22934. Douglas County Bank (Superior, WI)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Start Date: May 27, 1895
Location: Superior, Wisconsin (46.721, -92.104)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 1af1c476

Response Measures

None

Description

Contemporary press reports (May 27, 1895) state the Douglas County Bank of West Superior 'went into voluntary liquidation' and did not open for business; a receiver (Northern Trust Company) was appointed. Subsequent items describe arrests and suits against officers and stockholders and payments under receivership. No article describes a depositor run prior to suspension.

Events (5)

1. May 27, 1895 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: The Douglas County bank went into voluntary liquidation at West Superior. The Northern Trust company was appointed receiver to wind up its affairs.
Source: newspapers

2. May 27, 1895 Receivership

Newspaper Excerpt: The Northern Trust company was appointed receiver to wind up its affairs.
Source: newspapers

3. May 27, 1895 Suspension

Cause: Voluntary Liquidation
Cause Details: Bank did not open and posted notice recommending immediate liquidation; contemporaneous notices describe voluntary liquidation and that assets exceed liabilities but funds illiquid.
Newspaper Excerpt: THE Douglas County Bank of West Superior, Wis., capital $50,000, went into voluntary liquidation the 27th.
Source: newspapers

4. March 26, 1896 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: John McLaren, cashier of the defunct Douglas County bank, was ... arrested ... charged ... with having received deposits the day before the bank suspended, having knowledge at the time that the institution was insolvent.
Source: newspapers

5. June 9, 1896 Other

Newspaper Excerpt: Suit Against the Stockholders of the Douglas County Bank ... creditors ... seeking through the courts to hold the stockholders to their statutory liability...
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (10)

1. May 29, 1895 Morris Tribune Morris, MN

Article from Morris Tribune, May 29, 1895

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LATER. AFTER 29 years' service in the police department of New York, Superintendent Byrnes made application the 27th for retirement, and the request was granted. WHILE making a flying switch at Hawthorne, Wis., on the Omaha road the 27th, James Ring, conductor, and Brakeman Shupman were killed. THE Douglas County Bank of West Superior, Wis., capital $50,000, went into voluntary liquidation the 27th. THE funeral services of ex-Secretary Hugh McCulloch, of the treasury department, were held in Washington, D. C., the 27th. WILLIE WORCESTER, a tough citizen of Oberlin, O., while drunk pounded his wife insensible with a base ball club and then cut his throat with a razor. Both are mortally injured. THE habeas corpus case of E. V. Debs et al., growing out of the great railroad strike, was decided in the supreme court of the United States the 27th, its unanimous opinion being read by Justice Brewer. The courtheld that Debs was guilty of contempt and that he and his associates must serve out their sentences. SEVENTEEN passenger conductors on the Baltimore & Ohio lines west of the Ohio river were discharged the 27th. Three of them are Columbus men. The others run into Chicago, Sandusky and Wheeling. Spotters are said to have working on the road recently. THE U. S. supreme court has affirmed the constitutionality of the Geary Chinese exclusion act in the case of Lem Moon Sing. the California Chinaman who left this country and was refused readmission. RICHARD BOZEWETTER, a messenger in the employe of the Stifel Brewing Company of St. Louis, Mo., while on the way to the bank about noon the 27th was knocked down on the street and robbed of a satchel containing $15,950 in cash and a large amount of checks. WHILE the torpedo boat built at the Germania wharf at Keil, for the Turkish government, was making her trial trip to Eckerforde, Germany, the 27th, her boiler exploded. Six of the crew were killed and fourteen mortally wounded. A PASSENGER train, engine, three cars and several freight cars of the Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati railroad, were tied up by the sheriff of Monroe county, Ohio, at Woodsfield, on an execution for delinquent taxes, amounting to $3,800.

