The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-08-19

funds. He acknowledged that he had be-
trayed the confidence of his employers,
but said that he did not have any idea
that the shortage was over $500.
The board of directors at its meeting
yesterday afternoon, after ordering the
young man into custody, decided to
make good at once to the association every
cent taken by the assistant secretary.
The discovery was made by President
Julian Sonntag, who has only held this
Office for three weeks Soon after taking
his position, Mr. Sonntag began TO look
into and familiariZe himself with the
affairs of the association, and about a
week ago he telephoned to the treasurer,
A. Sbarboro, for Information as to the
amount of money he had on hand. The
information was given, and the next day
he asked D;ngle similar question, and
the amount given by the assistant secre-
tary was so small that it excited the
presidents attention. Or the following
day, last Thursday, Dingle turned in
over 500 more, but in the meantime
President Sonntag learned that Dingle
had been making great efforts to secure
the loan of several hund reds of dollars.
This fact caused him to believe that
there was something decidedly wrong,
and he sent for L. r. Mead, the secretary,
to whom he confded the suspicion that
Assistant Secretary Dingle was short in
his accounts. Mr. Mead was thunder
struck, for he had the greatest confidence
in his assistants honesty, but the presi-
dent and secretary lost no time in begin
ming an investigation. On Friday they
set an expert to work on Dingle's books.
Everything from the time of the organi-
cation of the association March 10, 1880
up to two months ago was found to be cor
rect. From then S., $40 $40 and $40 items
were found that could not be accounted
for. Dingle claimed that these sums had
been paid out for bills and that the receipts
had been mislaid. He would hunt for
them, he said. While his search was in
progress he was sIill making efforts to
raise $500 among his friends.
On Monday the expert accountant in
formed the president and secretary that
Dingle's books showed shortage of about
500. That settled the case. and late in
the afternoon the two gave Dingle into the
charge of private detective, as they were
not ready TO prefer charge OF embeZZle-
ment against their employee. Besides
they wanted the full board of directors to
be informed of the entire situation before
taking action. The meeting was held yes
terdav afternoon. and all but NJ. McGlynn
were present. The discovery of the short
age was explained, and Dingle, who was
still in the charge of the private detective,
was called into the meeting. which was a
secret session, and asked what he had to
say for himself. He had no excuse to
offer, but acknowledged that he was short
in his accounts, and that he had betrayed
the confidence placed in him. The detec-
tive was directed to take the man to the
City Prison and charge him according to
the nature of the crime.
As soon as the door closed President
Sonntag said: This is most unfortunate
affair, but the 800 members of the associa-
ton must not suffer any loss. We are
placed in this position of trust, and we
are responsible not only for our own acts,
but for the acts of those we employ. We
must make good this loss as soon as the
exact amount can be ascertained."
H. ]. Croker, A. Mclaughlin, J. P.
Currier. l.. &. Mead and several others in