15516. Bowery Savings Bank (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run Only
Bank Type: savings bank
Start Date: July 31, 1893
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: ac676fd1

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals

Description

July–August 1893 widespread withdrawals at New York savings banks; Bowery Savings Bank paid limited amounts (e.g., $100) and posted time-notice rules (30/60 days). The bank remained open and paid out cash; no suspension or receivership is reported.

Events (1)

1. July 31, 1893 Run

Cause: Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details: General alarm among small depositors after wider banking panic and announcement of withdrawal rules; fear/spread of rumor prompted heavy withdrawals though banks were well funded.
Measures: Posted 30- and 60-day notice rules limiting immediate withdrawals; paid fixed small amounts (commonly $50–$100) and required notice for larger sums; used police to form orderly lines.
Newspaper Excerpt: At the Bowery Savings Bank, 200; ... President Wood said that they were paying $100 to as many people as they could; above that and up to $300, thirty days' notice, he said, was demanded, and for sums larger, sixty days' notice.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (7)

1. July 30, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, July 30, 1893

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ment. In New-York City there are twenty-five 8 ings banks, and on January 1 last they had deposit $340,406,930, placed there by 815,2 depositors. In Kings County there are fourt savings banks, which, on the same date. I $105,947,231 in the names of 270,032 depositor Edward Baker, president of the Bowery Savi Bank, when seen in the bank yesterday morni said: We have not enforced the sixty days' rt It is a good rule in case of a panic, but otherwise. No action will be taken by this ba until the trustees have considered the questi The officers of the bank will wait for a meet of the board of trustees, which will be held ea in the week. The trustees will probably ta such action as may be necessary to empower officers in case of trouble to act at once. We an extra heavy business this morning. but depositors were not at all alarmed. The savi banks are experiencing a great need of bills small denominations." ALL DEPOSITORS ON AN EQUAL FOOTING Andrew Warner, president of the Institut for the Savings of Merchants' Clerks, No. Union Square, said: The Board of Trust have not met yet, but if we think it necess a meeting will probably be called for Mond We have given no notice to our depositors, a we will keep on in our usual way until trustees take action. I consider the action good one, beneficial both to the savings bar and the depositors. It will put all the deposit on the same footing. do not think this acti will have any bad effect on the banks, for telligent depositors will understand it. withdrawals of deposits have been only sligh larger than usual at this time of the ye Confidence will be readily restored when depos ors see that they can easily obtain their mon I look upon all the savings banks in this St: as sound and capable of paying all they owe a having a surplus left. These institutions 80 hedged about by law and their investment are of such a character that it is difficult depositors to be injured. The chief purpose the sixty-day notice would be to stop the imr diate withdrawal of the whole amount on posit. I consider it a wise action. and doubti all the banks will take advantage of it." THE TIME CLAUSE ENFORCED. Colonel Sprague, president of the Union Di Savings Bank, said 'There was a large increa in the withdrawals of deposits from this bank 1 day. We are paying $100 on account. and ha availed ourselves of the sixty-day clause in o charter. The women depositors seem to be 1, frightened than the men. It was remarkab however, that 15 per cent of the money withdray was immediately redeposited after the people sa that we had plenty of cash on hand to pay. large amount of the money paid out was in gold DEPOSITORS WELL PROTECTED. The provisions of the Banking law protect ( positors in savings institutions at every ste Before a savings bank can begin business t Superintendent of the Banking Department mi be satisfied as to whether the responsibility a character of the organizers are such as to eo: mand the confidence of the place in which t savings bank is to be located also as to whetl the opening of a bank, in the place propose will be a public benefit. Thirteen corporators : necessary. of whom a certain number must reside the county where the bank is to be opened. and t thirteen are subject to the obligations and dut imposed by law on trustees of an express tru No savings bank can receive deposits until has sent to the Banking Department the nam residence, and address of each of its officers. is provided that: No trustee of any such corporation shall have a interest, direct or indirect. in the gains or profits there nor as such, directly or indirectly. receive any pay emolument for his services, except as hereinafter provide and no trustee or officer of any such corporation sh directly or indirectly for himself or as an agent or parts of others, borrow any of Its funds or deposits. or In o manner use the same except to make such current 1 necessary payments as are authorized by the Beard Trustees: nor shall any trustee or officer of any such poration become an indorser or surety or become in manner an obliger for moneys loaned by or borrowed such corporation. A trustee who violates this provision, or W becomes connected with any other savings bar forfeits his position ipso facto. Trustees who as officers, or as members of the committee examine vouchers and assets, may receive a CO pensation, whose amount is fixed by the majori of the other members of the Board. HOW THE MONEY MAY BE INVESTED. In this time of general depreciations, the sa guards as to the securities in which deposits m be lawfully invested are specially interestir Those securities are of six classes: (1 Governme and District of Columbia interest-bearing oblig tions, i. e., bonds or notes: (2) interest-bearing ligations of this State: (3) interest-bearing oh gations of any State of the Union which has n defaulted in payment of principal or inter within ten years; (4) city. town, country, villa and school bonds issued pursuant to law in tl State: (5) first mortgages on real estate situat in this State worth twice the amount loan thereon not more than 65 per cent of all t deposits can be loaned in this way. and only per cent of its actual value may be loaned on 11 improved property (6) real property necessa for the transaction of a banking business, a such as is purchased at sales on foreclosure mortgages owned in the bank The trustees are prohibited from loaning ti moneys deposited with them, or any part there upon notes, bills of exchange, drafts. or any oth personal securities whatever." Dealing or tra ing in real property otherwise than as has bes indicated. or in any goods, wares, merchandis or commodities whatever, buying or selling e change. or gold or silver. or collecting promisso notes on time bills, or making or issuing any ee tificates of deposit payable either on demand at a fixed day are also prohibited. CASH ASSETS LIMITED IN AMOUNT. For the purpose of meeting current expenses, per cent of the amount of the deposits may 1 kept in a State or National bank or trust con pany but this amount must not exceed one-quart of the capital stock of such depository. TI