2. May 29, 1895 Rock Island Argus Rock Island, IL

Article from Rock Island Argus, May 29, 1895

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ABBREVIATED TELEGRAMS. The barracks at Fort Pembina, Minn., were destroyed by fire. Six negroes confined in jail at Lake City, Fla., escaped. They burned a hole through the floor of the cell in which they were confined. All were charged with trivial offenses. Dr. Parkhurst says of the retirement of Chief of Police Byrnes, of New York: "The result satisfies me and gratifies me. My warfare, however, has not been against Mr. Byrnes as a man, but as an official, and now that he has ceased to be an official it seems to me that for me to pass any further comment upon the matter would be both unwarranted and undignified." The Douglas County bank went into voluntary liquidation at West Superior. The Northern Trust company was appointed receiver to wind up its affairs. Walter F. Harris, a colored man 36 years of age, a butler, was shot through the left breast in New York and instantly killed by two unknown men. The murder occurred in the basement of his employer's residence. Charles A. Baldwin, postmaster under President Harrison and formerly publisher of the Vicksburg (Mich.) Commercial, committed suicide by taking strychnine. He was 45 years old. R. W. Fawcus was shot at his ranch near Camp Clark, Neb., by F.W. Bozarth, another ranchman, who lay concealed behind some brush and as Fawcus came by on horseback shot him in the back, killing him instantly. Obituary: At Cincinnati, Henry Lindley Fry, the noted woodcarver, 88; at Birmingham, Ala., ex-Representative Goldsmith W. Hewitt. 65; at Sing Sing, N. Y., General James B. Swain, 75; at Lebanon, Ind., Mrs. Catherine Adney, 97; at Neenah, Wis., Joseph H. Price, 47. Rumors that Marti, the Cuban rebel, was not killed have been set at rest by the exhibition of his body at Santiago. The body of an American, literally cut to pieces, was found at Juarez, Mexico. He had evidently been murdered by robbers. The actual murderer of Louis Klank, the old fisherman, was William Johnson. He has been arrested and has confessed that he stabbed the old man. Governor Altgeld has refused to interfere in the cases of Henderson and Jeffrey, sentenced to be hanged at Murphysboro next Friday. A constable at Chicago, in attempting to collect a debt of an impecunious tailor, levied on triplets that had recentiy been born to the i. t. The Chicago Daily Chronicle,a morning paper, proposes to supply the Democrats of Chicago with straight Democratic doctrine, and the party with an organ, which it has been without since The Times was absorbed by The Herald. Because the governor "might have commuted the sentence" of a murderer who was to be legally hanged June 7 at Ellicott City, Md., the mob swung him up. No resistance was made by the officials. The victim was a negro. "Coin" (W. H. Harvey) and Roswell G. Horr. of New York, will meet to debate the silver question at Chicago in the near future.

3. May 30, 1895 River Falls Journal River Falls, WI

Article from River Falls Journal, May 30, 1895

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LATER NEWS. AFTER 29 years' service in the police department of New York, Superintendent Byrnes made application the 27th for retirement, and the request was granted. WHILE making a flying switch at Hawthorne, Wis., on the Omaha road the 27th, James Ring, conductor, and Brakeman Shupman were killed. THE Douglas County Bank of West Superior, Wis., capital $50,000, went into voluntary liquidation the 27th. THE funeral services of ex-Secretary Hugh McCulloch, of the treasury department, were held in Washington, D. C., the 27th. WILLIE WORCESTER, a tough citizen of Oberlin, O., while drunk pounded his wife insensible with a base ball club and then cut his throat with a razor. Both are mortally injured. THE habeas corpus case of E. V. Debs et al., growing out of the great railroad strike, was decided in the supreme court of the United States the 27th, its unanimous opinion being read by Justice Brewer. The courtheld that Debs was guilty of contempt and that he and his associates must serve out their sentences. SEVENTEEN passenger conductors on the Baltimore & Ohio lines west of the Ohio river were discharged the 27th. Three of them are Columbus men. The others run into Chicago, Sandusky and Wheeling. Spotters are said to have working on the road recently. THE U. S. supreme court has affirmed the constitutionality of the Geary Chinese exclusion act in the case of Lem Moon Sing. the California Chinaman who left this country and was refused readmission. RICHARD BOZEWETTER, a messenger in the employe of the Stifel Brewing Company of St. Louis, Mo., while on the way to the bank about noon the 27th was knocked down on the street and robbed of a satchel containing $15,950 in cash and a large amount of checks. WHILE the torpedo boat built at the Germania wha at Keil, for the Turkish government, was making her trial trip to Eckerforde, Germany, the 27th, her boiler exploded. Six of the crew were killed and fourteen mortally wounded. A PASSENGER train, engine, three cars and several freight cars of the Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati railroad, were tied up by the sheriff of Monroe county, Ohio, at Woodsfield, on an execution for delinquent taxes, amounting to $3,800.

