Year: 1868

The Boston correspondent OF the Chicago


Tribune furnishes the following singular
statements in regard TO the robbery Of the


Hide and Leather Bank by the Cashier


''The Directors of the unfortunate Hide
and Leather Bank have been compelled
by the pressure exercised by the neWspa


pers TO put Iorlh statement Of the result
Of their investigation into the robberies Of
their Cashier This ia, more properly
speaking an apology for not making a
statement in detail, which il is thought
would aid the swindIer in making up de-
Tense for the trial, which is to come of in
a few months. The Directors reiterate
that the loss which the bank has sustained
is only five hundred and seventy-ive
thousand dollars,n and take some credit to
themselves for the fact that they have not
lost dollar by iniudicious loans, and that
all their dividends have been the result Of
actual earnings, and that they have not con-
tributed TO the panic which has assailed
the stock of the bank by selling one Of the
shares owned by themselves. 1t seems that
the deiaulting Cashier combined with a
siupendous talent for roguery, a still more
wonderful faculty for inspiring confidence
ln his own honesty. Ia all the invesliga-





the Directors and by United States officer
every few months, the Cashier was the
guide and interpreter, and his explanations
and schedules being accepted implicitly, IL
only required skillfnl book.keepers on
his part 10 conceal his enormous stealings.
OF course AZ the total amount grew larger
and larger, his fictitious figures became
more and more complicated, and it becomes
marvel indeed how one head could carry
the whole load of intricate deception. His
career was full Of narrow escapes. At one
time, it fs said, a deposition sent three
thousand dollars to the Hide and Leather
Bank, which his messenger, by mistake, |
carried to the Shoe and Leather. A few
days later, the depOsitor not finding the
amount placed to his credit at the former
institution, asked the Cashier in regard TO
il. Cashier, afraid to make any objection
which might involve an Investigation into
the books, he knew 10 be a mass Of lies,
acknowledged a mistake he had not made,
and placed the three thousand to the de-
positor's credit Depositor by and by
learned that the same amount, of which he
knew nothing, was standing in his name al
the other bank. Yet all this was straight I
ened out without bursting Martins bubble
of villainy. The Cashier used TO prevent
any disclosure Of his account cooking by
complaints coming in by mail, by going
himself TO the posto6ice, and abstracting
all letters which spoke of errors in his ac-
counts, rec,ifyiDg the matter by plundering
other accounts, and perhaps writing him
self in reply some explanation or apology.
Thus, an indignant customer would write
to the Vice President and manager Of the
bank, Mr.. March, a furious account of
abominable errors in his accounts, and,
calling a little later, would be received by
that gentleman, all unconscious of any
thing wrong, with a bland suaVity which /
he would attribute to a most wonderful i'm.
pudence. Once, it is said, the Cashier re-
Ceiyed a letter from the officer of a neigh |
boring bank, whose patience had been ex-
hausted by the frequency of what seemed
blunders at the Hide and Leather, and |
who wrote: Your account Of such and !
such date is received, and is incorrect, as
usual" The Cashier saw a chance for a |
compliment, elaborately erased two letters,
and passed in the letter to the directors as /
a testimony to the gratifying fact that his |
account was correct as usual" With that |
inexplicable insanity on one little point |
which characterizes all great criminals, he
preserved, with scrupulous care, all the in-
tercepted letters above mentioned, all the
checks which he had frsudulently paid for
his accomplice, FELTON,, and other clues by
which to unravel the protracted skein Of
his guilt


. Ii is remarked as somewhat significant
that the earliest and loudest newspaper
clamor for full and minute statement of
the discoveries Of the Directors, has been
originated and kept up by journal
OF which one Of the bondsmen Of Martin,
who will suffer by the defalcation il the
guilt can be legally brought home to the
late Cashier, is owner and manager.