14078. Knickerbocker Trust Company (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type
trust
Start Date
October 22, 1907
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
d7a7c4b2893a3997

Response Measures

None

Description

Newspaper articles describe a depositor run beginning Oct 22, 1907 that exhausted cash and led the Knickerbocker to suspend payments the same day; control was later assumed by receivers and the company reopened under a reorganization (receivership arrangement) in late March 1908 with limited withdrawals and ultimately paid depositors in full by 1910. Cause was primarily loss of confidence tied to management changes (Charles T. Barney's resignation) and related local trust-company failures during the 1907 panic. Dates drawn from contemporaneous articles.

Events (5)
1. October 22, 1907 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
The control of the Knickerbocker Trust Co., which closed its doors last week today was assumed by Receiver Clark. Williams ... the attorney general has permitted the company to resume its duties as fiscal agent and trustee.
Source
newspapers
2. October 22, 1907 Run
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Resignation of president Charles T. Barney, loss of clearing-house support/credit and falling confidence amid wider trust-company troubles in Oct. 1907 led depositors to withdraw funds.
Measures
Paid out large quantities of cash (reported $8,000,000 initial cash; later paid out at reported rate $44,444/min until funds exhausted); public statements of solvency by officers; attempted to obtain cash from other sources; subsequently turned over to receivers.
Newspaper Excerpt
There was a run of depositors to withdraw money at the main office of the Knickerbocker Trust company when it opened for business Thursday morning ... At the main office there was about seventy-five persons in line ... more than 150 people were in line at the paying teller's window ...
Source
newspapers
3. October 22, 1907 Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Run on deposits exhausted available cash; officers announced suspension of payments after cash depleted though they claimed assets were ample.
Newspaper Excerpt
The $8,000,000 lasted until 12:30, when Vice President J. T. Brown announced that the bank had no more cash available and payments were suspended.
Source
newspapers
4. March 27, 1908 Reopening
Newspaper Excerpt
The Knickerbocker Trust company, which suspended payment on October 22nd last after sustaining a run of its depositors, was reopened for business yesterday with a new management and under an agreement by which the depositors may withdraw only about one third of the $36,000,000 on the books at once.
Source
newspapers
5. March 13, 1910 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Knickerbocker Ready to Pay Off Last Dollar Due to Depositors...Tomorrow morning the last dollar due the depositors of the Knickerbocker Trust Company at the time of the failure of the big bank, October 22, 1907, will be paid off.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (25)
1. December 31, 1906 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, December 31, 1906

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SAYS DEPOSITORS MUST ACT. Counsel for Knickerbocker Depositors' Committee Explains Situation. "A great many inquiries have .been received by the members of the 'Parsons committee' of depositors of the Knickerbocker Trust Company," said Herbert L. Satterlee, counsel for that committee, last night, "about the assets of the Knickerbocker Trust Company. "The committee desires to say that the receivers have not been able to give out any figures, because they have not yet completed advertising for claims, nor has the appraisement of the assets yet been completed. Few people, unless they have served on an auditing committee of a bank or trust company, can realize the labor or time involved in making such an appraisal. Of course, until the inventory shall have been made and time for proof of claims shall have expired neither the court nor the receivers have any knowledge which they are at liberty to disclose. "It can be generally stated that if the depositors will act together before next Saturday, and enable the company to resume in the near future its condition will be about as follows: The total assets will have the value of about $53,165,000. made up of: Cash, $3,000,000; demand loans, $10,000,000; time loans, $26,000,000; bills receivable, $850,000; bonds and mortgages, $3,150,000; investments, $8,000,000; real estate, $2,165,000; total, $53,165,000. "It is now up to the depositors to act and to act quickly if they desire to have the company open its doors."

2. October 23, 1907 Bluefield Evening Leader Bluefield, WV
Article from Bluefield Evening Leader, October 23, 1907

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New York, Oct. 23. A run etartel on the Trust Company of America when the doors opened today. but the allied trust companies It is announced agreed to advance fifteen million dollars to the American at once, This, with eleven million dollars said to be in the company's vaults, it is averred will be sufficient to meet all demands. If the Trust Company of America meets today's demands all the bankers will he able to weather the storm. The Knickerbocker Trust Company today placed in the state banking department's hands to rthe attorney general to hold an investigation and sea If it is necessary to appoint a receiver. The stock market opened demoralized with wide price variations. Call money was quoted at 40 per cent Edward C. Benedict was today appointed receiver for the brokerage firm of Mayer & Co., which failed yesterday for six million dollars.

3. October 23, 1907 Bryan Morning Eagle Bryan, TX
Article from Bryan Morning Eagle, October 23, 1907

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WITHDRAW FUNDS. Many Depositors Make Run on a Trust Company. was a New York, Oct. 22.-There run of depositors to withdraw money at the main office of the Knickerbocker Trust company when It opened for business Thursday morning and also at the branch offices of the company at 66 Broadway and in One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. At the main office there was about seventy-five persons in line and others constantly arriving. Many of those who came to withdraw Unir money were women. At 66 Broadway there was consider able excitement when the office onexed for business. A line of about fifty persons gathered and made its way to the paying tellers' windows to withdraw funds. Second Vice President Allen, who is in charge of the downtown office, gave out the following statement: "There is nothing to be alarmed about. We have $8,000,000 cash in the valuts and are prepared to meet all demands. The company is perfectly solvent." Mr. Allen said fears created by Mr. Barney's retirement from the presidency of the company would soon be allayed. Bankers, brokers and business men generally came down town early to prepare for whatever further developments there might be in the financial situation. The feeling of relief and satisfaction with which these men be gan the transaction of business Monday was succeeded by considerable nervousness as the result of develop. ments concerning the Knickerbocker Trust company. The clearing house committee went into session shortly after 10 o'clock. It was announced then debit balances of the Mercantile National bank and National Bank of North America and neither required the assistance of the clearing house. Shortly after the main offices of the Knickerbocker Trust company at Thirty-fourth street opened for business depositors began to arrive in great numbers and at 10:30 o'clock more than 150 people were in line at the paying teller's window Many de positors came in carriages and the carriage line extended for over a block from the bank. There was a short run on the Bronx branch of the Knickerbocker Trust company when It opened for business It was promptly stopped her the arrive or two wagons, from wh: h were un loaded in view of waiting depositor big bundles of currency. The news was made public that the National Bank of Commerce gave notice It would decline any longer to act as a clearing house agent for the Knickerbocker Trust company, and the resignation by Charles T. Barney of presidency of the latter institution served to unsettle sentiment more than the Morse-Heinze development of last week. The magnitude of the business transacted by the Knicker bocker Trust company with its depos its amounting to $60,000,000 gave : much more serious aspect to the changes made in the management than did changes in the relatively smalle Morse-Heinze concern. Announcement of Mr. Barney's resig nation was followed by a series of con ferences of financial men at Sherries which lasted until nearly 2 o'clock Tuesday morning. Among those pres ent were J. Pierpont Morgan and part ners. George W. Perkins and Charles

