The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-03-08
nOIS u. Of ?.
OF S19O,OOO
Walter UngeI Wanted For Theft
From Dental Institute.
KNOWN As BOY PLUNGER
Took $4,000 in Cash and Fled Wher
Inquiry Began-Lost Securities ir
Speculation.


| Philadelphia, March S.-Securities
worth at least $19O,OOO, belonging tC
The Thomas w. Evans Central lnsti
J tutr and Museum, have disappeared
j from the Institutes safe deposit box
| in the Girard National Bank, and Wal
! ter A. Unger. assistant treasurer ol
the institute, has beer missing week
Detectives are seeking him. He was
| the heaviest speculator at the Phila
delphia branch of the bankrupt Arok
! erHge firm of +. ID. Dier & Co. and
was cleaned out" three weeks before
! that firm failed His rash deals in
J more than thirty stocks. presumably
with securities embeZZled from the in.
stitute funds as collateral, won fol
hiI the title of the boy plunger."
Gnger is believed TO have fled from
tie United States. The detectives be
lieve he may have sailed for South
America, but they say they have no di.
ret clues and it is possible that he
may turn up in Europe OF Canada.
lie Evans Institute is conducted as
part OF the dental department of the
University Of Pennsylvania, but the
funds of the two institutions are kepI
entirely separate, and the University'>
resources are not affected by this eln
bt%Ilement.
+ nger, who was -. was assistant +
francis &. Reeves, for many years
treasurer Of the trustees of the ThOlH
a> W. Evans Museum and Institute 81
Getty He had been office boy to Nj
Reeves when the latter was president
q the Girard National, and owed his
Use and place of confidence entirely to
him
tnger. who never mad been bonded
drew 500 Il month salary as assist |
ant treasurer, and is reported to have
received an additional $3.50 in &1r. |
Reeves ottcl at the bank where he
had Il desk
The situation is complicated by the |
fact that Mr.. Reeves, who is Sc, is |
Frustrated in his home by reason of !
his collapse and his advanced age is (!
unable to give information about bis |
assistant, Of whose defalcation he has |
been informed. Mr.. Reeves is chair. |
man of the board of directors of ,she
G.rard National. Evan Randolph, |
vice president of the bank, said "Un- |
ger was private secretary 10 Mr.. !
Reeves, and the bank is in no way |
liable for the loss"
Uuger lived at yarmouth, near Gym |
Wyd, with his widowed mother, two |
sisters and a brother. He moved to
Il SiXteen-room gray stone and frame
house there year ago from small
house he reRted in Bala for three
years previously.
Back of the defalcation it is said |
lies Il remarkable story of how this
former messenger and errand boy, by |
dfnt Of his "Uriah Heep" ultra-cour
teSy and servility, insinuated himself
into the trust of one of the most not
ed tinanciers of the city, and gradually
worked himself to a position where he
had virtually absolute control of the
great funds of the institute and kept
IL board of trustees composed of the
leading business men of the city in en-
tire ignorance.
The institute had two strong boxes,
one containing $175,000 in miscellane !
OTIS stocks and bonds and $4,000 in
Liberty bonds, which was cleaned
out" entirely. The other, containing
$43O,OO0 in mortgages, mostly on prop
erty at Eighty-ninth street and Broad
way, New York, was untouched. The
were nOn-negotiable.
Former Mayor John Weaver is
chairman of the board of trustees, and
is in charge of the investigation. One
of the largest private detective agen
cie< in the country and firm of GER
tilted public accountants have been en-
ployed.
Unger disappeared last week and
wrote his mother Il letter in German
in which he referred to his losses OF
the firms securities through bucket.
shops and through DER Il Co.
Just before he disappeared, UngeI
drew S12 900 of the inStitute'St funG<
from the bank, alleging he wanted ii
for tie institute payroll. This. it is
believed, is probably about all he tooh
with him. as it is thought he lost the
securities i'll speculation.
THE first we knew of the atfair
vas when NJ. Wayne president Of tie
G.rlrd National, called me up and ask
cd ne if Unger had really been au
h.r'Zed to draw $4,000 for pay al |
lie Evans Museum" said Mr.. Weaver
'Nayne said he thought ii was fun