The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-06
William NJ. singerIy, Newspaper Pub
 IlaheF

William NJ. sfngerIy, Newspaper Pulp fisher.
 William M. Singerly, proprietor of
 The Philadelphia Record. President of the Chestnut Street National Bank and the Chestnut Street Trust Company. died | under circumstances which pointed un- 1 mistakably to a death selt inflicted, | Cyanide. of potassium is believed to have been the agent. but so far as the | records of the Coroner's office go. that cause Is not ascribed. Notwithstanding this official yelling no one in Phla- delphla familiar with the wild and reckless speculation in which Singerly
 was involved, and which resulted In the | failure Of the banks in which he was | interested, believes that he died nat
 ural death.
 singeriy was responsible for the im- 1 poverishment of former Governor Rob ert E. Pattison. twice elected on the Democratic ticket in a State overwhelm- inglv Republican. Pattison died prac- tically penniless few years age, run 9al1r notes he had given the reputed mii : lionaire publisher and who was unable
 to meet them at maturity.
 He was born in Philadelphia in 1852, His father was the pioneer in street car transportation and made a fortune.
 In his young manh09d S,9"in WIllcam sor cony,v. M iality, which resulted in his income heinz cut off. and he was put to work Is a ear conductor at a small t. saiarNt This enforced employment oroueht about A reformation after he had passed his thirty-ffth year. He then displayed qualities of shrewd business sense which is was not believed he possessed
 without any previous knowledge or
 newspaper-making he succeeded m sei,a1, snlnT Ing control of a small newspaper caii.u '. Tba Public Record. He changed us makeup and it's general method Q, treatment of the topics of the oay' anu astonished the town by reducing the price to one cent As pioneer III
 nennv Journalism in the United states his success was instant. The prosper ity of the paper was so great that the nroprietor built his own pulp mill at
 Elkton, Md. He devised numerous
 schemes to popniarize his publication.
 chief of which was the selling Of coal
 at retail at carload prices, with margin
 sufficient only to pay for the handling
 Then he built hundreds of small houses
 which he rented at enough to pay
 small interest on his investment. From
 this he branched out into other lines
 as A speculation. He built theatre,
 which he leased to George Brotherton
 a reformed gambler. He became Dem
 ocratic candidate for Governor and made a canvass of the State in special train. He had then gone into the
 hTGe0lnk one Futurlty victory to his credit-the capture of $1O0,0oo in stake and bets by Morrello in the season of 1892
 Spreading out still further, Singerly went into banking and organized two institutions. Reckless loans drove him to the wall. and in 1897 both banks failed.
 suddenly in his home. The story was given out that heart disease had car ried him off, aggravated by his gnan- cial troubles. After his death the com Tnunity was startled to learn that he was in debt to the defunct Chestnut street Bank to the extent of $SOO,O0O, which he had borrowed on collateral security of s75,0O0.
 .Eoseuh G. Ditman, Banker, Drowned.
 Joseph G. Dltman. President of tho Quaker City National Bank disap- peared myster1ously and for two days if was believed he had been robbed and murdered. After a drive through Fair mont Park his empty carriage and the horse were round. Search for the banker continued for a month. Detec- tives went to all parts of the United States and large rewards were offered. Forty days after his disappearance the decomposed body of the banker was found oating in the Schuylkill River
 Ditman was brought up in the paper manufacturing business. and abandoned 1t to go into banking. He discounted paper for his old-time associates on the fiimsiest sort Of collateral He sunk thousands of dollars in silver mine in South Carolina. He went into the printing business to recoup his losses and lost more, and in less than two years, through his wildcat specu- lation and lack of care, he was strip ped of every dollar he possessed. His mind became affected and the suicide theory was generally accepted. not witnscanding the judgment of the cor