A.W. George, Cashier of Farmers and Merchants Bank of Elkin, Gets 7-Year Sentence for False Entry, April 26, 1924

Elkin Bank Cashier Gets Seven Year Sentence for False Entry

Winston-Salem, N.C., April 26—Found guilty in superior court of Surry county to charges of violating the state banking laws A.W. George, who was cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Elkin, before the audit of the bank’s books on May 26, 1921, was sentenced at Dobson Friday to serve not more than seven years and not less than five years in state prison. Notice of appeal was given.

The case was begun Wednesday and consumed about three days in trial, the sentence being pronounced Friday afternoon. The specific charge against the cashier was that he was guilty of making or causing to have been made certain false entries in the books in the time certificate department of the bank. The item which was introduced by the state was on stub No. 1781, which showed in the stub a $20 transaction, whereas the certificate proved to be drawn in a figure of $2,060, according to state evidence.

Another item was introduced in the form of a stub which was marked void, but which proved to have been carried through the channels of the bank and paid in the sum of $500.

The specific items were utilized to make a case against the accused for the shortage of approximately $58,000, charging irregularities with regard to the revised state banking law, section 83.

The accused, through counsel, claimed that the audit had failed to credit a loan of $42,000, secured by a deed of trust, which was made to a farm loan company operating in eastern North Carolina.

The auditor testified that the books had not carried any entries of such loan, testifying further that mention had been made of the loan after the audit was nearly complete.

The audit, which was made by W.F. Courtney, revealed the existence of $95,000 in time certificates in the bank and for which there had been no record. The defense offered by way of explanation of this point that the bank had been trying to tide itself over a difficulty in raising money on these unrecorded transactions.

From the front page of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, April 27, 1924