22474. Walla Walla Savings Bank (Walla Walla, WA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
December 9, 1893
Location
Walla Walla, Washington (46.065, -118.343)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
25d2dda1

Response Measures

None

Description

Directors decided to go into liquidation and close doors Dec 9, 1893; an application for a receiver was filed and receivers were appointed. There is no clear report of a depositor run prior to suspension. Stockholders attempted to negotiate a reopening in Feb 1894, but the bank remained defunct with successive receivers and criminal proceedings against the president (Edmiston) for embezzlement.

Events (7)
1. December 9, 1893 Suspension
Cause
Voluntary Liquidation
Cause Details
Directors voted to go into liquidation and close the bank due to the general stringency and low price of wheat (financial stress); application for a receiver to be filed.
Newspaper Excerpt
At a meeting of the directors of the Walla Walla Savings bank this evening it was decided to go into liquidation, and the doors will not be opened Monday morning. An application for a receiver will be filed in the superior court.
Source
newspapers
2. December 28, 1893 Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
Receiver Fitzhugh completed a statement of the condition of the suspended Walla Walla savings bank late tonight, as follows: ... (receiver).
Source
newspapers
3. December 30, 1893 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
A warrant was issued to-day for the arrest of J. K. Edmiston on a charge of embezzling $30,000 from the defunct Walla Walla Savings Bank. ... The statement of the receivers shows Edmiston's personal overdraft was $30,501, and that the Security Bank owed the suspended bank $33,899.
Source
newspapers
4. January 3, 1894 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
J. K. Edmiston ... was arrested there Monday on a charge of embezzling about $30,000 from the defunct Walla Walla Savings Bank ... To-morrow Fitzhugh will resign as receiver and a new one will be appointed.
Source
newspapers
5. January 16, 1894 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Ex-Receiver George L. Fitzhugh, of the Walla Walla Savings bank, made his final report today. It appears from the statement that $343,649.68 in notes are owned by the bank ... Edmiston on the day the bank closed deeded to that institution 4,922.15 acres of land ... None of this is included in the statement of the assets of the bank made by the receiver.
Source
newspapers
6. February 13, 1894 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
The stockholders of the suspended Walla Walla Savings Bank are endeavoring to reopen that institution. ... a committee was appointed to interview depositors and ascertain what settlement can be made.
Source
newspapers
7. April 27, 1894 Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
Judge Sullivan today appointed J. W. McGhee receiver of the defunct Walla Walla Savings Bank, vice F. W. Paine, resigned.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (20)
1. December 10, 1893 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 10, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

Walla Walla Savings Bank Closed. WALLA WALLA, Dec. 9-Ata meeting of the directors of the Walls Walla Savings bank this evening it Was decided to go into liquidation, and the doors will not be opened Monday morning. An application for a receiver will be filed in the superior court. The paid up capital is $100,000. No statement of liabilities can be obtained tonight, but President Edmiston states that all depositors will be paid in full. The embarrassment is due to the general stringency and the low price of wheat

2. December 10, 1893 The Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from The Herald, December 10, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

Going Into Liquidation. WALLA WALLA, Wash., Dec. 9.-At a meeting of the directors of the Walla Walla Savings bank this evening it was decided to go into liquidation, and the doors will not be opened Monday morning. An application for a receiver will be filed in the superior court. The paid up capital is $100,000. No statement of liabilites can be obtained tonight, but President Edmiston states all the depositors will be paid in full. The embarrasement is due to the general etringency and low price of wheat.

3. December 10, 1893 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 10, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

THE SECURITY SAVINGS BANK. This Institution and Walla Walla Savinge Bank Will Go Into Liquidation. The officers of the Security Savings bank, of which J. K. Edmiston is president, have decided to liquidate its affairs and terminato its business. Mr. Edmiston is at present in Walla Walla, looking after the interests of the Walla Walla Saving bank, of which institution he is also president, and which will likewise go out of business. Pending his return, the Security bank will temporarily suspend payment and will not open its doors for business. The cashier of the bank states that the deposits are small, not aggregating over $30,000, and that all depositors will be paid in full. The Seattle clearing house offered to furnish the money and liquidate the bank at once, but their offer was declined, the officers preferring to close out the business themselves. The partial failure of the wheat crop in Eastern Washington and the connection of the Security bank with the Walla Walla bank are the reasons given by the officer for winding up the affairs of both institutions.

