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THE NEWS IN BRIEF. Bank Defalcations. Large Sums Involved in Different Cities--the Lax Methods in the St. Nicholas Bank of New York. S. H. Hart, who was president of the State bank of Buckley, Wash., is in custody at Baltimore, charged with embezzling $30,000 of the bank's funds. S. J. Walling, formerly cashier of the City national bank of Brownwood, Texas, has been indicted for the embezzlement of $90,000 of the funds of the bank. The Greensburg, Kan., bank has failed. Its assets are said to be $95,000, but only $11,000 is in cash, the remainder being in real estate and paper, out of which 50 cents on the dollar will not be realized. The liabilities are $68,000, of which $50,000 is due Kiowa county. Willard R. Holmes, president of the defunct Security savings bank of Kansas City, Mo., was arrested Saturday for receiving deposits, knowing that the bank was insolvent. He had overdrawn his accounts $22,000 when the bank failed. Seth L. Keeny, former president of the Commercial bank of Brooklyn, was arrested Friday on the charge of perjury, and having made a fraudulent return to the state bank examiner. He gave bail in the sum of $30,000. The cashier of the bank had previously been arrested and his bail placed at $40,000. Mr. Keeny is one of the wealthiest citizens of Brooklyn, and is a director in some of the largest corporations of the city, and a trustee of the East river bridge. He is one of the largest stockholders of the Brooklyn Eagle, and is a prominent member of the Methodist church. The St. Nicholas bank, in New York, suspended payment last week Monday, the state superintendent of banking assuming charge of the institution. The bank had a capital of $50,000, net surplus of $130,200, and on November 6 last its deposits amounted to $2,011,000. It is said that the surplus and from $180,000 to $200,000 of the capital is gone, but it is probable the depositors will be paid in full. Lewis A. Hill, the teller of the bank, was arrested the following day. It is alleged that Hill's accounts, so far as they have been examined, show a shortage of $42,000. Hill was released on $20,000 bail. Hill's methods were simple enough, but it is extraordinary that he should have carried on his operations for years without discovery. He simply took part of the cash which he received day by day and turned over the remainder to the paying teller as being the full amount which the books showed had been received. The paying teller never counted the cash from the receiving teller. If he had, or if the state bank examiner had counted the cash in any of his examinations, Hill's defalcations would long ago have been discovered. Such lax methods of doing business as this are inexcusable.
