The Detroit times., 1914-03-14
GIRL CLERKS OF
HENRY SIECEL
IN DIRE STRAITS
New York Failure Harder Blow
to Poor Than Collapse Of Car
negie Trust Company
EVEN SICK BENEFIT
FUND SWALLOWED UP
One Young Woman Buried in
Peters Field, Another in
Charity Hospital as Result

NEW YORK. March 1i.--When the
doors of the Fourteenth-st. store and
the Simpson Crawford Co. swung
open for the last time today, 1890
women. girls and men clerks, buy
ers and managers, went to their work
with the realization that tonight hun.
dreds or them must step upon the
street practically penniless and with.
out any immediate prospect of EN-.
ployment.
Tie tragedy OF the failure Of the
ventures OF Henry Siegel and Frank
e. Vogel. the collapse of the great
stores and the wrecking Of the priv
ate bank, which carried away the saw
ings Of hundreds of employees. stood
out In bold relief today.
As District Attorney Whitman and
his assistants delyed in records and
accounts Of the Siegel enterprises.
declaring countless indictments might
be returned against the two men al.
ready charged with grand larceny and
accepting deposits In q defunct bank.
charitable authorities were brought
face to face with the problem of what
was to become OF the unfortunate EN-.
ployes caught In the crash.
THE failure of the Siegel enter.
prises has hit the working people OF
New York as hard as any failure in
the city's history" said whitman to.
day. There seems to be evidence
that Siegel is culpable. The district
attorneys once will accept no com.
promise. Henry Siegel must pay"
1t was declared today that at least
$50 employees Of the Siegel> stores lost
their savings through thes failure of
the private bank. IL Is not believed
depositors in the bank will receive
more than ten cents on the dollar.
The IS and Sc a week clerks who
will step out tonight jobless and with
little hope of cary Unemployment
have not only lost their savings, but
the money taken from their salary
which went into q sick benefit fund.
Twonty and 80 cents deductions were
made from the scant wages of these
clerks. The sick fund was loaned
to the Siegel bank. Now II IL gone.
Whitman declared that in this fund
being swallowed up In "the hole
which depositors thought was a
bank" the poor workers OF the city
mad been hit harder through the
Siegel failure than in the collapse OF
the Carnegie Trust Co."
II was this beneficiary fund about
which the majority OF the six-dollars.
aSweek sales girls and male clerks
with families to support felt most
concern. An instance OF what the
deductions meant to the small nay
employees, was recounted by one wo-
man clerk today.
Zone Of the girl clerks. who had
been with Simpson, Crawford & Co.
for years. and who was supporting an
invalid sister. died after a short III.
ness few days after the firm went
into bankruptcy.
with everything running right.
said the informant. thin girls sister
should have received 800 from the
beneficiary fund. She got nothing.
The dead girl lies in the Potter's field
and her sister 70 In charity hosp!-
tai"
Still another instance was related
|of one OF the wagon drivers who
broke his leg week ago. The driver
according to the story vouched for by
two employees, went to charity ward
lat Bellevue hospital. He had abso
lrtely nothing to pay for medical at.
tention.
While many Of the 1900 girls and
men who will 90 out when the stores
close tonight, have secured positions
elsewhere. the majority have nothing
to fall back on. Those who have been
fortunate enough to get other EN-.
ployment are the older ones who can
command better salaries than the
average.
Those who so far have been unable
to get other positions are about soc
IS. IS and $7-a-week sales girls, many
LOT whom have been living In cheap
boarding and rooming houses.
Meetings Of depositors I'm the de-
funct bank were held last night and
today, and II was reported that five
persons who lost their money In the
crash had gone insane.
Frank f. Champion. confidential
man for siegel and vogel. is said to
have promised to turn states evidence
and aid Whitman In obtaining addi.
tional indictments. Champion had
charge Of the private bank run In
connection with the Fourteenth.st
store, and is said to have knowledge
Of the diverting Of money to various
Siegel enterprises without proper 50.
curitv or accounting