The Bozeman courier., 1927-01-14
PRISON END TO
AMAZING FRAUD
Seven Years Melted Out to
$2O,OOO,OOO Swindler of
Toronto Bankers.

counts Of forgery, Percy d. Ham, one |
Of the socially elect Of Toronto, was
sentenced to seven years in the peni-
tentiary. So closes one Of the most !
amazing frauds in the history Of !
finance in Canada.
Ham, a quiet. unassuring young gen.
tleman Of artistic tastes, was a junior !
clerk in a government office. With |
this modest background and with no
financial capital, he launched a scheme !
Of operations Of staggering proper
tions. In a period Of about two years
he negotiated sales and purchases Of
bonds amounting, according to the
court records, to more than $20,-
100000.
Ham, a quiet, unassuming young gen.
cut Of the maze Of purchases and
sales without a scent piece for him
self, although losses sustained by bro
kers and friends as far as they were
traced, amounted to $64S,OOO.
Ham had been a precOciOus child.
To satisfy an adventurous longing,
counsel said, the young clerk had
launched out In the hope Of demon
strating that he was not the insignif-
cant clerk he in reality was.
CreduIlty Of Victims Amazing.
The credulity with which his cam
paign was accepted by a hard-headed
financial world was one Of the most
amazing features Of the case. Bond
purchases, running as they did into
millions a month, must inevitably at
tract attention in a market as small
as this one. Instead Of being regard
ed with suspicion, Ham commanded
respect. POp-eyed ictions sprang up,
crediting him with being the agent Of
governments and Of financial syndi-
Gates planning far-reaching cOups.
Ham began his operations on a
small and evidently experimental ba-
sis. His first purchase was OF only
q few thousand dollars Of government
bonds-practically all his transactions
were in government bonds. His capi-
tai did not exceed a few thousand
cents, but he negotiated the purchase
this way: Ham said he was acting
for an Out-of-tOwn friend, and gave HIS
personal check. to be held by the bro
kers until the bonds were delivered to
his friend, who would Immediately ad-
vance payment. Though bonds are
sold leash on delivery" Hams pro-
pOsal' was accepted. The credit Of his
check for the few days requested was
accepted by brokers who knew him,
or his father, or his friends. Ham
covered the transaction within the
time specified by reselling the bonds
through another firm.
Financial Pyramid Erected.
The operation was repeated over
and over again on an ever-increasing
scale.
After each transaction Ham came to
be regarded as an even more desir-
able client. But there was never any
profit for Ham. Every transaction
showed a loss Of at least the two COM
missions for buying and selling. and
often a fractional loss in addition in
the market price, the weight Of the
offerings being sufficient to depress the
price on a narrow market.
There Is no evidence that Ham at
any time attempted to use his credit
VI IlC bCGuAlLACS WlllCu WCIG LCllDO-
Tarily in his possession for speculating
purposes. Playing the market for an
advance or a decline did not seem to
fall within his scheme of things
Neither is there any evidence that he
planned at any time to abscond, al.
though in the later phases Of his ad-
venture ne must have been in posses
sion at times Of enormous quantities
Of negotiable securities.
Difficulties developed for Ham as
his operations pyramided and the totaI
Of his losses mounted. The credit Of
his personal checks was no longer suf
hcient to finance his hare-braine6
strategy.
Resorts TO Forgery.
These difficulties he met by forgery
selecting two prominent citizens-ont
John Gleeson. an ottawa capitalist
and Rev. William Beattie, a LondOr
clergyman with wealthy relatives
and attaching their names to a series
Of notes. which he used as collateral
he stated that these gentlemen hat
selected him as their confidential
N6NAes DCoblACs MC nuAUs was unucl
special obligation to him for havin,
saved his young son from drowning
he insisted that the nature Of thei
plans was such that the men must re
main In the background and that the,
could not be communicated with di
reetly. In one case, under pressure
he produced a letter, with Gleeson'
name forged, to substantiate the note
Five notes, tOtaling $5OO,0O0, pun
porting to have been signed by Gles
son and Beattie, were produced an
used by Ham. These he used in tw
ways. he deposited them with bro
kers as collateral. But the crueles
feature Of his operations was whe
he used these notes to secure az
vances OF cash and securities frOI
private individuals. The individual
were friends Of his or Of his famil.