CANADIAN SENSATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19405, 13 August 1926, Page 16

CANADIAN SENSATION.

CAREER OF HIGH FINANCE, ALLEGED WHOLESALE FRAUD YOUNG- MAN SENT FOR TRIAL. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TORONTO,, July 2. Percy D. Ham, a prominent young resident of Toronto, has just been com rnitted for trial 011 twelve charges of forgery, false pretences and fraud. The pre».minary hearing partially raised the cutain on a series of financial transactions which'for weeks past have beer the sensation cf Eastern Canada ant which are without precedent in the annals of. Canadian justice. An adventure involving millions of money camo, to a sudden collapse in an asphyxiation ware! in the hospital and is now running it;, painful, sequel in the Courts. Ham, who was a clerk in a Government office drawing a smajl salary, lias always been known as a model young gentleman retiring in disposition and of exemplary habits.- He is a veteran of the great war His hobby was music and at a presentation of "The Messiah" last Easter he took tho role of Christ. His father if; Dr. Albert Ham, organist of St. James' Cathedral, one of the most distinguished musicians in Canada and a highly respected citizen. Two or three years ago this young Government clerk started 011 a career of high finance with first-class Government bondit as the basis. Regarding a great majority of his transactions no suspicion of illegal ity has been raised, though from' the beginning his mode of operation was so unusual as to create widespread amazement now that it is made public. Hi;; first transaction with one bond firm war. for £7OO worth of bonds. Within a yeahis dealings with this one firm, according to the testimony of one of its partners, "amounted to many millions." And hi i dealings were by no means confined to one firm. Nearly every firm of bond dealers in Toronto had some experience with him and he ran large accounts with some of the leading houses. Acting lor "Wealthy Clients." Though without personal resources, Ham was apparently able to secure from reputable firms blocks of negotiable securities, without payment of cash on delivery. How he was able to do this has not been altogether disclosed. No .doubt his social standing and reputation assisted. He represented. himself as acting fo: wealthy out of town clients who wished to remain in the background. There wa;s the prospect for the bond dealers of fairly generous .commissions, and, finally,' th« promise of a certified cheque in a few day;) as soon as the. bonds could be delivered to the "client" and a cheque received back from him by mail. Needless to say, all Canadian bond houses have now reverted to the sounder. practice of cash on delivery. It is alleged that in most cases thesis bonds, instead of being delivered to an out of town client, were immediately resold on the market through other fifmu of brokers. Such a scheme would pus Ham in temporary funds between, tho time he received cash for his sale and the time ha made payment for his purchase. But what use, if any, he made of these funds is a deep mystery. It is establishd, however, that his . 'transaction:! increased at a tremendous i'ate. And an they "pyramided" the cost of operation in the payment of commissions for buying and selling, to say nothing of fractional losses on the prices, "ran : into, substantial figures.-'' •■. ' ■ *" stir in the Stock Market. Such a stir did the transactions create in the bond market that various fumours gained credence among the hardest headed men of business. One report said that . the Government was attempting to buy up certain issues for the purpose of retiring them. Secrecy would naturally be an essential paft of such a scheme. Asthe transactions became larger broker;, became more careful as to security. Anc at this stage various firms began to receive as collateral notes purporting to be signed by two pfominent Canadians., one John Gleason, a wealthy Ottawa contractor, and the other Rev. Dr.' William Beattie, of London, Ontario, son-in-law of Robert Heath, a colliery owner and ironmaster of Staffordshire, England.. At the preliminary hearing against Ham five such notes totalling £IOO,OOO were produced. Each was signed by the names of Jbhn Gleason and William Beattie. At the trial Messrs. Gleason and Beattie swore that they had not met each other until they came to Court and that the signatures were not theirs. Another charge alleged the obtaining by fraud of securities amounting possibly to £20,000 from a bond broker, Mr. J. Strathearn Hay, whose wife is the daughter and hc-ir of the late Sir Adam Beck. ' A witness in one of the charge:? was a widow, Mrs. F. G. Clarke, who is said to have advanced securities amounting to between £20,000 and £40,000. In the witness box Mrs. Clarke was in evident' distress, and counsel for ' the defence shortened her examinations by admitting that a note had been given Mr 3. Clarke and that a substantial amount had been advanced by her on the strength of it. Other Substantial Losses. It is known that other wealthy women and brokers lost substantial sums, but I how many of them there are or the extent of their losses is not known. In many quarters there has been great reticence in discussing losses. The aggregate of sums that have vanished or where the money went to, can as yet only be guessed at. One of the brokers with whom Ham had large dealings stated that as additional security he has a letter of undertaking, presumably guaranteeing Ham's account, bearing four different signatures. Who these signatures are was not revealed. The first charge that was laid against Ham was that of attempted suicide. He had been taken from his home to the hospital in a serious condition from asphyxiation. Subsequently, after an examination which -showed him to be mentally competent, and after the other charges had been laid the charge of attempted suicide was withdrawn. Ham's admission to tho hospital followed closely on a long-distance telephone conversation between one of the brokers he was dealing with and Mr. Gleason in Ottawa, in which Mr. Gleason denied ever having signed a note in question. Ham was - committed for trial. '