BREDER, CYRUS EMMANUEL

Copyright © 2011-2018 John N. Lupia III

Fig. 1. Portrait sketch of Cyrus E. Breder in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, February 9, 1897, page 5.

Fig. 2. Portrait sketch of Cyrus "Charles" E. Breder in the Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 10, and Kansas City Journal, Sunday, August 22, 1897, page 16.

Fig. 3. Portrait sketch of Cyrus E. Breder in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, January 30, 1898, page 3.

Cyrus Emmanuel Breder (1842-1913) AKA Charles E. Breder was born on June 24, 1842 in Hanover, Northampton, Pennsylvania, son of George Breder (1812-1910), a highly respected farmer, and his wife, Susanna Schall Breder (1812-1895). His surname is sometimes misspelled as Breeder. He was educated at the public school at Hanover. He then attended what is today Central Pennsylvania College at New Berlin. He taught public school at Moore Township for one year and then clerked at a General store. In 1863 he became a Teller at the Bank in Hanover. He served in the Civil War enlisted in June 1863. He was appointed Teller at the First National Bank, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in December, 1863. Breder worked as the Cashier at the First National Bank, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from April 1, 1871 to December 17, 1896 when he left the bank.

In 1863, he married Augusta Matilda Malthaner (1843-1921) at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They had six children three daughters and three sons, George Alfred Breder (1867-1867), Frederick H. Breder (1868-1868), and Charles Marcus Breder (1870-1937). They lived at 332 Market Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. They lived comfortably at Bethlehem and had a domestic servant named Emma Gruber. In 1891, both he and his youngest and only surviving son Charles joined the ANA, Member Nos. 71 and 79 respectively. He was a frequent buyer with the Chapman Brothers. There are forty pieces of correspondence from Breder to the Chapman Brothers from 1888 to 1894. He also invested heavily in stock speculations until December 1896.

Fig. 4. The first of forty pieces of correspondence from Breder to the Chapman Brothers from 1888 to 1894. This one postmarked June 9, 1888, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Bank Postal Stationery (Thorpe-Bartel No. 1259). Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

Fig. 5. The last of forty pieces of correspondence from Breder to the Chapman Brothers from 1888 to 1894. This one postmarked February 27, 1894, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Bank Postal Stationery (Thorpe-Bartel No. 1578). Courtesy Lupia Numismatic Library, Special Collection, The Chapman Family Correspondence Archive.

Fig. 6. Portrait sketch of Charles E. Breder in the The Daily Chronicle, Saturday, September 25, 1897, page 6, and The Great Bend Weekly Tribune, Friday, October 1, 1897, page 1, and The Weekly Republican, Friday, October 1, 1897, page 1, and The Galena Evening Times, Saturday, October 2, 1897, page 2.

After paying his ANA membership dues he left Bethlehem on December 17, 1896, traveling to St. Clair, Michigan, and became a partner with Walter Ash, an electrician, in the firm of Breder & Ash, a bicycle repair shop. Later on he sent for his wife and two daughters to join him where he established a new home for them. They joined him in spring 1897 at a time when the shop became a boom. They attended St. Paul's Episcopal Church and were respected members of their community.

Breder created sensational news that rocked the nation when he was arrested by Alfred Large of Detroit, a deputy of the United States Marshal's Office, and Jacob Bernatz of Port Huron, deputy Sheriff, on August 17, 1897 at his shop in St. Clair, Michigan for embezzling $30,000. He was discovered by County Detective Jacob Johnson of Easton Pennsylvania who had been hunting more than six months for him since early February 1897 tracking him to Toronto, Canada and then Cleveland, Ohio. Johnson learned of Breder at Toronto from a letter he mailed his wife informing her of his whereabouts in the beginning of February 1897. When the deficiency of funds at the bank was first discovered it was first thought to be $12,000. It was reported that he confiscated from $10 to $100 at a time since his appointment as Cashier from 1871 to 1896. However, Dickerman’s United States Treasury Counterfeit Detector, No. 9, September (1897) on page 13 says he stole $30,000.00.

On February 21, 1898 he pleaded guilty to charges of embezzlement and was sentenced to seven years in prison by Judge Butler. In 1900 Breder's case came before President McKinley for review for a pardon, which was denied.

He died of acute dilation of the heart at his home at 279 Rochelle Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 13, 1913. He was buried first at Catasaugua, Pennsylvania and transferred to Schoenersville Cemetery, Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

Bibliography :

1863 Consolidated List, June 1863

1870 U. S. Census - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

1880 U. S. Census - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The Numismatist, Vol. 3, Nos. 7 & 8, April (1891) : 30, 32

The Numismatist, February (1892) : 24

The Numismatist, January (1897) : 20

The New York Times, Saturday, February 6, 1897

The Scranton Republican, Saturday, February 6, 1897, page 1

The Pittsburg Daily Post, Saturday, February 6, 1897, page 2

"Breder In Canada," Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, February 7, 1897, page 4

"Breder In Canada," Wilkes-Barre Record, Monday, February 8, 1897, page 2

Logansport Pharos Tribune, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 17

Altoona Tribune, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 8

Lebanon Daily News, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 2

The Daily Times, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 2

Allentown Democrat, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 3

Allentown Leader, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 1

Detroit Free Press, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 10

Courier Journal, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 2

Philadelphia Inquirer, Wednesday, August 18, 1897, page 1

Kalamazoo Gazette, Thursday, August 19, 1897, page 2

Dickerman’s United States Treasury Counterfeit Detector, No. 9, September (1897) : 13

Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, January 30, 1898, page 3.

'No Executive Clemency," The Evening Times, Thursday, January 30, 1900, page 8