4. October 25, 1907 Alexandria Gazette Alexandria, VA
Article from Alexandria Gazette, October 25, 1907

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seems to have much to learn of terrestrial affairs. # THE New York stock market was on the verge of a panic when J. P. Morgan, responding to a piteous appeal, sent $25,000,000 to the exchange and turned the tide. John D. Rockefeller distributed $10,000,000 through the Union Trust Company. Secretary Cortelyou deposited a large part of $25,000,000 in New York banks. Nine millions more was drawn from the Trust Company of America, but it had no difficulty, as possibly as much was deposited. The millions which poured into the market reduced the rate for money at the close to 10 per cent. Directors of the Knickerbocker Trust Company are working out a scheme to avoid liquidation by forming a syndicate to guarantee payment in full to depositors. There was a run on the Lincolu Trust Company, which had no difficulty in meeting all demands. Today pictures of Rockefeller and Morgan appeared in many newspapers with praises of their action in coming to the rescue of the market at the critical moment. Under normal conditions these two financi are generally targets for abuse from the envious. They suddenly became very popular yesterday when their services were needed.

5. October 26, 1907 St. Tammany Farmer Covington, LA
Article from St. Tammany Farmer, October 26, 1907

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Incidents of -the character that caused the heavy run on the Knickerbocker Trust Company of New York, this week. serve to sharpen the wits of the people and give them a keener perception of the danger of entrusting funds to concerns whose directorates are composed largely of speculators and plungers, whose insatiate desires for rapid and large profits are apt at any time to lead to misfortune. There should be a demand that the earnings of depositors be safeguarded from the clutches of those liable to be stricken with speculative fever, and institutions showing such men to be among its officials should be regarded with suspicion and distrust.

6. October 31, 1907 The Idaho Recorder Salmon, ID
Article from The Idaho Recorder, October 31, 1907

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FINANCIAL STORM IN NEW YORK CITY The Knickerbocker Trust Company, With $60,000,000 Profits, Forced to Close Its Doors. Depositors Make Demand for Their Money and Second Largest Financial Institution in Gothem Goes to the Wall. New York City.-The financial storm in all probability reached its height on Tuesday, when credit, the underthe-surface foundation of all business, trembled for a time, and before confidence had been restored New York's second largest financial institution had emptied its cash vaults under the pressure of the biggest run experienced here in a generation; a stock exchange firm had failed for $6,000,000; Wall street's principal securities had settled from $5 to $8 a share; call money had risen to 70 per cent, and local bankers, united to stem the tide of distrust, had been forced to appeal for relief to the secretary of the treasury at Washington. The Knickerbocker Trust company, the storm center, on Tuesday, paid out cash to depositors at the rate of $44,444 a minute for three hours, and then closed its doors. The directors had, as they thought, fully prepared for a run, and caused to be announced in Tuesday's papers that $8,000,000 in cash was on hand to meet all eventualitles. At 9:30 a few depositors withdrew their accounts and an hour afterwards hundreds were in line to take out their deposits at the main office at Thirty-fourth street and Fifth avenue and at the Harlem and Bronx and down-town branches. The $8,000,000 lasted until 12:30, when Vice President J. T. Brown announced that the bank had no more cash available and payments were suspended. Mr. Brown said that the bank would open Wednesday and payments be re sumed at 10:30 o'clock. The Knicker bocker, it was announced, had ample securities to meet all demands, was perfectly solvent, and it was only & question of raising the cash, when all depositors who wished to withdraw could do so.

7. November 1, 1907 Gunnison News-Champion Gunnison, CO
Article from Gunnison News-Champion, November 1, 1907

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# PANIC PROBABLY AVERTED Economic Disaster Narrowly Es- caped by Use of Most Heroic Measures on Part of Gov- ernment and Big Fin- anciers It is not time for a great panic like those of 1873 and 1893, for the twenty year period does not expire for six years more. However, the country has narrowly escaped an economic catastrophe, if indeed it has yet escaped. Following the failure of the Knickerbocker Trust company, of New York, a sixty million dollar concern, dozens of smaller banks went reeling and tottering and the whole financial structure threatened to topple like a house of cards. How-ever, the most heroic measures have been taken to stop a panic, and if it is within the bounds of human power to stop it the country will escape. The administration is hurrying hun-dreds of millions in cash to the New York banks, for a financial crash in the Roosevelt administration would be unpardonable. Morgan and Rockefeller and Ryan are dumping their funds, twenty-five million at a clip, into the pot. Practically all western banks, feeling the strain, have suspended cash payments ex-cept in small sums, to prevent their funds from being drawn off to New York. Absolutely no alarm need be felt by any depositor of the First Nation-al Bank of Gunnison for this insti-tution is as solid as a rock and has not even felt it worth while to take advantage of the suspension of cash payments announced in other cities. If you have thousands on deposit you can only draw $50 or $100 to relieve pressing necessities for most banks wont give you more. That is strictly unlawful of course, but des-perate cases require desperate reme-dies. It is stated that this suspen-sion of cash payments will continue until November 5th. It follows that business must be done on credit, by checks and personal notes. Look out then for bad checks. This warn-ing is being echoed all over the country. Look out for bad checks. A panic in times of piping pros-perity, with bumper crops, and a quantity of circulating medium never before equaled would certainly be an anomaly in finance. In all human possibility the crisis is now passed, though there is no question but a good deal of optomism in the daily press is mere "whistling to keep the courage up."

