Denver Savings Bank - Denver, CO

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: *
Location: Denver, Colorado (39.739, -104.985)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 4d17c704

Response Measures

None

Description

Articles (Feb 1910) discuss the Denver Savings Bank having had a receiver appointed and being 'wrecked'; convicts Imboden and Hill are serving prison terms for alleged looting. No article describes a depositor run. The bank is described as in receivership (i.e., suspended/closed) and there is no evidence here that it reopened, so classified as suspension_closure. Dates of original receivership not given in these snippets; receiver named is Guy LeRoy Stevick.

Events (2)

1. * Other

Newspaper Excerpt: Imboden and Hill are now at Canon City serving long sentences for the alleged looting of the Denver Savings bank. ... Attorneys filed sensational affidavits ... charging that at the time the receiver was appointed the bank was solvent and that its wreck was the result of 'conspiracy' on the part of the persons instrumental in securing the appointment of a receiver and his subsequent actions.
Source: newspapers

2. * Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: He will go into the matter of the receivership and will tell some of the things that occurred as noticed from the view point of the owners of the bank. ... accused in procuring the appointment of a receiver for the Denver Savings bank, the institution which Imboden and Hill were convicted of having conspired to wreck. ... Receiver Stevick had collected $1,167,000 out of a possible $1,288,000 within seventeen months from the time he took charge of the bank, and that, too after charging off $400,000 of the bank's assets as worthless.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (3)

1. February 10, 1910 Cañon City Record Canon City, CO

Article from Cañon City Record, February 10, 1910

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Article Text

PARDONS MAY BE SECURED FOR IMBODEN AND HILL Denver, Feb. 7.-Within the next few days another effort will be made by friends of Imboden and Hill to have the state board of pardons, which will meet to consider the plea of the Denver bank wreckers for an unconditional pardon or to shorten their terms of imprisonment at Canon City Just what the result will be is, of course, not known at this time, as the members of the board of pardons have given no intimation of what their action will be. During the past few months, however, some of the most powerful influences in Colorado have been at work on the case in the interest of the men who, it is alleged, wrecked not only one of Denver's large banks, but were also instrumental in wrecking banks in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Imboden and Hill are now at Canon City serving long sentences for the alleged looting of the Denver Savings bank. They have not thrived much since being under the watchful care of Warden Tynan, yet they say they cannot complain of their treatment The cases of Imboden and Hill will occupy the attention of the pardon board for the first hour of its sitting next Friday afternoon. Attorney Hersey for Mr. Imboden has promised that he will not occupy more than one hour and it is expected that he will state the cases of the bank defaulters in such a way that the case can be ended at that session. Mr. Hersey will no doubt go into the matter of the receivership and will tell some of the things that occurred as noticed from the view point of the owners of the bank.

2. February 12, 1910 Albuquerque Morning Journal Albuquerque, NM

Article from Albuquerque Morning Journal, February 12, 1910

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Article Text

FIGH TO FREE CONVICTED I f BANKERS SENSATIONAL AFFIDAVITS FILED IN COLORADO CASE Imboden and Hill Serving Time in Penitentiary as Result of Illegal Prosecution is Charged by Attorneys, (By Morning Journal Saccini Leased Wire] Denver, Feb. 11.-Attorneys representing Leonard Imboden and James Hill, who are now serving terms in the penitentiary on charges of having wrecked the Denver Savings Bank. filed two sensational affidavits with the state board of pardons today seeking to show that Imboden and Hill were the victims of a conspiracy and were really the scapegoats for the wrongdoings of others. The affidavits are signed by A. C. Barstow, a real estate dealer. Today the state board of pardons listened to arguments on the petition for the immediate release of the prisoners and at the conclusion took the case under advisement. L. Ward Bannister urging the denial I of the petition declared that Leonard t Imboden had sought to secure his aco quittal through the payment of $12,500 and contended that any man who would accept his freedom by I such means ought not receive consideration of the board. N Attorney Henry J. Hersey, for the fi prisoners, reviewed the case at length, d closing with the declaration that at l' the time the receiver was appointed o the bank was solvent and charging o that its wreck was the result of "conspiracy on the part of the persons di instrumental in securing the appoint11 ment of a receiver and his subseS) quent actions P Mr. Herzy charged the prosecution (1 with "jockeying" the case to secure its hearing before Judge Mullins. C Mr. Herzy reviewed the legislative W investigation and found therein many it statements contradictory to those ofre fered by the prosecution during the es trial and which he contended subh stantiated his claim that the bank was tl solvent at the time a receiver was be appointed. He charged that the conCE duct of the case violated nearly evti ery form of legal practice and declarde ed that "Imboden and Hill are today CO in the state penitentiary because of stereotyped falsehoods untilized by A conspirators in the prosecution." be

3. February 18, 1910 The Ordway New Era Ordway, CO

Article from The Ordway New Era, February 18, 1910

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Article Text

ATTORNEY HERSEY FIERCELY SCORES MEN WHO OBTAINED BANK RECEIVERSHIP. BEFORE PARDON BOARD MATTER TO BE TAKEN UP AGAIN AT ANOTHER BOARD MEETING. Denver-Speaking in behalf of Leonard Imboden and James A. Hill, whose application for pardon was under consideration, Attorney Henry J. Hersey Friday appeared before the state board of pardons in the office of Gov. John F. Shafroth and denounced in scorching terms all the men whom he believed to have been instrumental in procuring the appointment of a receiver for the Denser Savings bank, the institution which Imboden and Hill were convicted of having conspired to wreck. Guy LeRoy Stevick, the receiver of the bank; L. Ward Bannister, his partner; Harry Silverstein, the deputy district attorney, and T. J. O'Donnell, attorney for the receiver, were all accused of opposing the pardon of Imboden and Hill because they were afraid of what the convicts might disclose if they were released. All the men accused were present, save O'Donnell, and for nearly an hour and a half they listened to as scathing an arraignment of their motives and acts as Mr. Hersey knew how to put into words. The board reached no decision in the Imboden-Hill matter and the meeting was adjourned shortly after 6 o'clock, subject to the call of the governor. The date of the next meeting depends on the ability of J. Fred Farrar, of Fort Collins, to put certain business affairs in such shape as will permit him to come to Denver again for a final consideration and disposition of the matter. It was evident that Mr. Hersey's speech made an impression on certain members of the board but what the decision of the majority will be still remains problematical. Speaking almost entirely from the records in the case, Mr. Hersey pointed out facts which he thought were sufficient to show that Mr. Stevick and his associates were the real wreckers of the bank, and not the men who are serving time for it. "So astounding was this procedure," he said, referring to the methods by which the receivership had been created, "that the Legislature has since made it a felony to procure a receiver ship of any institution in that way." Mr. Hersey scoffed at the claim that the bank was insolvent when the receiver was appointed and in support of his position in that respect he pointed out the fact that Receiver Stevick had collected $1,167,000 out of a possible $1,288,000 within seventeen months from the time he took charge of the bank, and that, too after charging off $400,000 of the bank's assets as worthless. He characterized the expenses of the receivership, which he placed at $133,000, as a dead loss to the depositors of the bank, and when Mr. Stevick protested that disbursements for repairs, taxes, and like charges could not be considered as expenses of the receivership, Mr. Hersey turned on him and shouted: "If you had kept your hands off, instead of wrecking this institution yourself, the interest on the bank's loans would have offset the disbursements."