12755. National Bank (Rahway, NJ)

View Charter #896 on SPMC

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Unsure
Bank Type
national
Bank ID
896
Charter Number
896
Start Date
November 22, 1883
Location
Rahway, New Jersey (40.608, -74.278)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
8640128fd28255b8

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Full suspension, Books examined

Description

Newspaper accounts from Nov 22–24, 1883 describe a run (heavy withdrawals) on the National Bank of Rahway followed by the bank's suspension of payments on Nov 22. Directors and officials expressed confidence deposits would be paid dollar for dollar and hoped to resume payments, while other reports mention possible liquidation or a receiver; no clear reopening is reported in these articles, so the ultimate outcome is unclear.

Events (4)
1. March 16, 1865 Chartered
Source
historical_nic
2. November 22, 1883 Run
Cause
Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details
A rumor that the bank had failed spread in Rahway, prompting depositors to make heavy withdrawals over several days (many small depositors and some large withdrawals).
Measures
Paid out available cash (over $20,000 of $30–40,000 on hand) while directors later announced suspension of payment; directors convened multiple meetings and called for an examiner's investigation.
Newspaper Excerpt
the rumor spreading abroad that its National Bank had failed ... depositors ... demanded their money
Source
newspapers
3. November 22, 1883 Suspension
Cause
Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details
Directors suspended payments after heavy withdrawals triggered by failure rumors and concerns following a bank examiner's visit; suspension described as temporary by some officials though others discussed liquidation or receivership.
Newspaper Excerpt
the refusal to honor checks meant simply a suspension ... gave notice that they would suspend payment for a time
Source
newspapers
4. March 9, 1887 Voluntary Liquidation
Source
historical_nic

Newspaper Articles (7)
1. November 23, 1883 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, November 23, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

