The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-28
ENGLAND'S BIG BANK.
STORIES OF THE INSTITUTION IN
THREADNREDLE STREET.


Some of the Ingenious Frauds Per
petrared Upon It at variousrimes-
A Cashier Who Embezzled 1890,
OOo-How run" on the Bank Wa
Averted-The First Forged Note.
From the Neso York Star.
The Bank Of England is one Of the plaes
of interest that the stranger in Londn
always goes in search Of 1t is really oneof
the very interesting features of the met3p-
oils The building comprises large. AS
slve square stone block, covering nArea
OF twelve acres, and is bounded on itfour
sides by Threadneedle street. .rinces
street, Lothbury, and Rrtholo-
new lane. Most of the other leading
English banks have their head offiAs in one
or other OF these thoroughfares. The front
OF the bank Immediately oyelooks the
Royal Exchange and the Manson house
the Official residence of the lard mayor
Every evening as soon as the bsnk is closed
detachment of soldiers is marched into
the court yard of the building and remains
stationed there throughout the night. This
regulation first came into vogue more than
acentury ago, at period when the safety
OF the bank stood in jeopardy of being at
tackled by riotous mob. Any one IS at
liberty to saunter through the corridors and
courts during the hours of business but if
1t IS desired to pay a visit to the sffes and
vaults, special permit has first 10 be OBJ
tanned.
The Bank of England was established in
1924, under the corporate title fSThe Gov
sfnor and Company of the Baak of Eng
land" Business was begun Jan. l, 1895.
The act of Incorporation provided that the
capital. originally fixed o 1900 900.
should be loaned permanently to the gov
eminent at the rate OF per cent. per
annum, and this loan, it issaid, still con-
tinues to be nearly identical in amount
with the original capital The management
of the entire public debt given into the
hands of this bank. The business done by
this bank is enormous Ii employs an
army of managers, clerk and accountants,
Its financial TRANSACTION run into figures
whose amount seems ALMOST inconceivable
The history of the Bank of England pre-
Sents many instances of ingenious frauds
practiced upon it. Al one period of its
existence the government authorities were
continually having asses of forgery and
deceit brought to tleir notice, and were
generally put to immense trouble and ex-
pense in tracing tn, origin of the various
offenses and bringing the delinquents to
justice. Sometims enormous sums were
involved, and, Notwithstanding that the
forgery was desth, the many examples
which were mad. did not have the effect of
lettering others from committing similar
crimes, SO long As the extreme penalty was
in Force -
In the latterpart of the last century and
the earlier potion Of the present the chief
cashier of th, hank was Abraham Newland,
by whom allprosecutions for forgery of the
notes Of thai establishment were instituted.
Strange to say, the greatest loss ever sus-
tanned by thS bank at one time was through
the dishonesty of a servant, Robert Astlett,
who was Newland's nephew and cashier
in the establishment.
1t amounted to 81, 900, 600, which consisted
In plundered exchequered bills, and was
equal to the entire haif-yearlY dividends of
1903, the year in which the fraud was per-
petrated. However, a dividend was de-
clared as usual, but no bonus was an
nounced, and the reason was, of course,
attributed TO the above circumstances.
Astlett was fortunate enough to escape the
penalty of his crime through the bungling
Of the bank counsel in framing an indict-
r1ent against him. He was tried under
the bank aeE, to make his conviction the
more certain, while had he been tried under
the ordinary law applicable to common
cases of embezzlement he would have been
convicted. It was a great many years after
this that Newiand retired from his post of
chief cashier, and he refused to accept the
pension which the bank offered him at the
time. He died worth S1,000,000. besides
So, 900 year in real estate. But it is not
to be supposed that he saved this out of his
salary; il was said to pe the result of sue
cessful speculation.
On one occasion Jew, having purchased
500, 900 worth of Bank of England notes
from bankers clerk who had defaulted
and absconded, be, in six months, presented
them at the bank and was refused, as che
bills had been stolen. The Jew, who was a
wealthy and energetic man, then diliber-
ately went TO the Exchange and asserted
publicly that the bank had refused to honor
its own sbills for 100000; that its credit
was gone and its affairs were in confusion;
that they had, in fact, stopped payment.
The Exchange naturally wore every appear
6nce of alarm. TIE Hebrew showed the
notes to corroborate his assertion, aud de-
clared they had been remitted to him from
Holland, and, OF course, his statement was
believed. He then declared bis intention TO
advertise the refusal Of the bank to honor
their bills. Information of this action
reached the directors, and q messenger was
dispatched to inform the holder that he
might receive cash in exchange for the
notes. The fact is, the law could not hinder
the holder of the notes from interpreting
the refusal tnaL was maze OF payment as
he pleased--for instance, as pretext on
the part of the bank to gain time, and be-
lief in this would have caused great alarm.
All this the directors foresaw; though this
was at an early period, when the reputation
of the company was not so firmly estab-
lished as at the present time.
OF lost notes there are also some enter
tanning narratives. Thus, in 1740, one of
the banks directors lost a S150,000 Bank of
England note, which he was persuaded had
fallen from the chimney piece of his room
into the fire. Upon this representation his
colleagues gave him second bill, upon his
agreement to return the first one should it
ever he found, or to pay the money itself
should it be presented by any stranger.
About thirty years after this had
occurred, the director having been long dead
and his heirs in possession of his fortune,
an unknown person presented the lost
bill at the bank and demanded payment. 1t
was in vain that they explained to this per-
son the transaction by which the bill was
annulled; he would not listen to it. He
maintained that it had come to him from
abroad, and insisted upon immediate pay
ment. The note was payable to bearer, and
the $3.50 900 was paid to him.. The heirs of
the director would not listen to any de-
mands of restitution, and the bank was
obliged to sustain the loss. 1t was after
ward discovered that an architect, having
purchased the directors house, had taken 1t
down in order to build another upon the
same sDot had found the note in crevice