8. November 2, 1907 Arizona Republican Phoenix, AZ
Article from Arizona Republican, November 2, 1907

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THE KNICKERBOCKER TRUST. It Will Resume Under the Direction of a Receiver. New York, Nov. 1.-The control of the Knickerbocker Trust Co., which closed its doors last week today was assumed by Receiver Clark. Williams. the state superintendent of banking, says the attorney general has permitted the company to resume its duties as fiscal agent and trustee.

9. November 3, 1907 The Morning Astorian Astoria, OR
Article from The Morning Astorian, November 3, 1907

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knew that a run was on. Everything was orderly. There was no violent scenes such as the melodrama presents in thrilling elimaxes, no tears nor wringing of the hands. Just the steadily lengthening line of depositors that moved regularly to the tellers' windows with their bank books open for presentation. The men stood in one, line and were received at one grating and the women stepped into the women's room to the left of the entrance to the bank and there formed their line. The banks doors had not been open 15 minutes when the line of depositors extended out of the doors and down the steps to the sidewalk. Then it was that Fifth Avenue and all the traffic that passes the busy 34th Street corner knew that something was the matter with the Knickerbocker Trust Co. People riding by on the Fifth Avenue busses stepped hastily off to run into the Waldorf and get to the telephone. Business men riding down in their autos to business further downtown had their machines halted abruptly and in many instances wheeled them about and went back up the avenue as fast as the law would allow. The news was out and it, spread as fast as telephone wire and speeding automobile could carry. Behind the gratings, inside of the bank, clerks and tellers were paying out as fast as they could compute interest and stamp vouchers. Stacks of green currency bound into thousand-dollar lots, were broached and they dwindled rapidly. Clerks went to the vaults from time to time and returned with arms full of notes, piled up like bundles of kindling wood. Before 11 o'clock the depositors who live on upper Fifth Avenue and on the cross streets about the park, began to come down in broughams, automobiles and electric cabs. Most of these were women, those whose names are familiar in the society columns and whose hunbands, are known in the Street. It became evident that hunbands taking fright on the Street downtown at the fall of stocks and the reported weakness of the Knickerbocker, had telephoned to their wives to withdraw deposits because they themselves did not dare leave their offices. The crush of carriages at the Curb grew so great before noon that special policemen from the traffic squad had difficulty in keeping order. Just before noon Joseph T. Brown, second vice-president of the trust company, stepped up on a chair in the middle of the coiled lines of depositors in the bank and read from a typewritten paper he held. It was a statement from George I. Skinner, acting state superintendent of banks. "An examination of the Knickerbocker Trust Co. was made by the state banking department 0 Sept. 17." the report read, "The examiner's report showed that the Knickerbocker Trust Co. had on that date good assets to the amount of $68,884,522.06, with liabilities of $63,701,531.70, giving it a surplus of $5,182,990.36. "In my judgment, based upon the examiner's report and the recent conference at the offices of the company, the Knickerbocker Trust Co. is not only solvent but has a large surplus and a. well-established capacity. Unusual and inconsiderate withdrawals will only tend to unduly embarrass the intitution." This statement was concurred in by M. W. Hutchins, the state examiner. Some of the withdrawals were heavy, said the bank's officers afterward. Many depositors took away currency in $10,000 and $20,000 lots. And then there came from downtown sudden demands on exchange which had to be met in currency totalling about $5,000,000, Mr. Brown later told the reporters. Several clerks were sent out in automobiles with orders to bring back currency. As the banks officials afterward said, every avialable source of ready

10. November 15, 1907 Alexandria Gazette Alexandria, VA
Article from Alexandria Gazette, November 15, 1907

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# Suicide of Chas. T. Barney. New York, Nov. 15. —Former President Charles T. Barney of the suspended Knickerbocker Trust Company, who died yesterday from a self-inflicted pistol shot wound, leaves an estate which his business friends say today will probably finally foot up more than $2,000,000. Agreeing with Coroner's Physician O'Hanlon that a would-be suicide would not shoot himself in the abdomen, they still stick to it that Barney shot himself accidantly, as he told Dr. George Dixon, who was the first to reach the dying man's side. Coroner Harburger, holds to his previously expressed view, however, that the case was one of suicide. The inquest will not be completed far several days, to give time for a fuller investigation. The coroner will direct his inquiries less into Barney's financial affairs than toward a fuller investifiations of his domestic troubles. He will seek to learn the grounds of the divorce which his wife was to soon secure. Barney's intimate friends, said today that after careful investigation they were convinced that domestic rather than financial troubles led him to end his life. It was the inner life of the man that was hopelessly wrecked. It was the moral debt that he could not meet. It was remorse growing out of his neglect of his wife, that was eating away his heart. His error had been brought home to him in a powerful and astounding manner. When the financial cloud broke over him the beautiful woman for whom he had practically deserted his wife, turned her back upon him. The mother of his children, estranged for years and about to obtain a decree of absolute divorce, in marked contrast put aside her resentment and rushed to his aid. She laid her fortune, inherited from the Whitney family of which she is a member, at his feet. She offered comfort and solace. She sought to cheer him. Then he knew the wrong he had done her. The remorse was too great. Even in his dying moments it was his wife who supported his head and her sympathytic face was before his eyes when they closed for the last time.

