Delaware gazette and state journal., 1899-05-04

On Wednesday, April 18th, as Auditor
Joseph A. Richardson Of tie Whining.
ton Savings Fund Society was working
on accounts of that institution, he
found II discrepancy which led to tho
discovery that Ernest i. MacNair, for
10 years trusted employe, who occu.
pied the position of receiving toller,
was short in his accounts to the extent
of $40, 100. The immediate discovery
made by the auditor displayed
peculation of only 800, but IL caused
an investigation with the result as
stated. Mr.. Richardson's discovery
was this: He was handling package
of deposit slips for February 10th
which bore Mr.. MacNair's endorse
mont that it contained 40 slips and
represented 81, 416, adding the figures,
he found the total of money to be
81, ZIG, but strange to say, there were
only IS slips in it; this led to o check.
ing up of tho slips with the deposit
book at the bank, kept also BY
MacNair, which disclosed that for two
deposits of $50 each, no slips appeared
In other words 800 had disappeared.
The discovery of that fact was followed
by MacNair's confession, first to the
auditor and then to William NJ. Candy,
the president of the savings fund.
The officers and managers at once
SGT to work, with the assistance Of
| MacNair, to protect the bank as far as
possible from the result of the pecu.
lations. From the receiving teller's
bond, given by the Guaranty Company
of North America, $1,000, and from
other sources, about 81, 600, have SO far
| -. H.. A.
real estate to Mr.. Candy in trust for
tho society, and has given bond for
$4,000, covering all his remaining
property. As appears by the transfers
of real estate published on eighth page
MacNair turned over the following
properties: West side OF Union street
800 feet north Of Eighth, northwest
corner of Sixteenth street and Brincke
avenue, north side Of Sixteenth strest
96 feet 10 inches west of Brinckle
avenue, west side of Union street l92
feet north of Seventh, north side Of
Liberia street 140 feet south Of -Four.
teenth, southeast corner of Greenhill
avenue and Eighteenth, north side Of
Liberia street 72 feet 6 inches west Of
Lincoln, southwest corner Of Twelfth
and Orange streets, and the north side
|
Brinckle avenue, south side OF A
street l6 feet 3 inches east of Button.
wood and the southwest corner Of
Stroud and Wright streets.
The real estate is encountered to
such an extent that the society will
receive little from it, but expects to
receive about So, 900 in addition to the
J amounts now in hand, which will leave
| "a oh nf oh
Judgment bonds aggregating s., 300
which have been filed at the Court
! House are to protect the interests
of the Home for Aged Women,
which holds three mortgages against
, MacNar's properties. As far as pos.
: sible the managers were avoiding pub
! licity in the settlement of the matter
MacNair's operations extended over
: u period of 10 years. He had two
methods The earlier one was this.
Suppose depositor would hand him
Sll0; he would properly enter it on the
depositor's book, the deposit slip and
the derosit book of the bank and in
due time would carry it to the ledger.
But no would afterwards erase the first
figure of the S1l0 from the deposit
book, make the addition agree with
the remaining figures and pocket the
800. Then by withholding the deposit
slip, he could prevent the ascertaining
of the discrepancy. His later scheme
/ simply involved the placing of a false
total to q list of days deposits, and
holding out the slips corresponding
with the amount of shortage.
Now to cover up the shortage and
, prevent its discovery in the general
accounts, MacNair would alter the
, total of the accrued interest and
, thereby charge the bank with total
corresponding to what it actually
, credited to depositors and what he
had taken. The surplus Of the bank
| was thoreby reduced by the amount OF
i his populations, that total being de-.
dLcted, so that the reported surplus
was the actual surplus As the proper
entries had been made on the deposi.
, tors books and accounts, there Is not
i the slightest discrepancy with them.
, The loss of tho money does not atiect
the depositors in the slightest degree
| Mr. MacNair is son of the late Col'
! W. S. MacNair. He is married and h@
two children.
MacNair's position is taken by S. j..
t Horn. who will be succeeded as CLERK
J by Wilson Palmer, sen of Wilmer
I1..I. IS