magnificent house
in Oakland for himself and young wife, and
also paid all the running expenses of his
mothers home.
And yet when he was arrested he didn't |
have S. in his pocket. J. Fl. Porte and |
Scott Ferguson, his attorneys, begged De-
tective Heiner and the attorney for the
bank, Colonel E. A. Montooth, to ''let up
on the boy, because he hasn't cent" but |
he was locked up ali the same. AS far as |
can be learned, young Flamm let the money |
drop between his fingers nearly as fast as be |
picked it up, and laid nothing aside for a |
rainy day.
Colonel Kilgore, the father-in-law of the
unfortunate young man, was not at his resi-
dence, No. 1914 Wylie avenue, last night.
The neighbors next door said they thought
the whole family had gone out to Mr..
Flamm's residence, in Oakland.