The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-10-18

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sympathetic regard for MI. Ztnmer.
man, drove out to his house to pre-.
pare him for what was coming and tt
make final appeal TO him to clear ur
the matter If it lay within his powe!
to do so. When they arrived at Mr.
Z!mmerman's home about noon they
were info' med that he was at the In
surance cff1ce Of Mr.. s L. Miller Tney
drove without delay to the Office Of
Mr.. Miller and we've Informed tiat
Mr.. Zimmerman had just left. That
was about l o'clock and it was not
until 4 O'Clock that the warrant was
placed In the hands of Sheriff Cole.
man. AS soon as the warrant had
been sworn out, the news was made
public, and Mr.. Zimmerman's friends
as well IS the officers OF the law were
all on the lookout for him, but he has
not been seen since the time or about
the time he left Mr.. Mtller's Office.
DIR. ZIMMERMAN HARD HIT.
It will be some time before it can
be told definitely in whose administra
tions these # .irs occurred, but at
present it appears that the liabilities
will be about as follows:
W. T. G. Bates. s...........s 1000
W. 81. Timmermap... ...... 10,50O
R. q. Jennings. s.......,.... 1,4O0
To this OF course must be added the
interest which will increase the total
amount lost by the State Of South
Carolina and to be recovered on the
bonds, %, 902
It's alleged that the fraudulent en-
tries were made in this wise: A party
having bonds might prefer stocks In
exchange. The papers would be pre-.
sented and the transfer made. Then
instead of cancelling the bond the
clerk In charge, apparently, would
take out one Of the bonds when there
would be a large package and at 81 me
H7aVe lent date would put 1t on the
u LrheJ as II it were a negotiable in.
sJrument instead of q bond whose val
idity had been wiped out by the ex.
change. The bonds of the State are
payable to bearer, just as a bank note
or other currency, and the stocks are
payable to order only.
The interest on the bonds Is the
same as the interest on the stocks,
bat the coupons on the bonds may be
presented by any one whereas the in
terest on the stocks Is sent In checks
to parties in whose name the stocks
are made out unless the State treas
urer has been notified Of the transfer
of the stocks. For that reason many
people prefer stocks to bonds and there
are issued sometimes as many as L.
$50 stock certificates in year.
HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE.
To show how easily this kind Of
transaction might have been made
without discovery except by accident,
there are on the books of the State
treasurer bonds of this issue alone
valued at 90, ,374, 900 and stocks valued
at 81 226, 900. Since the date Of the
issue of these bonds there have been
issued 4,044 bonds Of the denomina.
tion of 81 900 and 2,134 bonds of the
denomination of $500. Many of these
bonds have been exchanged for stocks
and therefore it will be apparent that
fraudulent transactions might have
occurred as the employees Of the treas
urer's Office are considered above sus-
plcion and the bonds are not counted.
1t Is said that when q package OF
bonds would be returned in exchange
for stocks it would be very easy to can.
col nine of the bonds and substitute
for the tenth cancelled bond which
had been taken up several years be-
fore. The legislative Investigating
committee would count merely the
bonds as units without inspecting
them, and II the number corresponded
with the number reported exchanged
for sticks within the year, there would
be no suspicion of the fact that one
Of the bonds exchanged, for instance
in 1895, had been substituted for 8
bond exchanged 10 1900 and that the
latter had been taken from the pack
age and had been sold. The State
would therefore be paying interest or
the bond which should have been can
celled as we'll as upon the stock certi
6cate which had been Issued in plact
of the bond.
AS Mr.. z 'mmerman was charged
with the custody of the bonds, as h'
the exchanged bonds cancelled" ant
was the one responsible for markini
as the entries on the books were IL
his handwriting it is easy to connec
him with the fraudulent exchange
His many friends hope that there viii
be some way In which the matter Cal
be cleared up and Mr.. Zimmerman
prove that he was not guilty Of th'
serious offenses charged.
Mr.. Zimmerman surrendered OF
Wednesday and gave bond for seven
teen Thousand dollars for his appear
ance at court.
Killed Two.
/. John Price young drug clerk, ha'
battle with q band Of Italians al
Paw Paw Md, and Frank Ficco AM
g Dalessandro are dead, and Clemen