The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 6, 1916, Page 2

Y e <A e THE NONPARTISAN LEADER Bank Case Exposes Deals In “High” Finance From early in January, 1914, until some time in October the same year— Head of Wrecked Casselton Institution Found By Exam- over nine months—R. C. Kittel, now held for the grand jury on a charge of wrecking the First National bank of Casselton, was illegally in posses- sion of $10,000 of the bank’s funds, according to a report of the national g19000. He sent his note to the Fargo bank examiner at the time. bank for $12,000 for deposit and Directors of the bank knew of this credit to the Casselton bank. The at least a year ago, and knew the note was never accepted as a deposit bank examiners had reported Kittel of $12,000 by the Fargo bank and no made fictitious entries on the books credit of $12,000 was made in the which concealed the true condition. Fargo bank in favor of the Cassel- Yet Mr. Kittel was allgged to re- ton pank. Mr. Kittel's note was main president of the b ntil No- promptly returned, to him. vember 29, 1915, nearly two years Ag the transaction now stood R. C. after the first fictitious entry re- gittel & Co. was credited in the Cas- ported was made in connection with .elton bank with $12,000, but there this transaction. was no real charge against the Fargo Gag Policy Observed. bank to balance it, although the entry A week after the directors removed of a fictitious charge against the Mr. Kittel as president of the insti- Fargo bank was allowed to remain tution the bank was closed, and the in the Casselton bank. Thus the comptroller of the currency. placed books remained until early in May, in charge, the discovery of new and 1914, R. C. Kittel remaining in pos- extensive irregularities by Mr. Kittel session of the $12,000 till then, and making this necessary, the directors the fictitious entry balancing the stated. transaction standing untouched after Details of Mr. Kittel's former ir- the return of the note which was regularities as given in the bank ex- supposed to be the basis for the aminer’s report are presented to the entry. public herewith for thefirst time. Now comes the second. series of No newspaper described them at the fictitious entries, which kept the time they were discovered; no news- Imoney he was not entitled to in Kit- paper has printed them since the tel’s hands for a few months longer. bank closed. So far a3 the news- Makes More Entries papers have let the public kpow, the Early in May Kittel wiprd out the Kittel who was indicted in May, fictitious charge of $12,000 against 191?, on four counts for irregularities {jo Fargo bank. He cancelled it dating back to January, 1914, has n0 ity $2,000 cash and another false connection with the Kittel now held entry of $10,000, this time made as to the grand jury for later irregu- ;5 charge of $10,000 in the Casselton larities that caused the bank to be hank against the National City bank closed on December 6, 1915. . of Chicago. The money which in Directors of the bank have let it january 1914, Kittel put in his be ‘understood that they first knew cphecking account without any secur- of Kittel’s irregularities a few days ity or proper charge balancing it before” the bank closed. The Leader .4 now charged again:t the Chicago has unearthed facis which indicate pany instead of the Fargo bank, al- it was known by the directors at {hoyugh the charge was purely ficti- least a year before the bank closed tigns hecause no credit to the Cas- that Mr. Kittel was illegally mampu- selton bank existed on the Chicago lating the bank’s. funds. bank’s books. “High”>Finance o~ This was the state of the books The details of Kittel’s maniuplar on” June 30, 1914. The comptroller tions of the bank’s fands in 19%4,:as of the ‘currency asked Mr. Kittel for found by-the examiner, form a chap- a statement of the condition of the ter in “high” finance in the north- Casselton bank as of that date. On west that is astounding, the more 50 July 7, 1914, Mr. Kittel reported to because Kittel admitted making the the compitroller of the currency in false entries which concealed for a response to that call, and he reported time the transactions, but made ex- the false charge against the Chicago cuses and explanatmns which seemed bank. This report made it appear to satisfy the directors and influenced that the National City bank of Chi- them to let him remain at the head cago owed the Casselton bank $13,- of the institution a year-longer, dur- 178.12, when as a matter of fact the ing which time he-.completed the Chicago bank owed the Casselton wrecking of the bank, according: to bank only $3,178.12, the extra $10,- the'new. charges now filed. The ex- 000 reported as owing the Casselton aminers reported; the following facts: bank being the fictitious entry made Early in"January, 1914, Kittel cred--in May above referred to. ited R. C. Kittel & Co: with $12,000 - Stood Nine Months on the bank’s_books.. R..C.