Evening star., 1896-03-07

100000. On the day It failed it had debts
amounting to more than five million dollars.
The Marine Bank had been in existence for
twenty years, but a5oufj the time Gen.
Grant came into it in 1S>b 1t was reorgan-
lied. and the chief proo-ietors of the bank
were then James d. Fish, Ferdinand Ward
Gen. Grant and Ulysses s. Grant, jr. Grant
put 100000 into the bank. He got the
money. 1t IS said. from the sale of the house
which the citizens Of Philadelphia gave
him after the war was over as a token of
their love and esteem. Grant was then at
the height of his fame. He had just re-
was talked of as the ithird-term candidate
for the presidency. James D. Fish had long
been the president of the bank He was
then sixty years old, and he was II is he
Levc1. to large extent innocent of fraud
The arch hend of the conspiracy was Ferdi-
nand ID. Ward. who. at the time the bank
was organized, was still under thirty
He got acquainted with Fish by denos;t-
ing in his bank. AID also through his mar
riage with a daughter of one of Fish's
friends. 1t was Ward who manipulated all
the swindles. 1t was he who got Grant
into the bank and made him believe Thai
he could make fortune in it. AS soon as
the bank was thoroughly organized Ward
brought forward his celebrated scheme of
government contracts which never exist
ed He would pretend. for instance, that he
had secured a contract calling for s20OOOO,
on which there was sure profit Of from 30
to 50 per cent. He would take S1ODO0,
worth of the stock for Grant & Ward
and would then bring in other capitaIists
to take the balance. Fish thought the con-
tracts We're genuine and he urged the other
parties to go in. The money of the capital
lists was paid into the Marine Bank, and
Ward would give notes on the bank in
dorsed by Fish, bearing the legal rate of
interest, and also separate guarantee for
g certain amount Of profit within a GER
tain time. When the notes became due he
would check against the account of Grant
Il n
organizing companies until the bank fail
ed. His transactions lasted for a year and
half, and during this time he received
and rcintested the enormous amount of
$i5.0fO,0D. When the banks affairs were
wound ur it was found that Grant knew
practically rothinG OF the working of the
institution. He Knew no more about the
accounts than Ward did about military
campaigns, and he was immensely tickled
at the large showing of profits which
Ward placed to his credit. Gen. Sheridan
said that Grant used to poke him in the
sides and say: You thought l was
good general, but you never thought
could do this" When the bank failed
Grant gave up everything he had Popular
sentiment for time was against him and
he sank under the storm and was attacked
by mortal disease. He then rallied and
wrote his memoirs, out of which his fam
lily have already realized more than $500
OOO. Fish was sent to the penitentiarv for
ten years, but was pardCned out after two
land. Ward was also sent to prison for
ten years. He is, am told, still living. hut
he is out of prison.
Fidelity National Bank Failure.
One Of the biggest wheat corners of his
tory was manipulated through a national
bank. 1t burst, and botl wheat anc mink
stock went sky high This was the Fidelity
National Bank Of Cincinnati. It failed in
1887. The arch fiend Of this swindle was
a man named Harper, who has since served
term in the penitentiary, who was pardon
ed out, and who is now again acting as a
broker in Cincinnati. Harper was one of
the chief organizers Of the bank. He was
supposed to be worth about two million and
half dollars at the time the organization
was effected, and ne had Interests in s;fe
works and other things. The bank was
founded in 1856. In 1887: it had S,OOoU0
in deposits, and Of this 81 ,SOO, 600 was due
to more than six hundred banks and hanL.
Harper was the vice president of the hanl,
and he practically controlled everything
The directors were good men, but thew had
to do as he m peased thGy fowad fan him
after being made viSe president Harper
had drawn out s4OO,dDO for his own use
He then got the ideal of cornering wheat
and he began to buy in the Chicago mar,
ket. He had young lady clerk. a Miss
Josie Holmes, in the bank, through whom
he worked, and in connection with her. the
paying teller and the exchange clerk he
manipulated worthless checks to the
amount Of more than million dollars
This money was also sent on to Chica On
and invested in wheat. 1t was not, how
ever, enough, and he borrowed from out
side banks. He got 100000 from the First
National Bank Of New York, s3OO,oOO from
the Chemical National Bank and 5000 600
from the Western National Bank of New
York. This money he threw into Chica 60
but still he needed more He then proposed
that the capital stock of the bank be in
stockholders agreed, supposing that 1t was
for legitimate banking business. Five
hundred thousand dollars was paid in. and
Harper at once shipped this off to Chicago
SO that by the 10th of June, 1887. he had
borrowed more than two million dollars
and had put it into wheat
Harper Suspected.
In the meantime these purchases begsn