The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-01-14

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PIerce's Shortage WIN Amount TO
Nearly sSo,ooc meps,nE u sseqk-
holders.
A needing Of the stockholders of
the City loan Association was held last
evening, at the hall Sixth and Ship1ey
streets. The room was crowded with
those Interested, and It was thought
that when they learned the amount OF
their loss there would 10 some trout
lble. Fortunately, however, such wus
not the case, as sober Judgment took
| the place Of Indignation. The report
| OF the auditor was read, showing that
Pierce has stolen S47, 954. Al OF the
lstoekholders' money, and that tho
stealing has boon going on for years.
The first false entry was found In
his accounts for 1889, at which time he
funds although some Of this 10 sup
posed to have boon taken previous to
that year and the accounts were doc
| tored to balance. HIS only posted his
books once a year and IN this way he
was enabled to fix his ledger entries on y
both the debit and credit side so that
no expert accountant could have dis
covered flaw In the accounts unless
| the assets were actually demanded TO
be shown IL was IN raising the ledger
accounts that Pierce hoodwinked the
auditors. Being an expert bookkeoper
| he would make false entries TO balance
| his books and then, whom they had
been audited, be would erase such
Figures as he deemed necessary 10 con-
tinue the fraud and carry forward q
balance necessary to balance his books
for the succesdlng year. me efasares
were 80 neatly and uftisticaiiy done
that they could not be detected on the
books until the pages were held up TO
| the light. Knowing full we'll that
| there was dedication somewhere
Professor Reynolds had serious dill
Guilty in finding the first fnlse entry,
but whenhe discovered the method by
which Pierce had worked further dis
coveiies were much easier
From total assets OF Si22 $50, rs, the
loans net assets have dwindled to
500, 1874.
As the embezzler was an expert PEN
man II was an easy matter for him 70
SO arrange the books, that no one but
himself could understand them. In
ono instance, In bills payable, no
raised the figures "s1, 1907 to ga. s00s
by the stroke OF pen and pockeied
the difference in the amounts. In 1885
he erased figures on the debit side.
cutting through the page lp this is
| and the clsa!!. side 1890. making a
net raise OF 5000, which represented
his steallngs up to that time. This
discrepancy In his debit and credit
| side he carried over into his 1885 ac-
counts 10 balance them.
In 1887 an entry on the loan account
Amounting to 81, he changed to
SO, 100 by simply adding loop to the
/. These changes were made after the
books had been audited.
During the $lme yeer he raised the
Pierce n Beeson had negotiated from
5000 to $4,000.
Several other entries were found
where loans had been raised hundreds
of dollars from the actual amounts.
He also pocketed tho money paid'in to
liauidate loans, without crediting the
amount on the books, thus making it
appear that the borrower was still in
debt to the association. That Is what
he did with n $4,000 loan which the
Kent Iron and Hardware Company
paid In Juno, 1890. So he did also with
the scrip issued for matured stock. He
made out sham certificates crediting
II as being paid, when 1t was not paid,
He also pasted two certificate stuba
together, here and there, SO that when
the stubs were turned only one stub
lwould be noticed. There Is ahout
$50, 900 of this scrip, the holders OF
which are regarded as preferred credit
tors. When the stock inetured Pierce
| would invariably put on the stock
holders from demanding ready cash
by telling them that there was no
money In tho treasury One man in
New, Castle who had $1,000 in matured
stock thus allowed himself to be put
of for three years or more without
ever seemingly having his suspicious
aroused. In one instance checks prop
erly signed by the officers, drawn for
various amounts and aRgregating ST.
760. sc, were changed from "0r order"
and made to read cor bearer which,
together with Mr.. Pierce's endorse
: ment, procured him the cash instead
OF the persons in whose name tho
checks were drawn.
These are but few OF tho methods
adopted by Pierce to cover up his steal.
ings, which there Is no doubt he car
ried on for at least six years. The
directors and the stockholders had the
greatest confidence In him, conse-
/ quently when the auditors reported
b once year that they had examied the
books and found them correct, there
was not the slightest suspicion OF his
dishonest actions. IL Is generally sup
posed that he allowed himself to bo
drawn into the vortex of stock gamb-
i ling, and sunk the money in that man
! ner.
There will be another meeting OF the
stockholders on the second Tuesday in
: February, when the question Of wind
ing up or continuing the affairs OF the
loan will be definitely decided. In the
meantime q careful examination OF the
I AL a