The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-21
HALF 4 MILLION GONE
The Ulster County On. W
Savings Bank Wrecked.
Robbed by the Treasurer and
His Assistant.

The Ulster County Savings Institution, Of
Kingston, N. Y, has closed its doors and is
In charge of Bank Superintendent Charles NJ.
Preston. Expert examiners have been at
work and have found that the enormous
sum OF 1853, 600 has been stolen by Treasurer
ostrander and Matthew T. Trumphour,
Assistant Treasurer, and it is feared the
stealipgs will exceed that amount.
Superintendent Preston at midnight swore
20 a complaint charging Trumphour with
perjury in swearing to false statements con-
tained in the July report of the bank to the
banking department, and Trumphour was
arrested at his house by Chief or Ponce
Hood He had his clothes packed and was
preparing TO leave town.
Ostrander was arrested about two weeks
before for embezzling S75,O 600, and was un,
der bonds of S20,0 His bondsmen turned
him over to Sheriff Dill and he was also
locked up. When Ostrander Yves arrested
there was q run on the bank for three days,
Int the other banks came to its rescue and
4he trustees made statement. showing that
there was surplus Of S2i7,OOO.
p The feeling against the trustees who signed
the statement is bitter in the extreme, and
Parker, Sharpe and the others are charac-
terized as thieves for making the depositors
bslieve the bank was solvent when they
should have known its condition:
In fact, the town went wild. Through the
atreets to the bank rushed hundreds Of eA-
cited men and women. =,
Within half an hour from the time the
motto. ON the doors had been read by the first
early risers, there was great surging crowd
in front Of the bank.
Men rushed about hatless and with faces
intlamed with passion, wildly gesticulatlng
and shaking their cinched fists at the closed
doors, Women stood among them, tears
streaming down their faces, adding tnelr
heartrending cries to the noisy lamentations:
GRAY old men. bent with age, hobbled
through the streets to find if the dreadful
news was as bad as reported, and fell pant
ing and exhausted upon the curbstones.
Widows, whose every dollar was entrusted
to the bank, read the notice and swooned.
THIN, as the crowd grew thicker and the
clamor became more violent, men threw
themselves against the barred doors and at
tempted to batter them down. IT they could
only get inside and reach the vaults they
could easily get their deposits, they thought.
but lust as they had gathered strength suf-
ficienr to make a combined assault, Chief
Hooa and detail of police charged upon the
throng and drove the enraged men and
women back from the doors and back down
the street.
It was pitiful spectacle, that procession
Of sad-hearted men and women, driven to
desperation by the loss of their savings ana
swearing vengeance against the men whom
the7 had trusted and who had betrayed them.
When they were told that Ostrander ana
Trumphour were under arrest and that tney
were known to have rob ed the bank or more
than $500, 900, the crowd grew even more
violent and surged over towards the jail,
FEELING iu their rage that they would drag
he miscreants out from their cells and tear
them limb from limb. Ostrander and
rrumphour in their comforsable quar- ters on
tae top floor of the Jail hear the cries that
sSelled in mighty chorus from the streets
: and begged of Sheriff Dill to strengthen the
jairs defenses.
Tho prisoners however, were safe from
violence, for the Sheriff had taken the pre-
caution to place a strong guard at every
entrance to the JAIL and the police in the
street did everything in their power to SUD-
due the crowds and keep them back from
the jail.
The sureets of Kingston were filled all day
with people, and depositors arrived on every
train and by ali manner OF vehlcles. Inc
men and women wandered aimlessly ABOUT
and occasionally some OF the excited farmers
threatened to break into the bank building
and get their money, while others suggested
that lynching party be formed to hang Us
trander and Trumphour. :,
Business was virtually suspended, and
nothing else is talked about. The general
opinion for years was that the bank was as
solid as the rock Of Gibraltar. A man
FAMED McAndrews, who has $1,000 on de-
posit. has developed symptoms Of insanity
and it is feared that it will bs necessary TO
take him to an asylum.
The city off cials, fearing that threats to
burn the Jail where Trunphour and Os-
trander are confined would be executed,
summoned Chief Engineer Mooney, OF the
Fire Department., who Is now watching the
bank building and the Court House and the
Jail opposite.
The system adopted by Ostrander and
Trumphour-the latter being fully cognizant
Of the steal and assisting in concealing it
for the purpose of swindling the depositors
and hiding the theft, which grew by degrees,
was most ingenious, and for twenty years
had baf1ed the skill Of expert examiners In
the employ of the State. In carrying it out
deceit and perjury were frequently and
effectively employed.
Both Ostranier and Trumphour have been
extravagant and high livers. They feasted
on the fat OF the land at the expense OF the
depositors. On all sides it is asserted that
wine, women and stock speculations have
bee1 their ruin.