The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-09
OVER $4,000
IS STOLEN
FROM BANK
Utah National Has Mysterious
Loss From Strong Box and
Thief Cannot Be Located.
EVERY DOLLAR RESTORED
BY THE DIRECTORS
BELIEF THAT THE ROBBERY &C.
CURED EARLY IN MONTH
OF JANUARY.


= Mr.. Mccormick said that the :.
= circumstances surrounding the :.
= disappearance of the money made -
= it impossible as well as unfair to :.
:: the bank employees to place sus- -
= piciOn on any one or two men. =
- The combination" said Mr. Nc :.
= COrnick, has been in the hands of -
= two men, A third man who was :.
:: given the figures during the alb =
- sence Of these men had them in a :.
= sealed envelope, but had occasion :.
- TO break the seal and open the :.
y chest during the summer. Then =
y he placed the unsealed envelope -
- in his own money chest TO which =
= others had access. Of course this =
:: was a mistake, and makes it pos =
= sible that some other employees of =
= the bank got to see the cOmbina- =
:: ton and used their knowledge =
= later to take the money. =
:: 1t is needless for me to say :.
e that the bank will not suffer from =
= the loss, as every dollar of the :.
- money has been replaced and the =
= bank is as strong as ever. We :.
:: hope to locate the responsibility :.
:: for the loss, but whether we do or =
= not it will not affect the bank in =
:. any way"
$3.50
Some time in January, probably be-
tween the Sd and 10th of the month.
from $4,000 to $4,000 in cash was TAX
en- from the reserve chest of the Utah
National bank under circumstances
which promise to make it one of the
most mysterious cases in bank annals.
Every dollar of the money has been
replaced, so the banks resources are
unimpaired and it is as strong as ever,
and the officials are working on the
case in the hope of clearing up the
mystery.
The reserve cash is kept in a strong
box inside the vault. Two men had
the combination regularly and, last
summer. when the cashier went out of
town he gave the figures to a third man
in a sealed envelope, the seal to be
broken and the combination used in
case it was necessary to get money out
of the chest. This third man had need
to open the strong box, and opened the
combination envelope. Then, instead
Of sealing il up again, he placed IL i'm
his own cash box, outside the vault,
and left the envelope unsealed. Other
employees had access to his cash box,
so that it was possible for somebody
besides the three regular custodians to
get the combination.
Money is Gone.
On Jan. 3, the cashier opened the
inner reserve chest to get cash and, I'm
his opinion, the reserve was intact at
that time; in any event, there was no
indication of a shortage. On Jan. 10
the strong box was opened again, and
it was found the cash had been dis
turbed A count showed that between
$40 900 and $50 900 had been taken. The
bank officials believe that most of the
sum removed was in gold, though there
is no absolute certainty about that
The only thing certain about the whole
affair is that the money has disap-
peared, and that it was probably taken
by some one who had secured the COM
bination to the inner vault. When IL
was taken is unknown, and the detec-
tives who have been working on the
problem say it is the most mysterious
case they have ever had to handle in
bank investigation. When the bank
officers tried to get into the inner re-
serve chest on Jan. 10, at the time the
theft was discovered, they were IN
able TO do so for a time, owing to the
fact that the combination had been
jammed. An experts services were re-
quired to work the lock.
Fear of Injustice.
In discussing the affair, Mr.. McCor-
nick, president of the bank, said he
was particularly anxious to avoid any
thing that might reflect on any of the
men who had access to the cash re-
serve, because of the injustice that
might be done to the innocent. Nat
urally, everyone concerned was anx-
iOus to see the matter cleared up, and
nothing has been said about the loss
until now, in the hope that the money
could be traced. So far, however, there
has been no light on the mystery, and
he thought best to make a statement
of the facts so the public would I'M
derstand that the banks strength was
unimpaired.
w. 2 Adams, who was vice presi-
dent and manager Of the bank, re-
signed some months ago to take effect
the first Of the year. Mr.. Adams re-
D,ai,,c on tho hoard of directors and