11. November 16, 1907 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS
Article from The Topeka State Journal, November 16, 1907

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When the original will was drawn Barney was estimated to be worth between $7,000,000 and $9,000,000. It is believed that the estate at present will amount to $2,500,000. In his last will the banker directed that his estate should be incorporated and administered by a board of trustees chosen from his former associates in the directorate of the now suspended Knickerbocker Trust company. Barney directed that his wife should be the chief beneficiary after his debts were paid. He further willed that the agreement made some time ago with his creditors should be lived up to and that such of the estate as proved necessary be used to discharge his obligations. The only reservation made was in the matter of his life insurance which amounts to $185,000. The policies are incontestable and are to be paid to the widow. While the attorneys were engaged with the clerical work involved, Barney it is said chatted freely with the others in the room. His mind appeared clear and his judgment as deliberate as in the days when for him the disposition of millions was part of the day's work. Rev. Dr. Chas. H. Parkhurst called at the Barney home. Upon leaving he announced that a private funeral will be held. Coroner Harburger who will hold an inquest on November 26, sent a detective to the Barney home with instructions to bring to the coroner's office the clothing worn by Barney. The officer returned with the information that the clothing had been burned by the family. Ernest Thalmann, one of the receivers of the Knickerbocker Trust company said: "We have checked all the securities and find that they are all there. We have not observed any evidence of irregularity as yet, nor anything that would tend to lead us to believe that there has been any violation of the banking laws of the state." William A. Tucker of Boston, one of the directors of the Knickerbocker, who is also a member of the examining committee of the board said: "I am confident of the ability of the company, not only to resume business and pay depositors in full, but to keep the stock intact and also a considerable part of a $5,000,000 surplus."

12. November 17, 1907 The Washington Times Washington, DC
Article from The Washington Times, November 17, 1907

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TRYING WEEK IN WALL STREET; GOLD COMING IN Recovery Must Be Slow to Be Healthful-Cry for Currency. Bears in Saddle and Are Driving at St. Paul Shares. NEW YORK, Nov. 16.-It has been a very trying week in the stock market. The long stretch of weakness covering a period of more than a year, with such enormous losses in security values as to stagger the men of millions who were the chief owners of securities, and reaching a climax in the last few weeks In the panic of prosperity, is very likely to have an aftermath. For months the word has gone forth that it was a "rich man's panic, and that it would not intefere in any way with the industrial or commercial prosperity. The rich men stood it just as long as they could, and then some of them went by the board, shorn of many millions, and only the wise men who had forseseen the conditions were able to step into the breach and check the downwad turn. But you can not hit Wall Street without injuring the whole business fabric, even though it was many months after the value of securities had depreciated nearly $3,000,000,000 before the effect was evident in industrial and commercial depression. Money Taken From Trade. No bank can pay all its depositors at once. No bank can turn its collateral into currency in troublous times without sacrificing values to a disastrous limit. With confidence shaken, the rush for deposits breaks banks. The deposits taken out do not find their way into regular channels of trade, and immediately panic results. The recovery at best is slow. The banks of New York city have worked wonders in the way of finding rellef for conditions. They have imported, or will import, some $65,000,000 gold from Europe, They will not let the 7 per cent. bank rate of the Bank of England check the movement, and with an 8 per cent rate they will still bring gold this way. They have had to take care of their customers as best they could, tide the Trust Company of America over the stones, and save the Lincoln Trust. Of course they have been assisted. as they should have been, by the Government, through th Treasury Department. Some $213,495,545 of public moneys were deposited in national banks of deposit. The Secretary of the Treasury may take whatever security he deems proper for deposits. He cannot issue currency for circulation except on Government bonds. The banks have taken out some $21,000,000 new security on Comptroller Ridgely's plan of depositing Government bonds and then substituting savings banks collateral for Government deposits. Savings banks are especially careful in the kind of investments, so that their collateral is usually worth face of investment or more. Municipal bonds form the best collateral of this character. Cry for Currency Continues. And yet with all this new money-the gold from Europe, the Government deposits and the new circulation-the cry for currency goes up from one end of the land to the other, with the single exception of Washington, where they make It and the Government constantly puts it into circulation. The business of the country is done on one part cash and nine parts confidence and when confidence is disturbed there is trouble. And the final recovery must come from the return of confidence. They are doing business in many cities today on confidence, confidence in the certificates of clearing houses and mercantile and manufacturing concern but this same confidence must be general before the recovery will be general. Some improper and uncommercial methods by certain New York bankers helped to destroy confidence and the reaping of the wage in the death of exPresident Barney, of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, on Friday of this week, was another burden on confidence. Stocks at Bargain Prices. New York Central also made a new low record, because of the enormous expenses that the company is assuming in connection with its various extensive Improvements. Both these stocks have long been considered "as good as gold," and for the first time in many years they are down to the low point. The average price of railroad stocks today is 82.44, the lowest since McKinley's second election. The losses of the week average from 2 to 5 points. The closing down of mills and the throwing out of workmen here and there is the most positive information Duro Floin Butter 30c. 1b