2. July 31, 1893 Evening Journal Wilmington, DE

Article from Evening Journal, July 31, 1893

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A RUSH OF DEPOSITORS Chaotic Crowds Congregate About the Banks AND OLAMOR FOR DEPOSITED CASH New York All Astir Over the Bank Regulations Which Went Into Effect This Morning-Police Had to Be Called Upon Early This Afternoon-Business Disturbances of To-day. NEW YORK, July 31. In many of the savings banks notices was pasted to day to the effect the bank of withdrawal rule adopted by the savings banks last|week was in effect. One or two banks made the limit of withdrawal 100 requiring the legal notice for withdrawal of greater sums. The action of the banks has not caused what might be called 8 panie, but there were heavy withdrawals at most of the savings banks and doubtless the check on depositors will go into effect generally to-morrow. At the Seaman's Savings Bank there were 250 people demanding their money; at the Dry Dock Savings Bank, 500; at the Bowery Savings Bank, 200; at the the Union Dime Savings oBank, 150; at German Savings Bank, 300; at the Bleecker Street Savings Bank, 400. At the latter institution the crowd was so e haotic and disorderly that the police were sent for. The police formed the crowd in line and each depositor drew out all his book called for. The legal notice was not asked for by the bank, but the directors will probably order the rule enforced after to-day Bankers are of the opinion that if the rule is not enforced to-morrow a senseless run will result and millions of dollars taken out of circuit. All the banks are sound and their money is well invested but to force the instant payment of the immense sums deposited would wreck many of them. In Brooklyn, Williamsburgh and in several cities throughout the state heavy withdrawal deposits are reported. Several Brooklyn banks compelled depositors to give the legal notice but the rules have not gone into effect generally. The crowds at the savings banks increased toward noon and 'at that hour most of the savings institutions posted the rule governing withdrawals. Money at noon on the stock exchange was 48 per cent. and the Clearing House Loan Committee issued a million dollars worth of clearing house certificates with a promise of a million more before the day ended to ease the market. Nearly half a million of gold came from Havanna to-day and half a million was started from London to New York,