A RUN ON THE NATIONAL BANK AND PAYMENT STOPPED--T TROUBLE SAID TO BE TEMPORARY. Rahway, N.J was aroused from its quiet yesterday by the rumor spreading abroad that its National Bank had failed, and that the depositors were to be deprived of their money until the authorities should deem it advisable to make settlements; but when the first of a long line of depositors appeared at the paying teller's window in the morning he was informed, not that there was a failure, but that the refusal to honor checks meant simply a suspension. The bank is at Poplar and Union sts., about half mile from the railway station. It is a two-storied brick building, half of which is occupied by a family and the remainder for the transaction of the bank's business. In Poplar-st. there is a wing which is used as the directors' office. For a number of years the bank has been controlled by a family named Shotwell, and at present the father, Abram F. Shotwell, is president and a member of the board of four directors, and the son, Townsend Shotwell, is the cashier. The two men are the working officers of the institution. Last Friday Bank Examiner Shelly, of Rochester, N. Y., called at the bank and made an investigation. Of the result of that examination he did not inform the bank officials. On Tuesday Cashier Shotwell noticed that the depositors in drawing checks were a trifle more eager than usual to get tdeir money and drew for larger amounts. On Wednesday morning a number of German depositors whose oposits were in sums ranging from $10 to 100 came in crowds and demanded their money. The bank had in its vaults between $30,000 and $40,000 in cash and the cashier paid out over $20,000 of this, much to the satisfaction of the Germans. When demands were made yesterday, however, the bank authorities gave notice that they would suspend ayment for a time. Although there were crowds about the bank throughout the day, there was little excitement manifested. MEETINGS OF THE DIRECTORS. The institution one, hav been founded as the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank in 1829 and reorganized in 1865 as a Federal bank with $60,000 of its $100,000 capital deposited in bonds in the National Treasury. As it was so well known more reliance was placed in the promises of the officers than is usual in such cases. No attempt to disturbance was made. and when it beevident that little was to be got by waiting, the depositors went their way. On Wednesday night the directors held a meeting and made an examination of the bank' accounts and of its standing with its bank of deposit, the Importers and Traders' Bank, and its correspondent, the Metropolitan Bank, both of this city. The directors refused last night to make any statement in reference to the discoveries which they made in that exammation. Yesterday afternoon President Shotwell visted lew-York, but with what object could not be ascertained. Last night the directors held a second meeting and made an examination of the vaults and second investigation of the accounts. They remained in session late into the night. At this meeting neither the president nor his son, the cashier, present. There are only two bankin corporations in Rahway. One is the National Bank and the other the C. Rahway Savings Bank. of which William Squires is the president. The Savings Bank has accounts with the National Bank, described by of the directors last night as the old account and the new one." The former is to all practical purposes closed: the latter, however, amounts to 7,300. The National Bank had deposits which amounted to $180,000 at the beginning of this week, which in three days was reduced to $140,000. Of this amount about $40,000 is directly available. The depositors are business men of Rahway, to a extent. but there are also many employes of the Pennsylvania Railway and laborers and farmhas hands among them. It has one depositor ho account which amounts to $20,000. WHAT THE CASHIER SAYS. In charming villa in St. George's-ave., lives ashierShotwell. When TRIBUNE reporter found him last night. Mr. Shotwell was thoroughly exhausted by his anxieties, and when answering the enquiries made, he was visibly affected by his position. I became eashier of the bank," he began. about three years ago. At that time the total amount of deposits was $150,000. When I took possession of my desk several of the large depositseemed to feel aggrieved and withdrew their money. Within a year. however, despite their ction, the eposits increased $100,000. Again calousy was aroused and these men started an opposition bank of their own. which. after succeeding in buying office furniture, collapsed. This failure embittered their feelings and the only theory that can think of while we are in this condition is, that prompted by their these nen have urged their friends and used their influnce in every way start this run and to enfeeble he resources of the bank. We plenty of things by means of which we can regain our credit without any attempt to ypothecate our securities. Our resources as large as they ever were. and I am confident that within, at the latest, two resume payment. do not think toat the savings bank will be affected in the least, though that can say on that subject will be simply at hazard. My father's trip to New-York was on business affairs, and may or may not be important." TALKS WITH DIRECTORS. C. R. Oliver, one of the directors. said that the suspension was not likely to lead to a failure. The accounts of the bank were in good condition and its credits in this city excellent. Its stockholders were all wealthy men ho had the interest of the bank at heart and would be willing to sacrifice their personal convenience for a time in order to guide it through its difficulty. The payment of checks would be resumed, he thought, within a few day most probably next Monday. Congressman Benjamin A. Vail, who is also one of the directors, said The affairs of the bank, other than this unfortunate occurrence, are in excellent condition, and while I do not agree with Mr. Shotwell that the run was first suggested by eninity, I agree with what he said in that regard the the bank's asources. I think to in positore were affected, as depositors banks have been 60 often before, by a feeling of discrust which was entirely numerited by the bank, and ha ve come to draw their money body because news of any sort travels from it in tell you quickly in small town like this. Leannot to yet whatarrangements will be made in relation the payment of the claims of the depositors conclusion. because our meeting has not as yet come to any But this much ! willsay : That the people will retheir deposits dollar for dollar. probable that we will decide to reorganize the bank and we place at its head new president not that have aught to say against Mr. Shotw any way. but in crisis of this kind a change 18 advisable. in One thing wish distinctly understood that no our investigations of the books we have found evidences of embezziement hypothecati or any other action that would reflect on the honesty of the bank officials. When asked if the rumor was correct that the bank had been closed by order of the government, Mr. Vail answered: Most decidedly,

2. November 24, 1883 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, November 24, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

