Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-31


neering and forceful in the extreme.
at happened one day that holland needed
the services of a lawyer in some detail of
perfecting the title of property. Knowing
Simon as patron of the bank, he called upon
him. Simon arranged the matter in hand,
and refused any payment from the bank
clerk for the small service rendered.
@Some weeks later Simon met holland and
told him that he was putting through a real
estate deal in which he needed few hun
dred more than he had on deposit at the
bank. He said that he was giving check
for the amount, and asked holland to pro-
tect him on the books for few days until
he made good. holland protested; but the
force of the other man and the previous
favor finally persuaded him, and that night
he falsifed his accounts in such way as to
hide the overdraft.
"This placed him in the hands of Simon.
The lawyer made the overdraft good; but
he soon followed it with others which kept
on increasing until the discrepancy amounted
! to many thousands of dollars. holland went
to him and protested, begged, wept. The
lawyer told the bank clerk that there was no
occasion for worry. He urged that he knew
| the law and was not going to lay himself
liable, and that the clerk was safe as long as
the lawyer had a whole skin. In the mean
time he drew more heavily on the bank, and
the clerk did not dare refuse to hide the
facts.
"Noland and LaSalle stood side by side
| all this time, and nothing was ever learned
| to indicate that either knew aught of the
| illicit operations of the other. holland in his
confession maintained stanchly that there
was no collision between them. But falsi-
| flying the accounts required much extra
| work, and the officers of the bank observed
| that the two bOOkkeepers came early, worked
| late, and often curtailed their lunch hours.
| Finally a third bookkeeper was put on to
| relieve them, and to this man fell the &C
count of Simon. His overdrafts ceased from
| that time. holland had not offended for
many months before an examination showed
his shortage to be something near one hum
| dred and fifty thousand dollars through this
| one account.
when holland and Simon were brought
| to trial, the former made clean breast of
| the whole transaction. He convinced the
| jury, and in fact everybody connected with
| the case, that he was telling the whole truth.
He stated that he had never received
penny of the stolen money. His only re-
ward for the whole transaction had been the
present of business suit costing twelve dol
lars. He had.been looking in show window
one day when Simon had come along. He
had remarked upon certain suit in the
"AluO" dAu CApiCSSCu d uh1IlS lOI IL. OIuOu
had taken him into the store and bought the
suit for him, and he had weakly accepted.
3After hearing Noland's story the jury
was for turning him loose; but under the
law he was the principal in the crime, and
the lawyer was the accessory. If the princi-
pal were freed, the accessory must likewise
be turned loose. Indignation ran high
against the lawyer, and verdict of guilty
was brought in that he might be punished,
and mercy was recommended in the case of
the bookkeeper. holland got five years, and
Simon six.
@These bookkeepers are unimportant men
about the bank; but this case illustrates the
possibility of fraud on their part when work.
| ing through an accomplice on the outside.
This is of course when the system of the
bank is not what it ought to be and inspec-
ton of the books not sufficiently frequent
and thorough. Efficiency will block all such
possibilities, and the banks are moving all
the time toward this sort of protection.
There are, however, hundreds of banks in
| the country today that are open to just this
sort of looting, and footing is probably going
merrily on. Yet any bank that cares to
take the trouble may effectually protect it
self in this respect"