The Savannah morning news., 1900-10-12
srnIn rnr WHOLE nANk

Il IS the thief on the inside that Is
more TO be dreaded BY tho bank than the
thief on the outside Very rarely now
adays does 4. occur chat q burglar sue
cecds 90 breaking into bank and secur-
ing any Of is funds But 80 is not at
oil uncommon that trusted omploye Of
tire bank succeeds la making way with
the concerns money; aud onener than
not che amount stolen is much more than
the most daring. euterprising and san
gulne burglar would have hoped or
dreamed Of occurring.
A case in point is the Schreiber rob
berry OF the Elizlbe,hport a.. - Bank
ing Company. the story OF which has
been running for three or four days In
the news column In this case young
schreiber a S75-a month clerk. succeeded
IN stealing an amount equal not only 10
the banks capital stock but IT'S surplus
besides. II may therefore be- said. ng-
urltlvely. that he stole the whole bank,
right under che eyes OF those who were
required by che hw TO keep watch
upon him And q may be surmised that
he would have stolen officials. directors,
examiners. etc. too II they could have
been handhy converted into cash,
The law is designed to throw ample
safeguards around banking institutions.
II nos only provides for the liability OF
officers and directors but requires that
OFFICIAL examiners shall from time 20 time.
inspect the hooks Of such Institutions
pears that as matter OF act. State
Bank Examiner Stainsby made an inves-
/ tigation Of the Ellzabethport banks at
fairs few months ago. found everything
satisfactory 1ud compimcnted the OFF,
cials upon the excellent showing. Never
had already stolen pretty nearly as much
az the banks capital sock.
schrcibers methods were shrewd. bu,
simple. lie had charge Of the deposit
slips on calling them on for entry into
| one ledger he would can of lesser
amount than was on the slip. II "a sllp
/ rend s. 100 be would read yi00 and il would
/ bee SO entered Ho always deducted even
sums - that he could easily remember
Z them The amount deducted he nlchcd
/ from tho vaults or from the teilers
drawers 60 which he had access By this
1 system che general ledger and the cash
on hand always Tailed. but the deposhors'
| ledgers totals OF course. differed That
/ ls the way Boz fooled the bank people. but
il does not seem that he ought 20 have
been oble 20 follow this system month
after month without being detected. q
I q proper system OF checks ana counter
/ checks were employed. Ills method of
pulling the wool over the eyes OF the ex-
amiuer was similar. When the examiner
came he counted the cash in che morning
and took the securities TO New York IN
the afternoon 20 have them proved. The
next day hc returned aud went over the
books. in the meantime Schneider had
erased che separate accounts of deposltors
10 "a tine deductions be had made pre-
viously and this made the total tally
/ with the cash on hand. After the bank
/ examiner had gone he changed the figures
/ again aud having escaped the examiner
/ was aEuin sufe from detection By tho
bank officials.
The Ehzlbcthport bank has not been
ruined. tie stockholders are rich mon
and have put their hands Into their pock-
ets ard made good tho shortage But
| had they not been rich men, the bank
would have gone 10 pieces aud the losses
would have fallen upon tho depositors. an
on aecount Of the ineffciency OF the man
agement aud The examinations.