The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-25

the Pacific Bank there are few that are
of more general interest than one which
was written by Frank V. Mcdonald
after the Pacific Bank had failed and
the bank wreckers were fighting like
yuItures over the body of the wrecked
institution The great struggle for pos
session had begun and the various fac
lions were using every possible infiu-
etce they could command. 1t mattered
nothing what the character of this in
huence was, honest or dishonest If
courts or commissions could be bribed
the conspirators were ready to resort
to bribery. Great interests were at
stake in the decision and it was natural
that the wreckers should fight stub
bornly and bitterly for control. When
Frank Mcdonald wrote the remarkable
letter that will follow he and the other
members of his family had been thrown
out of the bank.
Moses H. Sherman, the arch-con-
spirator of them all, was determined
that he would wind up the final affairs,
not only of the Pacific Bank. but of the
Peoples Home Savings Bank. He was
not satisfied with having practically
ruined both institutions through his
wild schemes, but he was determined to
secure whatever valuable property he
had pledged for the funds of the banks.
He had in both institutions pledged
some valuable property in Phoenix and
he wanted this property back He
wanted to clean UP his gigantic con-
spiracy and manipulated to control the
final liquidation of the banks. His
cousin, John E. Farnum, had been put
into the institution and other frlends
were in authority. Frank V. Mcdonald
discussed this situation most bitterly
He wrote a remarkable letter in which
he handled his enemies, and part1cu-
Iarly Sherman, without mercy. The let
ter is also a most unusual one from
literary point of view and is as follows:
Justice or law, which is it? The Pa
cific Bank an interesting study. Its
old officers and attaches gone. The
only responsible parties dispossessed.
Mephisto, Harumscarum Sherman, the
Arizona freebooter, and his minlons in
charge. At the vice presidents desk
sits A. F. Johns.
THE cashiers desk is represented by
Baggett, worthily typifying his name.
and like a lean and hungry Cassius
plotting and conspiring for an opening
Cor profit; but sadly different from his
Roman prototype in remaining faithful
to no cause, his only end being to see
where he can catch on. To-day repre-
senting the lone, erratic, insignificant
shareholder Cogswell the next day pro-
teanlike appearing for Director Sher-
man. whom the day before he attacked
as a scoundrel, and lastly pretending
ATTORNEY
General, whose position he had previ-
ously most violently assailed. All!
Baggett. thy name-well certainly not
Consistency, but of course he is learned
in the law, and some say still more
learned in bookkeeping accounts, but
all admit he is famous for bulldozing
the courts, and is beloved OF Sherman,
the fair and the good.
Whom have we next? Why, surely
T. z. Farnum, the immaculate, who
suspiciously floats about from pillar to
post, but whose motives, of course, and
deeds are always above suspicion. 1t
does seem strange how such a virtuous
man could be chosen as midwife and
wetnurse of this crazy Sherman's plots
and plans but then they are cousins,
and Sherman has been a good friend
TO Farnum in financial stresses, and
Farnum in turn has not forgot to back
Sherman's schemes for raising money,
however Objectionable they may have
been. and the operations OF these
Siamese twins in financial matters have
been the principal cause of the mis-
fortune to the Pacific Bank.
But how did the honest John Far
mum ACQUIRE such power? Why he is
the son-in-law of Bank Commissioner
knight. the venerable patriarch who is
now ruling the destinies of the Pacific,
and who. like a blind Oedipus in despair,
with nothing but Antigone Farnum and
Ismene Baggett, two frai1 and slender
beauties. to console and guard him, is
now trying to grope his way out of the
follies Of his own creation; and any
one can readily see that suggestions
from Sherman to Farnum and from
Farnum to those whom he wished to
coerce. backed up by limitations of
what good Papa Knight could do and
might do and would do, generally sue
ceeded in accomplishing the desired re-
suit
..And who is the moon-faced, smooth
tongued willieboy that scatters his
PROMISES broadcast like the golden
leaves of autumn and that smiles and
blinks and frowns and lords it over
all? Why, it is the general, chosen for
his spotless record and striking fitness
by the Commissioners, to act as re-,
ceiver in defiance of the bank act and
the rights of the stockholders and de-
positors; but a s150,000 in receivers
fees and years of expensive litigation
and all the other rich perquisites do
not grow on every bush and are not to
be lightly cast aside, not even by as
affiuent a man as the virtuous Cen
eraI Wiley. They are worthy of a con-
test and should be captured at any
cost, the law or no law, while as for
Justice, she is so far back as to be
nothing more than a tradition. And
are these all the worthy representatives
of the law that are striving so zeal
ously to feather their nest and keep the
officers of the bank from arranging
with their creditors for full payment,
and open the bank and going on with
the business? Oh, my, no; but these