The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-09-08

cred from this attack, but he still looks
pale and haggard, and many who knew
him in Jersey City would have some diff
fculty in recognizing him in a strange
place and among other men. He has also
a sort Of paralysis of the hand, which
makes it exceedingly difficult for
him to handle a pen. He
is in business for himself, and
is doing well. Every one in town speaks
highly of him. and he is looked upon as
an upright citizen and desirable neigh
Dor.
His wife is extremely popular with the
n or two good families who have sum
mer homes along the lake. and his little
son "Jack,'' who has grown to be a YER y
bright, attractive child, is q ~favorite with
every man and woman in the place.
Van Loan recognized me at once. but
was greatly astonished that / had found
his new home. He could not help but ad-
mire the enterprise of THE JERSEY CITY
NEWS in sending a man away into the
wilds of Canada to look him up.
He talked rather freely about his con-
nection with the Second National Bank.
STIMULATING, however, that many things
he said should not be published at pres
ent. At the start he was only anxious
to have denied all the alleged reports of
interviews with him, and of his being
seen by newspaper men. He declared
emphatically that your correspondent
was the only newspaper mar who had
seen him since lie left the States. He
also denies that he was in his home on
Astor place the night after his fight.
when a policemen awoke the whole
neighborhood with his wild declarations
that somebody was in the corner house.
NEGLIGENT BANK OFFICERS.
Van Loan said that his populations
were going on for several years before he
was discovered, and if the bank had had
a watchful management they would have
been discovered long before they were.
When Jake Cadmus ran away with
some of the funds of the bank, Van
Loans crookedness might have been
easily uncovered, he said. But Cadmus
had friends in useful places, and for some
reason or other the investigations which
were made fell short of being thorough,
~ ody LAC o. al AlOalld l5O SdIQ GuAJ
at one time he fixed the books SO as
to cover up his transactions while
the National Bank Examiner from
Washington stood at his elbow 60
ing over another book. He declared
that if he had not been in the
country when the examiner visited the
bank unexpectedly he would not have
been exposed, for it he had known the
examiner was there or coming he could
easily have fixed the books. He had
nothing to fear from the hagen of
the bank, and might be there yet if 1t
had not been for the examiner. So easy |
of detection, at the same time, were his
populations. he says, that once before he
thought he was on the verge of being ex-
posed, and had all his plans prepared for
flight.
Var Loan said that he had charge of
The general ledger at a salary of s1,40O a
year, with an extra S1oO as a New Years
gift, which made his salary practically
1880 q year. In addition to this he was q
notary public and protested all the paper
which the bank had protested. He was
overworked, he declared, and ought to
have had an assistant, but the bank,
which was making money and paying
good. fat dividends, did not think as he
did on the subject, and they kept him
grinding on often far into the night.
HIS OWN STORY OF HIS DOWNFALL.
President Hogencamp never treated
him, he says, with the same consideration
that he did the other employees, and finally
took away from him the protesting OF
the banks paper. This cut $500 off his
salary without diminishing his work IN
the least. The story of his downfall is
the same old special plea which every
sinner makes for himself. He says n
night it was very late when ne finished
his work. He vas tired out, dazed and
scarcely in his right mind.
While in this state a feeling of resent
ment against a man who would treat him
as Mr.. Hogencamp had seized him,
and, hardly realizing what he did, ne
laid his hands on some of the banks
money, thrust it into his pocket, and
went to New York. The ease with which
he covered upthis theft emboldened him to
continue. His course of peculation went
on until he got in SO deep that exposure
and flight were only a question of time.
He had been prepared for the crash long
before it came. He had taken his dia-
monds. jewelry and other valuables from
the vaults of the bank and placed them
where he could lay his hands upon them
a moments notice. He also had a
comparatively large sum of money on de-
posit in the Hudson County National
Bank.
On the day he learned that his pecula-
lions had been discovered he fastened to
Jersey City and got three checks cashed
at different places of business in the city.
He then went to Philadelphia, He saws
that he Was in UGH a whirl Of nervous
excitement that he can scarcely remem-
Der what he did; but from PHILADELPHIA
he made his way up into Canada without
returning to New York. He did not know
where he was going or what he was going
to do. He had but little money left when
he grew calmer and it o became abso-
lutely necessary that he should get into
business. One day he picked up a map
of Canada and began to look it over. He
saw that the place he is now at was on
one Of the great lakes, in a section where
the Shing and shooting must be pood