Merchants' Trust Company

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Start Date: September 30, 1907
Location: Albany, New York (42.653, -73.756)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: dbd962d7

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (dated 1907-10-01) reports a receiver for Merchants' Trust Company and legal action by the receiver to recover capital and surplus, indicating the bank was in receivership/closure. No contemporaneous run is described. The complaint alleges director misconduct and loss of capital from a sale of securities.

Events (2)

1. September 30, 1907 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: Justice Fitts... granted to William B. Ellison an order dividing the actions brought against the directors of the Merchants' Trust Company... An amended complaint... charged that Frank A. Gould, Guy Phillips and Henry B. Henson so contrived as to induce the State Superintendent of Banks to direct the Merchants' Trust to sell certain securities to Gould and others...
Source: newspapers

2. September 30, 1907 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: Ellison Obtains Division of Action Against Directors... actions brought against the directors of the Merchants' Trust Company by the receiver to recover $1,500,000, the capital and surplus of the company, which it is contended was lost to the stockholders through the negligence of the directors.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. October 1, 1907 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, October 1, 1907

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Article Text

MERCHANTS' TRUST SUIT. Ellison Obtains Division of Action Against Directors. Albany, Sept. 30.-Justice Fitts, of the Supreme Court, to-day granted to William B. Ellison an order dividing the actions brought against the directors of the Merchants' Trust Company by the receiver to recover $1,500,000, the capital and surplus of the company, which it is contended was lost to the stockholders through the negligence of the directors. An amended complaint in these proceedings charged that Frank A. Gould, Guy Phillips and Henry B. Henson so contrived as to induce the State Superintendent of Banks to direct the Merchants' Trust to sell certain securities to Gould and others, the proceeds of which were deposited with the Bowling Green Trust Company, controlled by the Gould people. The securities in question covered the Richmond (Va.) traction properties, and it is insisted that the trust company lost a large sum through this sale. Mr. Ellison, representing several of the directors, including Henry Simpson, Edward Langdon. George C. Clark, Michael A. Bannin, Edwin Hawley and James E. Reynolds, demurred to-day to the complaint. He held that the directors whom he represented were entitled to separate actions from those directors who actively participated in the sale of the traction securities.