13. November 22, 1907 The Jasper Weekly Courier Jasper, IN
Article from The Jasper Weekly Courier, November 22, 1907

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THE LATEST EVENTS OF THE WORLD BRIEFLY TOLD. # NORTH, EAST WEST, SOUTH Foreign Lands, Throughout the Nation and Particularly From the Great Southwest. Governor Haskell made a sharp attack on President Roosevelt in his inaugural address during the ceremonies marking the admission of Oklahoma. Two policemen were injured by bricks, five men were arrested and a number of persons clubbed as the result of a riot and demonstration made by striking street car employes and their friends at Louisville, Ky, Sunday afternoon. In a letter made public and mailed to the governor of every state and territory, President Roosevelt issues the formal call for a special conference at the White House to consider ways and means of best conserving the natural resources of the country. May 13 to 15 is the date set. A complete transformation in the railroad terminal facilities at Washington was effected Sunday, when the old Baltimore & Potomac (Pennsylvania) railroad depot was abandoned and every railroad entering Washington shifted its trains to the new union station. Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou, with the approval of the president, has announced an issue of Panama canal bonds to the extent of $50,000,000. The treasury will also issue interest-bearing certificates of indebtedness to run for one year, to the extent, if necessary, of $100,000,000. This action is the result of the series of night conferences at the White House. A new star was added to the American flag by the admission formally into the Union of the state of Oklahoma. President Roosevelt at 10:16 o'clock Saturday morning signed the proclamation admitting Oklahoma and Indian Territories jointly as one of the American states. In appending his signature to the proclamation, the president used a pen formed from a quill plucked from the wing of an American eagle. The pen will be deposited with the Oklahoma Historical Society. The Farmers' union warehouse in Houston, Tex., sold 1,000 bales of cotton at 10¾c. This is the third big sale made by the union in the past few weeks of the original 15c cotton. Embargo on grain shipments in the East is raised and railroads are co-operating in moving it for export. Close friends of Charles T. Barney, deposed president of the Knickerbocker Trust Co. of New York, who killed himself, declared that worry over his marital relations had no doubt prompted his act as much as his brooding over the loss of financial prestige. William J. Bryan is willing to be nominated for President or to fight in the ranks, as the Democratic party may wish, according to an announcement which appears in the Commoner. In the editorial Mr. Bryan says he believes a party should thoroughly consider everything before selecting a man to head the national ticket. President Roosevelt has made public a letter in which he explains why the words "In God We Trust" were left off the St. Gaudens coin. The letter was prepared for reply to scores of persons throughout the country who have forwarded protests because of the motto's absence from the new gold pieces, and copies are being mailed. Charles T. Barney, late president of the suspended Knickerbocker Trust Co.of New York City, and prominently identified with many industrial and financial institutions throughout the country, committed suicide Thursday afternoon at his residence in West Thirty-eighth street, shooting himself in the head. Juliette Estelle Prescott Mathis, 68 years old, a writer of songs and verses, formerly a resident of Illinois, died at Los Angeles at the home of her son, Frank C. Prescott, registrar of the United States land office. A movement that is said to be far-reaching among bankers and railway managers is on foot. It is a petition to the interstate commerce commission, through the president, and the state railway boards and the governors of various states, to cease the war on railroads. Rear Admiral Asa Walker of the navy retired on account of having reached the statutory age limit. The directors of the Jamestown exposition unanimously accepted a committee report favoring keeping the exposition open next year, provided $600,000 can be raised by popular subscription. The condition of Premier Campbell-Bannerman continues satisfactory. William Jennings Bryan was the guest of honor at a banquet on the 21st anniversary of the Jefferson Club of Milwaukee at the Plankington house Monday night. Covers were laid for over five hundred guests. Mr. Bryan responded to the toast, "Democracy."

14. January 2, 1908 The Caucasian Raleigh, Goldsboro, Clinton, NC
Article from The Caucasian, January 2, 1908

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# New York Trust Companies and the Panic. The most remarkable development of the banking business of New York City during the past ten years has been the growth of its trust companies. By paying interest on deposits, thereby attracting business, by not observing—not being obliged to do so by law—certain safeguards required of the national banks, as, for instance, in the matter of reserves, they have cut heavily into the banks' business. In New York City alone they have deposits of hundreds of millions. To be able to make money after paying the high interest on deposits that they paid, they were naturally obliged to take chances and run risks that no conservative banker would approve. They engaged in ventures, underwritings, development schemes, etc., that nothing but the amazing prosperity of the past decade prevented from failing disastrously. Now, the public knew all this in a vague way, but the public always insists on astutely waiting for the horse to be stolen before locking the stable door. But when Mr. Barney resigned as president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, it believed that all it had ever heard about the business methods of certain trust companies was true of the Knickerbocker. The run began—somebody asked for a dollar!—and then there was panic-sheer, blind, unreasoning fear. Of course, the suspension of payment by the Knickerbocker Trust Company, an institution with $62,000,000 of deposits, was the signal for runs on other institutions; and not only in New York City, but elsewhere, trust companies and banks closed their doors. After sleepless nights and much thought, the majority of the banks of the great metropolis of the United States decided to issue Clearing House certificates. Other cities followed the example of New York—anything in order not to have to pay out the money that they did not have!—Edwin Lefevre in the January Everybody's.

15. January 17, 1908 Dakota Farmers' Leader Canton, SD
Article from Dakota Farmers' Leader, January 17, 1908

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# KNICKERBOCKER TRUST CO. Charles Tracy Barney, deposed president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, millionaire promoter, social leader, clubman and one of the best known men in New York City, shot himself because of his inability to endure the blot upon his business reputation which he feared would result from the suspension of the company. He had been at the head of the trust company for many years and had seen it grow from a comparatively obscure concern to one of the leading financial institutions of the city. Then, almost without warning, came the crash. The resignation of Mr. Barney as president of the Knickerbocker was accepted by the directors and the next day the great trust company, with obligations to its depositors amounting to nearly $7,000,000, was forced to suspend payment.

16. February 8, 1908 Bisbee Daily Review Bisbee, AZ
Article from Bisbee Daily Review, February 8, 1908

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# MARK AND THE HAREM. Mark Twain is the most incurable jokesmith in this or any other planet. Persons who think that this statement is too far-reaching will please peruse the following letter with regard to the Knickerbocker Trust company. Note what Mark says about a receiver." "To the Other Depositors: "The time is very short. Mr. Grover Cleveland, a depositor, has approved the Satterlee plan for resumption, and it seems to me that ought to satisfy every depositor that that plan is safe and wise. If we accept it we shall lose no part of our money; if we do not acept it the Knickerbocker will be turned over to å permanent receivership. I have already tried a permanent receivership once and did not like the result. It costs more to keep a permanent receivership than it does to keep a harem. Anybody who has had experience in these matters wil indorse this statement. In the long run-in the very long run-we got some of our money, but not enough to keep a harem with All the depositors said so, and were disappointed, and there was much regret. If we accept the Satterlee plan, and do it immediately, it will be well for us; if we refuse we invite and insure a shrinkage which the patients will not find enjoyable. I have not been invited to say these things, still it has seemed worth while to say them. Very respectfully your, "MARK TWAIN."

