Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-21
LIGHT ON SHADY BANKERS
The Man Who Presses the Button and
Exposes Big" Thieves.
WIZARD AMONG MIXED ACCOUNTS
work Of Edward +. Mickey, BOOkkeep-
ing Expert and star witness I'm
Government Cases--A Not
able record.

Among the many noted sleuths in the
service Of the United States, the one
above all others possessed of an un-
rivalled collection of distinguished scalps
is Edward p. Mickey, investigator of
crooked banks and star witness I'm the
prosecution of shady bankers.
Mr.. Moxey does not make a fraction of
the noise made by the lawyers in the
cases he investigates, but he is the main
stay of the government in securing con-
viction. He is a holy terror in chasing
shady transactions through bank books.
So thorough is his knowledge of book
keeping and so keen is scent that precious
few big crooks escape this wizard of high
finance. Some of his fine work in the
west was shown in the winding up of
the bogus home companies of Kansas
City, two years ago, and in the prosecu-
tion of Banker Walsh of Chicago last win
ter. Mr.. Moxey. was the chief witness
in the successful prosecution of Banker
Morse in New York, and is now I'M
t~angling the muddled accounts of Cop
per King Heinze, whose excursion into
Gotham's speculative banking circles
proved so disastrous.
Every case is handled according 10 its
nature" said Mr.. Moxey in an Interview
in the New York Evening Post. There
isn't any routine rule by which YOU can
say that you undertake the strengthening
of a banks books. When there is some
thing wrong, and 1 am called upon, l
simply get down to work on the books
and learn what's been happening. That's
all there Is to It,"
1t sounded simple enough. but the in
quirer didn't understand. And what he
finally did understand, after further ques-
tioning, was of the most general charac-
ter. 1t would tax another expert to
comprehend Mr.. Moxey's explanations in
detail, If he had the time and inclination
to give them. For the enlightenment of
his unskilled interviewer, however. this
was the way he summed up his work:
ION starting an investigation of a bank
wherein there has been criminal work,
l know that one of three things has hap
pened: The robbery has been done by
loans and discounts. in the name of the
principal or somebody else; or 1t has
been done by classifying figures in the
books, for example, the entering of false
Withdrawals on the depositOrs' accounts;
or 1t has been accomplished by the actual
taking of cash or securities. The third
state of affairs-the actual missing of
assets-is rare; for the cash and securi-
ties are counted regularly. and it is not
difficult to keep them counted up accu-
rately. so that a man attempting to take
them away runs a risk of immediate and
almost certain detection"
An examination of the books, he explain
ed, would show which method had been
adopted by the culprit. Thereafter 1t would
be a matter Of getting the evidence in
shape for presentation before a jury.
h Trouble in New York.
How can you wonder at bank defalca-
lions in this city of yours said the expert,
when you consider the life of the town.?
Look about you, and you will find an ex-
PLANTATION why men so wrong. Watch the
pace-the luxurious hotel life, the expensive
restaurants, the gambling houses, the pala-
tial apartments, the turning of night into
day.; In short, the whole chase after excite
ment. 1t is a life requiring a flood of
money. Only with vast Incomes can such
n life be lived.
New York is to blame. The lesser cities
take their cue from the biggest. Extrava-
giant living springs up elsewhere, in imita-
ton of the mode here. The young banker
In the small town. on a visit to New York,
discovers that he has not been playing the
lccse game of some of his fast living con-
temporaries here, and on his return home
he sees things in a different light. The
dream of sudden wealth, acquired in the
NNAOBblSt hldy bf HS unuOlIBs
Il say seriously that the attitude of trus-
teeship has suffered a shocking change in
recent years. Whatever the cause, there
are cycles of honesty and cycles of dis
honesty. The present is a cycle Of dis
honesty. with it's cause in modern stand
ards of enjoyable living
Mr.. Moxey has met criminals Of all sorts
and grades in his visits to national banks.
In recalling a number of officers who had
gone wrong" he mentioned a half dozen
who could lay their downfall to speculation
in stocks or cotton. He has had cases in
every section of the United States and his
ultimate judgment is that human nature is
not much different in one climate from
what it is In the others. Another conclu-
sion he has reached is that no bank presi-
dent or cashier can misuse the institutions
funds without one or more clerks being
aware Of the fact.
IF the clerks would do their full duty
he said. there would be fewer cases Of
defalcations. And let me tell you that
many a clerk, in taking his first wrong
step, has got the impetus from seeing the
lax methods of his superiors, watching the
loose way in which the bank has been
managed. The marvel Is that, under such
conditions, more subordinates do not sue
cumb to temptation
Mr.. Moxey, besides being a government
employee, is president Of the Edward p.
Moxey Audit company in Philadelphia. He
has a certificate as a certified public ac-
c~ountant in Pennsylvania, which is the
state where II is most difficult TO get such
a license. owing to the difficulty OF the
examinations. His son, also an expert, is
I'm charge OF the Philadelphia audit bust
ness while the father is doing the New
York work connected with the Morse and
Heinze cases.
Accounts He has U~ntangIed.
Before the panic of 1907 caused the origin
Of the recent New York entanglements Mr..
Moxey already had a reputation far and
wide among banking men. 1t would take
a big book TO tell the story of all the mys-
teries OF figures he has unraveled. The
bank robbers he has helped to punish have
had their day in every state from Maine
to California. Some OF them were little