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COTTON FIRM GOES TO WALL FAILURE OF BANK OF TUNICA FORCES MEMPHIS CONCERN INTO BANKPUPTCY. (By Associated Press.) Memphis, Tenn., April 28.-A receiver was appointed today for the LesserEly Cotton Company, which was thrown into bankruptcy Saturday after the announcement of the failure of the Bank of Tunica, at Tunica, Miss. The court granted an injunction against members of the firm restricting them from removing any cotton in a local warehouse.
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ANOTHER BANK FAILURE Another Mississippi bank has failed. Again unprotected depositors must see their savings vanish with but little hope of regaining any of the money they unsuspectingly intrusted to a bank whose officials were either / unscrupulous or incompetent. The latest failure is the Bank of Tunica. It had a small capital stock and the business was not large. Probably much of the money lost was the deposits of well-to-do business men whom it won't hurt much, but it is equally as probable that some of the depositors € were poor people who were counting on the little "nest egg" to help meet a mortgage, to pay-off notes that had been hanging like threatening clouds over some struggling man's head, the savings of widows and children and some negroes who had acquired the thrifty habit of laying aside someas thing as some of them now are doing. To these people the smallest balLA ance is their all and the foundation of their future happiness. To them the failure of the Bank of Tunica is a greater financial calamity than the wreck of a million dollar institution or a flurry on Wall street would be to the captains of industry. To the report of the failure of the bank must be added the old, old story of the officials' connection with some kind of speculative business to which loans were probably made by the bank, the mysterious disappearance of the man who was president of both bank and the speculative business, the simultaneous announcement of the failure of both institutions, and the little sheet of paper on the front door stating that the bank was closed pending the appointment of a receiver and the audit of the books. Of course the service worn explanation is made that failure to realize on securities due to a bad crop year, floods and stringency of the money market in the east are the conditions leading up to the failure of the bank. But they are flimsy excuses in view of the prosperity that exists on every side. If the crops were so bad, if the floods had done so much damage, if the money market was so stringent, why have not other banks capitulated before the depressing conditions? The explanation is but the vain attempt to cover the real cause, either the incompetency or the unscrupulousness of the men at the head of the institution. It is the duty of the state to protect the people from such men in either case. We need such banking laws that will make it virtually impossible for an incompetent or unscrupulous financier to misappropriate or improperly loan the funds deposited in a bank. Crop failures, devastating floods, stringent money markets and things of that kind beyond the control of the state government may cause bank failures and there can be but little remedy for it. Failures from these causes must be counted among the hardships of life and the loosers must face the facts as they are, but it is a strange condition which will shatter one bank and leave all the others around it untouched. The time has come for Mississippi to adopt banking laws that will protect the depositors under all ordinary conditions and especially from the reckless hands of the incompetent and unscrupulous. The benefits to be derived from the co-operation of home and school work by a system of industrial credits have been conclusively proven by the results of the first effort along that line made at the Leaf River High school. By this system the pupils are given a credit of ten points on their final examination for the performance of a required amount of work done at home. The work required is not of the kind ordinarily thought of as being school duties. It consists of sweeping and cooking, nursing the baby and mending clothes, feeding the hogs and hoeing the garden, chopping wood and whitewashing fences, cleanliness of the body and sleeping with open windows, things that all healthy children should do whether they are in school or not. It teaches them to be industrious at home and to take pride in doing chores that from time immemorial have been thought of only with regrets by young America. It adds dignity to duties that boys and girls are prone to look upon as being degrading. It brings the home life and the school life into the close relationship which is so essential in developing the minds of children. The successful example of the Leaf River High school should be emulated by every school in Forrest county. The thin gray line of Confederate heroes of this community was assem
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LESSER-ELY AFFAIRS STILL COMPLICATED Memphis, April 28.-Affairs of the Lesser-Ely Cotton company of this city, for which a receiver was appointed this morning, were further complicated late today when an intervening petition in brankruptcy was filed in which the assertion is made that it is believed warehouse receipts are outstanding for a greater amount of cotton than is actually held by a local warehouse man. An injunction forbidding the removal of any cotton stored in Memphis by the LesserEly company was granted. This, with the taking over of the affairs of the concern by J. W. Brown, receiver, was the only tangible result of several informal conferences today of creditors of the firm and holders of ware. house receipts. It is stated, however, that certain of the creditors may ask United States District Judge John E. McCall, before whom bankruptcy pro. ceedings were instituted last Saturday, that their claims be given priority. Relatives of Leo Lesser, president of the cotton company and who held a like position with the Bank of Tunica, Miss., which closed its doors Saturday morn. ing, stated tonight that they were entirely without knowledge as to the whereabouts of Lesser. Reports that Mr. Lesser was in New Orleans were not possible of confirmation.
