The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-09-10
Second Nationals Embezz-
1er In a Connecticut
Asylum.
CAPTURED IN PITTSBURG
Six Years Roaming, HarFassed
With the Fear Of Imprison-
ment Unsettles His Mind.
PenniIess and Dilapidated When
Found-How He Was
Identified.


Six years of ceaseless roaming over
this country and Canada, ever haunted
by the fear of capture and imprison-
ment, has driven John H. Van Loan
insane, and the Second Nationals thiev-
ing clerk is now confined in an asylum
in Connecticut.
In the early part of July, 1888, the
residents of the Heights were shocked
by the intelligence that Van Loan was
an embezzIer and a fugitive from JUS
tice. He was one of the most popular
young men of the Heights, prominent
member of the Jersey City Athletic Club
and a general social favorite. He was
a bookkeeper in the Second National
Bank and enjoyed the confidence and
esteem of the officers of that institu-
ton
He received a salary of S1,4OO a year,
with an additional $100 at Christmas.
Besides this, he was a notary public,
and received a considerable amount in
fees for protesting the oved-due paper
which came to the bank From these
sources he derived an income which
was popularity supposed to warrant him
in living in the manner he did, and no
one suspected that he was stealing from
the bank. 1t was, therefore, with gen
uine surprise that his many friends heard
that July morning, six years ago, of his
wrongdoing He had taken a vacation,
!. and during his absence the National
Bank examiner from Washington exam
ined his books and discovered his steal
ings. The officers of the bank imme-
diately telegraphed him to return at
once, without in any way limiting at
the discoveries, but in some way not
yet made public, Van Loan knew what
was wanted of him, and has never been
to the bank since.
THE NEWS" ENTERPRISE.
His peculations had been going on for
several years and for some time he had
Rwery arrangement made for sudden
flight Immediately upon being discovered
When he received the telegram from the
Bank he hurried to Jersey City and get
ting some checks cashed at various busi-
ness houses, fed He wandered around
Pennsylvania and New York and fin
ally settled in Port Dover, a miserable
melancholy, ,desolate hamlet on the shores
of Lake Erie, away down in one corner
of the Province of Ontario. He engaged
in the hotel business there and passed as
a New York clerk, whose physician had
ordered him away to a quiet country
for his health. Although the few people
who lived in the place received him
cordially and made him as popular as
he had been in Jersey City, they were
suspicious of his motives in locating in
their unattractive village as Jersey
CITY News correspondent, who found
Van Loan in the place of desolation one
warm night in September, 1881 discovered
from the cross questioning of a shrewd
Canuck.
Nelson H. Coykendal, a relative of
Van Loans wife was tried in May, 1891,
as an ascomplce and convicted. The
peculiar conduct of the bank officials
in the matter of Van Loans flight, and
this trial gave rise to vague rumors
which aroused public curiosity to the
highest pitch. 1t was for the purpose
of ascertaining just how much founda-
ttan there was for the rumors that "The
Jersey City News with its character
istic enterprise, despatched one of the
staff to find Van Loan, and learn from
his own lips the circumstances of his
embezzlement The task was not an
easy one. The astute police of Jersey
City had searched for him in vain. and
it looked like an impossibility to locate
the bank robber in the wild regions of
Canada.
FOUND IN CANADA.
After a WI rs travelling through the
province 9<tario the News man,lo-
Gated Van Loan in Port Dover It is
off all the main lines of travel and a
place where no American or other tour
ist travelling through the province to
see the country would ever think of
visiting.
Van Loan recognized "Tne News"
man at once, but was so surprised to
see that his hiding place had been dis
covered that it was some time before he
could speak Even at that time he gave
evidences of having an unsettled mind.
He wandered and rainbled in his talk.
and it was difficult matter to keep him
long on one subject. The fact that his
hiding place had been discovered by
aThe Jersey City News representative