13806. Belknap Savings Bank (Laconia, NH)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: May 20, 1897
Location: Laconia, New Hampshire (43.528, -71.470)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: f85e1f65

Response Measures

None

Description

Multiple contemporary dispatches (May 20-22, 1897) report the Belknap Savings Bank of Laconia closed/suspended and trustees voting voluntary liquidation to divide assets among depositors. Articles mention large withdrawals since 1893 but do not describe a discrete depositor 'run' (mobs or a day-long panic). Suspension followed by voluntary liquidation = suspension then permanent closure.

Events (2)

1. May 20, 1897 Suspension

Cause: Voluntary Liquidation
Cause Details: Trustees voted unanimously to put the bank into voluntary liquidation rather than sell securities at a sacrifice; large withdrawals and western investments rendered the bank unable to continue daily payments.
Newspaper Excerpt: Depositors of the Belknap savings bank are in a fever of excitement, today, over the suspension of that institution.
Source: newspapers

2. May 29, 1897 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: The Belknap Savings Bank of Laconia, New Hampshire, on Monday commenced suit against the Lamar Land and Canal Co.... asking that a receiver be appointed to put the property in good order. Mr. Atcheson, who has been acting as receiver, resigned and Mr. A. E. Bent has been appointed receiver, and is now in charge of the canal and the lands included in the first trust deed given by the Lamar Land and Canal Company. It is expected that under this suit by the sale of receiver's certificates enough funds can be realized ... .
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (12)

1. May 20, 1897 Las Vegas Daily Optic Las Vegas, NM

Article from Las Vegas Daily Optic, May 20, 1897

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DUE TO DEPOSITORS The Belknap Savings Bank at Laconia, N. H. Goes to Wall Owing Large Sums. TAILORS WIN THE STRIKE Epidemic of Suicides-U. S. Senator Earl Dying, and Gen. Horatio King Dead. SOME SLAVE MONEY FOUND LACONIA, New Hampshire, May 20. Depositors of the Belknap savings bank are in a fever of excitement, today, over the suspension of that institution. The bank owes $1,000,000 to depositors. CRIPPLE CREEK, Colorado, May 20. -H. P. Reithon, a prominent hardware merchant, and H. T. Harder, a grocer, failed, this morning. They were interested in the Miners' bank which falled, yesterday.

2. May 20, 1897 El Paso Daily Herald El Paso, TX

Article from El Paso Daily Herald, May 20, 1897

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Owes a Big Sum. LACONIA, N. H., May 20.-Depositors in the Belknap Savings Bank are in a fever of excitement today over the suspension of that institution. The bank owes $1,000 to depositors.

3. May 20, 1897 Daily Independent Elko, NV

Article from Daily Independent, May 20, 1897

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WHEN bilions or costive. eat a Cascaret. candy cathartic, cure g. aranteed, 10c. 25c. Reno may get her public building S on as the treasury department is making inquiries as to available sites, the volume of postoffice business etc. DeLamar, Nev., is a great family mining camp. The school census shows 2'0 chil en of school age, to say nothing of the swarms of little ones. During the year 1896 the plumage of over 3,000,000 birds was used in New York for the decoration of wemen's hats. The Miners' State Bank at Capple Creek, Colorado, and the Bellinap Savings Bank at Laconia, New Ha.npshire, closed their doors yesterday. Married men do not live longer than bachelors, but the time seems longer, especially when a fellow is deburred from having a run with the b ys occasionally. Members of the United States Bimatallic Commission arrived in Paris yesterday. Premier Meline says France will not take the initiative in calling a monetary conference until Great Britain agrees to take part, James Baysley, who located the Best & Belcher mine on the Comstock but who has been living the life of a recluse near Los Angeles recently, has fallen heir to £15,000 by the death of a relative in England.