3. August 1, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, August 1, 1893

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Fourth-ave., where four policemen, two inside and two outside, were occupied keeping the crowd in line. Nobody got any more than $100, and these sums were being paid out slowly. They paid out about $30,000, the bank keeping open until 8 o'clock, which it does on Monday evenings. Many of these people, thinking they could not get any money at all without offering some excuse, said they were going to buy grocery stores. At the Bowery Savings Bank President Wood said that they were paying $100 to as many people as they could; above that and up to $300, thirty days' notice, he said, was demanded, and for sums larger, sixty days' notice. The crowd here was much the same as at the other banks, and was regulated by policemen. There was a good-sized crowd at the Emigrant Industrial Savings Institution, in Chambers-st., when it opened, but no excitement. Two-thirds of those who came with their passbooks were women, many of them carrying children in their arms. They found the following notice posted conspicuously at various points in the interior of the bank, signed by David Ledwith, controller: "The bank will require thirty days' notice of the intended withdrawal of all sums exceeding $50. One payment to that amount in each week will be made on demand, and no sum exceeding $1,000 will be paid in each calendar month until further notice. By order of the Board of Trustees." An orderly line was formed, and all who wanted $50 got it. It was paid half in currency and half in gold. The great majority of those asking withdrawals were of the most ignorant classes. Onefifth were Italians. But a great many of those who came for money took only the interest due them, and left their deposits intact. There was no rush for the window at which the thirty days' notice was given, and one clerk leisurely attended it. Much of the time it was without customers. While the paying teller was engaged handing out notes and gold, the receiving teller was almost as busy taking in money offered by depositors. At the close of business, it was found that about 800 holders of passbooks had withdrawn

