The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-24
MISLAID SECURITIES.
RICH PEOPLE SOMETIMES ARE
STRANGELY FORGETFUL.
Men and Women, Usually of Keen
business Ability, Liable TO Re-
markabIe Lapses of Memory.

markable Lapses Of Memory.
From the Philadelphia Press
The experience OF the managers OF a safe
deposit company in the past five or six
years has proved to them that the most
careful business men and women are liza
bic 10 extraordinary lapses OF memory.
such as would unit them apparently for
important posts of trusts. and such as
might compel them TO give testimony
which would send innocent persons o pris-
on. For instance. the officers have in their
safe hundreds of coupons which have
been found upon the floor of the coupon
room at different times. dropped there by
those who have been engaged in the pleas
ant pastime of cutting coupons. These
coupons which have been found were ap-
parently either never missed by those who
lost them, or. If missed. were not supposed
to have been dropped in that coupon room.
In the past five years there have been
found upon the floor OF the coupon or adj
joining rooms, or in unrented boxes.
stocks. bonds, valuabes in shape of jewell
ry. diamonds. and the like. amounting TO
many hundreds OF thousands of dollars,
nearly all of which have been returned 10
their rightful owners, who, in many cases
had not even suspected that they had lost
several valuables. and the amazing thing
is that in almost every instance these lost
and recovered bonds and stocks represent
ed part of the possessions OF men and wo-
men who had earned their wealth by bus
mess methods involving the utmost care
| good Judgment, and wisdom.
| A year or two ago woman or cohSlq-
| cradle wealth who had been in the habit
al ms har loo m those
/ came into the office one day in great
| distress. She said that she had placed m
| her box upon her last visit number OF
! coupon bonds of the Reading railway
/ which she did not find there upon her
/ next visit. She was known to be a woman
/ of singular care in the management OF
/ her affairs. She was almost provohngly
] particular. She insisted that the loss OF
/ these coupon bonds would seriously EN-
| barrass her i'm certain business enter
priscs which she had in view. The man
ager went to his safe and took from II
| some Reading bonds which had been found
/ some weeks before on the floor of the cou-
pom room. He questioned this woman as
| to the numbers Of her missing bonds, ano
! found that they were identical with those
which he held in his hands, and as he de-
! liVered the bonds to her he said: Madam
/ you were right: the bonds were not II
! your box, but they were found exactly
| where you had dropped them when yot
/ last saw them" Prudent and careful as
| she was, she had actually dropped upon
| the floor a number Of valuable bonds
and left them there as she returned hel
! tin box TO its vault
Another experience. which might hav,
/ been most unfortunate through the blast
1 ing of the career Of young man just be
/ ginning life. is worth relating. very
/ wealthy contractor who kept his secur-
| tiles i'm one of the vaults of this safe de
posit company. complained one day moi
| long ago that a 1000 st. Paul first mort
| gage bond was missing from his box. As
! he was known to be singularly careful In
| the management of his affairs. and mar
| of the most upright integrity of charac'
/ ter as well. moreover possessed OF a mem
/ DRY that never seemed to fail him, his
statement caused a good deal of anxiety
| He asserted that upon his last examina-
ton of his securities that bond was In the
box, and that after this examination hc
placed the box back in the vault, having
| taken nothing out, except some coupons
! which were then due. The mystery seem
/ ed to him, and to the officers Of the safe
J deposit company, perhaps TO justify the
/ employment of detective. But detective
! ability was of no avail. And as last
| resource II was determined to place the
! detective in the office of the Union Trust
Company, so that If any one came with
a coupon OF this bond at the time of the
next interest paying that person could be
4 few months before the detective was
thus stationed, a wealthy man said to a
young nephew OF his who was just begin
ming a career as a clerk in the Gallatin
Bank MY boy the only sure way to get
rich or at least independent is to save
time I'm some safe security. If you do that,
you will be surprised. after few years
have passed, to see how much you pos
seSs.' The young man said he had saved
about $1,000 whereupon the uncle told
him as a starter he would sell to the
young man a thousand-dollar bond a lit
tie below the market rate. That was done
and the young bank clerk looked forward
to the day when he, miniature capital
list, could go and demand his interest for
his first coupon The day came and he
went in the luncheon hour TO the Ifnion
Trust Company and presented his coupon.
There was some delay The teller seemed
TO be In consultation with some one and
moment later the young man found him
self seized and declared to be under ar
rest. He was accused by the detective
Of trying to cash coupon
bond that had been stolen from the man
who had employed him to trace the theft.
The young bank clerk was overwhelmed
with modification, which the detective,
of course, assumed was a sure evidence of
guilt. But the clerk appealed to the tell
er, saying that If he could be taken to his
uncle IL would be shown that he at least
had come honestly by the bond. This was
done. The uncle Indignantly denounced
the arrest as an outrage, and declared
that he had actually bought the bond from
the man who claimed to have lost II His
story was true. When the uncle and the
complaining depostOr were brought face
to face, then the deDostor remembered
what he had absolutely forgotten-that
he had sold the bond just as the purchas-
er declared to the detective to be the case.
The depositor, of course, was not only
deeply Inundated, but greatly worried
fearing that this lapse of memory might
indicate the loss of mental power. II did
not indicate any such thing. The man has
been engaged in the most important bust
ness operations since, which he has con-
Quoted with great ability. II was simply
a freak of memory.
One of the great capitalists I'm New York
a man whose achievements, by reason OF
their enormity, cause his name 10 be as
familiar to the public as that of almost
any man in New York, went into the safe
deposit vaults one day and gave to the
manager an envelope which he said con-
tanned 1900 shares of Northwestern stock
He did not want to put this stock in his
vault for reasons best known to himself
The envelope was given to an employee who
did not know its contents, who was in
structed to place ii in his own private vault
until called for. and with that arrange
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