4. May 21, 1897 The Providence News Providence, RI

Article from The Providence News, May 21, 1897

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A New Hampshire Bank Opens its Doors Again. Lake Village Institution Doing Business as Usual. New Deposits Made Special and Distinct From Other Funds. Boston, May 21.-A special dispatch from Laconia, N. H., says: Following close upon the suspension of the Belknap Savings Bank here comes the report of the partial suspension of the Lake Village Savings Bank, also of this city. The uneasy feeling among savings bank depositors incident. to the closing of theBelknap bank, was heightened by the fact that depositors wishing to withdraw their money yesterday found the bank closed to business. The suspension, however, proved to be but temporary, as the bank opened for business at 2 p. m. It was then announced that after a conference with the bank officials as to the best course to pursue the trustees of the bank had decided to continue business under certain restrictions. The deposits which were received during the afternoon were made special and distinct from the other funds of the bank. The trouble in connection with this bank comes largely from the western farm loans, and the inability of the farmers to pay off mortgages, under the stress of hard times, brought about by the great fall in the value of corn and wheat. Mortgages have been foreclosed in many instances, but the land cannot be sold at any price now. The condition] of this bank, according to the recent report, is as follows: Liabilities-amount due depositors, $272,870.02; guaranty fund. $11, interest, $650. 38; impairment, $284,680.92. 92. The assets show an estimated value of $284,378.42, 42, while the value on the books of the bank is $284,680.92. It is claimed if given time to turn its securities the bank is solvent. The officers of the bank are: Thomas Ham, president; Charles L. Pulsifer. vice president; John Aldrich, treasurer; Thomas Ham, C. L. Pulsifer, J. S. Crane. B. F. Drake, S. D. Cole. D. Ward, Charles A. Sleeper, John Aldrich. trustees. The bank was incorporated in 1867.

5. May 21, 1897 The Bryan Daily Eagle Bryan, TX

Article from The Bryan Daily Eagle, May 21, 1897

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NEWS IN BRIEF. The state convention of Ohio Democrate will be held at Columbus on June 29 and 30. A. K. Lathan, a stockman, was killed by lightning near Claude, Texas. W. E. Dunbar, Jr., was kicked and killed by a mule at Waxahachie, Tex. The Belknap Savings bank at Laconia, N. H., has failed. The body of an unknown negro or Mexican was found hanging in the Brazos bottoms near Bryan. the penitentiary at Caldwell, Texas, for the murder of Robert Cole. Whitecaps are trying to run negroes off farms around Garland, Tex. Deputy Sheriff A. D. McLaughlin while asleep walked out of a secondstory window at Sulphur Springs, Tex., and was seriously hurt. J. S. Coxey will speak at the massmeeting of the Populists at Hillsboro, Tex., on May 29. State Senator McMullin. who attempted to kill Editor Smithee at Little Rock, Ark., on Monday, has been indicted by the grand jury. Albert M. King, a 19-year-old messenger of the Boylston National bank at Boston, Mass., is missing, together with about $20,000 in cash. Senator Earle is dangerously III at his home at Greenville, S. C. Two delegates to the conductors' convention at San Francisco, Cal., have mysteriously disappeared. It is believed they were killed.

6. May 21, 1897 Vermont Phœnix Brattleboro, Bellows Falls, Ludlow, VT

Article from Vermont Phœnix, May 21, 1897

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NEW HAMPSHIRE NOTES. A Laconia Bank Closes. The Belknap savings bank at Laconia closed its doors Wednesday. The amount due depositors is $961,502. The trustees met Tuesday and voted unanimously that the bank go into voluntary liquidation and divide the assets among depositors as fast as they can be advantageously converted. It is believed that all depositors can be paid. The withdrawals by depositors in excess of deposits since the panic of 1893 have amounted to over $440,000. The withdrawals have increased of late, and rather than sell good securities at a sacrifice the trustees decided to put the bank into liquidation to protect the interests of all. The troubles of the bank have come from Western investments.

