The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-22
ERASTUS WINAN IN A CELL
He Is Charged With FOTSerieS Amount.
Ing to $4,000.

I
of r. G. observation-disclosures
misrepresentation, Concealments,
Breaches OF Agreement and Misuse
ofPowers Charged Against Him-The
Accused Unable to Obtain Bail.
New York, Feb. 2l-Erastus Wiman,
formerly manager for r. G. Dun & Co. s
| mercantile agency, builder of the Staten
Island Rapid Transit railroad, and a
prominent advocate of the annexation of
| Canada to the United States, was arrested
to-day charged with forgeries amounting
| to S229,0O0 He was arraigned be-
| fore Judge MARITIME, in chambers,
in the general sessions, and com
mitted to the Tombs in default of
$25 200 bail. The arrest was made by
Detective Won Gerichten and Phil Reilly
in the afternoon at the office of Mr..
Wiman's son-in-law, Norman S. Miller,
in the Washington building, No. / Broad
way, on bench warrant issued by Judge
MARITIME soon after the grand jury had
handed down two indictments charging
Mr. Wiman with forgery in the second
degree.
SURPRISED AT HIS ARREST
Mr.. Wiman expressed some surprise at
| his arrest, and then asked if there would
| be any opportunity to get bail He said
| he ought to have a lawyer and he would
| like to be represented by counsel An
| effort was made by friends to get bail
| late in the afternoon, but without
| success. Neither did MIR Wlman have
| counsel when he was taken to the
| general sessions by the detectives. AS
| soon as it was known that Mr.. Wiman
| had been arrested, Assistant District A T.
| tOrney Lindsay made known the COM
| plant on which the indictments were
| found. There was no signature to the
complaint, but its authorship is credited
| to ex-District Attorney Delaney Nicol
| The names of the witnesses signed were
| II. D. Douglas, E. w. Bullinger, ogden
Brewer, treasurer of the Campbell Print
ing Press Company, and the cashier of
| K. G. Dun & Co.
NATURE OF THE oFFENsE.
Summarized, the complaint says that
| Wiman was not partner in the firm of
upon salary and commission,
and that by various acts
of embezzlement through misrepre-
sensations, concealments, breeches of
| agreement, misuse of powers confded in
him and gross usurpation of powers with
which he was not trusted, he succeeded
in the years 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892 and up
TO February, 1893, in stealing from Mr.,
| Dun the enormous sum of $220, 01S.
| That sum he owes Mr.. Dun to-day. The
complaint says that Wiman has com
| mitted so many crimes that the selection
| for prosecution is very difficult.
TWO BAREFACED STEALS.
Two, however, are specified. WIman
obtained from the cashier of II. G. Dun
& Co check for $40, 900 to pay bill of
r. w. Bullinger, of New York, forged
Bullinger's Endorsement of the check and
deposited the amount to his (Wimans)
individual credit in bank Dun & Co.
afterwards paid Bullinger's claim. The
other transaction is that Wiman procured
from Dun & Co. IS cashier a check for
$3.50 to pay the Campbell
Printing Press Company. 1t was
drawn to the order Of Ogden
Brewer treasurer of the company
Wiman told the printing press men that
Dun & Company were short of funds and
asked them to accept two notes for tho
amount, This was agreed to. Wiman
made the notes in his own name, forged
Brewers endorsement on the check and
appropriated the proceeds to his own use.
THE DISCOVERY.
The complaint says that Mr. Dun first
learned of Wiman's felonious acts in the
latter part of February, 1893, and on the
Goth of that month, Mr.. Dun terminated
his contract with Wiman, dismissed him
from his employ and has never seen him
since On learning that his crimes had
been detected, Wiman offered to
transfer to Dun certain real
estate interests on Staten Island
that Wiman was insolvent, refused to ac-
cept them, or receive any preference over
his other creditors. Wiman, therefore,
made formal assignment for the benefit
of his creditors, but his assets have
amounted to almost nothing.
WHY DUN KEPT QUIET
Mr. Dun did not submit the proof of
Wiman' crimes to che authorities on first
discovering them for several reasons.
In the first place he was moved by con-
siderations of sympathy for Wiman's
family, with whom he had been on terms
of friendship for many years, and the
piteous appeals for mercy which Wiman
made to him in a letter. In the second
place, he had no appreciation of the ex-
tent of Wiman's embezzlement, nor of the
length of time during which he had sys-
tema tically abused his confidence and be-
trayed the trust reposed in him. The
whole history of his many doings
had to be unearthed from the voluminous
years II required vast amount Of time
and labor to find all the Irregularities by
which he succeeded in rnbeZzling so large
a sum of money. The whole account, with
the history Of each item, was not made up
until a comparatively recent date.
THOUGHT HIS ASSETS WERE LARGER.
Again, Mr.. Dun was led TO believe, by the
gross exaggeration of Wiman as TO the
value of Wiman's interests in Staten
Island, that it was possible to realize
something substantial for his creditors,
many of whom would suffer more severely
than MIR. Dun himself, although not in so
| large a sum. In view of the fraud
practiced upon them as well as upon HIM
self, and upon the conviction that man Of
| Wiman's bad character ought not longer
to be allowed TO masquerade as an honest
Uan in this community, and as an adviser
and exhorter of youth, and out of a sense
of obligation TO the mercantile world with
which he is so closely identified, he has
decided that his duty requires him 10 ex-
pose Wiman's conduct and hand him over