17. March 12, 1908 River Falls Journal River Falls, WI
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der of the state historical department of Iowa, died at Boone, la. Congressman Adolph Meyer, formerly an assistant adjutant general in the confederate army, died in New Orleans. Giuseppe Alia was placed on trial in the Denver (Col.) criminal court. He shot down Father Leo Heinrichs. An effort is being made before congress to secure a new apportionment of the recompensation now given by the government for the transportation of United States mails by rail. The Point Loma (Cal.) wireless station reported a dispatch for the navy department from Admiral Evans on board his flagship, the Connecticut. Warden Frank Conley of the Deer Lodge (Mont.) state penitentiary was dangerously wounded and his first assistant warden, James Robinson, was killed when three life convicts made a dash for liberty. Japan's ultimatum in the case of the Tatsu Maru has been presented to the Chinese foreign board at Peking, and the board has the matter under consideration. The Tatsu Maru was seized off Macao by Chinese customs cruisers. Gov. Charles E. Hughes was formally indorsed as New York's candidate for president by the Republican state committee at its meeting in New York. The Argentine elections resulted in a complete victory for the existing government. David Waldo, a wealthy horseman well-known throughout the United States, and who formerly owned a race track. was killed near Independence, Mo., in a runaway accident. Raminez Arbelaez, the Colombian charge d'affaires, died at Lima, Peru. The Union Lumber company, St. Paul, Minn., which will take over seven sawmill plants and more than 3,000,000,000 feet of standing timber, has been granted a charter by the Manitoba government. A battle between farmers and three robbers, in which two of the latter were wounded, followed the daring robbery of the post offices at Pedricktown and Bridgeport, N. J. Twenty-six railroad laborers were overcome by gas in the Pennsylvania railroad tunnel at Baltimore, Md. Four died and ten badly affected. The Knickerbocker Trust company, New York, which suspended business at the beginning of the financial panic, resumes business soon. Mme. Anna Gould, who recently secured a divorce from her husband, Count Boni de Castellane, in Paris, denied the report that she married Prince Helie de Sagan. In court at Waukegan, III., a verdict JO tins u! returned SEM $144.00 JO Attorney Philip W. Mothersill against Overseer W. G. Voliva of Zion City. The army auto car, carried a message from Gen. Grant in New York city to Col. R. H. R. Loughborough, commandant at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Germany's first mammoth war ship was launched at Wilhelmshaven successfully and named Nassau. The supreme court at Nashville, tion law. This law confines the saTenn.. upheld the Nashville segregaloons of the city to a certain territory. Fire destroyed the boys' dormitory at the New Mexico School of Agricul ture at Mesilla park, Tex., and many sleeping students had narrow escapes. While boating on the Appalache stiff B "D S Greens, JBOU puod IIIIII carrying ten people capsized and three young women were drowned. In a fire at Niigata, Japan, 1,500 houses were totally destroyed. the dis trict being swept clean. There was some loss of life. Daniel J. Ainsworth. commander of the revenue cutter Rush, committed suicide at Seattle, Wash. Floods were reported throughout northern Indiana. The Wabash was out of its banks for miles northeast of Lafayette. South Peru was partly under water. Kansas Republicans in state convention at Topeka, Kan., instructed to vote for the nomination of Secretary W. H. Taft for president. United States Senator Redfield Proctor of Vermont died in Washington after a short illness following an attack of grippe. Safe blowers robbed the Mount Orab bank. Mount Orab, O., 40 miles east of Cincinnati, of $3,000 in currency and securities. A complete shut-down of the coal mines in Iowa, worked by 15,000 miners, is threatened. The agreement expires March 31. Three Italians carved Joseph Piraino, a California farmer. almost to pieces, robbed him of $165 and threw him into the Sacramento river. At the New York home of E. H. Harriman it was said that the condition of Miss Carol Harriman. Mr. Har-

18. March 27, 1908 The Aberdeen Democrat Aberdeen, SD
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ANKING SUSPENDE COMPANY RE-OPENS FOR BUSINESS New York, March 27.-The Knickerbocker Trust company ,which suspended payment on October 22nd last after sustaining a run of its depositors, was reopened for business yesterday with a new management and under an agreement by which the depositors may withdraw only about one third of the $36,000,000 on the boks at once. The payment of the remainder is due at intervals for two years and a half. The officers of the company announced that they had assurance that $1,500,000 would be deposited with the company and shortly after the office opened they stated that $725,000 of that amount had already been deposited. There was a notable absence of any rush to take out funds.

19. April 13, 1908 Orleans County Monitor Barton, VT
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# VICINITY ITEMS Gov. Ide at St. Johnsbury. The Hon. Henry C. Ide, former governor of the Phiippine Islands and just through his duties as receiver of the Knickerbocker Trust company of New York city, is visiting his brother, E. T. Ide of St. Johnsbury. Newport Man Stewart's Private Secretary. Senator Stewart has appointed William Bean of Newport as his private secretary. Mr. Bean was for a long time with Senator Proctor as assistant clerk of his committee, and from his experience and ability is exactly the official for the place. St. Johnsbury Man Succeeds Morse. C. D. Waters, of St. Johnsbury, traveling agent for several years for the National Dispatch and Grand Trunk railway lines, is to succceeed Fred W. Morse as general freight and passenger agent of the Montpelier & Wells River railroad. Mr. Waters has been in the railway service for more than 30 days. He will assume the duties of his new position about April 20. Full Time Notices. By an order which went into effect at Lyndonville Tuesday the full force of 100 men in the motive power department of the Boston & Maine railroad repair shops began working full time for the four days of the week which the shops are operated. Half of the force has hitherto been working four days of one week and the other half four days of the next week. This arrangement is still in effect in the car department. This will give the men just twice as much work as they have had during the past two months. Attempts Suicide. About 8 o'clock Sunday morning, April 5, Wm. Dale of Hardwick took, as near as can be learned, about a half a tumbler of paris green and two drams of creosote to end his life which had at the time probably become burdensome. The dose was too large, however, and nauseation soon followed. His act was discovered soon afterward and a physician was summoned. Antidotes were given for the poisons during the day and by night he was out of danger. Dale is a young man, a granite cutter by trade, and a good workman-when he attends to his work, but he has a habit of drinking to excess. For some time before the attempt to take his life Dale has been drinking heavily and was on the verge of desperation when he committed the deed. He is still in a weakened condition from the effects of the poisons, but is coming out of it all right. Chamberlin Post of St. Johnsbury Observes 40th Anniversary of Organization. The three days' celebration in honor of the 40th annniversary of the organization of Chamberlin post, G. A. R., of St. Johnsbury, was begun Saturday evening. Chamberlin Post is No. 1 on the roster of the Vermont department, and as its charter shows that it was organized April 10, 1868, it is one of the first in the country. Of the 11 veterans whose names appear on the charter only three survive. The first commander was Capt. Pearl D. Blodgett and the present commander is Capt. L. W. Fisher. The president of the Relief Corps is Mrs. Sarah F. Hovey. Her husband, Capt. Edwin L. Hovey, has always been a moving spirit in the post, and is largely instrumental in the arrangements for this celebration. In matters of membership, Chamberlin post was at high tide in 1889 with 208 members. To-day there are 72 members, and the average age is a little more than 68 years. Chamberlin post has had a general, A. P. Blunt; a colonel, A. B. Jewett two majors, G. W. Bonette and H. K. Ide; besides several captains and lieutenants and a long list of distinguished privates among its members, men who have distinguished themselves since the war in every walk in life. The post has a handsome hall in Union block, and its walls are hung with an interesting and valuable collection of portraits and paintings of distinguished men and history-making scenes. In connection with this anniversarythere was a fair, and the hall was filled with booths, at which a variety of articles were sold. The first public exercise was held at the hall Thursday night, at which an address was delivered by Capt. E. L. Hovey, followed by a brief address on the Crimean war by Capt. John McDonald, followed by the

