The San Francisco call., 1898-11-09

fn the letters of Dr. R. T. McDOnald which The Call publishes this morning Is the dramatic story of the true wrecker of the Pacific Bank and of the Peoples Home Savings Bank. The man who led these banks to ruin was Moses II. Sherman, whose manipula- tions are described clearly and bitterly by Dr. R. II. Mcdonald. Sherman had fattered his way into the confidence Of Frank Y. Mcdonald. Having obtained an influence over the young banker the crafty schemer from Los Angeles se- cured the enormous sum of money that was necessary to make his railroad project a reality. This money was ob- tained from the Pacific Bank, and, as Dr. Mcdonald declared in one of his letters. the managers of the institution had been led into the very jaws Of the lion.
 The old man declared that Sherman had set a trap for the bank and the trap had been sprung. He added with some satisfaction that Sherman had overreache himself and was caught in the trap himself. Even at that time rhe old man did not understand the craft of the Los Angeles manipulator. Sherman had secured what he wanted and did not fall in the crash that came to the Pacific Bank. The letters that tell this story of the ruin of the bank are of exceptional public interest. They show that Sherman was not satisfied even after he had brought the Pacific Bank to the verge of ruin. but de- manded and received $100, 900 more, which the sons of pr. Mcdonald gave against the emphatic protest of their father.
 The letters that are published this morning carry the recital of the banks affairs up to within five months of the eliminating crash. Dr. McDonald had grown deeply melancholy and bitter. He reflects upon the prospective ruin of his great banks and denounces the men and the schemes that had brought the institutions all of their great diff faculties and were fast leading them to a dfsgra cefuI end. Dick Mcdonald is roundly abused for surrounding him self with spies and useless hangers-on who attached themselves to the banks and chung to them until there was not g dollar left in the vaults. The old man in condemnatory terms reviews the un wisdom of his sons in entering secretly into wildcat and improbable specula- tions
 The writer dwelt particularly upon the foolhardy speculation involved in the Los Angeles Electric Railroad and the John Brown colony. the two ven lures that cost the Pacific Bank over $1 900. .0O0. There is in these letters no assertion more deeply significant than that of Dr. R. II. Mcdonald. who de- clined positively to give up a dollar to save his banks or to assist them in any way that would jeopardize his own private fortune. The old man made no effort to conceal the fact that he had de- serted his sons and the institutions that these sons controlled. He even went further than that. and showed his sons clearly that under no circumstances was he to be placed in a position where his private fortune could be seized in the event of disaster.
 These letters remove for the first time the terrible mask of hypocrisy that Dr. R. H. Mcdonald wore while he lived in this city. They show that Moses H. Sherman is more responsible for the ruin of the Pacific Bank than any other man. with the exception, perhaps, of D. s. Dorn. The part that this attor- ney played in that conspiracy is yet to be exploited by The Call, and will be exposed at the proper time When the letters that are published this morning were written M. II. Sherman was not yet trembling in dread of the action of the Grand Jury, nor had D. s. Dorn yet promised him to protect him from that tribunal.
 DR. MCDONALD REFUSES TO
 PLEDGE HIS PRIVATE
 FORTUNE