4. December 10, 1893 The Daily Morning Astorian Astoria, OR
Article from The Daily Morning Astorian, December 10, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

ANOTHER SUSPENSION. Walla Walla, Dec. 9.-At a meeting of the directors of the Walla Walla Savings Bank this evening it was decided to go into liquidation, and the doors. will not be opened Monday morning. An application will be made for a receiver. The bank had a paid-up capital of $100,000. President Edmiston states all depositors will be paid in full. The embarrassment is due to the general stringency and the low price of wheat.

5. December 27, 1893 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 27, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

P. B. JOHNSON'S MALICE. Be Inspires If He Does Not Write Falsehoods About Honest Men. WALLA WALLA. Decrease 22, 1893. To THE EDITOR: In a recent issue of the Walla Walls Union Journal its editor, P. B. Johnson, in an open letter to the editor of the POST-INTELLIGENCER, denies that he ever wrote the scurrilous letter that was sent out from here to the Spokane Review, Portland Oregonian and Tacoma Ledger. He not only denies having written the letter, but states: "I do not know who wrote the long letter, etc.," and thus he continues at great length to deny any knowledge of the matter and begs not to be held responsible for the sins of others. By way of reminder it would be well for Mr. Johnson to look back to the columns of his own paper, and there he can find that, not more than a week ago, he admitted the letter to have been written by a man in his employ, but shirked the responsibility on the ground that the letter was not printed in the Union Journal, of which he is the editor. It is immaterial, however, whether Mr. Johnson was or was not the author of that letter, or whether he did or did not furnish the false matter therein contained. This much is certain: he admits the contents thereof to be false, he acknowledges that there was not an atom of truth in any of the statements, and yet he had not the manhood to contradict them in the columns of his own paper. At great length he tells us in his "open letter" to the editor of the POST-INTELLIGENCER that he way and is always ready to criticise men and measures in an open and manly way. I submit that he who is always ready to condemn men and measures that are detrimental to the public good ought to be equally ready and willing to commend men and measures whose acts and aims are beneficial to the public good. Mr. Johnson, who has been identified with that public institution, the state penitentiary, located here in Walla Walla, for quite a number of years, knows perfectly well that the acts of the board of directors of the penitentiary, spoken of in that "long letter," netted the state $3,900 annually. The usual price, with one or two exceptions, paid for wood was $6 per cord, and sometimes over that. The contract let recently by the directors, of which that "long letter" complained so bitterly, is for wood of equal quality at the price of $4.70 per cord. It is equally true that Mr. Johnson, though sick as he claims to have been at the time of the failure of the Walla Walla Savings bank, knew that not a cent of the revolving fund money was deposited in the said bank, and that the running account that the warden kept in that bank amounted to only a few cents over $500. Was it not the proper and manly thing for Mr. Johnson, who claims to be always ready to condemn evil and commend good, to have denied, and immediately so, in the columns of his paper. the false assertions made by several journals that the state treasury would be a heavy loser by the failure of the bank? Was it not incumbent upon him to say: "The Walla Walla Union Journal, of which I am the proprietor, is a public journal, devoted to the public good, and if the public funds were in peril or wrongly applied, the Journal would have said so and cautioned the public of the danger. The Journal, being printed in the same city where the penitentiary is situated, feels it to be primarily its duty as a public journal to condemn all wrong acts therein committed and to commend all good ones." In that event no one would have made the mistake of accrediting Mr. Johnson with having written or instigated to be written that which he declares to be false. Mr. Johnson would then have had no occasion to print an "open letter" in the editorial columns of his own paper addressed to the editor of another public journal. A RESIDENT OF WALLA Walla.