DENYING HIS OWN STORY OF A SHOOTING. After the discovery of the cave on the mountain west of Chappaqua and the capture of its occupant -the burglar, Joseph Phyle-August Errickson and John Walsh were sent to watch the cave. Errickson said next day that while he and Walsh were watching the cave a man approached and acted suspiciously. They called upon him to surrender and he drew a revolver. Errickson thereupon shot the suspected robber. Errickson and Walsh afterward buried the body near the spot. The story leaked out and Errickson was arrested and taken to the county jail at White Plains. He then denied that he had shot anybody and declared that his former statement was false. A warrant for the arrest of Walsh has been issued in order to hear his story, and a search will be made for the robber's body. THE RAHWAY BANK SUSPENSION. The excitement which was manifest in Rahway, N. J., on Thursday, owing to the suspension of the National Bank of that town, had subsided last evening to a few nummers on the part of the depositors. The directors had made a sworn statenient of the condition of the bank's affairs to submit to Bank Examiner Adams this morning, who will begin at once un investigation of the matter. Mayor High was in this city yesterday in consultation with the officials of the Importers and Traders' Bank. The opiniou of the directors is that they will stop business, put the bank's affairs in liquidation, and then take steps to incorporate a new bank under new auspices. Some of them are confident that the affairs of the bank will be placed in the hands of a receiver until its condition can be definitely determined, and a petition was made to the athorities at Washington, by one of the largest

3. November 24, 1883 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, November 24, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

DIPHTHERIA IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL. SEVERAL DEATHS REPORTED-ORDERING THE BUILDING TO BE CLOSED. President Stephen A. Walker, of the Board of Education, issued an order yesterday to the school trustees of the Twenty-fourth Ward instructing them to close immediately "Grammar School No. 63 at Third-ave. and One-hundred-and-seventy-secondst., in consequence of an outbreak of malignant diphtheria among the scholars. The attention of Mr. Walker was called to the matter by the parents of children attending the school, who said that hundreds of children were likely to die unless the school were closed. John H. Meyer, the principal, said that the first attack of diphtheria occurred in September, and that since then the disease had spread rapidly and there had been a number of deaths. John Haskins, of the primary class, residing in Central Morrisania, was the first attacked, but he recovered. He sat in the class beside Ernest Muller, a son of Henry Muller, the janitor of the school, who was scized with the disease and died in two weeks. Tobias Muller, his brother, was attacked on October 30, and died in two weeks, and Henry Muller, another brother, died on Wednesday. A son of Frederick Foly, one of the trustees of the school, Ida Foster, of Tremont, and Kattie Meyers, living with her parents near the Harlem Railroad station, Central Morrisania, have also died of diphtheria within a few days Among the children reported in Tremont yesterday to be suffering from the disease, are Fanny Bracken, a daughter of Henry Bracken, Superintendent of Public Works; Mamie Steers, a daughter of Charles H. Steers, a civil engineer living at Madison-ave. and One-hun-8 dred-and-seventy-eighth-st., and children of Mrs. Conlin and Mrs. Phelps of Tremont. On Wednesday a number of the parents held an indignation meeting and denounced the school officers for not giving notice of the disease and closing the school. Several of the parents said that the disease was due to the defective drainage of the school. An examination was made yesterday by David I. Stagg, superintendent of school buildings, Frederick Foly, a trustee, and John H. Meyer, the principal, and the drainage was found to be in good condition. The outbreak of diphtheria therefore must be attributed to some other cause. DENYING HIS OWN STORY OF A SHOOTING. After the discovery of the cave on the mountain west of Chappaqua and the capture of its occupant -the burglar, Joseph Phyle-August Errickson and John Walsh were sent to watch the cave. Errickson said next day that while he and Walsh were watching the cave a man approached and acted suspiciously. They called upon him to surrender and he drew a revolver. Errickson thereupon shot the suspected robber. Errickson and Walsh afterward buried the body near the spot. The story leaked out and Errickson was arrested and taken to the county jail at White Plains. He then denied that he had shot anybody and declared that his former statement was false. A warrant for the arrest of Walsh has been issued in order to hear his story, and a search will be made for the robber's body. THE RAHWAY BANK SUSPENSION. The excitement which was manifest in Rahway, N. J., on Thursday, owing to the suspension of the National Bank of that town, had subsided last evening to a few nummers on the part of the depositors. The directors had made a sworn state-

4. November 28, 1883 The Lambertville Record Lambertville, NJ
Article from The Lambertville Record, November 28, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

The National Bank, at Rahway, suspended payment on Thursday. There is no irregularity and the depositors will get dollar for dollar. There was a little run on the bank because the cashier had resigned.

