The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-20
CHURCH MONEY IN A TANGLE.
A CHECK MIsUsED TO REIMBURSE
THE BUILDING FUND.

isl Church becoming More
Complicated - MIR. Haupt Charged
with Having Applied a Check for
81. 600 Drawn In Favor of Mrs.
Teynac to Help Make IN His De-
felt with the Church - Resigns
Three Trensurerships and HIS
business PositiOn-The Fight Over
the Money In Lawyer Gains Hands
Gets Into Court.
The troubles OF Mr.. George w. EIaupt are
multiplying and the Duffy Street Baptist
Church is having considerable more diff
Guilty in getting its money than it appre-
honded two or three days ugo.
The money is now In sight, but 1t is tied
up in a legal net which the courts VIII
have to untangle. Suits, garnishments and
balls in trover are the actions that now
stand between the church and the money
that it was believed would soon be in its
hands as full and final restitution for the
funds misappropriated by the treasurer OF
its building fund. And the beginning OF
the end is not yet in sight.
Yesterday brought a number OF new de-
velopments in what promises to be the
vet had. First of all came the discovery
that Mr.. Haupt had appropriated to his
own use a check for 81 900 given him as
treasurer of the Oglethorpe Building Com
pany TO pay to Mrs. Ellen Teynac as an in
siallment on the price of real estate bought
from her by the company
This discovery was brought about in
macmillan way. Thursday last Mr.. ]. F.
Williams, president of the Oglethorpe COM
many. having ascertained that Mr.. Haupt
was accused of squandering church funds,
requested him to produce a receipt for a
check for $1,000 which he had signed as
president on Sept. l. Mr.. Williams had no
reason especially to believe that anything
was wrong, but in view of the prevalent
rumors deemed it his duty as president oil
the company to look into the matter. Mr..
Haupt examined his papers at hand out
finding no receipt of the required date
etatea that it was probably at his home
and agreed to bring It to Mr.. Williams the
next morning, as the president was then to
Leave the city.
The following morning Mr.. Williams re-
ouested Mr.. Charles Wood, vice president
Before he left the city though, Mr.. Haupt
produced receipt from Mrs. Teynac
bearing date after the issuing of the check
and for the full amount. The receipt on
its face. was seemingly entirely correct
and the president expressed his gratlhca-
ton that his suspicious had apparently
had no basis. Word was sent to the vice
president that the receipt had been pro-
duced and that the account seemed an
right Mr. Wood, though reading later
Of the action OF the Duffy Street Baptlst
Church. was not satisfied in his own mind
and went to see Mrs. Teynac. From her
he learned that she had received no such
check but that Mr.. Haupt had called on
her. stated that he desired a duplicate re-
ceipt for a similar check given her in
NAV. and that she had given the new re-
ceipt dated in September understanding
that the original had been lost
Investigation at the bank where the
Oglethorpe company had its deposit, show
ed that MIR. Haupt had drawn the
$1,000 on his own Endorsement the words
cor bearer" having been added to the
check which was originally made out to
Mrs. Ellen Teynac Executrix." Mr..
Haupt being known as treasurer of the
company had no difficulty in securing the
money. The check appears to have been
dated up from Sept / to Sept. 10. This
rested on warrant charging him with
embezzling the church funds. In an eff
fort TO extricate himself from the diff
culties in which he found himself, Mr..
Eaupt seemed to have taken advantage
of his possession of the check for Mrs.
Teynac, and secured the $1,000 to help him
pay 10 the church the funds for which he
was held responsible. This money. there
is apparently The best of reason 10 believe.
Is part of s., 205 which was turned over to
the attorney, Mr. J. r. Cain, to make up
Mr. Haupt's deficit The officers of the
Oglethorpe company have no doubt about
this, and have evidence TO support their
belief
The pastor of the Duffy Street Church
and others connected with it have been
made acquainted with this new situation,
and partial demand was yesterday made
that the $1,000 be returned to the company
to be paid over to Mrs Teynac. 1t IL I'M
derstood that the church has assumed the
position that this cannot be done until the
fact is legally made clear that of the funds
now in its attorneys hands, 1000 was OBJ
tanned by MIR. Haupt through misappro-
priation of the Oglethorpe company 5
funds. AS soon as the claim of the COM
pany TO this portion of The fund is es-
tablished it will be paid over.
A peculiar feature, which has tended to
complicate the case in this connection, is
the fact that the 81 1000 was placed by Mr..
not made aware of how it had been OBJ
tanned. and thought it was part of the
original church funds. This friend de-
posted the money to his own credit in
bank and then gave his personal check
for much larger amount in helping &c
make up Mr.. Haupts deficit. The legal
point now is shall the Oglethorpe look
TO this friend for its $1,000, and he in
turn, look TO the church. or shall the COM
pany make direct claim on the funds be-
ing held for the church? In order tc
properly protect ell parties the courts
may be asked to rule in the matter. The
sole desire Of the church in the case, OF
course, is to do what is right to all par
ties concerned.
The church, in the meantime in de-
sire to protect itself, has appealed direct
ly to the courts. Yesterday it began sui
against Mr.. Haupt in the City Court fol
the sum of S2205.27, and then, through
Justice Kline's court garnisheed that sun
I'm the hands of Attorney Cain tho on y