20. April 16, 1908 Evening Journal Wilmington, DE
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Editorial Opinion Pay of Receivers. Dover News. The average reader understands that when a business establishment becomes practically bankrupt the courts appoint a "receiver" to take charge of the business. Well, these receivers it appears, are prepared to receive unto themselves as pay for services. all that can possibly be shaken out of receiver hopper. We read that the three receivers of the Knickerbocker Trust Company of New York, received for their services of five months. an average daily compensation of $1000 each. And the three lawyers hired by them $25,000 each additional. This was gigantic receiving from a hopper full of gold. We hardly suppose our Delaware receivers ever strike it so full in the belt. For instance when Receiver Bayard was suing at law for $2.50 Evans' match safe, and selling their stocks and securities at a dollar a peach basket, he must probably have charged a trifle less for his work than $1000 a day.

21. March 17, 1909 The Evening World New York, NY
Article from The Evening World, March 17, 1909

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# JACKSON, POOR MAN, HERE TO PRACTISE LAW "Have My Health, Don't Mind the Rest," Former Attorney-General Says. # HE OFFENDED TAMMANY Gave Receiverships to Assistants and Turned Down Organization Selections. Former Attorney General William Schuyler Jackson arrived to-day at the Hotel Latham, No. 4 East Twenty-eighth street, and after registering went out to look up an office in which to follow the profession of law. Mr. Jackson has decided to cast the shadow of his future in the valleys of Manhattan. "A friend says that you take up the practice of law a poor man, and that your living is all in the future?" was asked of Mr. Jackson by an Evening World reporter. "Such is closer to the case than I like to confess," he replied, "but I shall hang out a shingle soon and see if I can earn a living. I had some offers to enter law firms—not the principal ones—but I have elected to go it alone, and as I have my good health. I don't much mind about the rest." He added with a chuckle: "I am a great bellever in myself, and as long as I keep a proper account with myself I don't much care what is said by others." In view of the fact that many of his assistants gathered some wealth through acting as bank receivers the plight of the head of the office is interesting. All of the others appear to be in comfortable berths. Some are connected with big financial interests, while others are still enjoying the profits of the fat receiverships which Jackson gave them. From Dec. 6 until Jan. 29 Jackson was a patient in the Albany Hospital, suffering from typhoid fever. He was near to death at one time, but none of the beneficiaries of his generosity while in office came near him. There was some talk of a dinner to him, but it ceased when Jackson got well enough to journey to South Carolina. They all forgot him—his star was descending. "Your former subordinates all seem to be doing well," was suggested. "I am glad to hear it," replied Jackson. "I tried to help them all—perhaps here is where I mostly failed. I have been told that I should have done more for myself, but I am satisfied. "And, say," he continued, changing the subject immediately, "I discovered a river without any name down in South Carolina, and I got out in a rowboat and put my appetite into that rowboat. Now I am ready to take a fall out of the world, for I have my good health and what more can a man want?" Offended Tammany. The former Attorney-General began his career in Buffalo. His success as an assistant public prosecutor got him the nomisation as Attorney-General on the Democratic ticket. After his election he offended his sponsor, State Chairman "Fingy" Conners, by charging full tilt against a forming telephone trust in Rochester. He began many actions, but finished none, and his final political error was to turn down Charles F. Murphy's Tammany-made receivers for the Knickerbocker Trust Company. The Democratic State Convention was notable for the ice heaped upon Jackson. But Jackson is still a young man. He is now a registered voter of New York County, and he says that he has decided to live out the remainder of his days right here among his chief critics.

22. June 7, 1909 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS
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FROM OTHER PENS # A PRACTICAL PRESIDENT. The American people are exceptionally fortunate in having for president at this time a man whose experience in the departments enables him to deal practically and intelligently with departmental estimates, without hurt to the public service in any department, and who at the same time is broad and keen enough mentally not to fail to discern forces which seem to be making for a disturbance of the balance in the domain of international affairs. More now than at any time in the recent history of this country, experienced, practical statesmanship is needed, and William Howard Taft, schooled by service for his high mission, cool of head, and morally courageous, seems to be ripe and ready for such hard tests as the presidency may impose upon him. By pruning the army estimates he will lessen the strain of the treasury, and possibly open the way for more reasonable and progressive naval expansion; and, finally, naval expansion is the first need, for there are shadows now which seem to foretell the coming of events of colossal concern to this country. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. # LAWYERS AND RECEIVERSHIP. The time was, a few years ago, when the surest way to acquire a big fortune in this or other states was to secure appointment as receiver for some large concern financially embarrassed. Men whose services are never rated above $10,000 a year, and some not half that, would send in bills for hundreds of thousands of dollars for a comparatively short term of service, and would be allowed it. Less than a year ago a New York supreme court justice allowed three receivers and their counsel $75,000 each in the case of the Knickerbocker Trust company, and this was for only five months' work. The appellate court cut the allowance down to $20,000 each. Receivers do not, as a rule, devote all their time to these duties. They usually carry on their own private business in addition; they are guided and protected by the courts in what they do, and there is nothing in their services, generally speaking, of such extraordinary merit as to call for the payment of 10 or 20 times as much as they can earn at their own business or profession in the period of time they are acting as receivers. Newark News. # COLLEGES AND INDUSTRY. The self-made man is prone to worship his maker. Ordinarily he is pathetically ignorant of the construction which gives him so much pride. An example of this truth is furnished by the Chicago millionaire who believes that all the colleges and universities in America should be put to the torch because they are "demoralizing the youth of the country" and teaching them to despise labor. This is an antiquated echo of a sentiment which many "self-made men" expressed half a century ago. College men have long since proved their power in commercial and industrial pursuits in the United States. Enlightened foreign visitors, including a special commissioner of the London Times, have remarked with wonder on the influence of the college man in business life in America. College men are building and managing the railroads of the country, carrying on the executive work of the big corporations, taking the responsible positions in banks and shirking no kind of work. Philadelphia Press.