4. August 1, 1893 The Sun New York, NY

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PLENTY OF MONEY ON HAND. SAVINGS BANKS FIND THAT THERE'S HONK ION SCHRE General Enforcement of the Time Rule Ex. cept Where Money Was Actually Needed -The Poorest People Flocked to Their Banks, Which Are the Richest, and Drew the Limit-Plenty Who Came to Deposit, Not to Draw-Payments Chiefly In Gold. At second and third hand. in their clubs. churches. and other meeting places. in the gossip of the Sunday holiday. the less-informed classes of savings bank depositors had heard that something or other was up at the savings banks where their money was, and they took their bank books early yesterday morning and went around to see about it. What was up. as the newspaper readers knew. was that the banks proposed to check any ate tempt at a run by posting the sixty-day notice rule. The rule was applied whenever circumisou U 91 1I # ериш standed tive discourager of runs. and it did its work. Only one of the larger savings banks failed to post the rule. That was the Bank for Savings in Bleecker street. There had been no meeting of the trustees. and as President Trimble had plenty of cash he did not act. It is possible that a notice will be nosted there to-day. Several of the banks with deposits of less than ten millions did not post notices because the demand on them for money was notso great. Their depositors are.as a rule. of a class that is not ignorantly frightened. In New York city, with one exception. the biggest savings banks are those resorted to by the poorest people. These banks of the poor are the Bleecker Street. the Bowery. the Citizens'. the Emigrant Industrial. and the German. They have more of the and -steins than any others, and they naturally drew a crowd yesterday. At the German bank. at the corner of Fourteenth street and Fourth avenue. two hundred people were pushing and mauling each other for places nearest the door before the door opened. There was just as big a crowd at the Bleecker Street Bank. At the Bowery. the Citizens'. and the Emigrants the crowd was smaller. but was just as noisy. Of course, when the doors of those banks were opened line up places the 103 07 usns PIIM B SUM there for the paying tellers' windows. In a dozen places on the walls of the Emigrants' bank the following notice was posted: As provided by Chapter XVII. article 8, of the laws, -us our 10 notice sawp require IIIM queq #141 euo suins IIV JO pepues no фриш eq IIIM ROOM have ;unome 1841 01 B1 prud eq IIIM 001$ Suppesere uns ou puw "puetned each calendar month until further notice. The half-dozen watchmen who assisted in forming the crowd in line pointed out these notices. Some of those in the crowd who didn't want $50, put their books in their pockets and went home. Not more than one in a hundred left notice that be wanted his money when the time was up. A great many wailed. because they were born wallers. Up to 2 o'clock the Citizens' bank had recelved only thirty notices of withdrawal. The notice there was that sums under $100 would a thirty that pue рившер uo plud 0q would be required for the withdrawal of larger accounts. The notice at the Bowery bank permitted the withdrawal of sums under $300 on demand and required sixty days' notice on larger amounts. The crowd at these banks remained until 4 o'clock. It did not increase. and depositors got their money at the rate of about four a minute. At the Bleecker Street Bank and the German Bank the crowd extended out into the street all day. Competitors for place jostled each other 80 much that policemen were called W.JO.A eqf орвш pun Sujuend euror "up of paying slow. and they probably didn't average more than one in three minutes. The German Bank required sixty days' notice on '001$ JOAO suins The banks paid mostly in gold. with a little silver, small currency being scarce. The offiup perjun personsible baueq the 10 IIB 10 $100 saying that as a run the flurry was a complete failure. The President of the Dry Dock Bank said: eye "OM7 10 Aup B up 10A0 eq sterly IIIA 9I.. signs are that it is breaking already. There isn't even the possibility that any of the banks will use half of the cash it has ready.' President Trimble of the Bleecker Street Bank said: All the banks are in an excellent condition and can stand this sort of thing a long while. The notice demanded by some of the banks operates for the protection of the foolish depositor. and he needs it. People who object to this notice should remember that it is not possible for the banks to take money and invest it in order to make interest for them, and then to realize on the inand 91 seuon rection s quemous B qu Asstriet into savings banks to be saved and to earn more money The savings bank depositor must have his money locked up just as the business man has who invests his money. There is this difference. that the money of the savings bank depositor is absolutely safe. Thelaw fixes the nature of the investment." At the several banks where notice of withdrawal was required exceptions were madein show could OUM deposites 10 este the -ind offects AUB JOJ Aeuour our popeou they they " bardship V osiepun pinom pus 'esod did not get it. In two instances THE SUN repue 009'1$ another up pred $2.000 MUS Jersod our 1021 OUM ueur 140 $1.200 another up money brought with them the proof that it was required for immediate use. They were paid -sodep SUM Aeuou 10 [vep quest V check 4q "яморијм 10 108 euo 38 Aup our pepp while the timid were crushing each other at up 000'91$ recorded rusq euo new other the deposits before noon. On an average nearly products Aupuom JO sunows Jensn the was received The Greenwich Savings Bank. Sixth avenue and Sixteenth street, put up the sixty day notice. and most of the depositors who had come TEAM The AQUOU there no Map 01 em 18 line the affernoon the uI notice BUILD pus 1098 pus 1 MOLD MODUIM Pupied when the bank closed there were hardly more wodn there puno; eq 01 OJW than # up epiood any afternoon. President J. Harsen Rhoades said to a reporter: ply We for are depositors the want to enforcing purpose of the withdraw looking their it sixty-day up. rule money sim- Where where OM 1 10 001$ no aver 01 THAT SUSM Zeqz new 1 them 01 11 9A12 discritton uno esn 9M sums

