Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-01-23
CORN DEAL
6. +. | Ul !: SAID TO Have.
LOST s47ooo1N THE pin.
LIPS "souEEzE.u'
State Bank Examiner Mckee Makes
Informal Report Degrading the Con-
ditlon Of the siaourney Savings
Bank. s2
81 - IN

les Moines, Jan. s20.-(Special) -
For more than four years, according to
the report made yesterday by State
Bank Examiner Mckee, G. F. Utter
back concealed from the officials of the
Sigourney Savings, bank the fact that
he had lost $47,000sof the banks mon
ey in speculation on the Chicago board
of trade. According to a letter which
it is said has been found and which ex-
plains the entire state of affairs. Mr..
Utterback lost this sum in the big Phil
lips corn deal more than four years
ago and from then until his death, he
"doctored" the books and reports in
such manner that, his defalcation
was not discovered until after his sui
eide little more than a week ago.
Memory Failed Him.
According to Mr.. Mckee, the final
undoing of Mr.. Utterback was due to
nothing more nor less than a lapse of
memory. It appears that the reason
he was not detected before was due to
his wonderful memory which enabled
him to recall all entries he had made
with a view to hiding the defalcation
and return to these entries and again
alter them to prevent detection when
reports came in from the banks with
which the Sigourney institute did bust
ness. His undoing was the result of
failure to- recall that he had made the
books show that the Sigourney bank
had a credit Of $4,000 with the Union
Savings bank Of Davenport. !. Purely
by mistake he. drew a draft onsthat in
stit,ltion. 1t went to protest for lack
of funds and was returned to another
Sigourney bank for collection. When
other, employees Of Utterback's bank
heard of this, they expressed surprise
to him. He replied that he would
rush right over and "f1x" It.. There is
no need Of fixing it" was the reply.
1--WE have $4,000 on: deposit there"
But Utterback insisted upon fixing
it and this aroused suspicion. B. r.
stockman, one Of the directors, then
visited Chicago and Davenport and dis
covered that the banks there made a
different showing from what the Sig
Quincy books Indicated. This was fol-
lowed by calling a meeting of the bank
directors at which the cashier was
summoned to appear. Instead Of COM
plying he wrote the farewell letter and
committed suicide.
Had Good Reputation.
clad it been any other than man
of such saintliness of character" said
Mr.. Mckee yesterday, my suspicion
might have been aroused during my
previous examinations of the institu-
ton. But any little irregularity could
be easily explained by Utterback to
the satisfaction of any one, for he prob
ably had one of the best regulations in
that county. Had the state provided
for 'reconcilement' of accounts with
the corresponding banking institutions
the defalcation would have been soon
err detected. As it is, 1T was an easy
matter for Utterback to, hide his de-
falcation. ="
CAS- has already been explained,
there was approximately $4,000 in
notes which had been copied by him,
the originals being sent away to Sc
cure loans while the copies were re-
tanned in his bank and surrendered
whenever payment was made. Then
the balances were doctored from day
to day. by the changing of figure here
and there. If, for example, he had
$500 balance with the Davenport bank
he would place 10 in front of this
sum on his books. Later on he would
change the figures back to their orig
inal condition so as to correspond with
reports from those banks"