6. December 29, 1893 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 29, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

Statement of Walls Walla Savings Bank WALLA WALLA, Dec. 28.-[Special.]- Receiver Fitzhugh completed a statement of the condition of the suspended Walla Walls savings bank late tonight, as fol. lows: P

7. December 31, 1893 The Morning Call San Francisco, CA
Article from The Morning Call, December 31, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

EDMISTON'S THEFTS. Another Warrant for the Ex-Banker's Arrest. WALLA Walla, Wash., Dec. 30.-A warrant was issued to-day for the arrest of J. K. Edmiston on a charge of embezzling $30,000 from the defunct Walla Walla Savings Bank. Edmiston was president of the bank, and also of the Security Bank of Seattle, which suspended on the same day. The statement of the receivers shows Edmiston's personal overdraft was $30,501, and that the Security Bank owed the suspended bank $33,899. Edmiston was arrested a week ago today at Seattle on a charge of receiving deposits for the Walla Walla bank when he knew it was Insolvent. Upon being brought back here he gave a $2000 bond required and departed last Tuesday morning. saying he was going back to Seattle. Since it has been learned that he has not been seen in that place.

8. December 31, 1893 The Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from The Herald, December 31, 1893

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

WHERE IS EDMISTON? A Bank President Wanted for Embezzing $30,000. WALLA WALLA, Wash., Dec. 30.-A warrant was today issued for the arrest of J. K. Edmiston, on the charge of embezzling $30,000 from the defunct Walla Walia Savings bank. Edmiston was president of the bank and also of the Security bank of Seattle, which suspended the same day. A statement of the receivers shows that Edmiston's personal overdraft was $30,501. and that the Security bank owed the suspended bank $33,899. Edmiston was arrested a week ago today at Seattle, on the charge of receiving deposite for the Walla Walla bank when he knew it was insolvent. Upon being brought back here he gave the $20,000 bond required, and departed last Tuesday morning, saying he was going back to Seattle; since it has been learned that he has not been seen in that place.

9. January 3, 1894 The Morning Call San Francisco, CA
Article from The Morning Call, January 3, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

EDMISTON ARRESTED. The President of a Defunct Bank Placed in Jail. WALLA WALLA, Jan. 2.-Duepty Sheriff Ellingsworth returned to-night from Harrison, Idaho, having in custody J. K. Edmiston, who was arrested there Monday on a charge of embezzling about $30,000 from the defunct Walla Walla Savings Bank, of which he was president. Edmiston states that he had wired his attorney in Seattle of his intention to return to Walla Walla. He was brought here and locked up in jail. To-morrow Fitzhugh will resign as receiver and a new one will be appointed.

10. January 4, 1894 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 4, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

BANKER EDMISTON ARRAIGNED. The Hearing Postponed, and Bonds Fixed at $10,000. WALLA WALLA, Jan. 3.-[Special.]Judge Sullivan, sitting for Judge Upton, today accepted the resignation of George L. FitzHugh as receiver of the Walla Walla Savings bank, and appointed F. W. Payne successor with bonds of $10,000 and compensation of $300 per month. J. K. Edmiston, president of the suspended Walla Walla savings bank, was today arraigned in justice court on a charge of larceny of $30,000 of the bank's funds. The justice fixed his bond at $50.000, segregated by the court as follows: "Thirty thousand dollars for the money you have stolen, and $20,000 for the crime you have committed." The preliminary hearing was postponed until January 22. Edmiston's attorneys took exception to the justice's prejudgment of the case and the excessive bond, and this evening brought the matter before Judge Sullivan in the form of a writ of habeas corpus. After argument Judge Sullivan reduced the bond to $10,000, which Edmiston says he will give tomorrow.

11. January 17, 1894 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 17, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

The Walla Walla Bank Failure. WALLA WALLA, Jan. 16.-[Special.|-ExReceiver George L. Fitzhugh, of the Walla Walla Savings'bank, made his final report today. It appears from the statement that $343,649.68 in notes are owned by the bank, $134,107.81 is now in the bank and securities worth $209,541.87 have been pledged as collateral to secure borrowed An exammoney aggregating $91,614.76. ination of the county records show that Edmiston on the day the bank closed deeded to that institution 4,922.15 acres of land in Walla Walla county. and it is said he made similar transfers in Umatilla and Columbia counties. None of this is included in the statement of the assets of the bank made by the receiver.

