Audubon National Bank - New York, NY

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run → Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: national
Bank ID: 9569
Charter Number: 9569
Start Date: July 19, 1911
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: b92efbe6

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Full suspension, Books examined

Other: Voluntary liquidation (directors voted to liquidate while paying depositors); later federal court receivership and sale of assets in 1918.

Description

Contemporary articles (Jul 19–20, 1911) report a run after discovery that president D. S. Mills misapplied funds to buy the bank's stock. Directors opted for voluntary liquidation while the bank was still paying depositors. Subsequent items (1913 court action asking for a receiver; 1918 court-directed sale of assets) confirm the bank did not resume normal operations and was effectively closed.

Events (6)

1. October 28, 1909 Chartered

Source: historical_nic

2. July 19, 1911 Run

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Discovery that president D. S. Mills misapplied about $43,650–$50,000 of bank funds to buy the bank's own stock, threatening solvency and prompting withdrawals.
Measures: Directors voted voluntary liquidation; payment of depositors began immediately while bank remained a paying institution.
Newspaper Excerpt: A run on the Audubon National Bank was made to-day following the discovery that the former president ... had manipulated its funds
Source: newspapers

3. July 20, 1911 Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Directors chose voluntary liquidation after examiner revealed misapplication of funds by the president and questionable loans, to forestall a larger run and because dissensions might become public property and cause a run.
Newspaper Excerpt: The Audubon National Bank ... went into voluntary liquidation yesterday, while it was a paying institution. The payment of depositors began to-day
Source: newspapers

4. October 7, 1911 Voluntary Liquidation

Source: historical_nic

5. July 17, 1913 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: Judge Learned Hand ... ordered the Audubon National Bank and the members of its liquidating committee to show by August 6 why they should not be enjoined and a receiver appointed to take control of the bank's assets pending the outcome of four equity suits.
Source: newspapers

6. March 2, 1918 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: Entire assets of the Audubon National Bank of N. Y., including stocks, bonds, notes & accounts receivable ... directed to be sold by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (6)

1. July 20, 1911 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, July 20, 1911

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Article Text

Washington Heights Institutis Liquidates and Pays in Full. QUEER DEAL CAUSE OF IT U. S. District Attorney Had Started an Investigation and Directors Took Fright. The Audubon National Bank, at Broadway and 143d street, went into voluntary liquidation yesterday, while it was a paying institution. had more than enough cash on hand to pay off all depositors and had lost not a dollar through the transactions that led to the liquidation. William Relmers. the cashier of the bank, who was yesterday elected president, was vitally interested in the panic of 1907 as paying teller of the Washington Heights branch of the Hamilton Bank. which failed in the panic. He has not forgotten his experiences at that time. They recurred to him constantly yesterday and have been before his eyes unceasingly since June 25, when he first foresaw the possibility of trouble for the Audubon National Bank. It was chieflydue to his arguments that the board of directors decided yesterday on the liquidation of the bank. "We saw that certain dissensions in the bank might become public property and cause a run on the bank," said Mr. Reimers. "We decided to be first in the field and liquidate before the run. The bank may be reorganized later with a different set of officers." Charles D. Hanna, the national bank examiner for this district. made the following statement showing the causes for the liquidation. In making an examination into the Audubon National Bank on June 30 the national bank examiner found that on June 19 David S. Mills. who at that time was president of the bank, had used $43,650 of the bank's funds to buy 344 shares of the bank's own stock. The directors were notified and steps taken to collect enought money from the bank's loans to enable it to liquidate its deposits. This having been accomplished, the directors recommended that the stockholders vote to go into voluntary liquidation. Acordingly a meeting of the stockholders has been called for August 22. The payment of depositors began to-day, and it is expected that all will be paid off this week. The total deposits of the bank were only $300,000, and the bank has cash enough on hand to pay out as fast as its checks are presented. Bought Out Entire Board. David S. Mills. who is mentioned in Mr. Hanna's statement as having used $43,650 of the bank's funds to buy 344 shares of its own stock, organized the bank in Novemher, 1909, with William Reimers, who was then in the 116th street branch of the Mutual Alliance Company. The bank was capitalized at $200,000. divided into two thousand shares of stock. Mills held 175 shares of the stock at the time of the organization and Reimers ten shares. The Mills holdings are said by Reimers to amount now to approximately 700 shares. all except the original 175 shares having been acquired since February last. The remaining stock is divided among 146 stockholders. eleven of whom are directors, owning among them 344 shares of the stock of the bank. On June 19, according to Reimers, there was a meeting of the directors, at which Mills resigned as president and a purchaser appeared for the 344 shares of the stock owned by the various directors. Reimers says that the directors had béen approached separately before this and options taken on their stock at prices varying from $125 to $150 a share. though the stock was then qûoted at 115. At the meeting on June 19 the purchaser took over the stock of the directors. paying them in cash, and announced himself as the new owner of the bank. Reimers says that Mills did not sell any of his stock, but that the entire board of directors, including himself, sold out. Since February last, Reimers says, he had noticed on the books at various times loans which did not seem satisfactory to him. After the sale of the stock on June 19 he consented to remain as cashier of the bank until July 15, and busied himself with looking into the bank's loans. On June 25 he satisfied himself that there was a large amount in improper loans on the books of the bank and acquainted several of the directors with his suspicions. M. Hanna