7. May 22, 1897 The Portland Daily Press Portland, ME

Article from The Portland Daily Press, May 22, 1897

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BRIEFLY TOLD. A despatch from Paris says that Father Kneipp, well. known throughout the world, through his water cure, is dead. The Porte has concluded a large contract with Herr Krupp, the great German gun: manufacturers for "a supply of artillery and ammunitions The naked body of a male infant was found on the banks of the Merrimac in Lawrence, yesterday by two boys. James, the thirteen months old son of Mr. and Mrs. James Hendry of Lawrence, was drowned Friday afternoon by falling into a wash tub. John Sauerbrei, who kept a delicatessen store at 666 Avenue D, Bayonee, N. J., was shot and killed in his place of business Friday by James Marks, a painter of Newark, who is supposed to be insane. Mary S. Snow of Bangor was chosen secretary-treasurer of the New England association of school superintendents in Boston yesterday and J. E. Burke of Lawrence formerly of Maine, chairman of the executive committee. Following close upon the suspension of the Belknap savings bank at Laconia comes the report of the partial suspension of the Lake Village Savings bank, also of this city. Special from Lancaster, Ky., says: News has reached here that William Conn, Jr., shot Jake Calloway and and fatally wounded Constable Robert Broadus, at Flatwood. The trouble arose over a woman whom young Conn had been calling on. The Armours of Kansas City and Chicago, and several other large stockholders of the Interstate National bank, have organized a trust company which will lend money to farmers and stock raisers, taking as security chattel mortgages on stock and grain. An explosion of gasoline Thursday night at St. Louis resulted in the death of Mrs. Ada Moha, thirty-three years old, her eighteen months old baby and Hugo Howard fifteen months old. Mrs. Bessie Howard and William Howard, her five year old son were probably fatally burned. The Cretan insurgents have received instructions from Athens to accept an autonomous form of government, on condition that the Turkish troops are pre viously withdrawn from the island. The insurgents appear to approve of this plan. At West Sullivan Wednesday night the store of the Sullivan Granite company was entered by burglars who blew the safe open and took $100. Some merchandise was also taken. An attempt was also made to rob the store of Crabtree & Harvey. The secretary of state has directed Consul General Lee at Havana to draw for the immediate purchase of supplies and medicines for relief of the American citizens and the transportation of such as are without the means and are desirious to return to the United States, not to exceed $10,000. The venerable Senator Morrill, of Vermont, has been confined to his bed for several days with an attack of bronchitis. No alarm has been felt by members of the family, as the attack readily yielded to treatment. Two hundred Coburn Cadets from the Maine State college arrived at Bath at noon yesterday for a week's encampment. Lieutenant H. N. Royden, U. S. A., is commander. A party of about sixty members of both houses of Congress left Washington Friday morning for a day's outing at Monticello, the old home of Thomas Jefferson. Speaker Reed was among the Representatives of the House.

8. May 22, 1897 The Daily Morning Journal and Courier New Haven, CT

Article from The Daily Morning Journal and Courier, May 22, 1897

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BANK HARD UP. The Lake Village Bank at Laconia, N. H., Pressed for Cash. Boston, May 21.-A special dispatch to the Globe from Laconia, N. H., says: Following close upon the suspension of the Belknap Savings bank here, comes the report of the partial suspension of the Lake Village Savings bank, also of this city. Notice is given that sums not exceeding $25 will be paid on demand not oftener than once in thirty days to each depositor, while larger sums will be refused even on notice. Western loans are the cause of the trouble. Amount due depositors, $272,870.02.

