Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-25
MIR. wANAMAkER,s BANK STOCK.
The Matter Considered by Councils Investi.
eating Committee In PHILADELPHIA.

mittee, which is investigating tho relations o
| the city treasury with the various banks OF tina
city. The stock book Of the defunct keyston,
| sank was produced, and il showed that stool
hat been issued in tho name of postmaste,
General Wanamaker.
II. II. Yard appeared before the committee
but acting under the advice of his counsel, h,
refused to be sworn or to make any statement
IL was also shown that the stock of the Keyston,
was hypothecated in the names Of a number o.
brokers clerks instead Of those of the firm
who handled the securities. and it de
| veloped that some of the stockholders who had
an inside knowledge of the banks affairs began
| TO unload and sell their stock soon as the
trouble in the institution became apparent tc
| them.
| THE ALLEGED ovERfssUE.
The alleged overissue of stock, amounting
to 2,5l6 shares, which Postmaster General
Wanamaker held az collateral at the time the
hank closed. was the subject OF inquiry when
the committee called Receiver Robert NJ.
| Nardley to the stand Mr.. Yardley had brought
| the papers with him and read to the committee
| the numbers of the certificates, the number OF
| shares, to whom they were issued and when,
| together with the date of transfer.
On the back of each one of these certificates
| National Bank Examiner Drew had on March
| %, written his receipt to Lawyer Huey coun-
sci for the Lucas estate, and when Receiver
Iardley had taken them he had given like re-
| ceipt to Mr.. Drew.
As soon as the certificates had been COM
pletely identified the alleged oyerissue,
| Councilman Citing asked: WAS any stock ever
issued to John Wanamaker?'
| Yes" replied MIR. fardley. ''The stock
book shows a total of 1925 shares issued to
him." Then taking mp the stock book he read
| off the various issues.
| Mr.. Yardley called attention to the fact that
| none OF the receipts on the stubs bore Mr..
Wanamaker's signature, and Mr.. Etung
| promptly asked if that was usual
We'll, hardly USUAL replied the receiver,
| Though in these books great many of the
| stubs are not signed. L think they are about
even, half are signed and the others are not"
us Mr.. Wanamaker's name the stock
recordf'
No"
Are any other stockholders names left
Yes. number of them are not on the
stock record
Can you find any reason for thinking that
the alleged overissus is substitute for the
stock issued to Mr.. Wanamaker and which is
now canceled?'
| mo, the books would not show any record
Of such transfer or substitution You know
| we have been unable to find any stock transfer
book"
do you think that this stock was made use
of before or after Mr.. Lucas death?''
VI can't saw"
At this point Councilman Hicks began series
OF rapid questions. He had been looking at the
so-called fraudulent issue and had noticed that
some Of the certificates bore the date of $780,
| two years after the death of Mr.. Lucas. and he
wanted to know how this could be.
Marsh was president of the bank at that time
| and Mr.. Lucas was dead, then how could the
stock have been given to Mr.. Wanamaker by
MIR. Lucas? he said.
| Receiver Nardlpv abowed M 6icpncifio, IN
attempt to explain this part of the transaction,
and Edward q. Toland, of the firm OF Erwin d
To!and, took the stand to explain his part of
! the affair.
The certificates representing the 2,516 shares
offraudulent stock we're shown and as all but one
| of them bore the signature of his firm as guar
anteeing the signature Of the person signing
| the power of attorney, he very readily identified
them as the certificates he had handed over to
Mr. Wanamaker.
Wanamaker during February and June 1887
August. 1888. and June, 1889, and had been in
structed to borrow money on them. This he
had Immediately proceeded to do and succeeded.
in obtaining from s45 to $50 per share. The
certificates, he said had been hypothecated for
short terms and score or more of institutions
had held them.
The persons to whom the certificates had
been transferred, he said, were in the most
cases clerks. who merely acted as ''strawmen,"
Just here the regular questioning methods
were abandoned for a time and an effort was
made to trace the anterior history OF the certi-
ficates alleged to represent fraudulently issued
stock. Though Receiver Yardley, Mr.. Toand
and the members Of the committee spent some
time in the effort they finally abandoned it.
The condition of the stock book was such that
no trace of the certificates early history could
be found.
WAS there any stock in Mr.. Wanamaker's
| name which you hypothecatedF
Yes, there was one certificate for 625 shares
and We borrowed money on that along with the
| others. When he said he wanted the stock re-
| turned began to gather it in, and by the last
| of February and the first of March was able to
return the entire z, sic shares However only
200 of them were the original certificates. The
| others had been either transferred or sold BY
| the persons who held them This accounts for
\ the fact that some of the certificates are dated
| since the death of Mr.. Lucas The whole of
| the matter is this: We got the certificates from
| Mr.. Wanamaker, borrowed money on them for
| him and returned the same number of shares
| to him."
Had you any idea this was fraudulent
| stock?"
mo. 1t was never questioned when applied
| for renewals at the bank"
What do you know about Mr. Wanamakers
| Reading deals?'
Only that he bought some Reading stock. /
| didn't conduct the business
/ This ended NIr. Tolands examination. and
| his partner, Mr.. Erwin was called to supplement
the testimony. He had nothing additional to
| say. however, but agreed thoroughly with his
| partners statements.
y