12. January 20, 1894 The Kootenai Herald Bonners Ferry, Kootenai, ID
Article from The Kootenai Herald, January 20, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

EDMISTON TOOK THE MONEY. Drew Over $41,000 Out of the Walla Walla Bank in One Day. Walla Walla, Jan. 15.-Receiver F. W. Paine of the Walla Walla Savings bank, made a statement this `evening. Concering the overdraft of J.K. Edmiston, which was made the basis of the prosecution against him in the charge of the overdraft, Mr. Paine says: "I find that J. K. Edmiston, on the morning of the 9th of December, started with a balance to his credit of $10,852,29, and at the close of business that night his account was overdrawn $30,569.01; that $14,103.92 of this amount of overdrafts is made up of certificates of deposit, issued to himself, thus increasing the liabilities of the bank to that amount. The remainder, $27,307.38, was his personal checks drawn to pay for good notes which he took out of the bank on that day."

13. January 24, 1894 The Morning Call San Francisco, CA
Article from The Morning Call, January 24, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

Edmiston Held for Trial. WALLA WALLA, Jan. 23.-J. X. Edmiston, president of the suspended Walla Walla Savings Banks. was yesterday bound over in $50,000 bonds, charged with embezzlement of $30,000 of the bank's funds.

14. February 14, 1894 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 14, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

To Heopen Walls Walls Savings Bank. WALLA WALLA, Feb. 13.-(Special.-The stockholders of the suspended Walls Walla Savings Bank are endeavoring to reopen that institution. Several meet. ings of stockholders have been held to formulate plans of settlement with the depositors. Today a committee, consisting of William Stine, George Ludwigs and Al Goldman, was appointed to interview depositors and ascertain what settlement can be made. It is believed by the stockholders that they can liquidate the bank's aflairs, paying 100 cents on the dollar.

15. February 16, 1894 Washington Standard Olympia, WA
Article from Washington Standard, February 16, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

grocers close consideration for the revival meetings. A good many logging camps are starting up in the Gray's Harbor country. The South Bend tannin works are several carloads behind orders with their output. One hundred men are nightly given free lodging in the People's Tabernacle at Spokane. Martin Holman, of Elma, has a contract for furnishing 4,000 piles for shipment to Honolulu. Tacoma will purchase a new 2,000 light dynamo to increase the capacity of the electric light plant. They think nothing on the Salmon river of breaking a path to a dance through three feet of snow. It took six men to hold Jesse Holman, a hackdriver of Colfax, who went violently insane last Saturday. Seventeen feet 81 inches of snow fallen SO far at Monte Cristo, and not a very good winter for snow either. The Northern Pacific's station at Pullman was broken into, but the booty secured did not amount to much. George Williams, a 14-year-old boy from Douglas county, Or., has been committed to the reform school from Colfax. At Fairfield they dry their wheat in a reyolving cylinder 16 feet long, through which steam pipes are conducted. George Parker, suspected of the Pullman hotel murder last October, is still in the Colfax jail and frets at his imprisonment. J. D. McLeod & Co.'s shingle mill at Edmionds cut 3,126,000 shingles in 25 days during January, with a doubleblock Challoner. The grandest ball ever given on the Columbia river is the event with which Cathlamet proposes to celebrate Washington's birthday. A St. Paul syndicate will soon begin active mining operations along the Wenatchee river with new and improved machinery. On Washington's birthday the children of the State School for Defective Youth at Vancouver are to give a pantomime entertainment. A hundred tons of iron ore will be sent by the Tacoma smelting and refining works to Everett, which will enable the Everett smelter to reopen. The news from Riparia is that fruit is uninjured by the frost and that fair wages are being made by washing fine gold from bars in the Snake river. The retrenchment committee of the Tacoma council has outlined a policy for cutting down salaries among municipal employes, amounting to $12,825. The Wallace brothers, of Kalama, have gone to the Fraser river, in British Columbia, with a force of hands and sturgeon gear,and will go to packing there. C. G. Anderson, who formerly operated a shingle mill at Cedarville, has departed for Sweden, leaving creditors who mourn to the extent of about $1,000. There are rumorsof an arrangement under which Edmiston will be discharged and the Walla Walla Savings bank reopened, to the deep disgust of the Statesman. A large flywheel in the Port Town send nail works burst last week, dis abling a considerable amount of machinery and necessitating & shutdown of a week or two. " Dr. Chase, the dentist," exclaims the Cathlamet Gazette, is in town. See his bills!" That must be a new order of dentist whose bills do not attrat attention without contributive aid. It hurts some of the hard-working people of Cathlamet to go to the jail and see the prisoners supplied with a carpet on the floor, a comfortable fire, their beds made up and an air of comfort. About 600 tons of Slocum ore were stored at the Kelso wharf during January. The gross amount of ore mined, from 15 different properties during the month will reach 1,590 tons, worth $225,000. It is reported that $25,000 worth of bonds to build a logging road from Buckley into the logging camps have been taken in the East. Defaulting Banker Hart was one of the projectors of the logging road. Boundary City now has a population of 200 people, principally miners. It is located at the confluence of Pend d'Oreille and Columbia rivers, on unsurveyed government land, and the outlook for activity in the many mines adjacent is good. Among other educational topics asked the Tacoma teachers at their recent examination was, " What caused the panic of 1893?" And yet, on second thought, probably the teachers' stock of ignorance on the subject is not larger than that aired in the columns of that esteemed contemporary, the Congressional Record. One of the most effectual news papers " scoops" which has come to light in modern times was achieved by the Everett Heraid last week. Having been awarded the city printing con-

