St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-20

had learned of the failure Of his plot to
destroy evidences Of his guilt. and was
thereby forced to resort to death as the
only escape.
Young Foerstels record is that Of
wild young man and pllnger. On
horses he was heavy better, playing a
thousand or more at time. lie was
also interested in real estate deals be-
yond his capacity to handle, as is shown
by recent developments in court pro-
ceedingS in the nature of injunctions,
etc. Ed Foerstel was generally liked.
He was about tWenty-three years of
age, bat old in experience, and
especially in financial matters, for his
years. In his capacity as assistant
treasurer of the city Of st. Louis over
$l0,000,00 in city funds and securities
passed through his hands each year.
He was treasurer of two large building
associations, the Phoenix and Home
Comfort, but his accounts with these
are known to be all right. He was also
senior member OF the firm OF Foerstel "
Saxton. handling the lock-Whip socket,
manufactured by the Novelty company.
Another Theory
for the suicide, but which is receiving
little attention, except as indirectly con-
firmlng other statements, is the story OF
X }. Delano, attoineYfor the dead man,
who, referring to the suicide today,
SAID:
He called upon me in the past three
or four weeks almost daily to confer
with me about an attempt Wnlch
a certain party was making to obtain
money from him, He said that this per-
son had demanded $4,000 as the price
of his keeping his mouth shut concern
ing what he knew about the city treas
urer's office. At no time in these inter
views did MI Foerstel admit that there
was anything wrong in his office. On
the contrary, he always declared him
self ready to stand any investiga-
ton, and his sole purpose in con-
sulting with me was to devise
some means Of >Silencing his SLAM
derers by public prosecution for black
mail. Mr. FoerStel never succeeded in
getting written proposition. but In
the course of the negotiations the fei-
low reduced his demand to $1,000.
When it came to facing our demand Tor
proof, he utterly failed to furnish
any. Now this matter worried hlm ter
ribiy. One day he exclaimed, My
God, | can't stand this much longer.
This man is going around talking about
me, and leaving me no reparation, eX-
cept, perhaps. TO kill him. think that
this greatly affected him until he got
out of his head. and in a moment Of in
sanity he killed himself"
LaIe tonight the investigation OF the
city treaSurer'S accounts was completed,
his books being checked with those of
the comptroller and the banks holding
city deposits. AS result of this search
ing inquiry an embeZzlement Of $685.
020.16 was discovered and the ac-
ton already noted taken. In this
phase of the affair, but little
except sympathy for eX-Treasurer
Foerstel is heard. 1t is settled by the
inquiry that he, personally, is innocent
of Wr0ng-doing. His son sunk the
whole sum in frantic real estate deals,
the extent of which it will take weeks
TO unravel. But the father is a broken
and ruined man, who suffers punish
ment for the sons Wrong-doing.
The city has SS000 in 313 per cent
bonds in New York and Boston now.
The developments today will undoubt-
edly affect their value and perhaps i'll
jure the credit Of the city for some time
to come.
The methods adopted by the suicide
in embezzIing were these: Bonds to
the amount of $4,000 were reported by
him as redeemed, when, instead, the
money had gone into the detaulters
pocket. The remainder, $14.020.16, was
ing through his hands.