In the first six months they lost one hundred thousand dollars in cotton.  Then they played both sides of the market in stocks and got badly bitten as bears in the temporary bull market in the autumn of 1906, selling Union Pacific at 165, which afterward went to 190, Northern Pacific at 185, which went to 200, etc., etc.  Then they shifted their position, became bulls and went long of stock just at the beginning of the present slump.  They bought Reading at 118, American Smelters at 126, Pennsylvania at 130, Union at 145, and Northern Pacific at 180.  At one time John had five hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bonds out of the vaults.

The thing might have been going on still had it not been for the fact that the anticipated merger between John’s company and another was put through and a new vault in a new building prepared to receive the securities.  Of course, on such an occasion a complete examination would be made of all the securities and there would be practically no chance to deceive the accountants.  Moreover, a part of the securities had actually been moved when the worst slump came and they needed more.  It was obvious that the jig was up.  A few more days and John knew that the gyves would be upon his wrists.  Prescott and he took an account of the stock they had lost and went into committee on ways and means.  Neither had any desire to run away.  Wall Street was the breath of life to them.  Prescott said that the best thing to do was to take enough more to “stand off” the company.  He cited a case in Boston, where a clerk who was badly “in” was advised by his lawyer to take a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars more.  Then the lawyer dickered with the bank and brought it to terms.  The lawyer got twenty-five thousand dollars, the bank got the rest, and the thief was let go.  Prescott said they ought to get away with enough more to make the bank’s loss a million.  He thought that would make them see what was the wise thing to do.  Prescott also said he would try to get a lawyer who could bring some pressure to bear on the officials of the company.  It would be a rather unpleasant situation to have brought to the attention of the State Superintendent of Banking.  John agreed to get the additional securities and turn them over to Prescott.  Unfortunately, almost everything had by this time been moved into the new vault, and all John could get was a stock certificate for fifteen hundred railroad shares, standing in his own name, and seventy-five thousand dollars in notes.  These he gave to Prescott, thus increasing the amount stolen from the bank without discovery to between six and seven hundred thousand dollars.  This was on the day before the actuaries were to make their investigation.  Knowing that his arrest was now only a question of time, John, about eleven o’clock on the following morning, left the trust company for the last time.  He was in telephonic communication with Prescott, who, in turn, was in touch with their lawyer.  Unfortunately, the president of the company had gone out of town over Sunday, so that again their plans went awry.