16. April 5, 1894 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 5, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

New Informations Against Edmisten. WALLA Walla, April 4.-[Special,]-Informations have been filed against J. K. Edmiston in two new cases by the prosecuting attorney. Both charge him with receiving money on deposit when the Walla Walla Savings bank was in a tottering condition. Both informations allege the money was received the day of the suspension, including $150 state money.

17. April 24, 1894 The Daily Morning Astorian Astoria, OR
Article from The Daily Morning Astorian, April 24, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

ATTEMPTED SHOOTING President of a Defunct Bank Shot at Five Times. NARROW ESCAPE VERY A Frenzied by the Loss of His Money a Depositor Attempts to Shoot J. K. Edmiston. / Associated Press. Walla Walla, April 23.-Considerable excitement was caused this morning over the attempted shooting of J. K. Edmiston, president of the defunct Walla Walla Savings bank, by H. C. Tobin, one of our most prominent citizens. Saturday evening Edmiston was released from the county jail on giving bond in the sum of $1,500 to appear in superior court next month to answer the charge of receiving money for deposit when he had knowledge the bank was insolvent. This morning, while Edmiston was standing on the street talking with John Thoney, a depositor of the bank, Tobin came up, and drawing a revolver shot at Edmiston, but missed him. Edmiston turned around and ran down the street, followed by Tobin, who fired four more shots, without effect. Several citizens caught Tobin and took the pistol from him, and Edmiston then ran into a residence, and hid himself. Tobin was arrested and taken before a justice of the peace, where he pleaded guiltry to the charge of assault and WES fined $20 and costs. The shooting is the result of the failure of the bank. Tobin was a depositor in the sum of $5,000, and claims that a few days before the bank suspended he demanded his money, but Edmiston put him off for several days. Meantime the bank became insolvent. Ever/since Edmiston was acquitted of the charge of embezzlement by the jury at Pomeroy, public sentiment against him has run high, and many rumors that his life was in jeopardy have been current. Tobin is one of the most prominent business men in the city and lost all he had by the failure of the bank, and this, with other minor troubles weighing up on his mind, it is supposed, produced a sudden impulse and caused his action.

