Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-07-06
LOYAL WIDOW FIGHTS
FOR HUSBANDS HONOR;
HAS BANKER ARRESTED
H o n e y brook Woman
Charges Cashier With
Libel for Writing Check
She Says Accused Former
Employe of Embezzle-
ment.

bV u oIuU Correspondent
COATESVIBLB, Pa, July "a grave
at Brandywlne Manor, near Honeybrook,
Pa, contains the body OF man whose
wife is waging a fight TO protect his name
from dlshonor.
All Honeybrook is talking about It,
| as are the farmers OF all that fertile
valley lying between the Welsh Noun
talns and the Barren Hills IN Chester
! County. At the postoffice the citizens
| gather to talk about It and one man
stops another along the mapled main
| street to argue the issue. What they
| ask, is written on the 500 check that
| p G. Hartman, cashier of the First
! National Bank of Honeybrook, mailed to
Mrs Catherine Whitman, Of Church,
/ town? And what has become Of the
money that has leaked from the old
greensboro bank across tho street from
the hostelry where MAD Anthony"
! Wayne once lodged2
The first question probably will be
answered Thursday at Lancaster when
hearing will be held in the criminal
libel proceedings which Mrs. George Lin
coin Ramsey. OF Honeybrook, widow of
the late assistant cashier of the bank, is
pressing against Hartman. The second
question may never be answered. One
phase of It was threshed out In Phila-
delpha last December, when the United
States District Court acquitted Ramsey
OF charge Of embezzlement. Vindlcated
in the eyes Of his friends he returned
TO his native town. his health impaired,
and, after lingering illness. died of n
broken heart, his friends assert.
WIDOW ACCUSES HARTMAN.
Mrs. Ramsey charges that Hartman,
IN settling one OF the claims against tho
bank arising from the alleged embezzle-
- aNNaH lNn=
dead husband by writing on the check
words to the effect that It was In pay
ment for money embezZled by Ramsey
The check was mailed to Mrs. Whitman,
at Churchtown, who. instead of deposit
ing It in Honey Brook. gave It to VIII
liam McCaa to deposit in the Blue Ball
National Bank Word of the inscription |
on the check reached the Widows friends
and n warrant was obtained for Hart |
mans arrest Friday. He was held In
$500 bail by Justice OF tho Peace Reese |
II. White
'T am not worrying" said Hartman.
'T wouldn't be so foolish as to write n |
libel on the check" Further than that |
officials of the bank will not divulge the |
exact wording of the check, which is now |
deposited in a vault in the bank,
my husband WAS not only prosecuted, |
but prosecuted" said Mrs. Ramsey "and |
as he is not able to speak for himself |
l Will lclenu MIN as long uS can
The controversy. which has divided the
500 inhabitants OF the prosperous little
town, had Its origin in 1912. when n
"shake-up' occurred in the personnel
of the banks officials. Younger blood
was injected through the election Of John
S. Gaut as president to succeed the late
John A. Lennon. who died this spring,
and whose father, the late Samuel Lem
mon, was president and one of the found
ers nearly 90 years ago. Hartman was
elected to succeed Cashier Finger, who
resigned on account Of I'll health after
service of many years, The Board Of Di-
,rectors, majority of which brought
about change consisted of Gault, p
G. Buchanan, vice president; Amos
Hartaler, L. II. Whitaker. William Horst,
Elmer Dunwoody, Jonathan Millard, Sam
uel Slichter and Nathan Rambo.
RAMSEY IN BANK % YEARS
Friction resulted between Hartman and
Ramsey. who had been an employe of
the bank for % years and whose friends
maintained he should have succeeded
Finger. 1t resulted in tho dismissal of
Ramsey and an investigation by bank ex-
aminers Of the shortage which had pre-
vailed through a series of years-an
amount never made public, but variousy
estimated at between $4,000 and $4,000
Ramsey, long a trustee Of the Presby-
terian Church. treasurer of tho Sunday
school and secretary of the school board
was indicted The trial, before Judge
Dickinson, in Philadelphia December o.
was attended by St least 30 prominent
citizens az witnesses. Much
of the evidence was .rown out of court
and Ramsey returned, not in triumph.
but a sick man. He was taken to the
University Hospital. underwent an opera
ton and went home to die April 29 He
was 81 years old.
The old wounds, which time promised
10 heal, were reopened through the check
episode The bank with its capital stock
Of 100000 and surplus of s7l.OCO, is behind
Its cashier, and Mrs Ramsey has her