13605. Bank For Savings (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run Only
Bank Type
state
Start Date
January 30, 1914
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
db45000aff40be72

Response Measures

None

Description

Contemporary newspapers (late Jan–early Feb 1914) describe a run on the Bank for Savings in New York triggered by malicious rumors/rumormonger (possibly a servant). The bank paid out large sums ($1–2M+), added tellers, extended hours, engaged detectives, and did not suspend operations; depositors later redeposited funds. No suspension or receivership is reported.

Events (2)

1. January 30, 1914 Run
Cause
Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details
Unfounded/malicious rumors (rumormonger; possibly gossip of a servant) that the bank was in difficulty; detectives sought the rumormonger.
Measures
Added extra tellers, posted notices (doors open until 6pm), required passbooks on entry, engaged private detectives; accepted offers of assistance but did not invoke 60-day rule.
Newspaper Excerpt
President Trimble ... sorry that so many people should have been imposed upon by wild rumors. ... About $1,000,000 in round figures has been paid out by the bank since Tuesday, when the rush to withdraw began.
Source
newspapers
2. February 3, 1914 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
The run on the Bank for Savings ... ended yesterday. Depositors Now Stand in Line to Put Back Their Money. ... depositors showed such desire to get back that in some cases they stood four hours waiting for an opportunity to put back the money they had taken out.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (11)

Article from The Evening World, January 30, 1914

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EXTRA TELLERS TO MEET THE UNUSUAL DEMAND. Three tellers, an addition of two to the regular force, have been set to work paying every one as fast as the line can move. In some instances depositors who came to withdraw experienced a change of heart when they saw the alacrity with which the bank was paying out and decided to let their money stand. President Trimble in an interview with an Evening World reporter said that he was not worrying in the least, but was sorry that so many people should have been imposed upon by wild rumors. One woman depositor had told him, he said, that the failure of the Siegel banks and the fact that the Bank for Savings was not under Federal control had alarmed her. The rumor-monger, who is supposed, either from malice or pure mischief, to have started the run on the bank will be traced and properly dealt with. Detectives are now looking for him. NOT WORRIED WITH LOAD OF CASH ON HAND. About $1,000,000 in round figures has been paid out by the bank since Tuesday, when the rush to withdraw began. The bank has been overwhelmed by offers of assistance, but with the enormous amount of cash in the vaults the officials are not worrying. The Board of Trustees met to-day before the bank opened and decided not to take any advantage of the sixty-day rule for withdrawing de-


Article from New-York Tribune, January 31, 1914

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PICKPOCKETS BUSY AT RUN ON BANK Two Women Robbed of About $1,000 Savings in Surging Crowds. DAY'S WITHDRAWALS EXCEED $1,000,000 Van Tuyl's Notice That Their Money Was Safe Fails to Impress Frightened Ones. Pickpockets and hold-up men, real izing that more than $1,000,000 in cash was being carried into 22d street by the frightened depositors, seized their opportunity yesterday when the un founded rumors about the Bank for Savings, at Fourth avenue and 22d street, continued to cause a run on that institution. Despite the strongest statements that the saving bank was abso lutely safe, even more persons withdrew their accounts than on the preceding day. At least two women, both aged and in moderate circumstances, were robbed of tHeir savings as they passed through the crowds around the bank That more cases of a similar nature did not take place was due to the unusual safeguards taken by the bank and the police. A long line of depositors, mostly servants and others of humble position, were waiting for the bank's doors to open, when the tellers resumed their work of paying out deposits ranging from $25 to $2,500. It was soon seen that the rush had not diminished. and police reserves under Inspector Gillen came to keep order When it was seen that the assurances of the bank officials and of Superintendent Van Tuyl were of no avail a notice was posted to the effect that the doors would be open until 6 o'clock in the evening to pay those who wished. Additional tellers were in place, and several special deputy sheriffs and watchmen surrounded the crowd to keep away the "dips." Woman Robbed of Savings. Before the police could drive away the more adventurous pickpockets the two women were robbed of savings of about $1,000. After that detectives forced every depositor entering the bank to show a passbook. 'It is soft picking for the pickpockets and hold-up men." said a headquarters detective. "All they have to do is to watch some old woman come out of the bank with money, follow her until she is alone somewhere, and then take It away from her." Observation at the window of the paying tellers disproved any idea that the $97,000,000 of deposits was made up mostly of small amounts. Men and women, whose appearance would indicate poverty, if not destitution, drew amounts of from $500 to $2,500, while there were few withdrawals of less than $100. The average deposit is about $600. and with the two thousand men and women estimated to have been in the line during the day, the bank officials believed more than $1,000,000 had been drawn out. The bank had $5.000,000 in the vaults in cash at the beginning of the day, but just how much was taken out could not be told until the books were checked over If the scenes in the bank had not meant the loss of thousands of dollars in interest to the depositors, their comments on the run would have been amusing. One, who smiled sheepishly 'as he tucked $200 in his pocket. said "Of course, I knew all the time it was foolish to take the money out, but now that I have it I am doubly sure." Some Deposit Money. One woman, who held a passbook on another bank, was indignant because she was not paid the amount of her deposit there. Not all of the se in the line came to draw out money Several more courageous came to deposit money, or have their interest figured. Some, on receiving at the door little cards bearing Superintendent Van Tuyl's assurance of safety, dropped out of line and left their money in the bank. While nothing definite could be learned of the origin of the rumors, it was still thought that some ignorant person, seeing the usual long Monday night line of depositors, told her acquaintances a nin had started. The trustees of the bank decided yesterday to engage private detectives to try to trace the rumormonger. Vincent Astof was an interested spectative from the steps of the thetees" mean Ent Was said that he Walter Trimble, president of the bank, any amount Deceasary to handle the run, but was told no assistance was necessary. Nicholas Biddle amo James J. Livingston, trusters of the bank, went along the serpentine lines of de. positors and tried to calm their fears. Superintendent Van Tuyl early in the


