The Fall Of The Plunger

THE FALL OF THE PLUNGER

Another Napoleon of finance has gone wrong and dragged one other man of heretofore unblemished character down to moral ruin, wrecked a great banking institution and in all probability financially ruined many who had entrusted their savings to the bank's management. Frank C. Andrews is the Napoleon. Henry R. Andrews his dupe. The City Savings bank of Detroit the ruined financial institution and many citizens of the metropolis, including many of the poor who had all their savings their, the sufferers. Frank C. Andrews, the man primarily responsible for the whole of the wreck and ruin, is a man whom Detroiters have been wont to point out with pride as a financial prodigy. His rise has indeed been meteoric and his fall equally so.

Some ten years ago he went to Detroit an inexperienced country boy, without means. During these years he wrote his name among the millionaires of the stat's metropolis. It was the very audacity of the man's transactions which enabled him to do this. And it was the same kind of transactions in an effort to recoup himself for losses which caused his downfall and the wrecking of the City Savings bank with the attendant misery and ruin of hundreds of depositors. It is said, of course, that the depositors will be paid and this may be true and it may not. But nothing is more certain than the fact that it was the same methods which boosted him u that finally threw him down. The tide of so-called "luck" simply turned against him and his necessities made him a criminal. But all the foundations for this were laid when he was piling up wealth. as long as he was gaining with each throw of the dice he was enabled to take care of all bills, but as soon as the "luck" changed he plunged into crime to continue his career. The latest stage of his career is but the natural sequence of the other. Of course, had he continued to win, he would have made good what was criminally obtained form the bank, but he failed and the bank is defunct. But he is no more of a criminal that he was before, morally at least. When he obtained money from the bank on certified checks without having any money on deposit, he committed a crime, as he did when he created an immense overdraft, by means of his control of the workings of the bank and his influence with the cashier without the matter going before the board of directors. Of course the cashier is his partner in crime, but Frank C. Andrews is primarily the responsible party.

When such a man as Frank C. Andrews is on his upward course, by means even then just such methods as finally caused his ruin, his career dazzles and turns the heads of thousands. A man with such audacity and daring wins by the very boldness of his schemes and he is aided and abetted where safer and better men are refused accommodations. He is looked upon as a genius and people are disposed to trust their money to his hands although they see no way whereby his daring schemes can be realized on, but they are willing to trust to his "luck." Such careers generally have their catastrophe but his in no way abates the confidence in such men while they last. But such men are always a dangerous element in any community and in any business. Their methods are unsafe and unsound, they are those of the gambler, if not those of the dishonest man and criminal. but they nevertheless turn the heads of thousands of good men and many times carry much better men away from safe business anchorage to their ruin.

The worst feature of such affairs always is that many wholly innocent persons are carried down in the wreck and ruin caused by such plungers. they have not joined in any of his chimerical and dangerous schemes, and yet they have to suffer for the wrong-dong of the Napoleon. For their sakes, if not for the good of the plunger, he should be severely dealt with. but too often the very magnitude of the crime continues to dazzle and the criminal goes unpunished. The very greatness of his offending makes him admired.