New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-11-25

ioT fourteen years, and never suspected him
vi misconduct. although the investigation has
SHOWN that he had been helping 20 rob the ba nix
| Tor nine or ten years. He was a man Of appar-
! emily good habits who lived in a modest way in
/ massey ST. Brooklyn. His salary was 81 500 a
/ year and he had charge Of the ledgers contain
! lhS the accounts of depOStOrS whose names
ranged in alphabetical order from a to X He
nad nothing TO do with handling the cash Of the
! bank, and nobody would have thought that he
could have helped to steal such
1854 900
"On Saturday last he asked for short leave
of absence. and Mir. Van Week. the cashier. told
MN he might go. Seely did not return
Monday, and another clerk was placed in charge
! of the ledgers which Seely had kept. That
same day the clerk reported to me that he was
unable to make the books balance ] told him
! to keep at work at them. and see If he could
! find anything wrong. He told me Wednes-
day that he had discovered large differences
! in the ledgers. but he was not sure that the
differences meant a defalcation a mixing of
the accounts. When the accounts of book
keeper are mixed up II is difficult to. find out
! the trouble. When cashier is a defauter you
can tell right away. as a rule, what the extent
of the defalcation is. In this case ii took
! good deal Of time to discover just what Seely
had been doing, because the accounts had been
/ so badly mixed in the course of his dishonest
transactions. Seely had not stolen money di-
/ rectly but by the cooperation of a depositor
who drew out the money by checks. and the
| money was drawn in comparatively small sums
which ranged from 5000 TO $500 To enable the
! depositor to get the money checks Seely
| had continued to falsfY accounts. taking from
| the balance of this and that depositor 500 or
$1,000 at time and adding to the balance of
the theving depOsitOr.
"Seely worked about 100 accounts in that man
ner and he continued to make the false entries
| in the ledgers year after wear, borrowing from
one account to make another account balance.
and then borrowing from the balanced account.
As he managed to keep all the accounts APP
parenty balanced in that way his forgeries were
not discovered by the bank examiners
ALL DONE THROUGH ONE DEPOsITOR
ION Thursday morning called Mr.. Kmball,
the National Bank Examiner here, and he be-
| gan an investigation. He was able to trace all
Of the forgeries in Seeiys ledgers and to dis
cover that they all had been made in order to
create false balances for one depositor. who had
continued to draw ont money without putting
any in The investigation showed that all of
the S3oiOOO had been taken out on checks drawn
! by that one depoSit0r Since that discovery was
made We have had detectives watching the man.
! and he was said t. be IN the city yesterday
! We could not have him arrested until We had
some definite proof that he had been stealing. hut
| this afternoon our attorney. Mr.. Bishop. and our
cashier are taking steps Fl cause the arrest Of
| the man. We do not know where Scey is We
are sure that Seely WAS the only man in the
| bank who had any hand in the dcfalcaion. lie
simply aided outside thief to get money from
the bank. The bank examiner has looked into
our affairs from top to bottom. and he declares
| that are in shape To meet all obligations. All
Of our paper is first class. and there is no faint
| on any of the securities. Some OF the best-ln-
! formed bank presidents in the city have been
| here to examine the cash and securities with
members OF the Clearing II ouse. and we have the
! assurance that we will receive a.! the aid we re-
qure There should be run on the bank, In
| view Of the ability Of the bank To meet all
| obligations and 60 on in successful business.
! The stockholders will be obliged to make up the
loss but they afford to do that and no de-
positor will lose a cent"
| VICE PRESIDENT PEASE EXPLAINS THE
METHODS USED
George L. Pease the vice-president Of the
bank explained more in detail the methods ON
| ployed in stealing the $4,000 from the bank
and incidentally he let out the name Of the man
who had worked in collision with Secly. He
said: .Seely worked secretly to aid OF the
deposirors t. rob the bank. The man had been
| a dep0sitor in the bank for thirty years ana oi
| course not suspected when the si'alnE pc
| gan. Several years ago Seely began to transfer
! sums from the accounts OF deposltors. VINO mao
large balances ~ their credit. 10 BaKcr a.
| count The transfers were made in the ledgers
| only and by means OF false entries. Baker ih"n
! would draw checks against his own account.
| When he presented the checks at the cashier
window there would be the usual reference 70
the ledger. and in every case the ledger wonid
show that Baker had a balance - ms circuit.
| The balance was maintained In that way. by
constantly borrowing from the balance OF Inc
| other depostOrs.
| "Whv were such false entries and transfers
not discovered by the depositors whose balances
were being reduced?
Because when the account Of any Of thosc De-
positors was being made up Scey would kno"
/ it, and he would make transfers i"npoIailH
from other balances = make ne count s'lt's't
on paper. Suppose one dep htI Il "'.."'a'
Of $40 900 I'm the bank and Seely had drawn flVV'p
| from Il 10 swell Bakers account In "rl'r 10
restore the $4,000 on paper ana max '"c o..
/ nositor's account balance for report Sc"H
,,r.f,l1 MAKE a transfer from the account ~ an
other depOst0r He was obliged 10 DO VAST
| amount Of balancing and Work ABOUT wv
! counts in order u keep them All balance" a. 'r'
! proDer times Se@ly knew, however. tnat Nn'i'
| we're a number of dcpositors Who mad ltrs" pal
a,cas and seldom drew against them Inci" is
inst q
~ 500 900 i'm the bank for nineteen years anu u''
not draw check against it IN an lna' .,,i'r;
Seely worked large accounts oil thd' h'"' ~ '"''
! Bakers account. < -
''a Why was not the drain Of money from the
/ ..pecaus. II was continued for long period
| Of time and the money was uid"H '"' ~
| small sums So long the accounts apP'aien
to balance there was no cause lor susp, ,i.,
| And the stealing might have been coh'ihueu
much lOnger?' - l., 49,
NO. We were about TO make change IN me
system Of keeping the accounts W., VA ~ 90
| have disclosed the frauds. The chanee was 10 ~
| into oneration on last Thursday and that was
| what caused Seely to run away; knowing '''a'
| the forgeries would be discovered
WHAT THE BANK EXAMINER SAID.
William II. Kimball. the National Bank FIX
| aminer said: "The system OF Keeping accounts
| which had been in at the bank allowed the
| stealing 10 go on without detection LOT years
| rhere wore two sets Of ledgers. In the ledgers
Of one set the accounts OF the depositors were
| kent in full with the credit entries on one PaEe
and the debit entries on the opi''Slt' P'S'. -
| u,as necessary to make the fOOtingS on edcn pdse
| In order 10 strike a balance the IcdgerS III me
| second set were known as skeleton leus'iS III
! which the balances were kept, IN oTu'r tifl w
! hank officials could more readily ascertain 'N
balance Of any depostor. Seely had eharge ol
! the ledgcrs In which the accounts 81 uepoSi'pI'
a ar,anped alphabetically from A TO Is. He
was able by making frequent false entries 10
| keen the accounts apparently balanced whe
| Transferring sums from number OF accounts 10
| Tho account Of one depOsitOr VINO continued
| IN draw against his account. On ThurSday 'hvre
| was to be a change in the system ny which .i
| accounts were to be kept. so that balance WAS