Article from The Evening World, February 2, 1914

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CENCELESS SENSELESS RUN ENDED ON BANK FOR SAVINGS; RUSH TO RE-DEPOSIT Having bad Sunday to think It all over calmly, depositors of the Bank for Savings, at Twenty-second street and Madison avenue, were but little in evidence to-day when the bank opened its doors, and President Wal-


Article from The Sun, February 3, 1914

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BANK FOR SAVINGS RUN ENDS. Depositors Now Stand in Line to Put Back Their Money. The run on the Bank for Savings, at Twenty-second street and Fourth avenue, ended yesterday. Two policemen still stood at the door, but they had nothing to do. The tellers and clerks who had been working overtime hoped that the depositors. would give them a breathing spell before returning with their money, but the depositors showed such desire to get back that in some cases they stood four hours waiting for an opportunity to put back the money they had taken out. The bank saved a tidy sum in interest on the 25,000 accounts that were,closed in the run.


Article from The Ely Miner, February 6, 1914

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Domestic Approximately 1,000,000 men, women and children-about one-half the entire population of the city-took active part in the greatest religious demconstration in the history of Chicago. The "Go-to-Church" Sunday campaign was responsible for the 500,000 increase. * The run on the New York Bank for Savings began to abate after more than $2,000,000 had been withdrawn by anxious depositors. What started the run is still a mystery. * The Aero clubof America announced at New York that it had given its sanction to an aeroplane race around the world, to be started from the PanamaPacific exposition grounds in San Francisco in May, 1915, and to be completed at the same place within ninety days. The first prize will be $100,000. Injunctions against John T. Barker, attorney general of Missouri, preventing him from proceeding with suits to recover $24,000,000 excess freight and passenger charges made by railroads while the Missouri rate cases were in litigation, were dissolved in an opinion by Judge Smith McPherson, filed in the federal court at Kansas City. A counterfeiters' den in the state prison at Joliet, III., was discovered. Five convicts who have been making counterfeit five-cent pieces in the machine shop were detected. The nickels were passed in the prison store. Yeggmen dynamited the vault of the bank of Lyerly at Lyerly, Ga., after engaging in a fusillade with citizens, and made a successful escape with $4,000. Assurance that if the judgment of ouster against lumber companies were suspended the companies would not again violate the anti-trust law was given to the state supreme court of Jefferson City, Mo., by representatives of the St. Louis Business Men's league. * Twenty-one suits in behalf of the government were filed at Philadelphia against the Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad company to recover a penalty of $500 in each case for alleged violation of the 28-hour live stock law. * * Sentences ranging from 18 months to GO days were imposed on 11 mail wagon chauffeurs convicted of conspiracy to obstruct the mails in New York. The trouble grew out of a strike. * Forty-one persons aboard the Old Dominion liner Monroe perished when that vessel collided with the steamer Nantucket during a dense fog off Norfolk, Va. Ninety-nine persons were rescued by the crew of the Nantucket. . S. Circuit Judge E. B. Adams of St. Louis ordered that the Wabash railroad be sold under the foreclosure mortgage held by the Equitable Trust company of New York. The minimum sale price fixed by Judge Adams its $34,000,000.


Article from Ladysmith News-Budget, February 6, 1914

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The run on the New York Bank for Savings began to abate after more than $2,000,000 had been withdrawn by anxious depositors. What started the run Is still a mystery.