23. June 10, 1909 Mountain Home Maverick Mountain Home, ID
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Wonderful Recovery of Bank. New York.-Directors of the Knickerbocker Trust company, which was forced temporarily to suspend in the financial crisis of 1907, voted on Tuesday to anticipate payment on August 1 on 25 per cent of their surplus certificates. Only a short time ago the directors anticipated payment on the company's certificates of deposit, leaving outstanding only surplus certificates held by depositors under the reorganiaztion plan. The company's recovery has been one of the most rapid ever witnessed in the financial district.

24. January 30, 1910 New-York Tribune New York, NY
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cumulated plenty of money for all his needs and that he felt it a duty to retire from private practice and devote himself to the public interest. On the day that he closed his law office, in the Wall Street district, he declined a retainer of $25,000. In contrast with these large compensa- tions, Governor Hughes obtained only $25,000 for his long, arduous and highly skilled labor as attorney in the insurance investigation, which, however, made him a national figure. In criminal cases, Del- phin M. Delmas, the gilded orator of the Pacific Slope, probably made a record with his $50,000 fee for helping to defend Harry K. Thaw. Ex-Governor Frank S. Black is reputed to have obtained some large re- wards for legal work. James M. Beck, formerly Assistant Attorney General of the United States, has gathered a few siz- able plums in the corporation orchard. Receiverships are generally profitable to the lawyers who act as receivers and coun- sel. Fees in six figures are not uncommon, and it is rare that a court sets aside the amount agreed upon among the attorneys, as happened in the receivership of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, when a judge held that a charge of more than $500,000 was excessive. More recently a sensation was created by a Brooklyn law- yer, who voluntarily turned back his share of a receivership fee on the ground that it was too much. It is said there was a movement to disbar this lawyer for unpro- fessional conduct and violation of legal ethics tending to lower the standard of living among practitioners. However, the fear that other attorneys might follow in his footsteps was not realized. Colonel "Bob" Ingersoll, when he was not making orations against the Deity, earned substantial fees by the exercise of his legal talents. He talked atheism almost for nothing, but he charged a good round price for talking law. Some of his clients were disappointed when they found that his lib- erality in one direction was not extended in the other. It was reported that his work in behalf of the Western Union Tele- graph Company in a patent case involving the duplex telegraph instrument netted him $225,000. Charles O'Conor, a leader of the New York bar a few decades ago, had a fee imbroglio in connection with the divorce

25. March 13, 1910 The Washington Times Washington, DC
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Knickerbocker Ready to Pay Off Last Dollar Due to Depositors. MONEY ADVANCED REPAID IN STOCK Capital, Surplus, and Deposits Same as Before Doors Closed. NEW YORK, March 13.-Tomorrow morning the last dollar due the depositors of the Knickerbocker Trust Company at the time of the failure of the big bank, October 22. 1907. will be paid off. and the period of reconstruction will have ended, for the great trust company has survived, and in the financing of $35,000,000 deposits and making progress is a great story of successful effort. The Knickerbocker Trust Company paid out $8,000,000 on the day of its failure, but the bulk of its cash was tied up in stock promotions. underwritings, and was only realisable after careful conservative work. When the jar came it shook the financial foundations of this city and smashed the stock market to nearly its lowest levels. Its management claimed that it was fundamentally sound and worked constantly to bring about an end of the receivership and a rehabilitation of the company. Stockholders Contribute. After five months of nursing by the I receiver. arrangements were made by which it resumed business, the stockholders contributing $2,400,000 cash, to be repaid with 4 per cent interest, March 14, 1910, or in new stock at $300 a share, while the depositors accepted certificates of deposit for 70 per cent of their claims, bearing 3 per cent interest and "Surplus A" certificates bearing 4 per cent. The first payment to depositors was made on the day of reopening for business-83,500,900. The last of the "Surplus A" certificates will be paid tomorrow. the date when due. The certificates of deposit had twenty-eight months to run. but the resumption of prosperity followed the resumption of business and the Knickerbocker paid off its $24,000,000 certificates in thirteen months. This is almost a record in successful financiering. The spareholders who contributed the $2,400,000 will not ask for their money back, but will gladly take advantage of the proposition to take stock in the bank at $300 a share. for $310 is bid and $320 asked in the open market. Where It Stood Before. After the close of the financing tomorrow the Knickerbocker Trust Company will have a capital of $3,200,000, a surplus of $5,750,000. and deposits of $35.000,000-exactly what it had when it failed in October, 1907. Moreover, bankers assert that it is a clean, wellmanaged institution, in place of one with a "shoestring reserve. The reatoration of the ruin brings credit and reputation to a number of financiers. First Clark Williams, then superintendent of banks, worked like a Trojan to bring the depositors to see their way to join in a reorganization movement. When this was brought about George B. Cortelyou, then Secretary of the Treasury, was offered the place as president, but refused the task. Charles H. Keep was elected to the presidency, and is still the head of the institution. The flag will be flying from the Knickerbocker tomorrow.