9. May 27, 1897 Warren Sheaf Warren, MN

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Failure is announced of the Miners' state bank of Cripple Creek, Col. Gov. Black, of New York, signed the bill providing the death penalty for train wreckers who cause death. The Belknap savings bank at Laconia, N. H., closed its doors with about $1,000,000 due depositors. A fire in Jersey City, N. J., caused a loss of $100,000 and made 60 families homeless. The rapid fall of the Mississippi river at all points from Memphis to the gulf gives notice that the flood of 1897 is over. The total area overflowed was: Arkansas, 3,200 square miles; Mississippi, 6,520 square miles; Louisiana, 975 square miles, and the total damage amounts to $14,520,000. The first public test of the acrograph, an instrument by which photographs may be instantaneously transmitted by wire, was successfully made in Cleveland, O. Albert W. King, a 19-year-old messenger of the Boylston national bank in Boston, was missing with about $20,000 in cash. Two children of Augustus Muetze, residing 12 miles from Redfield, S. D., were killed by lightning. Tramps fired the home of Thomas Biddle, a farmer at White Oak Creek, Tenn., and he and his wife and three children were cremated. The sixty-fifth annual meeting of the American Baptist Home Missionary society convened in Pittsburgh, Pa. The fourth annual banquet of the Associated Press was given in Chicago, 140 members being present. The State bank of Monticello, Ind., suspended payment. It had $135,000 in deposits. At Oakland, Cal., Lucretia Borgia, a four-year-old filly, broke the world's record for four miles, making the distance in 7:11. Terrific wind and rainstorms in Indiana did great damage at Indianapolis, Kokomo and Wabash. Fire at Hoboken, N. J., caused a loss of $650,000 and 150 families were rendered homeless. The National Good Citizens' convention at Nashville, Tenn., adopted a platform which seeks to unite all friends of good government, to promote the duty of good citizens, to contend for purity in politics and to make known to all the truth about the principles of American institutions. The State national bank of Logansport, Ind., closed its doors with liabilities of $300,000. The Randolph county courthouse at Beverly, W. Va., was destroyed by fire with all the official records for 100 years. The Third national bank of New York has decided to retire from business. The one hundred and ninth General Assembly of the Presbyterian church met at Eagle Lake, Ind. President McKinley will visit the Nashville exposition on June 12. Michigan will have no state fair this year. The treasury is bankrupt. A statue of Stephen Girard, the philanthropist and founder of Girard college, was unveiled in Philadelphia. Col. E. B. Gray, of Madison, was elected state commander of the G. A. R. at the annual encampment in Eau Claire, Wis. A statue of the late Cornelius Vanderbilt, "the commodore," was unveiled on the campus of Vanderbilt university at Nashville, Tenn.

10. May 29, 1897 The Lamar Register Lamar, CO

Article from The Lamar Register, May 29, 1897

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The Belknap Savings Bank of Laconia, New Hampshire, on Monday commenced suit against the Lamar Land and Canal Co., the Prowers County Land & Irrigation Co., the Lamar Canal Co., the Kansas Loan and Trust Co., and the Trust Com pany of North America, on behalf of the original bondholders, asking that the property be sold, also asking that a receiver be appointed to put the property in good order. Mr. Atcheson, who has been acting as receiver, resigned and Mr. A. E. Bent has been appointed receiver, and is now in charge of the canal and the lands includeded in the first trust deed given by the Lamar Land and Canal Company. It is expected that under this suit by the sale of receiver's certificates enough funds can be realized by which a dam, new headgates and flumes will be built and the canal will be put in first class condition.

