Bank of St Louis - St Louis, MO

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Start Date: *
Location: St Louis, Missouri (38.627, -90.198)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5
Short Digest: e2416e18

Response Measures

None

Description

Article discusses the failure of the Bank of Missouri in St. Louis, not the Bank of St Louis. Adjusted bank name accordingly. The piece references a prior failure and mentions a receiver; no run is described. Cause tied to misapplication of funds by officers. Dates of failure/receivership are not specified in the article; indictments occurred two days before the Jan 22, 1879 publication.

Events (2)

1. * Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: placing in the hands of the receiver assignments of future payments to be made to him by the Government on account of jetty work
Source: newspapers

2. * Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Misapplication of funds and credit by bank officers leading to failure
Newspaper Excerpt: the disastrous failure of the old and solid Bank of Missouri
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. January 22, 1879 The Sun New York, NY

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Article Text

# Capt. Eads's Bank. Day before yesterday the Grand Jury of the United States Court in the St. Louis district, after a long investigation of the causes which led to the disastrous failure of the old and solid Bank of Missouri, indicted JAMES A. BRITTON, ex-Mayor of St. Louis and lately President of the bank, for a wilful misapplication of its funds and credit. If BRITTON'S trial results in a conviction, he will be sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at Jefferson City for a term of not less than five, or more than ten years. An indictment was also found against CURTIS, the cashier of the wrecked bank, charging him with complicity in the criminal acts of the President and other directors. Besides BRITTON, there survive but two of the directors active in the management of the Bank of Missouri during the period in which it was gutted by the men who captured it in 1866. One of these, BARTON BATES, is insolvent, and has lost position and influence in St. Louis. He is indicted with BRITTON, and, like BRITTON, is liable to imprisonment for from five to ten years, if found guilty upon trial. The other surviving director is Capt. JAMES B. EADS. Socially and commercially he still possesses great influence in St. Louis. He is at present engaged in constructing the jetties at the mouth of the Mississippi River, an enterprise by which St. Louis hopes to profit more than any other city. When the bank failed, Capt. EADS and members of his immediate family were found to be its debtors to the amount of $750,000. Part of this indebtedness, after the crash and exposure, Capt. EADS hastened to secure by placing in the hands of the receiver assignments of future payments to be made to him by the Government on account of jetty work. If Capt. EADS should be convicted and imprisoned, the construction of the jetties would be stopped, the Government payments to Capt. EADS would cease, Capt. EADS's notes held by the receiver of the bank would be worthless, and the stockholders, who have already suffered so much by him and his associates, would suffer still more. Capt. EADS was not indicted by the St. Louis jury, although his name was presented to them for indictment, together with BRITTON'S and BATES's. About a month ago THE SUN printed the first public exposure of the transactions which ruined this famous bank. The facts then given are the facts on which BRITTON, BATES, and CURTIS have been indicted and are to be tried. The main charge against the fraudulent directors is that they used their position to secure a loan of $1,000,000 from the Bank of Commerce of this city to the Bank of Missouri, and then took the money and employed it to pay for the shares on which they controlled the institution. This whole affair was engineered by Capt. EADS in person. He negotiated for the $1,000,000 loan. He held the State's shares of stock in his own name. He allotted these to BRITTON, BATES, and his other associates, and set up BRITTON as President. He used a part of the Bank of Commerce's loan to pay for his own stock. Under oath he has testified as follows: "Q-Did you individually receive the benefit of any portion of the $1,000,000 loan? "EADS-Yes, sir. Q-How much, in round figures, as near as you can remember? "EADS-Something over $200,000. "Did the notes given to the Bank of Missouri by its directors) have any endorsers, or were they secured by any collateral security? "EADS-No, sir." Messrs. BRITTON and BATES cannot be tried in open court without practically trying Capt. JAMES B. EADS, their associate and leader.