13919. Mechanics Trust Company (Bayonne, NJ)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run Only
Bank Type
trust company
Start Date
February 2, 1907
Location
Bayonne, New Jersey (40.669, -74.114)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
45f2f7b5

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Public signal of financial health, Capital injected

Description

Multiple articles (Feb 1907) report a run triggered by unfounded rumors among foreign/Polish depositors; one article describes a specific prank/wink that started the false rumor. The bank paid out deposits, stayed open extended hours, received support (merchants' redeposits and aid from New York) and did not suspend. Withdrawals reported between ~$250,000 and $300,000; one account says over $1,000,000 available in cash.

Events (1)
1. February 2, 1907 Run
Cause
Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details
Run started by unfounded rumors among Polish/foreign depositors; one account describes a joking 'wink' and false story that bank was insolvent.
Random Run
Yes
Random Run Snippet
False rumor started by a wink/joke; malicious mischief, not true
Measures
Bank paid depositors promptly, kept doors open extended hours (open until midnight), merchants redeposited funds, and aid from New York reportedly arrived.
Newspaper Excerpt
As a result of unsubstantiated rumors among the foreign element of its depositors, a run on the Mechanics' Trust company occurred yesterday. Several hundred men and women gathered about the bank and were paid off as fast as the money could be counted out.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (11)
1. February 2, 1907 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS
Article from The Topeka State Journal, February 2, 1907

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Article Text

RUMORS CAUSE A RUN. Depositors in Bayonne, N. J., Bank Clamor for Their Money. Bayonne, N. J., Feb. 2.-As a result of unsubstantiated rumors among the foreign element of its depositors, a run on the Mechanics' Trust company occurred yesterday. Several hundred men and women gathered about the bank and were paid off as fast as the money could be counted out. Several thousand dollars were withdrawn. The bank officials assured the crowd, made up chiefly of small depositors, that the institution was perfectly solvent and that there were ample funds on hand to pay every depositor in full. Merchants of the city showed their faith in the bank by making deposits in the face of the run, while aid from New York, amounting, it was said, to a million dollars, was received.

2. February 2, 1907 Waterbury Evening Democrat Waterbury, CT
Article from Waterbury Evening Democrat, February 2, 1907

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Article Text

Bank her Open .... Night. BAYONNE, N. J., Feb. 2.-Alarmed by a report that the Mechanics' Trust company, one of the largest banking institutions in New Jersey, was on the verge of collapse, small depositors in Constable Hook started a run, which became so serious that the doors of the bank were reopened last night at 6 o'clock and remained.orgen all night.

3. February 2, 1907 The Washington Times Washington, DC
Article from The Washington Times, February 2, 1907

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Article Text

RUN ON BANK STARTED BY POLISH DEPOSITORS NEW YORK. Feb. 2-The Mechanics' Trust Company, of Bayonne, N. J., had its doors open yesterday not only in regular banking hours, but also from 6 o'clock on until almost midnight. The cause was a run on the savings department, started on Thursday by rumors which frightened some Poles and other foreigners, who are depositors. Confidence was restored in part by the readiness with which the money was paid out, but Charles F. Noe, chairman of the board of directors. said that the bank would bè kept open as long as a single person was there to ask for his money.

4. February 3, 1907 The Times Dispatch Richmond, VA
Article from The Times Dispatch, February 3, 1907

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Article Text

RUN ON BANK. People Still Swarm Around New Jersey Bank. NEW YORK, Feb. 2.-The run on the Mechanics Trust Company of Bayonne, N. J., which was started yesterday by a false rumor regarding the institution's solvency, continued to-day. There were none of the scenes which marked the early stages of the run, however, where hundreds stood in line yesterday waiting to withdraw their savings, there were only seventy-five on hand when business was resumed to-day. Officials of the trust company announced that more than a million dollars in cash had been awaiting the pleasure of the depositors.

5. February 3, 1907 Omaha Daily Bee Omaha, NE
Article from Omaha Daily Bee, February 3, 1907

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Article Text

Run on New Jersey Bank. NEW YORK, Feb. 2.-The run on the Mechanics' Trust company at Bayonne, N. J., which was started yesterday by a false rumor regarding the institutions' solvency, continued today. There were none of the scenes which marked the early stages of the run. Where hundreds stood in line yesterday there were only seventy-five on hand today. Officials of the company announced that more than $1,000,000 had been awaiting the pleasure of the depositors.

