The evening world., 1904-02-25
Wallace H. Ham. Agent in Bos-
ton OF the American Company
of This City, Is Arrested as
a DefauIter.
WAS ALSO TREASURER
FOR A BIG HOSPITAL.
New York Concern Announces
that Loss Will Be Paid Out of
Surplus and that It Will Not
Be Felt.

H D.. Lyman. President OF the Amer-
Surety Company. of No. 100 Broad
way, received a telegram from Boston
this afternoon telling him of the arrest
Of Wallace II. Ham. tho company's
manager in h city. who is a default
ter. according to Mr.. Lyman. to the ex-
tent of $50. 900. Tn loss. however, will
be divided between the surety company
and the st. Luke's Home for Gonzales
pents. Of Boston, of which Mr.. Ham was
treasurer. Mr.. Ham was also treasurer
pf st Paul's, Boston's most fashionaole
phurch. n a man OF the highest repu-
tation for honesty and integrity among
ahprch workers.
We ordered the arrest of Mr.. Ham,
Ba1d President Lyman to-day, 'aftar
discovering that he had stolen at least
Nsa,oOo from " n from ST. Lnke's
Home. I do not think he stole anything
from st. Paul's Church. as he probably
did not have The same freedom with
I thetr funds as lie did with ours and
those OF the home.
a"We cannot determine the exact
%AAetAAt Nv ohoAO iApb tASit VI uN IN
joint examination has been made nr
he books after we have ascertained in
hull the facts from the trustees of st.
Luke's Home for Convalesoents.
oon as we learned OF the enor.
uous default we ordered Mr.. Hams ar
rest n appropriated out OF the sur
plus and undivided proft account OF
our company sufficient to defray our
proportion of the default. AS this ac'
count of ours amounts to s2,04s, 900. yot
can see that we are in no way dam
aged by Mr.. Hams thefts.
1.-THE news of Mr.. Hams embezzle,
ment vas as much a shock to US as II
probably will be TO his host Of friends
In Boston. When we secured him Il
manaRe our ranch ONCE in Boston we
thought we had n man OF the higlics,
character for honesty and integrity that
could be our in the city.
Thought He Was q Jewel.
"As our business Is that OF standing
surety for the honesty of others we.
of oourse. desired to get n man OF the
highest possible esteem. We found
that Mr.. Ham was the treasurer OF st.
Pauls Church, had been an usher and
one OF the most respected men OF its
congregation for years, We learned
that he had occupied II similar trust
with the st. Luke's Home. where he
had entire freedom in handling great
sums OF money. This convinced us that
he was the man we wanted and five
or six years ngo we engaged him To
look after our Boston business.
raI Nnw aa faT ~ tho ftpAa nf tbn bnn,.
are concerned. 1t would not have been
possible for MIR. Ham to have de-
frauded us without that assistance. Be-
ing treasurer OF the home. the trustees
trusted hin without restraint. and he
handled large sums of money with per-
iect freedom and at his own discretion.
How II Was Done.
'This is how Mr.. Ham was able u
manipulate with our funds and the
,unds OF the home. Whenever we insure
.he honesty of ~ employee they are
compelled TO put up u certain amount
pf collateral security with MS. Wner
We get this collateral we insure them
and place the collateral on deposit Il
our. account. II remains to our accom-
until either the insured has default",
or performed his trust and been d.:
charged.
"As soon as the assured is discharged
We return the collateral.
Now, our Boston clients have put M
large sums OF money with us AS col
lateral and these sums have been de
posted in our Boston office. Mr.. Ham
we have learned. wheu he wanted an,
large sum OF money took these collat
eraI securities to a bank and borrowe,
money on them. The banks never de
nied him the privilege.
When u examiners went TO BIOS
ton, however, Mr.. Ham took out or I'M
funds of the home SUFFICIENT cash TO re
deem our collateral that he had depus
collateral back to our account, an
when the examiners looked over eth,
books they found everything all right
Returned the Collateral.
After that. and before the trustee
of the home could have their suspicion
aroused, he took back our collateral I
the banks, secured "A on them and r,
deposited 1t to the account of st. Luke
Home. II was a sort of rObbing LUX
70 Pay Peter n robbing Peter to pa
/, Luke. We were Peter.
I'VE have found that Mr.. Ham ha
been doing this for about a year, but
vas 9opiy reeentlyi when he got in 5
funds he handled against each othel
that we discovered the robbery. Whe
B we FIRST discovered the thefts IL locke
! paratively small sum. Last Monday W
charged him with the embezzlemen
I and he made an open confession. turr
ing over to us $4,000 worth of securitiei
I'VE advised him to make a simila
confession TO the trustees OF the HON,
and he did 20. Then we found the d,
fault greater than we had feared-tha
Is, $4,000 above the 10000 he had turne
Z back TO u.s."
President Lyman was asked IL he ha
any idea what Mr.. Ham had done wit
z hha nnnnaN hn had afnlan