4. May 30, 1895 Warren Sheaf Warren, MN

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LATER NEWS. AFTER 29 years' service in the police department of New York, Superintendent Byrnes made application the 27th for retirement, and the request was granted. WHILE making a flying switch at Hawthorne, Wis., on the Omaba road the 27th, James Ring, conductor, and Brakeman Shupman were killed. THE Douglas County Bank of West Superior, Wis., capital $50,000, went into voluntary liquidation the 27th. THE funeral services of ex-Secretary Hugh McCulloch, of the treasury department, were held in Washington, D. C., the 27th. WILLIE WORCESTER, a tough citizen of Oberlin, O., while drunk pounded his wife insensible with a base ball club and then cut his throat with a razor. Both are mortally injured. THE habeas corpus case of E. V. Debs et al., growing out of the great railroad strike, was decided in the supreme court of the United States the 27th, its unanimous opinion being read by Justice Brewer. The court held that Debs was guilty of contempt and that he and his associates must serve out their sentences. SEVENTEEN passenger conductors on the Baltimore & Ohio lines west of the Ohio river were discharged the 27th. Three of them are Columbus men. The others run into Chicago, Sandusky and Wheeling. Spotters are said to have working on the road recently. THE U. S. supreme court has affirmed the constitutionality of the Geary Chinese exclusion act in the case of Lem Moon Sing, the California Chinaman who left this country and was refused readmission. RICHARD BOZEWETTER, a messenger in the employe of the Stifel Brewing Company of St. Louis, Mo., while on the way to the bank about noon the 27th was knocked down on the street and robbed of a satchel containing $15,950 in cash and a large amount of checks. WHILE the torpedo boat built at the Germania wharf at Keil, for the Turkish government, was making her trial trip to Eckerforde, Germany, the 27th, her boiler exploded. Six of the crew were killed and fourteen mortally wounded. A PASSENGER train, engine, three cars and several freight cars of the Bellaire, Zanesville & Cincinnati railroad, were tied up by the sheriff of Monroe county, Ohio, at Woodsfield, on an execution for delinquent taxes, amounting to $3,800.

5. May 31, 1895 The True Northerner Paw Paw, MI

Article from The True Northerner, May 31, 1895

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MINOR NEWS ITEMS. For the Week Ending May 29. A distinct shock of earthquake was felt at Brattleboro Vt. The Merchants' national bank at Seattle, Wash., suspended. The Providence (R. I.) Shade Roller company failed for $100,000. Mount Vesuvius was reported to be in an unusual state of eruption. The Michigan senate killed the antitreating bill passed by the house. The Foss-Schneider Brewing company in Cincinnati failed for $212,000. The mayor of Brooklyn, N. Y., put five women on the board of education. Rover & Allen's flour mill at Cincinnati was burned, the loss being $100,000. The Fifth national bank of San Antonio, Tex., went into voluntary liquidation. Hot winds swept Nebraska and adjoining states, doing great damage to the crops. James Shears, a wealthy farmer near Oxford, O., choked to death while eating dinner. The Douglas county bank at West Superior, Wis., went into voluntary liquidation. The Langley flying machine flew a distance of 1,000 feet at a test near Washington. At Huron. S. D., C. D. Houghton's stables, with many valuable horses, were burned. Roth & Friedman's knitting factory of Toledo, O., was destroyed by fire, the loss being $165,000. The eighty-first anniversary of the American Baptist union was held in Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Mrs. James L. Straughn and her daughter were fatally injured in a runaway near Kokomo, Ind. A trust of the manufacturers of wire nails throughout the country was organized at Pittsburgh, Pa. A. Wayne Miller,a wealthy and prominent livery man at South Bend, Ind., died suddenly in his buggy. John A. Morris, the celebrated turfman of New York, died suddenly at his ranch near Knoxville Tenn. Hot winds blowing 40 miles an hour did great damage to growing crops in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Henry McKinney, near Nashville, Tenn., accidentally killed two sisters. A rifle discharged prematurely. There is a good prospect for world's fair exhibitors getting their medals not later than September 1, 1895. The forest fires near Saranac Lake, N. Y., were extinguished after doing damage to the extent of $200,000. A steam yacht named Trilby capsized in the Hamburg canal at Buffalo, N. Y., and three men were drowned. The chamber of commerce of New York city decided to enter upon a crusade against the free coinage of silver. Germany has refused to cooperate with Russia in forcing Japan to withdraw her troops from Corean territory. Thomas McGuire and his brother, Erie county (Pa.) farmers, were held up and robbed of $1,000 by masked men. Henry Lindley Fry. who ranked high among the wood carvers of the world, died at his home near Cincinnati, aged 88 years. Elisha B. Morrell, at one time prominent in polities and the richest grocer in Brookiyn. N. Y., was buried in a pauper's grave. Gen. Maximo Gomez, the leader of the Cuban revolutionists, died on a plantation near Baire from a wound received in battle. Settlers on Indian lands near Pender, Neb., threaten stubborn resistance to any attempts of federal soldiers to dispossess them. Aquilla Robinson, the oldest native born resident of Indiana and the oldest Methodist minister in the state, died at Deputy, aged 95 years. Tramps and police fought at Fort Wayne, Ind., and Deputy Sheriff Harrod and William Walrath, one of the tramps, was fatally shot. The New Waverly hotel at Hot Springs, Ark., was destroyed by fire and William Burke, night porter, was cremated. All the guests escaped. Grain menat St. Paul, Minn., thought that the visible supply of wheat in this country was millions of bushels less than appeared by published statements. W. C. Stivers, a Lancaster (Ky.) tobacco raiser, sues Miss Catherine West, school teache for

