New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-03-14
WILL TELL METHOD
OF FINANCIERING
Whitman Hopes to Prove
by Him Deposits Were
Accepted Illegally.
NEW OFFER REPORTED
DepOsitors Told That Louis 5.
Levy Would Pay 40 Per Cent
and Give Security for Rest.

! Levy WOulO ray ~ PeT NcHt
and Give Security for Rest.
for Henry Siegel and Frank Il. vosel
and the active head Of the defunct bank
Of Henry Siegcl & Co, has promised to
turn states evidence and aid the Dis
trict Attorneys Office in prosecuting
his former employers He is the man
! who more than any other person knows
how the bank was managed and where
its money went.
Siegel and Nogel went TO Champion
/ when they wanted money from the
! bank for any purpose, and il vas 10
! him that orders were given as 10 how
such money should be charged. Cham
pion's control was so complete, Siegel
testified before United States Commits
soner Alexander Gilchrist last Wcdncs-
! day, that if he wished funds he would
/ have TO go to Champion for them.
Champion is also the one man with
whom the depositors dealt. As tho
/ man in front" he received their de-
posits and. according TO the stories that
some of them have told the District
Attorney. he never lacked faith in the
soundness of the institution. Accord
ing TO these stories, he did not hesitate
| TO describe the bank of Henry Siegcl
Co as sound-i: not sounder-than the
Bank OF England.
Bio Help to Prosecutor.
Champion has given Mr.. Train much
evidence OF value, and as further oy-
dcnce of good faith is deyotlng his
time 10 aiding the accountants To
straightcn out the books of tho bank.
In return for this Inc viii receive i'm
munity from punishment for any Of
fence he may have committed in fol-
lowing orders OF Siegel and Nogel.
BY Champion, more than any one
else. Mr. Whtma.- expects 10 prove
that the bank accepted deposits after it
had become insolyent, that its actuai
condition was misreprescnted, that us
money was diverted TO enterprises IN
which Henry Siegel and Frank T..
Vocel were interested without being
properly accounted or secured IN any
way. that three quarters Of million
dollars in checks of the Fourteenth
Street store and other enterprises were
carried for months as cash by the banh
and then destroyed, and the way Tn"
depositors' money was procured 10 pay
unoarned dividends upon the preferred
stock of the Siegel Stores Corporation
Three former confidential employee
Of Siegei and Vogel now are on the
eide or Mr.. whitman, Robert NC
ueelkin. secretary Of the Siegel Stores
Cornoration and one Of SiegePs genera
handy men, q oscar A. Pran' VINO
served in a similar capacity having
preceded Champion in the rush 10 the
grand jury room.
siegel is said by the few who have
seen him to be much depressed By
what he terms the desertion his friends
now that he is in trouble. He IS SAID
70 be extremely nervous. He no longer
opens his personal mail because OF the
large number OF threatening letters
sent him, and rarely ventures out or his
apartments at the hotel or his office in
the Simpson Crawford Store.
.! never saw a man so badly broken
up.7 said one Of the lawyers in the case
Yesterday. "Onc half OF the time he
is in mortal fear that somebody VIII
shoot him; the other half that nobody
will end his career"
Siegel and Vogel abandoned yester-
day all hope Of avoiding being declared
bankrupt, and ii is expected that as
individuals and as Henry Sicgel g. CO,
bankers. They will be declared bank
rupts Monday in the United States
Court. Irving l.. Ernst, OF counsel for
some OF the depositors, VIII hle an
amended motion from which the whole
sale firm OF Henry Segel g. Co. is.
exempt. Why il is exempt is not clear.
unless it Is that Siegel still hopes 10
be able TO resume business and wishes
to retain the firm name. It's value 10
ANYBODY not in his confidence Is not
now clear.
With Siegel and Vogel admitting
bankruptcy, it now becomes certain
that there will be six such proceedings
in the courts at once. making the worst
tangle OF the kind that tho courts have
been called upon 10 handle since the
bankruptcy law went into effect. fifteen
years ago. The proceedings viii be
long drawn out. because OF the ncccs-
sity of each waiting upon the other and
the fact that in all twenty thousand
creditors will have 10 be consulted.
Each is entitled to a hearing. though
there is not a building IN the United
States that could accommodate them
should they decide 10 assert their
rights.
Mr. whitman yesterday heard from