Sunday morning globe., 1901-11-17
William oscar
And His Little Savings Bank in
in Trouble. =
A STUNNING PETITION
In Which Serious Penal and Other Charges
are Made Against tho DeIunOi Wind Bag
Bank and lis Adjunct, the Union Surety and
Guaranty CompanI

per in Washington to outline the total
wreck of the American Savings Bank.
Of which one, VIM. Oscar Roome, was
president, and vice president of its
cfice adjunct the Union Surety and
Guarantee Company and that we then
predicted the collapsed wind.bag con.
cern would not pay twenty-five cents
on the dollar, despite the announce.
ment Of Mr.. Roome that his assets
were in excess Of his liabilities We
subsequently revided this prediction
a~ declared that the depositors might
save their bank books! The inside in.
formation possessed by The Globe
from a confidential employee convers.
ant with the methods of banking.
brokerage, bonding and contracting Of
Messrs, Roome Haller and Parker con-
vinced us at the outset that the whole
thing was rotten from start to finish
The past week developed such corrob-
Orative proofs of this opinion that we
have no hesitation i'm Affirming that
the Criminal Courts will have a Job
before the thing is through with. In
a petition file. Wednesday last by the
receivers of the defunct and wind-bag
bank the Supreme Court of the Dis
trict Of COlumbia is asked to declare
the transfer by the bank Of promissory
notes, debts, due bills and chooses in
action to the Union Surety and Guar
anty Company to have been in fraud
of the depositors and other creditors
fhn hnnlr %" fharnFnV.
void On November 10. 1897, william
Oscar Roome, the cashier Of the Ohio
National Bank; Nicholas n. Haner.
an architect, and Charles w. Powers
were among the principal organizers
OIL the American Savings Bank. at No
1907 G Street. The directors were tine
persons named who assumed the en-
tire management and control of the
affairs of the corporation
The receivers go on to make the fol.
lowing startling statement to demon
strate the truth of their charges Of
fraud i'm the inception and organiza-
tion Of the bank "The entire cash cap
ital OF the bank consisted of $40, the
remainder ofathe supposedly cash capi-
tai Of $4,000 being made up of the de-
mand notes aggregating $49.730, con-
sisting Of Roome's note for $27 900;
Haller's for $4,000 and Powers for
$4,000, and others for various amounts
Continued overdrafts by Roome, which
began three days after the bank COM
menced the business and discounting
for his personal credit of worthless
demand notes Of his own and Of his
friends and associates, the bank was
practically insolvent from the date Of
its organization.
Holy gee. "Insolvent from the date
of it's organization "Can such
things be- etc. That they can, we as.
certain by continuing a perusal of the
petition. II says:
Rooms was the vice president of the
Union Surety and Guaranty Company,
the Offices of which were located in the
building of the American Savings
Bank In April, 1900, the Union Sur.
ETY. and Guaranty Company opened the
first number Of running accounts as
dopnsllor with the American Savings
Bank which, from time to time, acted
as financial agent of the surety com.
pany. The Union Surety and Guaran-
tee Company, the American Savings
Bank and Mr.. Nicholas Haller cooper
ated in this business transactions in
the following manner:
Haller either personally or through
IN agent would secure vacant land
and then. upon the assurance that he
would furnish bonded security for the
performance of his contract would OBJ
tain from third parties loans for the
purpose Of erecting buildings on the
land The Union Security and Guar
anty Company would then offer them
selves as surety for Haller upon the
condition that the money which, ac-
cording to the custom of business, is
usually retained by the lender to be
disbursed as the work progressed,
should be deposited with the Ameri-
can Savings bank, to be disbursed
under the control and supervision Of
its own local vice president and at
tcIney. in fact, the defendant, William
Oscar Roome.'
Yes yes. We heard a case of this
kind before Justice Bundy last week in
which shuttle cock and .battledore was
played with a subcontractor who had
put in electrical appliances and other
fixings I'm some houses owned by a Mr..
Riley who had deposited the money
for the payment of the same in the
above concerns, but which the unfor- |
nate and conhding sub-contractor could !
neither get from the chief contrac-
tor. the owner of the houses. the |
American Savings Bank or the Union |
Surety and Guaranty Company And |
hence this suit. But to proceed:
"In one instance $4,000 was deposited .
in the American Savings Bank by .
Eugene Carus and NJ T. Davis, trus
tee, upon the request in writing so
to do made by the Union Security and .
Guaranty Company, through William
Oscar Roome. its local vice-president,
the seal Of the Union Security and
Guaranty Company being attached
thereto The trustees we're solely in
duced 10 deposit funds In bank through
the aforesaid means. they having
previously refused to deposit the funds
in the American Savings Bank upon
their own responsibility The records
of the American Savings Bank show
that on the date Of it's suspension the
trustees were credited with $2,30O."
And then the petition goes on with
this revelation;