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Historic Nantucket
THE FORGOTTEN LANDMARK Chadwick's Folly 1885 by
©Robert F. Mooney all rights reserved
On January 1, 1885, Albert G. Brock, assistant cashier of the Pacific National Bank of Nantucket, detected puzzling figures in the accounts of the bank and hastened to inform the president, Frederick C. Sanford. The directors were called together and the books of the hank were audited. They indicated that the cashier, William H. Chadwick, had overdrawn his personal account by a small amount, but Chadwick's explanation of other discrepancies in the books did not satisfy the directors, and he was asked to resign. The resignation of the hank cashier soon became public knowledge and the town was swept with rumors and anxiety about the condition of the hank. The Honorable Joseph Mitchell, together with fellow directors Whitney and Calder, publicly stated their con fidence in the soundness of the bank, based upon their personal examination of the books. The public, wondering about the visible signs of Chadwick's recent activities, had its doubts. William H. Chadwick, at 38, had been cashier of the Pacific Na tional Bank for six years. He was a genial and popular local figure, possessed of many friends and enjoyingd the confidence of the com munity. His father, William S. Chadwick, was a man of hard-earned wealth and his mother came from a long line of Nantucket Cof fins. For the past few years, the bank cashier had been a principal figure in extensive real estate operations on the island that had aroused local curiosity. There was nothing wrong with a local banker dabbling in real estate, hut the size of his personal expenditures had caused the directors to become uneasy and they kept a daily watch upon his personal transactions. Despite that vigilance, shor tages in the accounts were discovered forcing the conclusion that the bank had been the victim of deliberate swindling. The amount missing was estimated at $10,000 to $15,000, a huge amount in those days. Local rumors held that many other people had been victimized by the bank cashier, but the Inquirer and Mirror calmly suppress ed their names, adding, "It appears to be the old, old story, and com ment is unnecessary. No arrest has been made." The object of Chadwick's attentions in recent years had been a choice parcel of real estate on the eastern end of Nantucket known
