Article Text
MANY DEPOSITORS CLAMOR FOR MONEY Another Trust Company Suffers Heavy Run. OVER IN NEW YORK TODAY Trust Company of America in Financial Limelight. THREE PAYING TELLERS BUSY Company Knickerbocker Trust Acknowledges That It Is Unable to Open Its Doors. A heavy run of depositors on the Trust Company of America in New York today to withdraw money served to continue the nervousness in financial circles, brought about by the developments in the MorseHeinze-Thomas banks last week and the closing of the Knickerbocker Trust Company yesterday. It was stated today that the Knickerbocker Trust Company would not reopen its doors. Although no official statement was made upon it the subject or was obtainable, was learned on very good authority that the amount, of cash deposited with the New York banks by the Treasury Department today amounted to about $10,000,000. Special Dispatch to The Star. NEW YORK, October 23.-A run similar to that which forced the Knickerbocker Trust Company to close its doors yesterday began this morning on the Trust Company of America, at 37 Wall street, and the Colonial Trust Company, its lately acquired branch in the St. Paul building, at Broadway and Ann street. By the time the office of the company opened, at 10 o'clock, there were over 300 persons crowded about the narrow entrance of the Colonial Trust Company, and so great a jam of depositors and others about the Trust Company of America. in Wall street, that the police had to be called out. The Knickerbocker Trust Company has already acknowledged that it is unable to open its doors. Acting SuperIntendent of State Banking Department Skinner posted a notice at 10 o'clock on the doors of the Fifth avenue branch of the Knickerbocker Trust Company announceing that he had taken possession of it. Bank examiners from his department have assumed charge of the Bronx, Harlem and lower Broadway branches. At all the offices of the Knickerbocker Tfust Company there was a dense mass of depositors, apparently looking for further developments. Considerable excitement existed, but no rioting has been reported. Examiner Skinner's Statement. Bank Examiner Skinner gave out the following "Under the advice of the attorney general, I have taken possession of the Knickerbocker Trust Company and its branch offices. "The support to this institution which was expected has not been furnished. "A bank examiner Is in charge of each branch office. Payments will be received and obligations due to the trust company, but no payments, will be made by the examiners in charge. "Payments should be made in cash Collateral will not be surrendered until it is shown that it is not pledged for other Indebtedness to the institution." President Oakleigh Thorne of the Trust Company of America was early on hand in the Wall street office, and with him at 7 o'clock this morning were all the officers of the company. He said that the trust company had plenty of money to meet all demands and that he anticipated no trouble, although he spent a number of yours last night in conference with prominent bankers, making arrangements for assistance that might be needed. Treasurer H. B. Fonda of the company said at 10:15 o'clock that there was no cause for alarm and that the company had enough funds on hand to meet every demand, whether for cash or certifications 1,000 Persons in Front of Building. At the time he spoke there were close to 1,000 persons before the building in Wall street. and nearly as many more in front of the Colonial Trust Company's offices in Broadway. Officers of the company later declared that they had about $11,000,000 on hand to meet the run. The expected run on the Trust Company of America, at 37 Wall street, started promptly when the doors of the Institution were opened. Although the crowd was permitted to enter the trust company's offices at 9 o'clock, it was said no money would be paid out until 10 o'clock. Between 9 and 9:30 o'clock*the number of anxious depositors increased twofold, and the attendants of the bank requested them to form in two lines. These extended from the paying tellers' windows to the street. There were few women in the crowd. The trust company officers said most of the men were clerks who had small accounts in the institution. The first depositor to station himself outside the institution this morning was a man named Donahue, a coffee broker, who is said to have had an account of $8,500. He arrived on the scene before 7 o'clock One of the features of the two lines formed in the large corridor was that a