The San Francisco call., 1896-02-03
Captain Bluhm of the w. H. Tai
bot Precipitated the
Investigation.
WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE ?
The Owners of the Various Vessels
Are Trying to Find Out. but
Have Failed.

Inc Well-KnoWn shipping and commits
sion firm of George T. Smith & Co. is in
serious financial difficulties. The trouble
is the talk of the water front, and all kinds
of wild rumors are afioat. Some say that
the concern is $4,000 short, and others as
seFt that arrests will follow the final ex-
porting of the books. One thing is GER
taln-there are number of angry ship
captains and owners, who held a daily ses-
sion at 207 East street, whose temper does
not improve with each report.
The firm of George f. Smith & Co. is
composed of George F. Smith, the Santa
Barbara capitalist; Captain A. II. Paul,
formerly of the bark Colusa, and William
Schmidt, son-in-law of Senator George c.
Perkins.
Smith is wealthy. but all his property
has been in his wife's name for years.
When the trouble first came to light he
was telegraphed for, and last Saturday he
and the creditors of the firm had con-
ference, but no definite arrangement was
reached. Another meeting will be held
to-day, and the outcome of it will be set
tlement or some extreme proceedings.
Young Schmidt has been married to
Miss Perkins about eighteen months and
Jackson street. The husband and father
is said to be on visit to his grandmother,
who lives somewhere in the vicinity OF
New York, but whether he is in the
metropolis or not his partners cannot tell.
Captain A. H. Paul is well known in
San Francisco and he says he can explain
where every cent of the shortage has
gone. 1t has been paid out on the various
ships managed by the firm. according to
him, but the irate owners ask persistently
for the vouchers. The books have been
kept in very loose manner and the
vouchers are not forthcoming and that is
the cause OF the day to day meetings.
George f. Smith 6, Co. were 1.-The man
aging owners for the barkentine George
c. Perkins, the barkentine Mary Winkle-
man, the bark Sonoma, the bark Colusa,
the four-masted schooner w. n. Talbot,
the barkentine S. G. Wilder and the bark
Sntine Irmgard. They were also formerly
I'managing" owners of the four-masted
schooner Aloha and the bark Albert, but
some trouble arose over the management
and it was transferred by the other owners
to Williams, Diamond & Co.
Since this investigation began other
changes have taken place, and Captain
w. II. Bluhm is now managing owner
of the w. II. Talbot and Charles Athern,
OF the Coiusa, S. G. Wilder and Irmgard.
Just who will take charge of the others
remains to be seen, but Captain Paul is
certain that everything will come out all
right and that his firm will assume con-
troll again in few days.
The storm came from clear sky MThe
big schooner w. II. Talbot arrived from
Hongkong after the smartest round trip
on record, and Captain Bluhm's first in
quiry was for the f1985 freight money he
had sent by draft to George f. Smith &
Co. from Hongkong. Captain Paul ex-
.plained that the money had all been paid
out, but there was nothing to show where
an expenditure of $4,000 on the schooner
was iustihable. The schooner left San
Francisco free from debt. On her arrival
at Tacoma she took on board a load of
lumber for Shanghai, China Debts were
contracted there, and drafts were drawn
on the managing owner in payment.
On arriving at Shanghai, Captain Bluhm
discharged her cargo and collected the
freight. Then he took aboard load of
rice for Annoy, and from the latter point
he loaded beans for Hongkong.
On his arrival at Hongkong, Captain
Bluhm found he had $3.50 in actual cash
on hand, and that sum he turned into
draft in favor of George F. Smith e. Co..
the managing owners" and sent il to
San Francisco. Then he took on cargo
OF general merchandise and made the yery
fast run TO this port of A days and IL
hours, having completed the round trip,
as above described, in the remarkable
time OF months and Is days. OF course
the captain was delighted with the trip.
and as he owns an eighth interest in the
vessel he naturally looked for dividend
as well as his salary as master. When he
learned that the $4,000 had been dis
bursed, and that the ship was in debt, he
was thunderstruck and demanded an ex-
planation. The next day the investiga-
tion began and it has been going ON ever
since, with the result that the debts
against the various ships grow bigger each
day.
81 don't care so much about the money!
said Captain W. III. Bluhm yesterday, "if
/ only knew where 1t had gone to. If you
drop a gold piece overheard you are salts
fed it will never come up again, but here
is $4,000 of good money, earned by hard
labor, and nobody knows how IL was spent.
sent f1965 from Hongkong on account of
the vessel, and that sum alone would have
left good surplus with which to pay a
dividend, but when got here the money
had all been paid out. Just how the affair
stands I don't know. Some say the firm is
$4,000 short and others place the figure at
$4,000. All know is that forty out of
every fifty business men on the waterfront
are out and injured by the practical fail
ure of this firm. They have got George
L. Smith here from Santa Barbara, but |
doubt very much whether he will do any
thing He has not been actively con-
nected with the concern for a long time
and as he has very little property in his
own name he cannot be touched.
"A few months ago PauPs daughter got
married and he decided TO her some real
estate he owned in this City Schmidt's
estate (the father is in the Probate Court,
and when the creditors of George f. Smith
d Co. sought to attach piece of the
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