14166. Mercantile Trust Company (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run Only
Bank Type
trust
Start Date
July 31, 1884
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
a280cfe514843fb7

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (1884) reports public withdrawals of about $5,000,000 from the Mercantile Trust Company after links with Jay Gould and reports he borrowed heavily from the trust — a bank run driven by adverse bank-specific information/association. Later articles (1888–1889) concern the Mercantile Trust Company as a plaintiff/applicant in litigation to obtain receivers for railroads (Mercantile seeking a receiver for the M., K. & T. RR) and do not indicate suspension, receivership, or closure of the bank itself. No article states the bank suspended or closed.

Events (1)
1. July 31, 1884 Run
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Public withdrew about $5,000,000 of deposits because Jay Gould's connection and reports he had been borrowing largely from the Mercantile Trust Company damaged confidence.
Newspaper Excerpt
...the latter corporation forced him to go because his connection with it caused the public to withdraw five millions of deposits.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (4)
1. July 31, 1884 The Emporia Weekly News Emporia, KS
Article from The Emporia Weekly News, July 31, 1884

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Article Text

GOULD GOING. The New York Herald thinks Jay Gould is going. It says: "He has gone from the directory of the Rock Island company. He has gone from the Louisville and Nashville directory. And now he has gone, together with his son, from the directory of the Mercantile Trust company. It is said down town that the latter corporation forced him to go because his connection with it caused the public to withdraw five millions of deposits. Mr. Gould himself is quoted as saying deliberately that he went voluntarily, because of the report that he had been borrowing largely from the Trust company. "The constant reiteration of the story,' he says, 'was not doing the company any good.'' It will be no loss to the country if Mr. Gould should be compelled to give up his grip, because his fortune has been acquired by means the practice of which are detrimental to the best financial interests of the country. The same may be said of many other rich men of New York, and the quicker they go the better. There was a tolerably thorough cleaning up among them in the recent panic, and those who have amassed fortunes by dishonest means may expec the good work to continue.

2. June 11, 1888 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, June 11, 1888

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Article Text

LOSSES OF MISSOURI, KANSAS AND TEXAS. St. Louis, June 10 (Special).-Judge Brewer has fixed July 1 as the date to hear arguments for and against the application of the Mercautile Trust Company of New-York for a receiver for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railways. There are 1,250 miles of road, and the indebtedness now amounts to $45,000.000. The revenue of the road has been decreasing at a frightful rate. At the beginning of last year the debt to the Missouri Pacific was is about $1,200,000. Now it is $5,000,000. It claimed that the traffic has been diverted from the road to the Iron Mountain, and that unless a roceiver is appointed the line will be dismembered by bondholders under foreclosure proceedings. This would result in a complete wreck. The June interest, a total of $1,400,000, has been defaulted. and the indications are that the August interest will not be paid.

3. December 12, 1888 Rock Island Daily Argus Rock Island, IL
Article from Rock Island Daily Argus, December 12, 1888

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Article Text

Receivers Named in a Suit vs. Jay Gould. NEW YORK, Dec. 12.-In the United States circuit court yesterday Judge Wallace signed an order in the suit of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad against the Mercantile Trust company, the Missouri Pacific railroad, Jay Gould, and others, appointing as receivers of the stock within the jurisdiction of this court George A. Eddy and H. C. Cross, who were recently appointed receivers by the United States cirtuit court in Kansas.

4. September 5, 1889 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, September 5, 1889

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Article Text

THE SUITS AGAINST THE M. K. AND T. Chicago, Sept. 4.-A dispatch from Topeka, Kan., says: "The attorney for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad Company has filed a motion in the United States Circuit Court to have consolidated all the suits now pending in that court in which the company is defendant. There are four immense suits brought by different trust companies, one being that of the Mercantile Trust Company of New-York, under which Cross and Eddy were appointed receivers. The hearing will be set for September 19, before Judge Brewer, at Leavenworth."