6. June 1, 1895 The Superior Times Superior, WI

Article from The Superior Times, June 1, 1895

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The Douglas county Bank, capital supposed to be $50,000 did not open its doors for business last Monday morning, but instead, posted on its plate glass window the following notice: "To Peter Deyo, President, and the board of directors of Douglas County bank, West Superior Wis.-Gentlemen: At your request we have examined the Douglas County bank with the view of ascertaining whether it is policy for the bank to longer continue its corporate existence. From such examination we find that it is not making money and we do not believe that the future will warrent it to continue its corporate existence. Upon the circumstances we would recomend that the bank take immediate steps to liquidate in such a way as will best protect depositors and subserve the interest of the stockholders W. B. BANKS. HOMER T. FLOWER. W. H. SLACK. E. T. BUXTON. Clearing house committee." As is usual in such cases, the statement is volunteered that the assetts are considerable greater that the liabilities., that while the bank has not got much cash on hand its securities are good, but will be slow in materializing, but that eventually sometime in the future, depositors will get their money back. We are also told that as in the case of the rotten institution which recently callapsed in South Superior, the Douglas County bank was a city beneficiary and that in consequence of its having decided to go out of business, the city treasury is short some $28,000 and that of this $5000 is school money. Now we are very sorry to see any of our institutions or individual citizens get into trouble and it is a very unpleasant task for us to make public mention of such troubles as this, but we deem it little less than criminal-almost making one a party to the act-to keep quiet at such times. We have frequently alluded to the loose and slip-shod manner in which the officials of this city were handing out the public cash to maintain a lot of banks SO called. But they are not banks, they are simply institutions speculating with public funds squeezed from the people through taxation. Within six months about $60,000 of the public monies of the city have been swallowed up in two small failures. In both these cases it transpires that the city has virtually no security. We know the officials of the city will tell you they have good securities. but just try to re alize on them, and you will find they will vanish as chaff before the wind. There are other banking (?) instituin the city which have greater runs of public money than these which have failed, and on the same terms. They have not failed yet, but a very light pressure on the depositor's button would close some doors, and the city as well as individual citizens would loose whatever they might happen to have there. Is it not about time that the newspapers of the city the business men and the taxpayers of the city call a halt on this system of doing business? Does any one suppose for a moment that, should the editor of the TIMES apply to the city treasury for $2.000 with which

7. October 24, 1895 St. Paul Daily Globe Saint Paul, MN

Article from St. Paul Daily Globe, October 24, 1895

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STATE WOULD BE NO. 1 In Case of Failed Banks at West Superior. Special to the Globe. WEST SUPERIOR, Wis., Oct. 23.Attorney General Mylrea, of Madison, appeared before the circuit court tonight and asked that the state of Wisconsin be made preferred creditor of the Douglas County bank. It is probable that the petition will be granted in the morning. The assignee of that institution has promised to deliver $5,000 to the state deposit of $23,000 tomorrow night, and the bondsmen will not be prosecuted unless they show a disposition to evade liability. The Keystone National bank, which also suspended, owes the state $16,000, and at the conference this afternoon the bondsmen agreed to raise that amount whenever the demand is made. It probably will not be asked for, as they are reorganizing. All the bondsmen are prominent citizens. Resolutions were adopted at the council meeting last night ordering the city attorney and committee of aldermen to investigate the conditions of the Superior National, the Douglas County and the Bank of South Superior, with a view of starting criminal prosecutions against the officers. The resolutions were introduced for the reason that the city appears to have lost a large amount by the failure of the banks, alleged to be due to reckless and negligent management. Also because it is reported, and appears to be a fact, that a large amount of deposits were loaned to its officers, directors and stockholders and to concerns in which they were interested, and that such persons and concerns were at the time loans were made notoriously insolvent, and because it appears that Superior National bank held back from publication its last report, showing that it was insolvent for a period of twelve days, during which it received all deposits which were offered.