2. July 20, 1911 The Washington Herald Washington, DC

Article from The Washington Herald, July 20, 1911

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Article Text

At tun on New York Bank. Ce New York, July 19.-A run on the Ce Ch Audubon National Bank was made toCo lay following the discovery that the forCo president of the institution, D. S. Co Ge Mills, had manipulated its funds to an Go xtent that for a time it was threatened Gr with failure. Int Tost

3. July 21, 1911 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, July 21, 1911

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ARREST BANK PRESIDENT D. S. Mills, of Audubon National, Charged with Misapplication. BAIL GIVEN AT SICKBED Two More Men Connected with Alleged Juggling Likely To Be Taken Into Custody Soon. David S. Mills, who resigned as president of the Audubon National Bank on June 19, and on whose manipulation of the bank's funds the directors blame the liquidation of the bank that began on Wednesday, was arrested yesterday at his home, No. 306 West 102d street, by order of United States Attorney Henry A. Wise, on a charge of misapplication of $49,000 of the bank's money, and held in $25,000 cash bail. The complaint against Mills charges that he discounted at the bank notes amounting to $50,000, obtaining on them $49,000, and that he used the money SO obtained to buy the bank's own stock from the other directors of the institution. Mills is sick in bed at his home, having recently been operated on at a private hospital. He was placed under arrest in his sickbed yesterday afternoon by Chief Deputy Marshal Hecht. and a couple of hours later, after ball had been arranged for, United States Commissioner Shields went to the house and accepted bail. Mills waived examination. Two other men are involved in the investigation and are likely to be placed under arrest. According to the directors of the bank, Mills wanted to get control of the ininstitution, of which he was one of the organizers. He had 175 of the 2,000 shares of the bank's stock at the the time of the organization in November, 1909. and since February last had increased his holdings to 700 shares. The directors say that when Mills began to add to his holdings in February loans began to appear on the books of the bank for whom no responsible borrower could be found, while It was Mills's habit to take notes to William Merilles. the auditor of the bank, and have them passed and discounted without consultation with any other officer of the bank. According to William Reimers. the cashier, who was elected president on Wednesday, at the meeting at which liquidation was decided on, several of these notes are among the $200,000 in loans the bank still has outstanding. The eleven directors of the bank held among them 344 shares of the stock. On June 19 a meeting of directors was called, some of them being reached by telephone, and at this meeting. the directors say, David Neito appeared and offered to buy the stock of the directors. Some of them had already been approached and had agreed to sell. Neito said he represented the new owner of the bank, according to two of the directors. Some of the directors got cash for their stock, while others took notes. Mills, who also appeared as a seller, took notes. Mills then resigned as president and all of the directors resigned and Reimers resigned as cashier, but Reimers afterward agreed to stay until July 15.

