The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1910-07-28

the top OF the Gazette twice before I
comprehended 1t. Halsey had opened
the Chronicle and was staring at II
fxedly.
The Traders bank closes its
doors" was what l read, and then I
put down the paper and looked across
the table.
did you know of this?" asked
Halsey.
"l-expected it. But not so soon,"
he replied.
And you?" to Gertrude.
"Jack-told us-something." Ger
trude said family. "Oh, Halsey, what
can he do now?'
Jack" | said scornfully. Your
Jacks flight is Easy enough to explain
now. And you helped him, both Of
you, to get away. You get hat from
your mother; il isn't an lines trait.
Do you know that every dollar you
have, both of you, is in that bank?"
Gertrude tried to speak, but Halsey
stopped her.
That isn't all, Gertrude" he said
quietly Jack is-under arrest"
Under arrest" Gertrude screamed,
and tore the paper out of his hand.
She glanced at the heading, then she
crumpled the newspaper into a ball
and flung it to the floor. While Hal
sey, looking stricken and white, was
trying to smooth it out and read 1t,
Gertrude had dropped her head on the
table and was sobbing stormily.
| have the clipping somewhere. but
just 10Y I a remember only the es-
s%entials.
On the afternoon before, Monday.
while the Traders bank was IL the
rush of closing hour, between two and
three, Mr.. Jacob Trautman, president
of the Pearl Brewing Company, came
into the bank to lift q loan. AS Sc
curity for the loan he had deposited
some 900 International Steamship
Company SIS, in total value $500, 900.
Mr.. Trautman went to the loan clerk,
and, after certain formalities had been
gone through, the loan clerk went TO
the vault. Mr.. Trautman. who was
a large and genial German, waited for
a time, whistling under his breath.
The loan clerk did not come back.
After ar interval, Mr.. Trautman saw
the loan clerk emerge from the vault
and go to the assistant cashier; the
two went hurriedly to the vault. A
lapse of another ten minutes, and the
assistant cashier came out and ap-
preached Mr.. Trautman. He was no
ticeably white and trembling. Mr..
Trautman was told that through an
oversight the bonds had been mis-.
placed. and was asked to return the
following morning, when everything
would be made all right.
Mr.. Trautman, however. was a
shrewd business man, and he did not
like the appearance Of things He
left the bank apparently satisfied. end
within 80 minutes he had called up
three different members of the Trad
eTs' board of directors. At $3.50 there
was a hastily convened board meeting,
with some stormy scenes, and late in
AAC lNN hoOh u oohh 80
iner was in possession of the books.
The bank had not opened for business
Tuesday.
At 1890 o'clock the Saturday be-
fore, as soon as the business Of the
day was closed, Mr.. John Bailey, the
his hat and departed. During The aft
ernoon he had called up Mr.. Aronson,
a member of the board, and said he
was i'll, and might not be at the bank
for a day or two. AS Bailey was high
ly thought of, Mr.. Aronson merely ex-
pressed a regret. From that time I'M
til Monday night, when Mr.. Bailey
had surrendered 10 the police, little
was known of his movements. Some
time after one on Saturday he had en-
tered the Western Union office at
Cherry and White streets and had sent
two kilograms. He vas at the Green
wood Country club on Saturday night,
and appeared unlike himself. 1t was
reported that he would be released
under enormous bond some time that
day, Tuesday.
The article closed by saying that
while the officers of the bank refused
to talk until the examiner had finished
his work, it was known that securities
a%ggregating a million and a quarter
were missing. Then there was a dia-
tribe on the possibility of such an
occurrence; on the folly of a one-man
bank, and of a board of directors that
met only to lunch together and to
listen to a brief report from the cash
Ter, and on the poor policy of a gov
eminent that arranges a three or four
day examination twice a year. The
mystery, it insinuated, bad not been
cleared by the arrest of the cashier.
Before now minor officials had been
used to cloak the misdeeds Of men
higher up. Inseparable as the words
Speculation" and "peculation" have
grown to be, John Bailey was not
known to be in the stock market. His
only words, after his surrender, had
been: Send for Mr.. Armstrong at
once" The telegraph message which