The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-12-30
A DISHONEST PARTNER.
The Failure of Wayland Trask &
Go. Due to Embezzlement.
HIS sPEoULATIoNs ARE CUT SHORT.

Theodore Baldwin's StealIngs Will
Exceed Si5O,OoO, EAll of Which
He Is said TO Have Lost IN Unfor-
tunate Speculation.
NEW YORK, Dec. 3O.-The failure of
the firm of Waylsnd Trask g. Co. was
announced yesterday on the stock ex-
change. The firm was composed OF Way
rand Trask, Theodore Baldwin and A.
H. Rankin, and had offices at 18 Wall
street.
MIR. Trask declined to say anything
about the failure, and referred every one
to his lawyer, B. H. Stern. Mr.. Stern
gave out the following statement:
"The suspension of the firm of Way
land Trask & Co. is due to the fact that
one of the partners, Mr.. Theodore Bald
win, has been speculating on his own ac-
count, and with the firms money.
He has lost in this way about $780,
600. Nothing was known of his opera
tions until Monday or Tuesday, when
some of the banks sent to Trask 81 Co.
for additional margins on their loans.
This led to an investigation, and it
was discovered that the books were all
wrong and that many fictitious entries
had been made upon them. MIR. Trask
saw that he could not honorably con-
tinue in business, and resolved to sus-
pend.
Baldwin has confessed everything,
and is now at work helping the expert
with his work in Strengthening out the
books"
Baldwin's method of operating was to
enter numb2r of fictitious names upon
the firm booys and conduct his specula-
tions under these names.
The money to margin these accounts
he also took from the firm, and covered
up his tracks by making false entries on
the books.
He also conducted operations with
other firms in Wall street, also using his
firms money, and this, of course, must
be made good. Mr.. Stern would not
say who these houses We're, nor could
he give an approximate estimate of the
amount of assets and liabilities of the
suspended firm until the expert exa1n-
ination was concluded.
He said that the $150,000 lost by
Baldwin was also an estimated amount.
1t might turn out to be much more.
Baldwin's speculations have been going
on for about three years, and were, of
course, unknown to his firm.
He has been speculating in almost
every stock on the list, it is said, and
while it was rumored that he had been
especially hard hit on Northern Pacific,
Chicago Gas and Omaha, Lawyer Stern
said il looked as though he had lost in
everything he touched.
Baldwin became member of the
present firm in 1881, coming to them
from E. q. Benedict & Co. He was n
resident of Brooklyn, and has always
had an excellent reputation. 1t could
not be learned whether or not any pro-
ceedings of any kind would be taken
against him.
He is said to be completely broken
down by his misdoings, and has ex-
pressed his willingness to do anything
asked of him.
Mr.. Wayland Trask has been MEM
Der of the stock exchange for twenty
four years, and is very popular.
Over 100000 was offered TO him yes
tar3ay by various firms to help him out,
but he declined all assistance until he
could discover the real amount OF his
partners defalcation.
The firm had no outstanding contracts
on the exchange. having notified the
firms with which they were dealing to
close out their contracts.
They also sent around and paid off all
their loans at the banks.