5. November 30, 1883 The Kenosha Telegraph Kenosha, WI
Article from The Kenosha Telegraph, November 30, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

The East. 4 FIRE broke out a few days ago in the residence of James Savery, of Green Township, Pa., and he rushed in to save his children and succeeded, but he was burned to a crisp. IT was reported on the 21st that Charles R. Chubbuck, confidential clerk for John I. Robin, a New York custom-house broker, had absconded with $14,000. AT Erie, Pa., revenue officers captured an illicit still and three Burdick brothers on the 22d. THE other night Patrick Dodd and wife, of Attica, N. Y., blew out the gas in their hotel-room in New York, and were suffocated. ON the 22d the National Bank of Rahway, N. J., suspended payment. The authorized capital was $500,000, but only $100,000 had been paid in. IN New York City on the evening of the 22d Henry Ward Beecher presided over a tariff-reform meeting, and pronounced the protective system terribly oppressive to the poor men of the country. JOHN STEINHIBER shot dead Thomas Kerns, aged seventeen, at Ashland, Pa., a few days ago, alleging that he mistook him for a desperado. Kerns narrowly escaped lynching. SUIT was commenced in the Federal Court at Boston on the 22d by the National Home for Disabled Soldiers to recover from General Butler $18,375, for which he had failed to account. JOHN MCKEON, United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, died on the 22d. JOHN CHISHOLM was hanged on the 22d at Newark, N. J., for the murder of his wife. AT the wedding of Maurice B. Flynn and Miss Florence C. Moss in New York City a few days ago Father McDowell officiated, and received as his fee a check for $5,000. A DECISION has been rendered by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that a wom an may be legally appointed on the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity. This decides in the affirmative the question whether or not a woman is a person, under the statute. IN a Brighton (N. J.) newspaper office on the 23d a Democratic politician named J. L. Van Syckle shot the èditor, John Cheeseman, in the breast. The wounded man threw his assailant to the floor and fatally pounded him. ON the Pennsylvania Railroad near Philadelphia an express train struck a wagon a few days ago and killed Mrs. Christiana Frey, aged fifty years, and her son William, aged twenty-four years, and fatally injured Willian Frey, Sr. A VERDICT for $10,000 damages has been awarded Mary O'Connor, who was employed in a mill in Philadelphia, and leaped from a window during a fire, and was permanently disabled. THE discovery was made on the 23d that A. B. Johnson, who recently killed himself in Utica, N. Y., appropriated $800000 belonging to the MacDonnell estate, of which he had sole control. Mrs. MacDonnell is a sister of the dead defaulter. ON Jack's Mountain, near Allensville, Pa., a forest fire was raging on the 23d, and had extended over an area of several thousand acres. Over twelve thousand cords of wood had been burned. GOVERNOR BUTLER has pardoned Bernard Boland, who ten years ago was sent to the Massachusetts Penitentiary for life, on conviction of murder, because of the discovery that the statutes will not permit a boy to be sent to State Prison. A VERDICT for $4,500 has been secured by J. W. Wiggins, of klyn, against Edward Day for calling him an old fraud. Fogs have compelled the close of navigation on the St. Lawrence River, and boats went intowinter quarters on the 23d. ON the night of the 24th James Ruddy and his wife, son, and a lady visitor were murdered at Laconia, N. H., and the house set on fire. Thomas Salmon, a boarder, was suspected of the crime, and was in jail. His trunk was searched, and was found to contain the mangled remains of a Mrs. Ford, with whom he had previously boarded. A WAGON containing William McIntosh, a venerable farmer, and his wife, of Lanesville, Vt., and Rev. Joseph House and his daughter Mary, of Berlin, was struck by the engine of an express train a few evenings ago, and all four were killed. THOMAS EVANS & Co.'s extensive glassfactory at Pittsburgh, Pa., was destroyed by fire on the 25th. Loss, $100,000. THOUSANDS of acres of forest trees were destroyed by the recent gale on the New Hampshire and Maine border. The loss in Chatham alone was on the 24th estimated at $100,000. In many instances the homes of wood-choppers had been ruined, and much suffering among them would ensue this winter unless relief was given them. A GIRL named Phoebe Jane Paullin was murdered in some underbrush near Rose-