4. July 27, 1911 The Enterprise Malta, Harlem, MT

Article from The Enterprise, July 27, 1911

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ity of this phase of the plan. North-bound passenger train No. 5, on the Midland Valley railroad crashed through a bridge half a mile west of Avant, Okla. The bridge is 50 feet high. The structure had been weak ened by a swollen creek. Announcement was made that the Audubon National bank of New York city will go into voluntary liquidation because of misappropriation of funds by one of its officers. National Bank Examiner Hanna is in charge. Every Italian immigrant arriving in this country from now on will be subjected to an individual bacteriological examination in the further effort to protect the United States from the scourge of Asiatic cholera. The reduction of the maneuver division assembled at San Antonio, Tex., during the Mexican revolution, has been practically accomplished in accordance with the orders of President Taft. North bound passenger train No. 5 on the Midland Valley railroad crashed through a bridge half a mile west of Avant, Okla. The bridge is fifty feet high. Six persons were injured. Mrs. Payne Whitney's $500 gold cigarette case and several small articles of jewelry have been found at Providence, R. I., by the police in the home of Rufus Davis, a cousin of Israel Davis, recently arrested for the theft of Mrs. Whitney's $1,500 diamond necklace. Two men entered the shop of the Franklin Jewelry company, Kansas City, Mo., in broad daylight, held up B. J. Franklin at the point of a revolver, took a tray of diamonds and ran down an alley. They fired at Franklin, dangerously wounding B. A. Seitz, a bystander. Because his pet bantam chicken had been killed by an automobile William Beers, twelve years old, shot at passing cars at South Norwalk, Conn., until he wounded Miss Eva Hammond probably fatally. John D. Rockefeller's real estate in Cleveland and Cuyahoga county, 0, has been appraised at $6,000,000, according to an announcement made by the quadrennial board of appraisers. Teaching of theology by mail is proposed in articles of incorporation filed at Morristown, N. J., for the Correspondence School of Theology. Rev. S. G. Ayres of Drew Theological seminary is president of the school. The water surrounding the wreck of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor has been SO far removed that all indications point to an explosion from the outside. Infuriated when informed by her husband that he was about to desert her, the wife of George Abbott fired three bullets at him, one taking effect, at Bloomington, III., and he may die. W. H. Dickenson & Co., grain brokers and owners and operators of a large chain of elevators, have suspended business in St. Paul and in Minneapolis. Several large elevators in the Twin cities are owned by the concern. Police Commissioner Waldo of New rk reported to the mayor that the recent increase in the price of ice is due to the greed of the so-called "ice trust." On the morning of the day he was to be hanged for wife murder Charles Hickman died in his cell at Beaver, Pa., moaning his wife's name in his delirium. Dr. H. W. Wiley, head of the United States bureau of chemistry, has started an investigation to show of what the mince meat preparations sold by grocers is made. A gun that will carry its projectile clear out of sight is the kind that is to be placed in the turrets of the new battleships of the New York type. The gun has shown that it is without doubt the most powerful naval weapon in the world. The shell will have a range of fourteen or fifteen miles. Foreign The veto bill, which curtails largely the powers of the British house of lords and adds immensely to the rights of the house of commons, was practically made a law. It passed its

5. July 17, 1913 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, July 17, 1913

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AUDUBON BANK CASE UP Stockholders Ask Federal Court for a Receiver. Judge Learned Hand, in the Federal Court, yesterday ordered the Audubon National Bank and the members of its liquidating committee to show by August 6 why they should not be enjoined and a receiver appointed to take control of the bank's assets pending the outcome of four equity suits. The order follows the sentence of David S. Mills, former president of the Audubon Bank, in February, to serve seven years in the Atlanta Penitentiary for misapplying $50,000 of the bank's funds. The request for a receivership is now made by the stockholders of the institution In a suit begun by Charles P. Davidson. Attached to the complaint are affidavits by Perley Morse, public accountant; Chester Mayer, Isaac Friedenheit and George Pfeiffer, stockholders. Pfeiffer, in his at. fidavit, after reciting all that was published at the trial of Mills, represents to Judge Hand that the prices paid the directors for their shares, at the time Mills organized the scheme to buy the bank with its own funds, was far above the actual value of the securities.

6. March 2, 1918 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, March 2, 1918

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ANDREW J. MeCORMACK. Auctioneer. REGULAR AUCTION SALE, STOCKS AND BONDS, By ADRIAN H. MULLER & SON, OFFICE. 55 WILLIAM ST., WEDNESDAY. MARCH 6, 1918, at 12:30 o'clock. at the EXCHANGE SALESROOM. NOS 14 and 16 VESEY STREET. For Account of Executor. 950 shs. Brooklyn Jockey Club. 82 shs. Jockey Club. Juarez, S. A. 215 shs. Maryland State Fair, Inc. 50 shs. Metropolitan Jockey Club. 50 shs. Westchester Racing Assn. $5,000 Metropolitan Jockey Club 5% Regstd. Bonds, 1927. 100 shs. W. G. & E. G. Murphy Co., Inc. For Account of Whom It May Concern. 250 shs. Lawyers Title & Trust Co. 100 shs. Derwent Realty Corpn. $2,000 Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Genl. Mtg. 4% Regstd. Bonds, 1987, unstamped. $500 Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. 5% Regstd. Bond. 1951. $6,000 Island Oil & Transport Co. 7% Coll. Trust Notes, 1920. $35,000 Tennessee Rwy. Co. 1st Mtg. 5% Bonds, Sept. 1911. coupon on, Guaranty Trust Co. Ctf. of Deposit. $15,000 Note New River Coal & Coke Co., dated June 4. 1910. payable 4 months. endorsed by R. B. Scandrett & Bird M. Robinson. 24 shs. Hartford Steam Boller Inspection & Insurance Co. 24 shs. Columbia Knickerbocker Trust Co. Beneficial Ctfs. 6 shs. Metropolitan Bank. 1,000 shs. Mogul Mining Co. 150 shs. New Utah Bingham Mining Co. last assmt. 5c. per share unpaid. 500 shs. New Utah Bingham Mining Co. last assmt. 5c. per share unpaid. 75 shs. Federal Co., Inc.. prefd. For Account of James W. Ballard, Receiver of The Keystone Guard. $50,000 Susquehanna Coal & Coke Co. Bonds. Entire assets of the Audubon National Bank of N. Y., including stocks, bonds, notes & accounts receivable, judgments, choses in action & records of the Bank, directed to be sold by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.