The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-01-16
BANK AT BROWNSVILLE
WAS LOOTED
Cashier o. w. Root Reported to
Have Con fessed FaIsifying
The Accounts

o. w. Root confessed that he Is SoU,-
600 short, but it is said the. shortage
may run to double this amount. Root
confessed that he made false entries
and forged signatures of well known
citizens
The disclosing of the condition of
the bank came through Graft for
$4,000 made by the Brownsdaie bank
upon the Austin National bank which
promptly refused it and it was re-
turned to the Chicago bank which
notified the Minnesota state banking
department and two bank examiners
were sent 10 Brownsville, arriving
there Monday.
The bank examiners arrived while
the bank directors were meeting and
entered upon their work Of exam;a.,-
! ton.
Was Going To Increase Salary.
| One Of the directors had just made
motion that the salary OF Cashier
| Root he raised from 800 a month 10
/ $125 when one of the examiners call
| ed the attention of the cashier to an
| item in one of his books which did
| not balance with another In carry
! ing the account he had dropped $1,000
in the amount.
When asked about it Root frankly
admitted that he had falsified the
| record. The examiner asked him if
(, he knows the penalty and he said he
| did. He then acknowledged that he
| was some eight or ten thousand short
and as the examiner discovered dis
[ crepancies he raised the amount of
| shortage To S300G0
| The directors were at once notified
and Root was called before them. The
notes were produced and the genuine
mess OF the signatures on several
were questioned and Root admitted
that he had forged them. Gust how
much these forgeries will amount to
! is problematical. 1t is said that Root
said he forged $4,000 worth of notes
| to cover the overdraft of patron OF
| the bank but this man said he had no
/ overdraft. Every person whose name
| is on a note will be asked to come to
the bank and identify his signature.
/ Find Another Shortage.
Another shortage that cannot be
estimated came about by another
imethod of false entries, used in de-
iposits. For instance if q man de-
posted $50 en- entry for that amount
was made on deposit slip for the
/ depositor but the entry in the deposit
book would show but S.. In order
to learn how much shortage there is
in the deposits it viii be necessary
for every deposition to bring his pass
book or deposit slips.
Another system of high finance
Ialleged against Root is that when a
Iperson whose credit vas absolutely
worthless, asked for a loan, say OF
$500 the note was made for the
Iamount OF $500, $500 was paid 10 the
man and the other $500 credited to
lRoCt.
An incident happened Tuesday
that for audacity exceeded anything
that ever came under the notice Of
the bank examiners While they were
working on the books bundle was
delivered at the bank window by the
express company One of the exam
iners asked Hill. the bookkeeper,
; what was 10 the package and he said
81 GOO in currency No more was
thought of the affair until closing
time when the examiner asked what
became of the currency. A thorough
, examination of the bank was made
and no one had seen it since the
morning. Root was given close
examination and finally confessed
that he had slipped the $1,000 into his
oyercoat pocket and taken it home
He then got the money and turned ii
over to the authorities.
, The story goes that Root took the
, Liberty bonds from the safety deposit
boxes of the banks patrons to cover
q shortage in the banks reserve fund
Looking Fer ConkIin.
The directors of the bank are look
!, ing for +. NJ. Conklin who is stock
holder of the banl: and former
cashier. Conklin left Brownsville
with his wife and child a short time
ago. When asked where he was go
ing he said he would write and lei
them know. He gave the impression
he was going to California. This i'm
preston came from conversation he
. had on the train from this city t.
brownsville. He stated he had tried
t tfCr weeks 20 get a ticket to Caiiforni:
but on account OF the heavy travel hi
had been unable to do so. A cattle
man, who knows him, said: 81 can ge
I tyou ticket within three days ant
Conhlin told hin, to do so and thu
ticket was bought. No enc in Browns
dale. however, knows where it wa
e to- He is needed to explain certai,
Things. He still holds his interest j,
c The bank although he isnot an officer
: The Brownsville bank first starte,
d business in 1904 but changed hands
$ lcouple of times before it was in
z corporated as state bank Februry
0 1908. It is capitalized at $4,000 an
has deposits to the amount of $1S1,
: 600 The stockholders are Il. f. Ger
), big, A. S. Robson, Geo. Shortt, w. "
u Lawrence, Dan Root who is father G
= the cashier, and f. M. Conklin. TIL
q Iofficer5 are " f., Gerbig, president
: A. s. Robson, vice president; O. "
= Root, cashier.
e Root is a young fellow twenty-si
lyears of age with wife and two chill
dren. What he did with the none
lis unknown and he has SO far refuse
4 to tell He answers ether question
on being pumped. lie received