6. February 3, 1907 The Washington Herald Washington, DC
Article from The Washington Herald, February 3, 1907

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Article Text

Bayonne Bank Run Ends. New York, Feb. 2.-The run on the savings department of the Mechanics' Trust Company, of West Eighth street, Bayonne, petered out to-day, after about $300,000 of the deposits had been withdrawn. This was only a fifth part of the bank's deposits of that kind, so that after all there was little real excitement on the part of the directors,

7. February 3, 1907 The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery, AL
Article from The Montgomery Advertiser, February 3, 1907

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Article Text

/ BANK RUN CONTINUES. Depositors are Not So Anxious to Draw Money, However. New York, Feb. 2.-The run on the Mechanics Trust Company of Bayonne, N. J., which was started yesterday by a false rumor regarding the institution's solvency, continued today. There were none of the scenes which

8. February 3, 1907 The Salt Lake Herald Salt Lake City, UT
Article from The Salt Lake Herald, February 3, 1907

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Article Text

NO LACK OF FUNDS. New York, Feb. 2.-The run on the Mechanics' Trust company of Bayonne, N. J., which was started yesterday by a false rumor regarding the institution's solvency, continued today. There were none of the scenes which marked the early stages of the run, however. Officials of the company announced that more than $1,000,000 had been awaiting the pleasure of the depositors.

9. February 8, 1907 The Penn's Grove Record Penns Grove, NJ
Article from The Penn's Grove Record, February 8, 1907

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Article Text

DOMESTIC. Thousands of ducks are dead and as many more dying on the famous hunting grounds of North Utah, the cause being a mystery. The Baltimore Chamber of Commerce has chosen Blanchard Randall as president. A lobster nipped Christian Ruppert, a restaurant chef, of New York City, on the thumb, and he died of lockjaw. Edward P. Hipple, brother of the late Frank K. Hipple, head of the defunct Real Estate Trust Company, of Philadelphia, committed suicide. Control of the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City and the Gulf and Chicago Railroads has been vested in John E. Borne, B. F. Yoakum and Alexander McDonald. Andrew D. White, a grandton of the former president of Cornell and Minister to Germany, shot himself on a railway train and died at Los Angeles, Cal. Alarmed by an unfounded report depositors in the Mechanics' Trust Company, in Bayonne, N. J., started a run on the bank and withdrew $250,000. Zion City is to be deserted by Voliva; he will found a new colony. An estate of about $100,000 was left to James Cullen, who was lynched at Charles City, Iowa, his brother, R. C. Cullen's will, having just been filed at Des Moines.

10. February 25, 1907 The Evening Statesman Walla Walla, WA
Article from The Evening Statesman, February 25, 1907

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Article Text

EYE GLANCE STARTS RUN Bank In New Jersey Has Disastrous Time as Result of Careless Wink. NEW YORK, Feb. 25.-A wing that was not caught. started the run on the Mechanics' Trust company, of Bayonne, N. J., which lasted three days. The winker, detectives learned last night, was Henry Verm, who the day the run began, stood in the street joking with James Shannon and John Devanny, of No. 81 Hobart avenue, Bayonne, John Nevins, of No. 14 Siffon street, joined the group. "Sure, the bank is busted." said Devanny. "Glad I haven't any money there!" Shannon did have money there and he couldn't see the joke. His face fell and Verm says he winked at Nevins, who also looked serious, meaning by the wink to say it was all a joke on Shannon. Nevins did not catch the quick closing of Verm's eyelids, and soon he was busy repeating the story he had heard, that the bank was insolvent. It travelled like wildfire and in half an hour Constable Hook as wel as Bayonne was aflame with it. When the rumor was running through the Hook, Thomas Bull, thinking to discredit it, called up John Muller, a Bayonne saloon-keeper, asking him if it were true. Muller had not heard, and he called up other saloons. In this way the alarm spread. Those immediately concerned in starting the rumor, which caused so many poor depositors to lose their interest, will be arraigned this morning before Recorder Lazarus. A charge of malicious mischief will be made against them.

11. March 6, 1907 The Abbeville Press and Banner Abbeville, SC
Article from The Abbeville Press and Banner, March 6, 1907

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Article Text

DOMESTIC. Thousands of ducks are dead and as many more dying on the famous hunting grounds of North Utah, the cause being a mystery. The Baltimore Chamber of Commerce has chosen Blanchard Randall as president. A lobster nipped Christian Ruppert, a restaurant chef, of New York City, on the thumb, and he died of lockjaw. Edward P. Hipple, brother of the late Frank K. Hipple, head of the defunct Real Estate Trust Company, of Philadelphia, committed suicide. Control of the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City and the Gulf and Chicago Railroads has been vested in John E. Borne, B. F. Yoakum and Alexander McDonald. Andrew D. White, a grandson of the former president of Cornell and Minister to Germany, shot himself on a railway train and died at Los Angeles, Cal. Alarmed by an unfounded report depositors in the Mechanics' Trust Company, in Bayonne, N. J., started a run on the bank and withdrew $250,000. Zion City is to be deserted by Voliva; he will found a new colony. An estate of about $100,000 was left to James Cullen, who was lynched at Charles City, Iowa, his brother, R. C. Cullen's will, having just been filed at Des Moines.