The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-04-04
, Coolest Man Concerned.
Especial to the Press.l

BATH, April 3.-There is great excite
ment in this city over defalcation of
from $35, 900 to $4,000 in the Lincoln
National Bank, one of the oldest banks
in the state. The defaulter is Cashier
William r. Shaw, who has been con-
century or more, and who succeeded his
father, the late John Shaw in the
cashiership. The defalcation was not
made public in this city until this morn
ing, although Bank Examiner Hatch
made the discovery Friday. 1t was Fri
day forenoon when the bank examiner,
an active, determined looking young
man, hardly more than boy in appear
ance, walked into the Lincoln bank and
introduced himself He was new man,
not having been in Bath before. Cashier
Shaw greeted him pleasantly and said:
ssT am little busy this forenoon, SO if it
makes no. difference we will begin the
examination this afternoon, when | will
have everything arranged for YOU
II think will begin at once; no mat
ter if things are not arranged for me,
coolly replied the examiner, and then
and there he began going through the
books. It was not long before he found
something which excited his suspicious
and he began to question Mr.. Shaw. He
soon tripped him up and
The Cashier Confessed.
that the books were wrong. Thereupon
the examiner took steps to have Mr..
Shaw arrested.
The method by which Cashier Shaw
falsified the books so as to dece i've
the directors and previous bank examin-
ers, is not fully known at present. There
seem to have been several ways. One OF
them was the classifying of the accounts
of NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. This is the same
old game that Cashier Martin played on
the Hide and Leather bank of Boston
20 years ago, getting $300,000 out of it.
If customer had $4,000 deposited, the
whole amount would be entered on the
customers book, while on the books of
the bank smaller sum, $1,000, perhaps,
would be entered, the difference being
taken by the cashier. Of course to do
this successfully, Cashier Shaw had to
enter up the customers books himself
whenever they brought them in. This
he did successfully, apparently, up to
the very last. But it is said that only a
part of the defalcation was hidden in this
way, and that the number of
private accounts falsified was relatively
small, probably even less than half a
dozen. One account was falsified in a
peculiar way. Cashier Shaw was agent,
with power of attorney, of Mrs. G. p.
Stockbridge of this city, an elderly wo-
man of property. AS her agent, he drew
$500 of her money out of the savings
bank and deposited it in his own bank to
her account. Then he bought $4,000
worth of bonds for her, as he says. But
it is found that in paying for the bonds
He Cverdrew the Account
which he had credited to her on the books
of the bank. Thus it is evident that he
must have entered on the books of the
bank to Mrs. Stockbridge's account less
than $4,000, although $500 should have
been entered to her; and that he also took
some of the banks money to buy the
$4,000 worth of bonds which he says he
bought for her. These bonds were found
in the bank vaults, but not in Mrs. Stock
BRIDGES box. As agent for her, Mr..
Shaw was not under bonds and 1t is
thought that she will probably lose about
$4,000 outright through him, although 1t
may not ali be through this transaction.
Another method of covering up the
defalcation was by falsifying the accounts
of other banks with the Lincoln. Thus
the books of the cashier showed that the
Lincoln Bank had about $4,000 on deposit
with one of the national banks of Bos
ton, while in reality, the account with
that bank was overdrawn. A shortage
of 200 was also found in the cash ac-
count. In these various ways, the cash
ier had managed
To Conceal a Growing Shortage
for several years, even ten years, it is
stated by some.
The detection of the defalcation is a
feather in the cap of Bank Examiner
Charles P. Hatch. Mr.. Hatch is well
known in Portland, having been for
time in the office of the Name Mutual
Accident Association. A few years ago
he went to Buckfeld, as assistant to
State Examiner Bisbee. and last January
when United States Examiner Parker
retired. was appointed in his place.