6. November 30, 1883 The Middlebury Register and Addison County Journal Middlebury, VT
Article from The Middlebury Register and Addison County Journal, November 30, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

NEWS OF THE WEEK. Eastern and Middle States. WHEN a new gas well, recently opened in Westmoreland county, Penn., was lit the flame shot upward 150 feet, and illuminated the country for miles. Its roar was terrific, and could be heard for three miles. By its intense action houses were shaken with in the radius of a mile. The well was pronounced by experts to be the largest ever developed. A. H. ROWLAND, clerk of the county court at Pittsburg, Penn., has been arrested upon the charge of having embezzled nearly $47,000 during two terms of office. TWENTY-NINE horses were burned to death in a Philadelphia stable. THE schooner James Wade is reported to have gone down in Lake Erie with her crew of seven men. A MARRIAGE in high life is reported from Pittsburg, Penn., where Patrick O'Brien, professionally known as the Irish giant, has been united to Miss Christine Duerz, the German giantess. Both are on exhibition in a Pittsburg museum. A NEW YORK court has decided that the trustees of the Brooklyn bridge are not personally liable for the disaster on that structure, resulting from a panic by which several lives were lost last Decoration day. COMMODORE JOHN M. BERRIEN, a retired officer of the United States navy, died the other day in Philadelphia. He was a midshipman on the frigate Constellation, over fifty-eight years ago. WILLIAM McWilliams, a Waterford (Penn.) octogenarian, awoke the other night and found the cold arms of his dead wife clasped around his neck. JOHN CHISHOLM was hanged at Newark, N. J., for the murder five months ago of his wife, whose life he ha often threatened, and who was living apart from him. JOHN MCKEON, New York's district attorney, ex-member of Congress and for many years one of the most prominent Democrats in the city, died suddenly the other day, aged seventy-eight years. A MEETING in the interest of free trade, held at the Cooper Institute, New York, was presided over by Henry Ward Beecher and addresses we made by Henry Watterson and others. THE Rahway, (N. J.) national bank, was compelled by a heavy run to suspend. The trouble is said to be only temporary. South and West. SAMUEL HEMRY, of Swanton, Ohio, sh t and killed his wife, and tried to kill his daughter, Mrs. Liba. He then shot himself dead. They had been married about a year, she being the widow of a Mr. Stevens when Hemry married her. FORTY masked and armed men took pos session of the mine at Marshall Basin, Colorado, and made the workmen quit after shooting and killing one. A STATEMENT of the recent gales on the great lakes shows a loss of fifty-five lives and sixty vessels. Twenty-six vessels, representing a value of $400,000, are total losses. THE Miss'ssippi Valley bank, of Vicksburg, Miss., has suspended. GENERAL AUGUSTUS C. DODGE, formerly United States Senator and minister to Spain for eight years, diel in Burlington, Iowa, a few days since, aged seventy-two years. EX-SENATOR GEORGE E. SPENCER. of Alabama, was arreste! at Austin, Nev., by order of Attorney-General Brewster for contempt of court in not appearing as a witness in the star route cases. Spencer denied eluding the officers. He left Austin with two deputy marshals for Washington. DURING a severe rain storm a dozen houses at Piedmont, Mo., were swept away by the rising waters of a creek, and two women and three children were drowned. THE propeller Manistee, from Duluth, Minn., bound for Ontonagon, foundered in Lake Superior during the recent heavy gales, and twe.ity-five persons on board are supposed to have been lost. EDWARD PAYNE, cashier of the First National bank at Rushville, Ind., was shot dead by a burglar, who had entered his house for the evident purpose of robbery. JACOB CROUCH, his daughter and her husband, and a guest from Texas, were found murdered in the former's farmhouse near Jackson, Mich. Robbery was the motive of the crime. A NUMBER of people were drowned and great destruction of property has been caused by heavy floods resulting from longcontinued rains in various parts of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri.