11. June 3, 1897 Iowa County Democrat Mineral Point, WI

Article from Iowa County Democrat, June 3, 1897

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TELEGRAMS IN BRIEF. DOMESTIC MATTERS. The First National bank, of Orleaus, Neb., has failed. The doors of the Miners' State bank of Cripple Creek, Col., were closed. Assignee Clark says all creditors will be paid in full. At Rockford, III., James French was found guilty of the murder of his wife and was sentenced to hang June 11. The golden jubilee meeting of the American Medical association will be held in Philadelphia June 1-4. Representative Tongue of Oregon was struck by a cable car in Washington and painfully but not seriously injured. E. S. Fleischer, a Pittsburg real estate agent, was murdered and robbed while on his way home at "midnight. The store of H. B. Rose & Co., wholesale milliners of Pittsburg, Pa., was closed by the sheriff on executions amounting to $50,000. State Treasurer C. B. Collins of Florida has been impeached by the house of the legislature for malfeasance and incompetency. The General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian church at Charlotte, N. C., resumed the celebration of the Westminster anniversary. Francis X. Gervais, for a number of years a leading dry goods merchant in Montreal, is missing, with several charges of fraud against him. Two hundred people who occupied fifteen flimsy frame structures in Jersey City were burned out and are now a charge on the authorities. The mountain-climbing expedition of the Italian Prince Luigi, which is to essay the summit of Mount St. Elias, will sail from Seattle, June 13. The Belknap Savings bank, of Laeonia, N. H., closed its doors. About $1,000,000 is due depositors. The bank will go into voluntary liquidation. Albert M. King, messenger for the Boylston National Bank, Boston, is missing, together with $19,409 and a United States certificate for $10,000. Govenor Black of New York, has refused to sign the graduated inheriambassador to France, will become tance tax bill passed by the recent legislature. Dr. C. M. Weldon of Brocton, Mass., has accepted the presidency of Clark University of Atlanta, Ga., one of the largest colored universities in the south. The mines on the upper level of the old Scotch Hill are on fire and threaten the existence of the town of Newburger, W. Va., which is built over the mines. The Buffalo ex-superintendent of Streets, Thomas F. Maloney, was sentenced by Judge Spring to pay a fine of $700 for attempting to bribe Superintendent of Police Bull. The monthly steamship service between Tacoma and Papete, the chief seaport of Tabita, and other South Sea islands has been arranged for by the French government. Cornelius Curran, of Baitimore, and C. E. Dunn, of Huntington, Ind., both delegates to the conductors' convention, at Los Angeles, Cal., have mysteriously disappeared. Inquiries at Helena and Butte, Mont., have failed to confirm the report that W. H. Hamilton, his wife, son and daughter, were recently murdered in a village near Helena. The Reformed Presbyterian synod, which is meeting at Pittsburg, decided to admit Rev. John W. Scott, a native of India. It elected Rev. Thomas Pretles of Minneapolis as moderator. Ex-Senator Dubois and Senators Cannon and Pettigrew will sail July 2 for China and Japan. It is understood they go to study the financial question from the oriental standpoint. Following close upon the suspension of the Belknap Savings bank, Laconia, N. H., comes the report of the partial suspension of the Lake Village Savings bank, also of that city. The New York police authorities have received information that Charles Fisher, who 18 wanted for robbing mail-boxes in the United States, has been arrested in London for shopbreaking. E. C. Morrow & Bro. of Clarkeville, Tean.. have closed a contract by which they will furnish the Italian government 15,000 hogsheads of fine dark tobacco, almost the entire crop in that section. Sim Glover of Rochester, N. N., became the champion shot of America and defender of the Kansas City Star cup, having killed 30 straight birds and outdistanced a field of 61 competitors. The Nashua stockholders of the defunct Sioux City bank of Sioux City, Iowa, have abandoned their fight

