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EAST SIDE BANK CLOSED KILBURN TAKES ACTION. Cashier's Tragic Death Causes Run on Cooper Exchange. The tragic death of George F. Krapp. cashier of the Cooper Exchange Bank, at No. 28 Avenue A. a week ago, was an indirect cause of the closing of the doors of the bank yesterday by order of the State Superintendent of Banks. An examination had not proceeded far enough yesterday to show whether the bank was insolvent or not, but there probably will be an application for a receiver to-day, with a view of winding up the bank's affairs. The bank was started about two years ago with & capital of $100,000 and a surplus of $50,000. Samuel Gotthelf was president, and Theodore P. Gilman, Republican leader in the 19th Assembly District, was vice-president. For a year the bank prospered, supplying the needs of & thickly populated East Side district, and having deposits amounting to $670,000. The failure of David Rothschild's Federal Bank, which had an East Side branch, created SO much distrust that the patronage of the Cooper Exchange Bank fell away until the deposits were less than $350,000. Later the business of the bank increased a little. Mr. Krapp, the cashier, had been connected with the Germania Bank, and he was trusted by the managers of the Cooper Exchange Bank until complaints were made recently by some of the depositors that their books were not balanced properly. Early last week Krapp was told that he would have to give up the-post of cashier. but that he would be allowed to remain as assistant. On Wednesday morning he was killed by a fall from an upper story window of an apartment house in West 97th-st., where he had lived with his wife and son. The family said he complained of vertigo while dressing himself for breakfast and that be leaned out of an open window and lost his balance. His son caught hold of one of his feet, it was said, and held on as long as possible, but was obliged to let go, and Mr. Krapp fell to the bottom of a court. his brains being dashed out. Mr. Krapp's death caused fresh fright among the depositors of the bank. some of whom believed a report that he had committed suicide as a result of a defalcation. President Gotthelf declared that Krapp's accounts were straight, but many depositors began to withdraw their money quietly. The bank had a system of collecting deposits of customers by runners, who made regular rounds. After Krapp's death the collectors did not receive much from the timid depositors. Bank Examiner Judson kept a daily watch on the bank and noticed the steady withdrawal of cash. Yesterday morning he found that the bank was without the necesary amount of funds to conduct the business of the day, and at 10 o'clock he posted a notice on the doors closing the bank by order of Superintendent Kilburn. The runners were out collecting at the time, and when they returned with some thousands of cash they had difficulty in getting into the bank. Mr. Judson took charge of the money they brought in, sending it with the bank's other cash to a trust company for safekeeping. He said that the money would be returned to the depositors as soon as possible. Soon after the doors of the bank were closed the sidewalk was blocked by an excited crowd, in which were many of the bank's eleven hundred depositors. Police reserves were sent from the station in 5th-st. to keep order, and Captain McDermott established lines to keep the sidewalk clear. Some of the depositors clamored for their money, holding their bankbooks in their hands and trying to break through the police lines. When it became apparent that nobody would be allowed to enter the bank, however, the crowd gradually dispersed, and in the afternoon a few policemen had no difficulty in keeping people away from the doors. Among the directors of the bank are Max Schwartz, Julius Lichtenstein, John H. Iden and Morris H. Hayman. Schwartz, the proprietor of "Little Hungary," paid a visit to the bank in the afternoon and talked with Mr. Judson. He said later that all the depositors would be paid in full and the stockholders would not lose much, if anything. Several of the large depositors who made inquiries went away satisfied. Some of them said they had been annoyed by the sudden closing of the bank without notice, as they had drawn checks on the bank early in the day which would be returned to them. President Gotthelf was not at the bank, having sent word that he was 111 at his home, No. 22 Convent-ave. "The examination of the bank will require a week's time," Mr. Judson said late in the afternoon. "but there may be an application for the appointment of a receiver to-morrow. It looks as if all the depositors would be paid in full and the stockholders get back most of their investment The liabilities of the bank are about $580,000. and the assets are about the same amount if the paper is what it purports to be We cannot tell positively if all the loans made by the bank are good, but they look all right. All the money that was paid in to-day will be returned to the depositors as soon as possible by the receiver."