-Kittel. & Mr. Kittel atlowed the books to re- Co. were one of the numerous com- p4in in the shar,e. reported to the ranies Mr. Kittel ran in addition to comptroller until some time in Oc- performing the duties of bank presi- tober, 1914. Thus he was in posses- dent. The $12,000 was. credited to sjon of the laige sum of mdney con- the checking account of this Kittel cerned in the fictitious entries for corporation. over nine months. In October, 1914, False Entries Stand cash was actually deposited in the To balance this credit to the Kittel Chicago bank to make a basis for checking account Mr. Kittel charged the fictitious entries which had ex- o6n the-bank’s books against the First isted since January, 1914. National bank of Fargo the sum of The deposit in the Chicago bank all pacifists as “slothful, soft and wicked.” General News: Berlin reports that Germany has ample food for a long war and at a price much below tkat of her ene- ; mies, Warden Thomas Mott Osborne of The alleged strained relations be- Sing Sing prison, New York, has tween the United States and Aus- been indicted by the Winchester tria over the sinking of the Ancona grand jury on charges of misman- have been relieved. agement, including immorality and Henry Ford, a wireless message purjury. from the liner- Bergensford says, will arrive in New York City Satur- day. He is reported to be well.: Latest reports have it that dne- third of the Ford peace party will desert the expedition. The rest will go to the Hague. The British cabinet is in a critical tion. Those members favoring con- A letter from Theodore Roosevelt, scription promize to excuse married read before the American Sociologi- men. It is claimed there are 650,000 cal Society at{ ‘Washington; denounces eligible single men subject to forced condition over the issue of conscrip-. iners To Have Manipulaied Funds as far Back as 19 (4; Allowed by Directors To Hold Job Till Transactions Dissipate People’s Savings. which finaily wiped out the fictitious entries was made by a firm of brok- ers there through which Kittel had disposed of an issue of bonds of an- cther ope of his companies, the Al- falfa Valley Land company. Bonds of this company of $100,000 par value were sold, for $90,000 and the money deposited in the Chicago bank. Land Company Appears The Alfalfa Valley Land company owns land in McHenry county, N. D., as, does the Northern Trading com- rany, still another Kittel corporation. It was the dealings of Kittel through the Casselton bank in paper of this last named company that finally cavsed, the bank to close, according to statements the directors have made. Two other Kittel firms or cor- porations have been mentioned in various connections since the -bank: closed. They -are the Casselton Realty company and R. C. Kittel & Bro., but R. C. Kittel & Co., the Alfalfa Valley Land company and the Nerthern Trading company are the only ones which have appeared, in conrection with any of the irregu- larities charged against JKittel. The story of Kittel's excuses and cxplanations of the false entries of 1914, which he admitted having made, and of his trial and acquittal by the ‘ury of criminal liability and-in- another inceresting chapter. “Explains” Entries Kittel’'s explanation was that i the first place the entry of the cred1 \ !’v‘ to R. C. Kittel & Co. and the charges* tried, likely at the January term of against the Fargo bank were made: in good faith, as he expected the note of $12,000 -sent to ‘the Fargo bank to be accepited and credited to the amount of $12,000 to the Cassel- ton bank. . After the. 'note was promptly returned, and &mes; ‘made at the Fargo bank Kfl:te L cuse for letting the entry of the false charge stand was that it was an oversight—that he had forgotten or unintentionally neglected to make the necessary new entries at the Cas- celton bank on the return of the un- accepted note. The explanation of the May trans- action, when the false charge was transferred from against the Fargo bank to against the Chicago bank, was that Kittel had instructed the brokerage firm in Chicago to. .make the $10,000 deposit in the Chicago bank and that he did not know the deposit had not been made. He tried to show his good faith and the ab- sence of any crookedness by the fact that the deppsit was actually made in October, nearly six months after. the entry had been made and over nine months. since -Kittel ‘started.to. get the use of the large sum; of money concerned. Indictments Returned.’ The Kittel indictment by the grand jury on these transactions of 1914 was on four counts—two for making the false entries on the bank’s books and service, if the rule is adopted Congressman Frank Buckhanan, former Congressman H. Robert Fow- ler, Henry B. Martin and Herman Schulteis, New York, have been in- dicted charged with violation of the anti-trust act by interfering with foreign trade in munitions of war. An exglosion wrecked four bulid- ings in Los Angeles during the New Year’s festivities. Jo'eph . Rossina and his.wife, residing in the rear of of one of the structures are missing. The cause of the explosion has not . been learned. A report of the Standard Oil com- pany shows that its -wealth has trebled ‘in value since the dlssolution of the combination by the federal "able ‘to “stand “it. two for repo{tmg the entries to the comptroller as_true and legitimate entries. The minimum penalty, if criminal intention was shown and proved to the jury, was five years. The jury either accepted Kittel's explanations as completely clearing up the matter, or, since nobody was injured ultimately by the tiransac- tions, it hesitated to give a verdict which would send Kittel to the peni- tentiary for five years. Both these explanations were made after the trial.. But the fact remains that the jury found him not guilty on the four counts, setting him free entire- ly, and he returned to his active duties as president of the bank. The acquittal was on July 2, 1915, and on December 6, 1915, a few days over five months later, the bank was closed, Kittel being arrested and charged with as dastardly a case of bank wrecking as has taken place in the northwest: in recent years. The bank suspension has hit to a greater extent than in most cases of the kind the small depositor, least Practically every loser is "a~farmer, a farm hand, a cchool . teacher or clerk with all his or her savings of a llfe time in the bank. Grand Jury GCalled A speci_zil federal grand jury has-. been called -to.meet in Fargo Janu- ary 11 and hear the charges against R. C. Kittel and his brothsr, W. F. | Kittel, the latter formerly cashier of the closed bank and charged jointly with R. C. Kittel with bank wreck- tent in connection with them makfi"‘mg through embezzlement and falsi- fying records. Both waived hearing .before the United States commission- er and their cases will go direct to . the grand jury. Following indictment % by the grand jury the Kittels will be court. Both men are out on bonds, that - of R. C. Kittel being $10,000 and: - that of his*brother.$5,000... . " Personnel of Jury- personnel of the pgra whieh will hear the case®is 1ows. Lewis Johnson, Barrie, R:chhma.- K. H. Kane, Mohall, Renville. C. A. Johnstone, Ashley, Melntosh:' ' F. H. Miller, Hurdsfield, Wells. Wflham Dunnell, Minto, Ward. ° P. J. Meyer, Bismarek, Burlelgh J. B. Reed, Minot, Ward. - Charles M. Page, Fargo, Cass. 7 Eugene Van Horn, Minnewaukan Benson.. . H. J. Fritz, Wilton, McLean. . David, Kirk, Niagara, Grand Forks. Henry Chalmers, Balbon, Steele. Charles Gad, Flaxton, Burke. George Hager, Minot, Ward. C. A. McKenney, Williston, Williams Lewis Allen, Jamestown, Stut mon. P. S. Chaffze, Exyan . B. Garvin, Grand ¥ Forks, H. L. Henke, Nande-, rien, Fred Hildreth, VWi tav. Vil Edward I_'mgto*a, Perbira, em- bina. 4 W. E. Stoddard, Mott, Hettinger. John Murphy, Page, Cass. Martin Jacobson, Mohall, Renville. Peter Berg, Englevale, Ransom. goverrment. Rockefeller’s share at the time of the dissolution was $167,- 192,000. It has increased $421,000,000. The proposed rate increase on grain and grain products from Indiana, Illi- nois and other middle western states, from certain points in Wisconsin, Towa, Missouri and Kentucky to At- latic ports for export were found not justified by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Judge ‘Henry Hudson ‘of the 24th jud/icial district, Pawhuska, Oklahoma, handed down a deci:ion last week, holding that all Osage Indians were full citizens of the United, States, and as such were. ent}tled to all the rlghts, pnvnleges ‘and: ‘There are 229 00 male Os es now to’ 1mrr.umtles e