Show BIGELOW OVERRATED 6 ABILITY i did not mean to be dishonest but ought ha was great tj financier Milwaukee 1 may S The first authentic statement an fn regard to the cause of the downfall of frank G the defaulting bank president was made today by an intimate friend of tho former banker in brief friend attributes the disaster to over his business ability the banker did not posses bigelow his friend states denies emphatically that he lost the money in wheat dealfi if you were to ask him how the money was spent he be unable to tell you said mr friend his affairs are in a remarkable tan gle to my mind there Is no reason to believe that the defalcation dato back more than comparatively a few ears As to hla alleged defalcation from other banks it a bankers business to see that it Is secured looking at it from a purely standpoint it is impossible to steal from a bank if the business of the bank ie safeguarded for instance one company in st louis loaned mr bigelow bigelow gave as security the first national bank worth much more there is no reason to suppose that ne meant to defraud the st louis institution there was nothing about him to indicate that he did he paid the interest regularly and as a matter of tact did not intend to be dishonest he thought that he was a financier ho kept no books and for adds and ends of all sorts he had his mind only as their repositories depositories deposit ories I 1 am sure I 1 dont know whether it indicates mental weakness on hia part I 1 can but repeat he supposed he was a greater business man that he was just when mr bigelow be ganto take the banks funds Is a matter I 1 am unable to determine from anything he says when an examination of tho bank was made last january nothing was disclosed for all I 1 know it did not begin until after that time there was an absolute lack of system about anything he did so far as his own affairs were concerned |