The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-05
STILL MORE EDISON FORGERIES
SJO,OtO or THE CHURCH CLERKS
RAD PAPER NOW IN SIGRT.
That's . Loss for the Banks-But We sesd
Cemetery Lots AMI Took Church
Collections No Accounts LETT, and
the steaiinss May Reach GlOO. OsDO.

the stealines May Reach eoOO.ODO
Until the work OF Haskins 4 Sells, the
| expert accountants engaged on the books
Of ST Michaels Church, Ii done no &C
curate estimate can I've made of the extent
of the entertainments of Henry Townsend
! Edison. who killed himself and the wife Of
| his friend John r. Puen on Wednesday
| morning II was told in THE Sun yester-
| day that at least one note for S25, 900 had
| been discounted for the account Of the
| church by Edison and that the signatures
| of Gilbert ID. Case and William r, Peters
had been forged on this note
Yesterday the existence of another note
for $4,000 was discovered and still another
for 900 How many more there are no
one connected with the church dares say
1t seemed TO be taken for granted by the
counsel for St Michael's that the losses
caused by these forgeries must fall upon
the banks which discounted the notes. There
is no process of law by which man whose
name has been forged to note can he held
accountable for the mistake Of bank
which permits itself to pay out money on
the forged note,
Nevertheless the church will lose no
small sum by Edson's dishonesty. For in
stance, he was the superintendent of st
Michael's Cemetery. The sales of lots
and of single graves were all made through
him. The payments were made by check
and in cash There Is no way of telling
except by careful examination of the
books Of the cemetery company how much
of the receipts of the corporation f. ison
appropriated These checks ought to have
been made payable -to W. X. Peters,
treasurer" or to the st. Michael's cor
poration. Mr. Edison had no right to cash
them. But there is abundant evidence
| that he did
| 1t was source OF wonder yesterday,
| among many who did not understand the
| operation Of the business progresses of the
| church, that Edison should have been able
to steal. urdetected. any considerable
| part of the Sunday collections of the church
| 1t had been understood that one of the
\ curates and Mr.. Peters or one of the wardens
T always counted the gross amount Of the
| collections and kept memorandum of it
| when the cash was turned over TO Mr..
| Edison.
But from what could be learned yester-
| day II was the custom Of the church official
| whoever he was, who counted the Sunday
| collections TO put the whole lot of cash in a
| cloth bag, to drop in Oh top of the cash
| the memorandum of its amount and then
| to turn memorandum and cash over TO
Edison together.
John Alexander Beall the Junior warden
of the church, said yesterday that he had
made some investigation OF the trouble in
which Edison was involved in Rochester
before coming here
Edison was the agent in Rochester of
the house of Franklin Edison, In Septem-
Der, 1891, he got the German American
Bank Of Rochester to discount for him
note for $500, This note purported 20 be
made by his wife. and was 20 run for six
months 1t WAS taken up by a note for
s., 900 purporting to be made by Franklin
Edison 4 Co. Edison took the $3.50 diff
repudiated the note and then came the
crash in Fl. T. Edson's business. 1t was
understood then that 1t cost exMayor
Franklin Edison $500 900 to free his son OF
the criminal charges which resulted from
this transaction and to square the business
generally.
A member Of the congregation said yes
.erday that there was no question that
Edison had been spending at least $1,000
a year, although his salary was but 81, 900.
There had been little gossip about his ex-
travagance until his recent purchase OF
an automobile. An investigation Of the
automobile purchase since Wednesdays
tragedy, however, disclosed the fact that
the machine cost Edison only $500. because
II wBs bought at second hand
One OF those VINO were present M the Corn
Exchange Bank when Edison was confronted
with the accusation that he had forged
the note for $3.50 said that Edison in
dicated then that he had been stealing
ever since he got his place as clerk of the
church corporation. After the confession
10 the forgery Of the note with which Edison
had been confronted. William X. Peters,
the treasurer OF the church. said TO him:
rs this all' How much have you taken
more than this?"
Edison shook his head.
Il don't know" he said. Il have been
doing his sort of thing so long that have
given up keeping any records and don't
know at all what it will all come to. |
only know that here is no name bad enough