The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-12
W. ]. YANCEY POINTS OUT THE INJUSTICE Action of New Orleans Cot
 ton Exchange REVIEWS THE CASE Business of Firm With Which He Was Connected Was Absolutely
 in the Hands of
 Another
REVIEWS THE CASE

l W. J. Yancey, who arrived in Birming- i ham yesterday, issued a statement in | connection with the recent action taken against him by the New Orleans Cotton
 Exchange, in which he points out that a | great injustice has been done him. He says he cannot conceive how just and fair-minded business men could consent
 to inhict vicarous punishment on him for something about which he was en-
 trely ignorant. He writes: To the Editor of The Age-Herald. There appeared in the Associated Press reports from New Orleans under date of October D. 1911, a report of the action Of the New Orleans Cotton exchange In the matter of tbe charges against me, which are not true in fact, and which do me a great injustice.
 In the first place, the charges filed against me were not based upon any acts committed by me. It was alleged mere ly that I was a member of a firm, one of whose members who had entire charge of the business had been guilty of mis-
 conduct which wrecked the firm and
 swept away the accumulations of the innocent partners.
 The firm of Knight, Yancey x Co. was in entire charge of John w. Knight dur ing the whole period of it's existence. The other partners, W. D. Nesbitt and R. H. Nesbitt and myself, were non-residents, had every confidence in the integrity of entirely to him.
 On April 25, 1910, few days after the failure of the firm, Mir Knight, in an in- terview in the Birmingham Age-Herald,
 stated:
 Prior to the failure of Knight, Yancey
 & Co.,, my nonresident partners did not participate actively in the conduct of the firms affairs, and, so far as I know. had
 no knowledge of the condition of the busi-
 ness since the summer of 1906" It was not even charged that I had been personally guilty of any misconduct, but
 merely that I had been a member of a firm whose business had been disastrously
 managed by another.
 The president of the exchange. who appeared as prosecutor, in presenting his side to the committee, admitted freely that there was no personal dereliction on the part of myself
 The committee of the exchange, in it's report submitted to the board of direc- tors, says
 Upon the evidence submitted we are of the opinion that the said w. J. Yan- cey did not personally participate in the fraudulent conduct of his said partner;
 that he did not personally know of said fraudulent acts upon which the charge was based; and furthermore that he did have confidence in the said partner, John W. Knight. We are, therefore, of the opinion from the evidence, that the said
 w. J. Yancey did not in fact and per sonally commit any overt fraudulent act,
 but from the evidence we believe that the
 said w. J. Yancey, being full member of said firm should have known. In arriving at this conclusion we have not overlooked the sympathy which
 is the due of personally honest man
 who is the victim of misplaced confi- dence"
 It is unnecessary to state, after the above, that the action of the exchange in
 inflictng vicarious punishment upon a man they concede to be innocent, is the
 height of injustice.
 The further statement in these dis patches that several members of the firm
 are awaiting trial for violation of the pos
 tai laws is not only absolutely false, but
 without any foundation whatever. There is one member who was indicted some
 months ago, and this was published at the ohc m charge in this respect against any other
 member of the firm.
 I cannot conceive how a body sup posed to be composed of representative and intelligent business men could have brought themselves to this action, violat-
 ing as it does the 'just and equitable
 principles which form the basis of the
 charge-unless impelled thereto by the demand of those who have suffered losses and might now be appeased by some sac rifce even though such offering was of
 one not guilty of or even charged with the acts complained of
 w. J. YANCEY. pirv,ip rhon, Ocfobor II 1Q11