Article from Iron County News, February 7, 1914

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Forty-one persons aboard the Old Dominion liner Monroe perished when that vessel collided with the steamer Nantucket during a dense fog off Norfolk, Va. Ninety-nine person were rescued by the crew of the Nantucket. The final session of the convention of the United Mine Workers of America at Indianapolis, Ind., was marked by disorder. Duncan McDonald of Illinois declared that Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, was "gloriously drunk" at the Seattle convention of that organization. These remarks were interrupted by cries of "Liar," "Slanderer" and "Libelous" from Mr. Gompers. Yeggmen dynamited the vault of the bank of Lyerly at Lyerly, Ga., after engaging in a fusillade with citizens, and made a successful escape with $4,000. Elaborate receptions were held in honor of the party of 100 Nobles of the Mystic Shrine who have arrived at Manila from Seattle. A counterfeiters' den in the state prison at Joliet, Ill., was discovered. Five convicts who have been making counterfeit five-cent pieces in the machine shop were detected. The nickels were passed in the prison store. Millions of dollars of the resources of city financial institutions were offered to the Bank for Savings of New York when depositors began a run for which the bank's officers could not account except that it might have resulted from malicious rumors circulated by enemies. Frederick W. Vanderbilt's yacht Warrior was wrecked off the northwest coast of Colombia, between Savanilla and Santa Marta. Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt and their guests, the duke and duchess of Manchester, were taken off the yacht by the United Fruit steamer Almirante. After two days of conferences with political leaders Thomas Taggart, Indiana's member of the Democratic national committee, issued a formal statement that he would not be a candidate for the United States senate. Rev. G. E. Tidwell, pastor of a Baptist church at Macon, Ga., was killed at his home in East Macon when a pistol dropped from his pocket and exploded as he was leaning down to kiss his two-year-old baby good-by. The temperature at Pittsburgh January 29 reached 72 degrees. Sanford H. Ferree, aged seventy-nine, of Coraopolis, Civil war veteran, was overcome by the heat and died of exhaustion. More than 1,000 unemployed men and women in the Ghetto district of Chicago fought policemen, who, with revolvers drawn, sought to force them to leave mass meetings being held in the streets. Two I. W. W. men, alleged leaders in the rioting, were arrested. Policemen were fired upon by gunmen. The scout cruiser Birmingham was badly damaged by fire at Philadelphia. Fifteen hundred bluejackets fought heroically, and it was by their efforts that the entire reserve fleet was saved from destruction. Donald Patridge, aged eleven, was killed, another boy was fatally hurt and several other boys and two girls were injured when a "bob sled" crashed into a telephone pole at Honesdale, Pa. ### Mexican Revolt


Article from The Idaho Recorder, February 12, 1914

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# Bank Run Abates. New York. The run on the bank for savings began to abate Saturday, after $2,000,000. had been withdrawn by anxious depositors. What started


Article from Iowa State Bystander, January 29, 1915

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# TRAGEDIES CAUSED BY THE TONGUE. They had "heard rumors and became frightened." This was the only reason the panic-stricken depositors would give for their mad rush on the bank for savings in New York a few days ago. The silly gossip of a servant, it was thought, started the rumor that the bank was in difficulties. Although its president stated that the deposits were ninety-seven million dollars, nearly eleven millions of a surplus, and that the largest banks in New York had offered to come to the rescue with fifty million dollars if necessary, yet thousands of men and women crowded one another in their frantic haste to get their money out of one of the soundest institutions in the country! The whole fabric of the business world hangs upon confidence Our vast credit system depends absolutely upon it. Anything which throws the slightest suspicion upon it causes disaster. Nothing else is so sensitive as confidence. And there is noth-


Article from Northern Wisconsin Advertiser, January 29, 1915

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# TRAGEDIES CAUSED BY THE TONGUE. They had "heard rumors and became frightened." This was the only reason the panic-stricken depositors would give for their mad rush on the bank for savings in New York a few days ago. The silly gossip of a servant, it was thought, started the rumor that the bank was in difficulties. Although its president stated that the deposits were ninety-seven million dollars, nearly eleven millions of a surplus, and that the largest banks in New York had offered to come to the rescue with fifty million dollars if necessary, yet thousands of men and women crowded one another in their frantic haste to get their money out of one of the soundest institutions in the country! The whole fabric of the business world hangs upon confidence. Our vast credit system depends absolutely upon it. Anything which throws the slightest suspicion upon it causes disaster. Nothing else is so sensitive as confidence. And there is noth-


Article from Baxter Springs News, February 4, 1915

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# TRAGEDIES CAUSED BY THE TONGUE. They had "heard rumors and became frightened." This was the only reason the panic-stricken depositors would give for their mad rush on the bank for savings in New York a few days ago. The silly gossip of a servant, it was thought, started the rumor that the bank was in difficulties. Although its president stated that the deposits were ninety-seven million dollars, nearly eleven millions of a surplus, and that the largest banks in New York had offered to come to the rescue with fifty million dollars if necessary, yet thousands of men and women crowded one another in their frantic haste to get their money out of one of the soundest institutions in the country! The whole fabric of the business world hangs upon confidence. Our vast credit system depends absolutely upon it. Anything which throws the slightest suspicion upon it causes disaster. Nothing else is so sensitive as confidence. And there is noth-