Gilbert Bros. - Salem, OR

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Start Date: February 22, 1904
Location: Salem, Oregon (44.943, -123.035)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 36d51f77

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (Daily Capital Journal, 1904-02-22) discusses Gilbert Bros. as a 'suspended bank' now in receivership and creditors asking the receivership be wound up. No mention of a depositor run in the text provided. The bank is in receivership, indicating permanent closure; therefore classified as suspension_closure. 'Private' chosen because name lacks 'National/State/Trust' and appears to be a private or local banking concern.

Events (2)

1. February 22, 1904 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: The receivership was first in the hands of H. B. Thielsen and is now in the hands of Mr. Gatch, ... The poorest depositor will get even justice at the hands of Judge Boise, with the richest preferred creditors of the Gilberts.
Source: newspapers

2. * Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Bank was suspended and placed in receivership (insolvency/financial failure of the firm implied); creditors are complaining about asset handling and collection of securities (indicates bank-specific insolvency issues).
Newspaper Excerpt: the Gilbert Bros, suspended bank
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. February 22, 1904 Daily Capital Journal Salem, OR

Article from Daily Capital Journal, February 22, 1904

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Article Text

# JUDGE BOISE IS NOT TO BLAME. The Journal has been trying to represent the interests of the smaller creditors of the Gilbert Bros, suspended bank and has been making a demand that the receivership be wound up and that they be paid off. This is treated by those opposed to the above propositions as presumption, and charges have been bawled on the streets and in the newspapers, that The Journal publishers were blackmailers, and wanted advertising out of the receiver. As the receivership was first in the hands of H. B. Thielsen and is now in the hands of Mr. Gatch, and as neither gentleman can show that The Journal publishers ever asked them for any advertisements or for any money, directly or indirectly, accusations of the above character will fall to the ground of their own weight and are not made in good faith, but simply to try to drive this paper into silence by an unusual uproar. In all that has been said or shall be said in this paper, no one should be led to believe that Judge Boise, under whose direction the receivership has been conducted, has not in every way sought to protect the smallest creditor on equal terms with the greatest, The poorest depositor will get even justice at the hands of Judge Boise, with the richest preferred creditors of the Gilberts. If any large creditor has collaterals to the full amount of his claim and has been getting dividends on top of his securities without giving up his collaterals, Judge Boise will in the end make him surrender his grip. But the smaller creditors have a right to ask that the affairs of the receivership be expedited. They have even a right to inquire into the manner in which the assets are being disposed of. But the court is not directly responsible for the methods adopted by the receiver in transacting all the details of the receivership. The creditors have some rights to complain, as this is a free country, where the smallest may have his kick. The Journal has tried to voice their complaints without fear of intimidation by rich or great or influential persons. What are the main complaints of creditors? First, it was represented to get the receivership and to defeat throwing the estate into bankruptcy, that under an economical receivership conducted in the local court the creditors would be paid out in full and that under bankruptcy proceedings they would not get ten cents on the dollar. These were the representations of Gilbert Bros., of their attorneys, of the attorneys of the receivership. This was the belief of Hon. Tilmon Ford and of others who opposed bankruptcy. Some of them may now deny that those were the representations made, but the fact remains that those were the statements presented to Judge Bellinger, and presented so strongly that he virtually held the Gilberts were solvent. Second, the smaller creditors are not satisfied with the way the assets are being handled, as they are not speedily being converted into cash. The $68,000 of musical instrument securities were a special class of securities that could only be properly collected by someone fully understanding all the ins and out of the musical instrument trade. There were hundreds of these notes payable on the instalment plan, and now at the end of nearly two years it is claimed such an expert collector of musical instrument notes has been found and appointed by Judge Boise, and that plan will be given a trial. It can be readily seen that Mr. Gatch as manager of the largest bank in the valley, and a well-known politician, would not wish to make enemies for himself or his bank by crowding the collection of these notes for the creditors, and has not crowded their collection.