7. December 7, 1883 Wessington Springs Herald Wessington Springs, SD
Article from Wessington Springs Herald, December 7, 1883

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

continuously, and gas-light was necessary in stores and dwellings. MELBOURNE, Ark., was wrecked by a cyclone early on the morning of the 21st. The court-house, stores, churches and residences were blown to pieces, and four persons were killed and many injured. A number of structures at Coal Hill werealso demolished. At Fort Smith several houses were wrecked, one man was killed and several others were wounded. THE main loom-building of the woolen and cotton mill at New Albany, Ind., in which one hundred and twenty-five men were at work, was destroyed by fire on the 21st. Loss, $140,000. E. FRIEDLANDER & Co., wholesale dealers in furnishing goods at San Francisco, made an assignment on the 21st. The liabilities were placed at $400,000. HEAVY rains at Indianapolis flooded the northwestern quarter of that city on the 21st, the damage aggregating $200,000. Water was three feet deep in Dickson's lumber-yard, the railway tracks east of the Union depot were submerged, and nearly all travel by rail was suspended. THE residence of James Savery, of Green Township, Pa., took fire on the 21st. He rushed in to save his children and succeeded, but he was burned to a crisp. SURGEON VAN ZANDT, of the United States Marine Hospital at San Francisco, on the 21st reported two cases of yellowfever at that institution. ONE HUNDRED Indiana people killed themselves during the year ended October 31, six hundred and seven were killed by accident, two were officially hanged, and two were executed by mobs. IT was announced on the 21st that the total number of cases at Brewton, Ala., during the yellow-fever epidemic was seventy-five, with twenty-eight deaths. JOE ANZEL PERCA and his four daughters, living near Albuquerque, N. M., enticed a boy into their house a few days ago, and beat out his brains with a club. The Mexicans threatened lynching. CHARLES R. CHUBBUCK, confidential clerk for John I. Robin, a New York custom-house broker, absconded with $14,000 on the 21st. IN a farm-house in the township of Spring Arbor, Jackson County, Mich., Jacob Crouch, aged seventy-four years; his daughter, Mrs. Eunice White, aged thirty three: his son-in-law, Henry P. White, aged thirty-eight, and Moses Polley, a visitor, were murdered in their beds on the night of the 21st. The latter had shown considerable money, and stated that he should purchase cattle, and it was thought Mr. Crouch had $56,000 in his possession, said sura having recently been received by him from claims he held in a Texas cattleranch. Mr. Crouch was worth $2,000,000. A CYCLONE in Texas on the 22d blew down houses at Ogden and Woodville, and several persons were badly injured. HORACE A. BILLINGS, a Chicago lumberdealer, failed on the 22d for $100,000. JOHN CHISHOLM, a wife-murderer, was hanged on the 22d at Newark, N. J. IN portions of Iowa and Wisconsin snow to the depth of two inches fell on the 22d. THE National Bank of Rahway, N. J., suspended payment on the 22d. The authorized capital was $500,000, but only $100,000 had been paid in. PATRICK DODD and wife, of Attica, N. Y., blew out the gas in their hotel-room in New York on the night of the 22d, and were suffocated. THE Secretary of the Treasury at Washington on the 22d authorized the payment without rebate of the three per cents embraced in the one hundred and twenty-second call maturing December 1. The amount outstanding was about $14,750,000. HEAVY rains at Belleville, III., on the 22d flooded ten coal mines, inflicting damage estimated at $50,000. EXTENSIVE rain and wind-storms on the 22d in Southern Illinois and portions of Indiana and Missouri did great damage to buildings and railroads, and several lives were lost. REVENUE officers captured an illicit still and three Burdick brothers at Erie, Pa., on the 22d. J. O. REED, a well-known business man of Toledo, O., was robbed on the night of the 22d in a Wabash sleeping-car of a val-