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WHEREABOUTS OF BANKER A MYSTERY Leo Lesser Disappears and Though a Diligent Search Has Been Made For Him He Cannot be Found. BY ASSOCIATED PRESS. Memphis, April 30.-Relatives of Leo Lesser, the missing president of the Lesser-Ely Cotton Company of Memphis, and the Bank of Tunica, of Tunica, Miss., both of which have failed, declared today no word has been received as to Lesser's whereabouts. Lesser was expelled from membership in the Memphis Cotton Exchange yesterday. Supplementary to the bankruptcy proceedings instituted last Saturday against the two concerns, involuntary petitions in bankruptcy have been filed in Memphis and in Mississippi against Leo Lesser as an individual. J. A. Ely, junior member of the cotton firm, also was named in a petition filed late yesterday before Federal Judge P. C. Niles at Kosciusko, Miss. J. W. Brown, receiver for the Lesser-Ely Company, was authorized by the court to act as ancillary receiver. It was stated today that the LesserEly Company had advanced approximately $100,000 this year to farmers and the formation of a corporation to operate the plantations under contracts made by the cotton firm are being considered by the creditors.
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COTTON FAILURE MAY INVOLVE $1,000,000 Arkansas Firms May Be Hit by Lesser-Ely Company's Difficulties-The President Is Missing. Memphis, April 29.-Memphis financiers-and federal authorities yesterday asserted that the amount involved in the Lesser-Ely Cotton Company's failure will total nearly $1,000,000. On account of many of the company's assets being scattered in Arkansas and Mississippi, Receiver J. W. Brown says several days must elapse before he can give a statement as to the firm's financial condition. If reports in banking circles are to be taken as true, other banks in Mississippi and Arknasas are likely to be placed in stringent financial circumstances by the failure. Rumor gained circulation yesterday that the failure of the LesserEly Company has seriously involved an Eastern Arkansas bank. It is said that the company borrowed more than $100,000 from this bank, and that the collateral included warehouse receipts for which there is no cotton. An emissary of this bank was in Memphis yesterday. owner cotton D. W. warehouse McLemore, where Lesser-Ely of the stored their cotton, issued a written statement declaring he has the utmost confidence in Mr. Lesser's honesty and integrity. He states that "it was a great surprise to me when the Lesser-Ely cotton firm suspended business." "In regard to warehouse receipts," he continued, "I have signed statements issued by the firm that receipts issued by me had been lost and had not been endorsed or hypothecated, and upon the strength of these signed statements I delivered the cotton." Close business relations between the Lesser-Ely Cotton Company and smaller business concerns in Mississippi and Arkansas, say local bankers, will likely cause the suspension of the latter and work great hardships on planters who have depended upon the firm for the financial arrangements for a 1913 crop. J. W. Brown, whose home is in Brownsville, Tenn., was appointed receiver by Judge McCall. At the same time the court issued an injunction restraining the bankrupt company from removing any cotton or other tangible assets from local warehouses. President Strangely Missing. It was reported late yesterday that Leo Lesser, the company's president, who has been strangely missing since the failure of the Bank of Tunica, of which he was also head, had been seen in New Orleans. J. A. Ely, junior member of the firm, insists that Mr. Lesser handled all the cotton business, and SO far he has been unable to find the exact standing of the company's affairs.
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Latest News Condensed. Lieutenant Roger Harrison, a British aviator, was killed by a fall of 400 feet at Farnsborough, England. Duentz, a German aviator, was killed near Johannistbal by falling from his aeroplane. The new Italian battleship Dullia was launched at Naples in the presence of the King and Queen. The London Jockey Club has warned off W.H. Schwind, a horse trainer for Lewisohn, for conspiring to run horses in a way to mislead handicappers. Gilbert, the French aviator, flew from Villacoublay, France to Vittoria, Spain, 720 miles. in 10 hours 23 minutes. Satisfactory progress is reported by the surgeon in attendance on the Duchess of Connaught, wife of the Governor-General of Canada. An Austrian naval division is said to have left Trieste with 10,000 men to occupy Montenegrin ports and march on Cettinje. An 18-year-old youth named Walkow and an unidentified girl jumped from the top of the north tower of the cathderal at Antwerp. They were in stantly killed. British Ambassador James Bryce gave up his office at Washington, which he held for more than six years, and left for New York, where he will leave for a trip to Yokohama, Japan The Catholic clergy in Bridgeport, Conn., have banned Sunday funerals except in case of urgent necessity A general strike has been called at Rosario, Argentina, and business is at a standstill Aviator Guillaux flew in an aeroplane from the Spanish frontier to Kollum, Holland, a distance of more than 1,000 miles, in 14 hours and 50 minutes. Heavy fighting was reported among the Balkan allies, Bulgars against Serbs and Bulgars against Greeks Montenegrin troops marched out of Boutari. Elgin buttter dropped 3 cents to 30 cents pound The bank of Tunica, Miss. closed It has deposits of more than $25,000 Col. Charles St. J. Chubb, U.S., died of heart disease at Galveston, Texas. Secretary Lane announced that one but a Civil War veteran would be appointed Commissioner of Pensions Thomas M. Evans, president of the McKeesport, Pa., National