5. August 2, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, August 2, 1893

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Italians and Hebrews, who evidently did not seem to know much about English, but who walted patiently in line and took their $50 as contentedly as If that was all they wanted. These people did not give any notice of the withdrawal of the balance. " Were there any deposits " Mr. Trimble was asked. "Quite a number," he answered, and I am sure there would be many more only for the difficulty and bother of pushing through the crowds. We had placed in our keeping to-day $7,000." J. Horace Rhoades, president of the Greenwich Savings Bank, said that as far as his bank was concerned, the run was over-"i if It ever could be called a run," he added. "There was no one time here today when I counted more than fifteen men and ten women." Did you have any depositors Of course we did," answered Mr. Rhoades, cheerily; "ninety-five of them who handed in $6,600, and we had eleven who took out $30,000." "Were any large sums paid out ?" "Yes, we paid some sums of over $1,000 each. Of the $30,000 withdrawn, $7,000 was taken by twentyone persons, and they were all paid by check. There were a couple of genuine European trips to be made and we furnished these people, whom we knew to be telling the truth, with all they wanted for this purpose." At the Bowery Savings Bank, the Emigrant, the Dry Dock, the Manhattan Savings Institution, and the other banks of the same class, the general condition of things was about the same as at the ones written about.

6. August 3, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, August 3, 1893

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SAVINGS BANK DEPOSITORS ARE CALM. AT THE GREENWICH MORE MONEY WAS TAKEN IN THAN WAS PAID OUT. The soundness of the savings banks in New-York City was never better demonstrated than by the manner 10 which they went th:ough the recent run made on them. E. A. Quintard, the president of that bank, said to a reporter: "The run is practically over. Our deposits for to-day were $4,000 against $12,000 withdrawn. On Monday $40,000 was drawn and $25,000 on Tuesday. The total amount drawn since July 1 is $500,000." Edward Wood, the president of the Bowery SavIngs Bank, said: The sum of $144,000 was withdrawn on Monday against $12,000 deposited. On Tuesday $28,000 was withdrawn and $14,000 was deposited. The figures for to-day are about the same." William G. White, the controller of the Bleecker Street Savings Bank, said: "We have sold no bonds and there is no reason why we should. On Tuesday $40,000 were withdrawn against $9,000 placed on deposit. To-day there was $26,000 withdrawn against $10,000 of deposits." Joseph Bird, the vice-president of the Manhattan davings Institution, said : "On Monday $99,000 was withdrawn against $5,000 in deposits. On Tuesday $15,000 was drawn against $5,000 deposited. and today $10,000 was withdrawn against $6,000 deposited. Some of the people who withdrew their deposits on Monday have redeposited them to-day." Some of the elderly women who have had accounts at this institution many years have been solicitous on account of the present financial difficulties. One came to the bank with $115 and said she thought it a shame that people should get so "skeary" about such things and It was about time that the depositors came forward and showed their confidence. Believing that the bank was in need of money, she desired to show her confidence in the institution by depositing extra money now. T. F. Amthor, the treasurer of the German Savings Bank, said: "We have $3,000,000 in actual cash in our vaults. On Monday $45,000 was withdrawn, on Tuesday $33,800. and to-day $27,000. It is not at all unusual for us to pay out $200,000 in one day when there is not the slightest suggestion of a run or a panic." J. Harsen Rhoades, the president of the Greenwich Savings Bank. said: "On Monday $52,000 was withdrawn against $10,000 deposited. On Tuesday $30,000 was withdrawn against $6,600 in deposits, and to-day only $8,000 has been withdrawn while $9,000 has been deposited."

7. September 1, 1893 New-York Tribune New York, NY

Article from New-York Tribune, September 1, 1893

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DEPOSITORS CHANGED THEIR MINDS. WHEN THEY COULD GET MONEY FROM SAVINGS BANKS THEY DIDN'T WANT IT. Depositors' notices of withdrawal of funds from the savings banks expired for several of the banks yesterday. They were the institutions which required only thirty days' notice for the withdrawal of large amounts. As a significant sign of the times. the outcome yesterday was watched with a great deal of interest, and, as it also proved, with a great amount of satisfaction. The calls on the banks were extremely light. In most cases they did exceed 10 per cent of the notices, and in some instances the proportion was much less. At the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank. No. 49 Chambers-st., notices to the amount of over $215,000 expired. but of this only $26,000 was taken out. At the Bowery Savings Bank the expired notices called for $33,000, of which $3,200 was taken out. The East River Savings Bank paid out less than 10 per cent of the amount affected by the time notices. Reports from other institutions were equally encouraging.