18. August 26, 1894 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 26, 1894

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

# Fraud in Edmiston's Walla Walia Bank WALLA WALLA, Aug. 25. - [Special.]- The report of Expert Branch who was employed to examine the books and accounts of the defunct Walla Walla Savings bank, was made public this morning. The report was made to the stockholders who engaged Branch to do the work, and is very lengthy. After blaming the directors of the bank for having failed to carry out the provisions of the articles of incorporation, by reason of failing to hold meetings and failure to examine the report on the condition of the bank each quarter, Expert Branch proceeds at length to review the actions of J. K. Edmiston, president of the bank. Among other things he says: Edmiston had a habit of using the bank's money to dispose of claims which he held for his personal charges for commission or interest, and the bank is now holding such paper as part of its assets, Edmistion having realized cash for such claims. This has been going on for the greater part of the five years of the bank's existence, but more largely in the last six months prior to the suspension of the bank. He then cites several instances where the money of the bank had been appropriated by Edmiston for his private use, and the books "fixed" to cover the appropriation. Another instance of fraud shown is that George L. Fitzhugh, formerly manager of the bank, and Leon Phipps, an employe of the bank, had been allowed to borrow over $4,000 and $9,000, respectively, without giving any security beyond their personal notes. The expert states that there will be over $181,000 of notes held by the bank which are worthless, and accounts amounting to over $9,000 in the same condition, not taking into account the notes of Edmiston to the bank for $10,000 and his overdraft of $30,000.

19. February 14, 1895 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 14, 1895

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

# THE EDMISTON TRIAL. Defendant Disclaims Responsibility in the Bank. SAUNDERS' ENEMIES RUN AWAY. The Democratic Leaders Do Not Try to Substantiate Accusations—Fire at Walla Walla. North Yakima, Feb. 13.-Special- The cases, six in number, against JK Edmiston, of Seattle and Walla Walla, for accepting money as president and manager of the Walla Walla Savings bank when he knew that institution was insolvent, have occupied the time of the superior court throughout the day. In addition to the twenty-four witnesses from Walla Walla, about a dozen arrived on the late train last night from Seattle, and the interest displayed is intense. William Stine, Mrs. Whitney, Henry Tobin, H. P. Estes, George W. Bradbury, J. L. Stubblefield, N. S. Gholson, T. S Page, David and H. B. Goodstein and Leon Phipps were witnesses on the stand for the prosecution. The evidence was mainly directed to showing that Edmiston had received money and sold bills of exchange after telling various persons that the bank could not meet its obligations. Phipps, who was cashier from October until the bank closed its doors, was the star witzess, and he created a sensation when he stated that on the Saturday before the bank closed Edmiston, his brother and Fitzhue, and the witness were closeted together, and Edmiston then said that the bank would have to close on the following Saturday night on account of it being impossible to raise more funds, and that the bank was heavily in debt. The defense will endeavor to show the utter lack of knowledge on the part of Edmiston that the bank was insolvent or about to become so. His attorneys maintain that the defendant is being made a scapegoat, and that he was approached by certain bank officials prior to and immediately after the closing of the bank and asked to leave the country; that he was not a party to any of the fraudulent transactions, and that he paid $75,000 of the indebtedness of the bank in the two months in which he served as president and manager. They will maintain that during the panic of 1893 the health of Manager Stine gave way; that then Mr. Fitzhue took charge, serving from July to October, and, he also failing to meet the requirements, Mr. Edmiston was called from Seattle. Edmiston, knowing nothing of the stability of the bank's securities and counting on its resources to bring it out all right, was met with a failure of the wheat crop, which rendered securities valueless. Phipps, while on the stand this afternoon, refused to answer several of the questions put by the defense in cross-examination, on the ground of incriminating himself, and he testified that he had not been promised immunity by the state. One of the attorneys for the defense stated to the Post-Intelligencer correspondent that if Edmiston was guilty, Phipps and Fitzhue were equally so, and that in case of conviction an information would be filed against them and the prosecution pushed.

20. April 27, 1895 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 27, 1895

Click image to open full size in new tab

Article Text

The Walla Walla Bank Receiver. Walla Walla, April .-Special.-Judge Sullivan today appointed J. W. McGhee receiver of the defunct Walla Walla Savfings Bank, vice F. W. Paine, resigned. Thomas Brents is made attorney in place of C. B. Upton. Paine, since the bank closed. has drawn $300 per month salary, and some of the stockholders and deposttors, becoming dissatisfied with having no report from the receiver, and thinkIng the receiver and attorney the only ones receiving benefits from the Institution, urged a change. The appointment of McGhee gives general satisfaction and his salary will be $150 per month. Miles Poindexter petitioned to be appointed recelver. but Judge Sullivan was not favor. able, as Poindexter had been. engaged in the prosecution of Edmiston, and he thought a man In no way connected with the defunct concern would be most satisfactory.