The sun., 1890-11-17

NEW YORK, MO
ALBERT H. SMITH A FORGER.
HE RIs BEEN BORROWING ON RArskD
sr0ck csxTxyxcArxa
Resell ssss s.A Eisvsa Banks s.A Tr~st
Cs.ps.ies Lent Less Thsa esS.ooo
Apiece 90 the Feresrses-lt was ths Ole
"ty sna ." oane-Nene OF the Stock eu
ths Street.-The Discovery Cenpsls Miils.
RsSesea u smith 90 Mako a. Assien.
asns-Ce~fsssisa anA Arrest 81 ths Grim
iasl-Ms Says He Has Deea st ~ Sic
Years UaAstestsA-Hs was Fillar sf
Fiynssth Church ana saoxsorA Ciss Man
Lest Wall street should misundsrstand II.
the police decided yesterday to explain In
this mornings papers Just why the failure OF
Mills. Robson l. Smith. bankers and brok-
ers at 90 Broadway. will be announced IN the
Stock Exchange to-day. Albert II. Smith. the
junior partner. has been committing forgery
by raising stock certificates, on which raised
certificates money has been borrowed from
Russell Sage and eleven banks and trust COM
panies. no one lender having lent more than
$4,000 on them. Smith has confessed. and Is
. prisoner. He says he raised certificates for
$4,000 worth Of securities. par value. to $780,.
900. On some Of these he. and on others tho
firm. the latter innooently. borrowed perhaps
$4,000. 20 that the net theft ID about $780,
900. Considerably more than half OF this loss
the Arm considers itself responsible for. and
It has made IN assignment, being unable to
meet the loss. None Of the raised stock has
got away from the lenders into Wall street.
It was dinncult to get yesterday precise
statements Of the lenders losses. which will
probably be figured out to-day. The nrm Is
said to be worth S160,000 over Its other labili-
ties counting In the 10 Dor cent value In the
raised securities on which It borrowed. The
firm. It 10 said. besides its borrowing on good
securities borrowed about 100000 on the
raised securities. 20 that In this case the az.
gregate loss OF the twelve lenders BY those
loans will be only S500 900. II the firms surplus
the lenders. Then Smith borrowed something
over 100000 on his own account. He 10 worth
something and the securities are worth somo-
thing. and t150.0O0 or an average OF $12.250
apiece, may cover tho entire losses Of the lend
era They can stand It.
Y1RsT susPrcroNs OF YoHoHRY.
Tho firm has always borne good reputation
and had good credit Mr.. Smith was unsus-
peoted until Friday. That afternoon William
A. Watson. the cashier and stock clerk Of the
nrm whose duty In his second capacity Is to
examine the firms securities, all Of which pass
through his hands. found aLske Shore certin-
cate which had been altered. 1twas manifestiy
for eight shares OF stock only. but . 20" had
| been added to the figure ~" and "ty" had
been tackled on to the written word Seven" In
the manner OF the "ty and o check forRers
whose operations in Pennsylvania country
towns were exposed In The Sun several years
ago The New York banks at that time Were
too smart to be caught By the trick.
Mr.. Watson took the altered certificate.
which belonged to Mr.. Smith. to tho oflce OF
the company which had issued It, and discov-
ered that IL WAS . certificate for seven
shares He reported these facts to Messrs.
Mills and Robson. who theroupon asked
| Mr.. Smith for an explanation. Mr.. Smith
not only admitted that he had raised the Ger
tificate. but confessed in detail that he had
| committed similar forgeries for the past si1
years without detection.
THE LENDERS AND THE DoCroRED STOCKS.
| His story. which will have to be taken with q
| good many grains Of salt. is that some Of his
customers lost money in 1884 In speeulations
undertaken on his advice. and that he thought
himself bound to mako good their loss. As he
had no cash at command. he devised the
scheme Of raising Certificates IN the way Mr.
seven. eight, or nine shares oi some high priced
stock, and 6 then insert on the eeftiac:te " q M ths
csrtificate call for seventy. eighty. Or. NINETY
shares: The stocks being silt;edsed; @ no wa: wa:
10 mpptpaa pfd fsl bg ten this Wy
continued to raise money whenever be wanted
Me aainotio. % needs Until until his sehsme was detected
q .hs saansa 9 shs
Isprssen.ns psr q steet .o .sa s;G si%s; s
were $3.50 snd ny xsrs perhaps sSnsla lS
lenders on these securities were:
1G:: Loan .ss ma 1s:. sSs%ss:s
sss ';$ 5:s:: Ss$s:s; ss1'.as
3 FSsnis .s.nf.
# Es:!.naIh Es::!!...naa hi.i I.'i 7 sins; S,so,,,n
T The Stocks 70 which the iorser docsored Were
sE-S'sss.ss sESssSs s';::is:t s:ss:t
az sss S ss,: .s:t:.;; :.,.
ARREST OF THE yoRoER
Mr.. Smith. after making his confession to hi
partners, surrendered all be had toward max
does not aggregate $4,000. In addition to thu
surrsnderinE. all that was left Of the fruits Q
oi elylpg himself up to j9sticst SO the
nMers M bslieyed him and allowed him :
20 alone 10 his house at 204 Columbia strea
When. however. they consulted their lawyer
Walter 8. Logan, be thought Il was Just As Hs we
suit Of lis call on the Inspector was that De
%f sm Sea fhS Is Hss on
ips. Mr. Smith p passed the night 10 In !. sel
charge OF forgery In the Jefferson Market Po
| lice Court yesterday. He was remanded with
In order TO secure the amount he did he Dol
e not known how many II he gets ts, the fl. iu
| ~ I'LL nd tsvn Np thrAo Apa