Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-01-23
WROTE A CONFESSION 70 HIS
FATHER ON EVE OF HIS
DEATH.
HE COULD NOT RUN AWAY

Realizing His Helpless Condition Phys.
sicaIly He Took the Only Course
Which Offered Release From HE
Trouble-Embezzled $47, GOO.
Sigourney. Jan. 22.- Especial In
a letter to his father just before he took
his own life, Gilbert f. Utterback con.
fesses to being a defaulter, and short
in his accounts with the Sigourney
Savings bank to the amount Of $4,000. T
This letter has just been made public
by the sorrowing father, Josiah Ut.
terback, the president and heaviest
stocliholdsr in the bank in which hia
son was cashier.
The Confession.
The letter of confession. showing how
strongly the man regretted his folly.
and how clearly he had in his mind the
status of affairs in connection with the
institution, confirms thereports which
have gained circulation since the clos.
+ ing OF the bank on the day following
Mr.. Utterback's suicide. 1t is as fol.
lows:
"Sigourney, Jan. H. 1904.
TO My Dear Father:
This will be sad letter indeed
and it is with the saddest regret that
am compelled to write you
In the first place am defaulter.
! speculated years ago and owe $47,-s
GOO. The Chicago account will show
up. $1,000 short when all notes are
i paid. &
4 When the citizens are paid then there
VIII be $4,000, and at present the Un-s
ion Savings bank Is short $4,000, and
,tit all time certificates were paid I
would be short $4,000. In all this
makes $4,000.
THE bank examiners, Blackburn,
Wheelail and the last one, could not de-
tect IT. The Phillips corn deal made
me a loss of $4,000, but other deals
have made me, SO it is only $4,000.
!, Previous to this deal / was at
times three to five thousand dollars
ahead. There is plenty to pay the de-
4 positors and the stockholders should
get little. admit have done
wrong and do not blame anyone but
myself. l hate to do this but cannot
run away and see no chance of ever
/ lredeeming myself. Have lived in
hopes during the last two or three
i years that l could make it back, but
the run has killed them all.
/ true confession from your son.
&c. f. Utterback."
Could Not Run Away.
Il hate to do this, but cannot run
away, and see no chance Of ever re-
deeming myself" This one sentence
tells how hard the unfortunate casn.
Ter tried to be brave and face his dis.
grace. 1t tells of the nights Of worry,
the days of scheming, and of the final
discouragement when, after three
years and more of deceit. he saw the
hands OF the law about to reach out
for him. He could not run away.
Since childhood he had been an in
valid because of rheumatism. Realiz-.
ing his physical helplessness he was
forced by his own feelings to escape
the punishment he knew would come
to him. and he took what seemed the
easiest way out, though the most sell
fish-suicide
The Phillips Dea.
4 Many rumors are afIoat as 10 the
cause of the Sigourney Savings shut
ting its doors. The facts are mainly
these. In 1901 when George Phillips
made his meteoric flight on the board
of trade IN Chicago and seEt corn up
to so cents per bushel, Gilbert F. Ut.
terback made small investment on
| hn rl IJa opA oil DIV tUC 10
three thousand dollars ahead of the
game. Corn kept going higher and
higher and higher and Gilbert kept
putting in more money and using the
banks funds. Phillips kept sending
; corn higher.
A Moment of Triumph.
i Mr.. Utterback had secretly put In
more money until he had his own in
yestment and $4,000 Of the bank's
funds on the board of trade. This was
critical time Everybody was breath
less. Phillips had the corn cornere6
He was crowned corn king of tht
country. He was poor boy sta
with hardly dollar. He made - m
grew into the thousands, then the tens
VI InouSduuo dIu uP lHlo tuo lliliiOHSs
The General Downfall
The bears on the board got their
heads together. They wanted to break
: this young corn king and send him to
the way. They schemed, they manipu-
lated and soon the word was flashed
over the wire that George Phillips had
gone to the wall and carried with him
/ n11
ltry Then it was that G. F. Utterback
lost his original investment and S54,.
900 of the banks money. He could in
all probability have sold at one time
and cleaned up for himself a half mil
lion dollars. But he held on too lons
and all his money invested WAS wipe;
out in the twinkling of an eye Tt,
was the starting point of the downf
) ~ n Il TJffarhack