Milford Five Cents Savings Bank

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: November 30, 1896
Location: Milford, New Hampshire (42.835, -71.649)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 37c47a1d

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (Nov 30, 1896) is part of coverage of many New Hampshire savings bank suspensions after being looted by swindlers. The Milford institution is described as having been enjoined and permitted to pay out 15 percent to depositors, indicating it had suspended payments; the piece discusses heavy losses and withheld deposits, implying a permanent failure/closure rather than a mere temporary run. No explicit run is described in the excerpt.

Events (1)

1. November 30, 1896 Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: The New Hampshire savings banks (including Milford) were 'looted by swindling westerners' leading to insolvency and court injunctions; deposits were withheld and partial payments (15%) permitted.
Newspaper Excerpt: For example, the Keene Guaranty bank has been permitted to pay out 25 per cent, the Milford 15 per cent, the Francestown 10 per cent, the Hinsdale 10 per cent and the Keene Five Cents 15 per cent.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. November 30, 1896 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS

Article from The Topeka State Journal, November 30, 1896

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Article Text

financial history of this country how the New Hampshire savings banks were looted by swindling westerners, and how the sharp work of which the banks had been victims was discovered in 1895 and 1896, at a cost to many people which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. Now that the trouble is fairly over, and there is no danger of a run on any institution in the state through fear of other failures, men who have dreaded the advent of each day because they were afraid that fresh news of disaster would come before nightfall, are willing to tell something of how the state, for the loss eventually will be felt by the commonwealth, came to be robbed by the sharpers of the west. While many banks beside those above mentioned have been in straits for the past two years, there is practically no danger that those which have withstood the shock to this late day will be forced to suspend. It has been felt for some months that if the story of the New Hampshire savings banks suspensions was printed, and the reasons for their failure given, it would cause such a run on the solvent institutions, and create so great a lack of confidence in them, that many banks with securities worth dollar for dollar would be unable to stand the strain in the hard times. Happily, there is no such danger felt now, and one of the most prominent financial men in the state told a representative of the Boston Herald today that he did not think there was a savings institution doing business in the state but would pay all its depositors in full, and keep on paying them interest, although a somewhat smaller rate than has been in vogue. The 22 suspended banks and savings institutions, a list of which has been given, had deposits aggregating $17,866,791.48. Of this amount it is hardly possible that more than from 70 to 75 per cent will be paid. This, therefore, involves a loss of $4,466,697.87. Besides this it means that practically all this vast amount, $4,440,217.80, has been withheld from the depositors since the banks suspended, the suspensions, of course, coming on different dates. Some of the banks have had their injunctions modified, and in some cases arrangements were made that small sums should be paid needy depositors up to a certain per cent of their deposits, but, as a whole, the amounts in care of the banks haven't been paid out. For example, the Keene Guaranty bank has been permitted to pay out 25 per cent, the Milford 15 per cent, the Francestown 10 per cent, the Hinsdale 10 per cent and the Keene Five Cents 15 per cent. It must not be understood that the losses in every case will amount to 30 per cent. This is by no means sure. For example, it is estimated that the Cheshire institution of Keene will pay almost dollar for dollar, and in a number of others about 90 per cent will be realized. But in others the loss will be much greater, notably the Sullivan Institution for Savings in Claremont, where nearly all is gone, and in which town SO much suffering exists at present. So, taking the whole state through, it is probable that the amounts to be deducted from the depositors' accounts will reach an average of from 25 to 30 per cent. Therefore, The Herald's figures are based on a shrinkage of the smaller figure, 25 per cent. On this basis the loss to New Hampshire depositors will amount to $4,466,697.87, and this is not taking into account that the money tied up in enjoined institutions has not earned a dollar of interest for from six to eighteen months, not a small sum to lose by any means, when figured in the aggregate on the total amount of deposits in the unsound institutions.