The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-11-01
STOLE NEARLY A MILLION.
Charles l.. Alvord, DR., Note Teller
In New York, Makes
Big Haul.

New York Especially Charles l.. AL
word, Jr., note teller of the First Ma
tional Bank of this city, at No 2
Wall street. is a fugitive and a de-
faulter to the extent of 100000.
The announcement of the dcfalca-
ton, created the utmost excitement in
the financial olstrict of the city, put
the well-known stability of the FIRST
National. and statement issued by
the bank, had a quieting effect. This
statement was as follows:
The note teller, who has been in the
employ of the First National Bank for
many years, is a defaultcr to a large
amount. His operations have con-
tinued for a considerable period, and
have been skilfully concealed through
a manipulation of his balance book.
The discovery was made by one of the
banks employees few days after the
completion of an examination of the
bank by the United States examiners.
During the continuance of his pecula-
tions periodical examinations have
been made by several distinct corps of
examiners representing the comptrol-
ler's department, all expert account
ants, and the bank has also had fire.
quent Independent examinations,
neither of which has developed any ir-
regularity. The aggregate of the false
entries, amounting to $700,000 has
been charged off on the books of the
bank out of the reserve fund, without
diminishing the surplus and profits of
the bank, as reported in its last pub
lished statement 1t is expected that
the shortage will be materially reduced
by substantial sum. of which there
is fair prospect of recovery"
Alvord had been with the bank for
twenty years, and was one of the most
trusted men in the institution His
stealings extended over a long period
but no suspicion of the truth was
known until 10 days ago. when he sent
word that he was i'll at his home. At
ter he had been away for day or two
the bank put experts at work, and
some irregularities were found. AS the
experts delved deeper and deeper into
Alvord's books the extent of the rob-
berry began to dawn on the officers, un-
TIL they were overwhelmed to find
that 1t reached the enormous figure of
100000. Whether that sum is all that
he took is not yet known.
1t has not yet developed how the
note teller was able to put his hands
on so much money. But one of the di-
rectors is reported to have said that
Alvord was enabled to take such a
large sum because, as note teller, he
was in charge of the mail. This he
opened every morning and he had
ample opportunity to abstract notes,
drafts, checks as well as money. OF
course, he had to be especially skiliul
to make his accounts balance. This
director admitted that he was at loss
to account for the failure of the bank
examiners to discover Alvord's irrc-
gularities at their last examination.
Forest Raynor is in charge of the
National Bank Examiners Office here.
What Alvord did with all the cash
is also mystery as yet, exc spt that,
as usual in such cases, it is said that
large amount of it went in stock
speculation. One story is that he had
lost $4,000 in one deal, but what deal
1t was is not stated. 1t has been dis
covered that during the summer AL
word visited Saratoga, where he cut
a great figure, spending money like a
prince. He rented a cottage, kept a
fine stable of horses, and besides play
ing the races, is said to have frequent
ed gambling houses.