14063. Italian Savings Bank (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run Only
Bank Type
savings bank
Start Date
May 7, 1907
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
789da981e1cc48a8

Response Measures

None

Description

Multiple articles describe a depositor run on the Italian Savings Bank in New York on May 7, 1907 triggered by discovery/circulation of a clerk's defalcation (~$13,000). Trustees made the shortage good and the bank paid depositors; police reserves were called. No suspension or permanent closure is mentioned.

Events (2)

1. May 7, 1907 Run
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Circulation of report of a clerk's defalcation/embezzlement (teller/bookkeeper stole funds).
Measures
Trustees made good the shortage; bank paid off depositors during the day; police reserves called to preserve order; president attempted to reassure depositors.
Newspaper Excerpt
Circulation of a report that a clerk ... had stolen a small sum of the bank's money started a run by the depositors of the bank to-day.
Source
newspapers
2. October 18, 1907 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Coincident with Arisio's disappearance there was a run on the bank and it was discovered that he had stolen about $13,000, which the trustees of the bank made good.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (3)

Article from The Daily Morning Journal and Courier, May 8, 1907

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

RUN ON SAVINGS BANK. Rumor of Defalcation Causes New York Institution Trouble. New York, May 7.-Circulation of a report that a clerk employed by the Italian savings bank of th ecity of New York had stolen a small sum of the bank's money started a run by the depositors of the bank to-day. Most of the depositors are Italians. A state bank examiner announced that the defalcation had been made good by the bank's officers and that the assets of the bank exceeded its liabilities. During the day the bank steadily pad off ts depostors. It was stated that the bank had ample cash to meet the demands.


Article from The Washington Herald, May 8, 1907

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

START RUN ON ITALIAN BANK Excited Foreigners Try to Get Savings in Their Hands. Reserves Called Out to Preserve Order, While Tellers Cash Checks for Mob. New York May 7.-A thousand frantic Italians swarmed about the Italian Savings Bank, at Lafayette and Spring streets, to-day, fighting and scrambling for a chance to draw out their money. A small defalcation by a clerk, some weeks ago, had grown into a prodigious sum in the telling and extelling, and the run which began with the day's business soon assumed serious proportions. Long before the bank opened for the day a great crowd gathered outside, and when the door opened there was a rush for the paying window and a clamor for money by the excited men and women. They finally became so boisterous that Capt. Liebers was appealed to. He called out the reserves of the Mulberry street precinct, and the bluecoats had their hands full. All effort to keep the mob in order was in vain, and the police contented themselves with keeping the sidewalks clear. During the excitement President Joseph N. Franciolini tried to tell the depositors that there was more than enough money on hand to pay all their accounts, but they would not listen to him. Much delay in satisfying the depositors was due to the fact that the bank is small and the counting-room illy arranged. There is but one window which can be used in paying the accounts, and on account of the cramped quarters the president did not think more than $30,000 or $40,000 could be paid out during the day.


Article from The Sun, October 18, 1907

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

HOW TELLER ROBBED BANK. Arisio Said to Have Been Be trayed to Arrest by a Woman. John J. Arisio, who was teller and bookkeeper for the Italian Savings Bank, in Spring street, up to the time he disappeared last November, was locked up at Police Headquarters last night, having been brought from Baltimore, where he was arrested by Detective Rayens of the District Attorney's office. Coincident with Arisio's disappearance there was a run on the bank and it was discovered that he had stolen about $13,000, which the trustees of the bank made good. It is said that a woman with whom Arisio had been in love furnished information on which he was arrested. On his own hook Arisio tried to stave off prosecution. He wrote a letter to the bank officials in which he said he wasn't going to tell where he was, but they had better let up on him as it wouldn't be well for the public to know how easy it was to steal from the bank. According to the complaint made by Pasquale Simonelli, secretary of the bank, to Assistant District Attorney Whiteside, Arisio stole the money this way: When a depositor came with money Arisio entered it in the passbook and then put a lesser sum on his day book and pocketed the difference. At the end of the day he gave the cashier the total on his day book, but when the depositors came with their pass books at the end of the month he doctored the depositors' ledger to make the entries correspond with the entries in the pass books.