Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-09-25
LIKE SUSPECTED CRIMINALS
Pittsburg Bank Clerks Must Be Pho.
tographed and Measured.

CONSERVATION among the hundreds
Of bank clerks in Pittsburs has been
caused by the decree recently issued py
the presidents OF all banking ~institu.
tons that all Of their employees must
submit to the photographs and meas.
urements of the Bertillon system. This
radical move on the part of the bank.
crS is a sequel to the most amazing
series of balN lOOtings that mankind
has ever nown. Within the last three
years it is estimated that something
like $7,5OO,OOO has been stolen by dis.
honest bank employees in that city.
The banks have concluded that the
best course before them-while not
wishing to cast suspicion upon anyone
is to photograph every one of their
employees and take their measurements
by the Bertillon system, SO that, when
a neXt defalcatiOn may occur, the DO
lice authorities all over the world will
have the last cmbezZlcr marked down
as infinitely as though he were the
most elusive Max Shinburn who ever
! ulternuted between safe-cracking and
Jail service.
If thc"e was one bank officer who
would have surrendered his complete
control of millions rather than submit
to being "muggcd" by the police, t Was
William Montgomery, cashier of the
Allegheny National, under arrest in
connection with the disappearance of
$S39,UO Of deposits and the entire
$1OO,0OO worth OF capital stock. He
was the intimate friend and contidAnt
of Senator Quay. the man who placed
Ouay's bets during the Harrison CAM
paign, when Quay won S21o,oUo, aud
the trusted handler of the moneys IF
the political machine in that section
of the State.
When the Allegheny National went
dowR-or up--the State Was backing it
Wit. $4,000 Of deposits and the city
Of PittsDurg with $1,:,t2,oOO. Private
depositors were SO wary that they let
it have little. When the crash came,
after a series of speculations IN stocks,
the police reported the discovery of no
photograph of Montgomery, even dur
ing their Investigations Of the suddenly
acquired fortune Of a Pittsburg WidoN
whose wealth leAped in eight years
from $4,000 to S333,OoO, and of other
women in Pittsburg and n~cighboring
cities, whose real estate investments
had increased with remarkable facility.
While the fate of the Allegheny Ma
t%ional's money still hung in the bal
ance, pending the decision OF Mont
gomery's allies as to restitution of the
million that had gone, a man returned
to Pittsburg who for nearly three
years had left the police bitterly re-
gretful that the BertillOn system was
not compulsory there before the En-
terDrise National of Allegheny col
lapsed in October. 1905. He was Thorn
as W. Harvey, teller Of the Enterprise,
who, in the vain hope Of escaping the
penalty for his share in the crime, had
given up his identity and his home, to
wander amid agonies of dread until
his fearful spirit could no longer bear
the strain. He surrendered himself
to the Federal authorities, and on the
same day was sentenced to seven years
in the penitentiary-and that with no
more notoriety than if he were a purse
snatcher. Pittsburg was learning to
wash it's dirty linen with neatness, 81
lence and dispatch. Yet the Enterprise
entertainments were among the most
sensational ever known in the State of
Pennsylvania. The losses amounted to
$500, 900. 1t was a political" bank,
like the Allegheny National, and hun
dreds Of thousands of its deposits had
gone out to politicians on notes which,
unsecured at best, had disappeared
when the cashier, II. Lee Clark, both
poisoned and shot himself, to make sure
Of death.
Speculation, women and gambling
was the way the stolen millions went.
When the Union Trust Company OF
Pittsburg discovered its loss Of $685.
600 in 1906, almost on the anniversary
Of the Enterprise run, the thieves
proved to be a couple Of mild young
persons, Clinton 3. Wray, the teller.
and c.. S. Hixton, the Individual book
keeper. The gambling crooks took 1t
off these two marks in large chunks.
Both received ten years apiece whc'
their defalcations were discovered.
NIi!lc Tile SilllDlelS Nclc tIJoS lhS 'hN
Union Trust Company's cash, the
bucket shops were getting during the
year between March, 1907, and March
Of this year $4,000 taken from til"
Farmers Deposit National Bank by
Henry Reiber, the paying teller, and
John Young, the auditor. They proved
themselves fools as simple over wild
cat curb adventures as the boys of the
Union Trust did over crooked cards.
For ten years those two presumahly
experienced financiers had been stcAi.
ing 81. 1O5. 900 from the Farmers De.
post Bank, and no one.a among either of.
fcers or directors. had suspected them.
They, too, have been sentenced to ten
years each.
P~ittsburg's example has given tn"
State Of Pennsylvania a record that
puts the dashinG depredations Of bank
robbers in the Southwest. with their
masks and their revolvers, to the blush
Of poignant shame.
SHORT NEWS NOTES.
Fire in the lumber yards of the LAX