The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-06
FARNUM AND SHERMAN IN GRIM
INAL COLLUSION

A vitally important letter was writ
ten by Frank Mcdonald on May /, 1893,
when the Pacific Bank had hardly six
weeks longer to live. In this epistle
Frank Mcdonald accuses M. H. Sher-
man of having involved them and seek
ing still to involve them into anything
and everything he could. Frank makes
the further serious accusation that j.
A Farnum, manager of the Peoples
Home Savings Bank, and M. II. Shsr-
man were in collusion to foist worth
less securities upon the Peoples Bank.
Farnum was a cousin of Sherman and
the son-in-laW of w. H. Knight, who
was then a Bank Commissioner and an
intimately close friend of Sherman. It
will be remembered that in one of the
letters written by Frank months be-
fore this the young cashier declared
that Sherman had been bled by Dyer
for $4,000. The letter of May 1, 1893.
shows how Sherman, through Farnum,
made the Peoples Home Savings Bank
pay that $4,000. The document, which
is as follows, gives remarkably vivid
word picture of the crafty manipula-
tor who inveigled the McDonalds into
the Los Angeles Electric road:
May l, 1888.
My Dear Brother: l have sent you
to-day several long kilograms that ex-
plain themselves. After much trouble
where, if we have to fight ultimately,
our position will be clear and well de-
Tended and we think will fully justify
our course. We must go very care
fully in dealing with him. He is vis-
ionary and INSCRIPTIONS. We have all
along feared trouble from him and we
have been anxious to get everything as
we'll defined as possible The price
they talk of Offering for those Raisin
bonds Is highway robbery, in which
are evidently a number of deals, and
the only way fear is to call the thing
off and start over again. This mort
gage proposition has knocked every
thing endways and we fear there is
either trap in it to work up case
for a commission or else a big steal
that much while all along we have
been trying to sell at ninety-seven and
allow three per cent commission.
M H is evidently trying to unload
on some one. / have telegraphed him
for particulars of his new bond issue
time and again and he never sends
the same. Poor fools, a 8 per cent
bond of the kind he proposes could not
be sold for so cents on the dollar, and
his guarantee on it is good for moth
ing. You will have to watch or he
lust as Farnum did one of our term
certificates issued to Dyer; that Dyer
gave M H as collateral for his note
in exchange for M. H., advancing to
Over money to pay one Of those water
company notes when here East. M
n. and Dyer both stipulated with me
that certificates should never be ask
ed Of our institutions for cashing. Yet
the first chance M: H. gets M. H. gets
Earnum to take it. we never being
asked about the matter in ary way.
do not know but that other certifi-
Gates may have been put In the Peo-
nle's from Dyer in the same way.
Those certificates were given them
to help here East to get money with,
and this is the way they work. Watch
M Fl. He will unload on us anything
and everything he can at big prices,
while we sell them with our guaran-
tee at ruinous discounts l sketched
for him while in Los Angeles a plan
on which we might reconsider new