Bank, died in Boston, following an operation The Uncle Sam Oil Co.'s refinery at Kansas City, Kan. was destroyed by fire. Loss, $150,000. Mrs. A.M. Collvert, ninety-year-old niece of President Lincoln's mother, is dead at Idaho Springs, Col. The German embassy has again chosen Newport as its summer headquarters. Five deaths have resulted from the bubonic plague in Manila since January The Wilmington, Del., garbage cre matory, which was destroyed by fire in April,1911, was again burned out at a loss of $50,000. The 72 typhoid cases in Albany, N. Y. are attributed to the flooding of the filtration plant by the high water during March. The miners,In the Paint and Cabin Creek districts, West Virginia, on strike over a year, have returned to work. Henry Clay Pience testified in St. Louis that he had been the victim of misplaced confidence to the extent of nearly $7,000,000. A bill providing free admission of all exhibits imported for the Panama Fair, was introduced in the House by Representative Kentner, of California. Loans by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad to President Mellen totaled $14,000,000, according to testimony given in Boston. The Honor Legion of the Pollce Department of New York City will be presented with the stand of colors given by Vincent Astor on May 9. Robert Fowler. an American aviator, flew from the Atlantic to the Pacific across the Isthnus, carrying a photographer The 1,500 telegraphers in the employ of the New Haven Railroad recelved a wage advance of seven per cent Mystery surrounds the death at Colorado Springs, of young Miss Conger, niece of the late Minister to China. W. L. Sheafer, a wealthy manufacturer of Pottsville, Pa., left an estate valued at $5,000,000, of which $40,000 goes to his wife with an annuity of $3,000. Ernest Dye, a negro, confessed to the Sharon (Pa.) police that he shot and killed a United States Army soldier in the Brownsville (Tex.) riots in 1906. James Crinn, Nelson W. Greenhut's chauffeur, was instantly killed when a motor car he was testing hit a tele graph pole at Springfield, L 1. His as sistant, Thomas Conroy, was mortally injured The Boston Chamber of Commerce and Governor Foss have placed the William McKinley Memorial Hospital, with headquarters in New York, on the blacklist, asserting it has failed to carry out the purpose for which it was incorporated. The nomination of George E. Downey, Judge of the Circuit Court of Lawrenceburg. Ind., to be Comptroller of the Currency was sent to the Senate by President Wilson. Judge Downey lives at Aurora, Ind. A bequest of $200,000, the income of which is to be used for the study of cancer, was made to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in the will of Hentry Rutherford, filed at New York in the Surrogate's Court. Ruthford, who lived in Grand Isle, Vt., died in the Hotel Astor on February 25.
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BANK PRESIDENT SUED (By Associated Press.) Memphis, Tenn.. May 5.-Lee Lesser. the missing president of the Lesser Fly cotton company of Memphis, and of the bank of Tunica, at Tunica, Miss., both of which are in the hands of receivers, was made defendant in actions filed in two courts here today. The return of property valued at $15,000 and confided to the care of Lesser or his business, is sought.
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TUNICA RECEIVER NAMED. W. H. Powell Will Assume Charge of the Bank's Affairs. Tunica.-At a meeting of the directors of the Bank of Tunica, which closed its doors, W. H. Powell, cashier of the Tunica Planters Bank, was named receiver. Mr. Powell will take charge of the affairs of the bank and will soon there after make a statement of the present condition of the institution's affairs. The Bank of Tunica had among other deposits $72,000 of county funds, $50,000 of which was secured by an indemnity bond. Six per cent was the contract interest rate paid on county deposits.
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FORGIVE WRECKER OF MANY FORTUNES Friends Give Him an Over Lon on S Noturn. Tunica. Miss.-After an absen of 11 years. during which time he played the role of chauffeur, clerk and them chant in various cities in the United States and Canada, Leo Lesser. former planter. cotton factor, banker, facture turned home, was forgiven by his to( gion of friends and the courts and ant nounced his determination to repay t his many and varied creditors, dollar \ for dollar, the almost countless sums, large and small, they lost when he went away and left a score of wrecked business firms and a trail of worthless S paper. Hundreds of Tunica county citizens, 8 apprised in advance of Lesser's homea coming, met him at the train and with r one voice bade him welcome. Whatever odium followed in the wake of his departure in 1913 was forgotten in the rejoicing over his return. Although he was charged in eight indictments with embezzlement, forgt ery and fraudulent breach of trust, ( dozens of men and women recall that J Leo Lesser had befriended them in the € days when his meteoric career was cast across the sky of the financial 1 and business world. Hundreds of notes bearing the signatures of his ( friends and indorsed and paid by him ( were found by the receivers who tried vainly to salvage the business enterprises he was accused of wrecking. Lesser went before Judge W. A. Alcorn to face a charge of embezzlement in connection with the failure of S the Bank of Tunica, of which he was the president. A petition signed by 600 citizens of Tunica county, and asking that the charge be dismissed, was presented to the court. The embezzlement charge was not pressed, and Lesser left immediately for Senatobia, Miss., in an effort to effect a reconciliation with his wife, who has been teaching school since her husband's disappearance.