12. June 3, 1897 Democratic Northwest and Henry County News Napoleon, OH

Article from Democratic Northwest and Henry County News, June 3, 1897

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Rt. Rev. Bishop Mullen is dying at Philadelphia. The silk weavers at Paterson, N. J., have returned to work. Colonel Manos of the Greek army attempted to commit suicide. Mayor Harrison led the annual Sunday run of Chicago bicycle clubs. W. R. Ross, 15, cigarette fiend, suicided in Camden, N. J., by hanging. The Society of Friends held Its two hundred and third annual session in New York. Two persons perished in a fire in New York and three were probably fatally Injured. Eddle Vaugle, the prizefighter who was knocked senseless at New York, will recover. The British warships pulled the Hamburg-American liner Areadia off the rocks near Cape Ray, N. F. The seventy-second anniversary of the establishment of the American Tract society was celebrated in New York. Saturday. Great quantities of grain are being sent to South Africa. The National Sound Money league held a meeting at Chicago. Mons Lee, the aeuronaut, was fatally Injured in a fall at McKeesport, Pa. Governor Bradley will suppress the tollgate mobs in Kentucky by alding the local officers. William F. Bickel, president of the defunct Minnesota Savings bank, has been acquitted. Consul General Lee has been Instructed to purchase $10,000 worth of supplies for the relief of American citizens in Cuba. H. B. Rose & Company, wholesale milliners of Pittsburg, have been closed by the sheriff on executions for $50,000. The plant of the Buffalo (N. Y.) Mortar and Fiber company has been selzed by the sheriff on an attachment for $15,000. The lenses of the Yerkes Observatory In Wisconsin have been adjusted, making the greatest telescope in the world ready for use Mrs. Katherine Evans, 62, of Cleveland married Jacob Evans, 73, an Indiana farmer near Montmorenci after a brief courtship by mail. Friday. Senator Joseph H. Earle Is dead at Greenville, S. C. A large filibustering expedition has left Florida for Cuba. The courthouse in Randolph county, W. Va., at Beverly, was burned. A windstorm did great damage In Indianapolis, but no lives were lost. The powers have agreed that Turkey is entitled to $20,000,000 from Greece. A bill has been introduced in the Spanish cortes to increase the army to 100,000 men. Rev. C. M. Weldon of Brockton, Mass., has accepted the presidency of Clark's university in Atlanta. The Presbyterian general assembly at Eagle Lake, Ind., elected Dr. Sheldon Jackson to the moderatorship. Morgan Rotch of New Bedford. Mass., president of the Howland, Rotch and New Bedford, mills, has assigned. The State Bankers' association in session at Nashville recommended John W. Faxon for treasurer of the United States. News of the passage of the Cuban belligerency resolution by the United States senate was received with checrs in Mexico. The United Brethren church:elected Bishop Weaver bishop emeritus, and Bishops Castle, Keppart, Holt and Mills were reelected. There was'a riot in the lower house of the Illincis lègislature, resulting from Representative Novak of Chicago assaulting the speaker. William T. Bryant of Montevista, Colo., says he saw Pastor Gibson carry the dead body of Blanche Lamont to the belfry of Emanuel church in San Francisco. Thursday. Howard, S. D., was struck by a cyclone. Kentucky's legislature has passed an antimob law. The Southern hotel at Meridan, Miss., was burned. Horatio King, postmaster general under Buchanan, is dead. Some new mud geysers have begun to squirt near El Moro, Cala. The miners of the Pittsburg district are preparing for a general strike. The license of the Metropolitan Life Insurance company of New York has been revoked in Kansas. Baroness von Turkheim, alias Jeanne Young of San Francisco will return from England penniless. Rev. Thomas Peebles of Minneapolis was elected moderator of the synod of the Reformed Presbyterian church at Pittsburg. With a revolver in one hand and a photo of a woman other than his wife In the other George Taylor, a St. Louis banker, was found dead. Wednesday. The Belknap Savings bank of Laconia has suspended. Lieutenant Farrow was acquitted at Pittsburg of defrauding an insurance company. Eighteen councils of the A. P. A.'s have been suspended in Karsas City and St. Louis. The senate committee recommends an appropriation of $350,000 for the Paris exposition. Governor Leedy denounced the temperance people for expecting him to enforce the Kansas temperance laws. The Missouri courts have decided that b!cycles are not baggage and that a rallroad can not be compelled to carry them free. Governor Pingree has announced that he will call an extra session of the Michigan legislature In case a law is not enacted to get $1,000,000 more taxes out of corporations.