8. January 2, 1896 River Falls Journal River Falls, WI

Article from River Falls Journal, January 2, 1896

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The News Condensed. Nathan Reynolds, a farmer residing in Elkhorn, aged 70 years, was found dead in his barn, death being attributed to heart disease. The Kenosha public library was incorporated, its object being to establish and maintain a free public library, lyceum and museum. Thomas Price, a resident of Menasha for over 50 years, is dead. He figured prominently in the early history of that city. Ex-Judge Manseau, of Manitowoc county, died in Oshkosh, aged 40 years. Owing to nervous troubles he was compelled to resign his position as county judge early this year. The store of William Karsten, at the Five Points, near Fond du Lac, was burglarized and about $100' worth of goods taken. An investigation at Superior into the death of Frank LaRock, killed by Harry Jones, a logging contractor, shows that the shooting was accidental. Janesville's electric street car line shut down for two months at least by order of the owner of the plant, George W. Blabon, of Philadelph a. The line has not been paying running expenses. In the slander case at Marquette of Clark W. Youngs against Sidney Adams the jury awarded $1,000 to the plaintiff. Organized labor in Milwaukee, as represented by the Federated Trades council, refused by a vote of 35 to 5 to pass a resolution indorsing President Cleveland's position on the Monroe doctrine. The Milwaukee law library was the recipient of a handsome Christmas gift from B. K. Miller in the shape of a check for $5,000. John Deutes, his wife and Arthur Wallner, their son-in-law, were under arrest at Medford, charged with an attempt to murder John Dahlen in their saloon. Milwaukee's 36 aldermen took formal possession of the handsome new $1,000,000 city hall. Fire caused by the overturning of a lamp in Janesville destroyed the residence occupied by Charles Tanberg and seriously burned his three-year-old child. Levi Hall, one of the oldest settlers of Marinette county, died at his home in Peshtigo, aged 74 years. Application was made to Gov. Upham for a pardon for Rose Zoldoski, who is serving a life sentence at Waupun for the murder of Ella Maley at Lichland Center in 1891. Capt. Henry L. Johnson died at Man itowoc from an overdose of laudanum which he used for medical purposes. The depot and general store of Wiric & Mulligan at Loyal was entered and about $75 secured. The case at Superior of Anna Niska against the Omaha railway, pending an appeal to the supreme court, was compromised for $5,666. Joseph Hayes, a collector for a dry goods firm in Milwaukee, was instantly killed by a defective electric light wire, which he accidentally touched. The first convention of Wisconsin authors and poets ever held will meet in Milwaukee March 10 at the invitation of President Cassius M. Paine, of the Ethical Culture society. Henry Myers, a merchant at Watertown for the past 40 years, died of heart failure, aged 71 years. His widow, three sons and two daughters survive him. Bort, Bailey & Co.'s dry goods store at Janesville was damaged by fire to the extent of $5,000. Farmers adjacent to Green Bay were engaged in plowing, the ground since the last thaw being found in excellent condition for that work. John Berg, a Center farmer, convicted of selling adulterated milk to a cheese factory, was sentenced to pay a fine and costs amounting to $100. A. F. Backhaus, a hop dealer of Kewaskum, sustained a loss of $4,000 by fire. Mrs. John Fairchild, aged 85, the wife of Rev. John Fairchild, who organized the first Presbyterian church in Малinette, in 1863, is dead. Gov. Upham has pardoned William Dukelow, the man sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment at Wannun in 1893 by Judge Bailey for assault on a girl. Peter Deyo, president of the suspended Douglas county bank at Superior, who went east a short time ago, has been appointed assistant state bank examiner of New York,

9. March 26, 1896 Wood County Reporter Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Article from Wood County Reporter, March 26, 1896

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John McLaren, cashier of the defunct Douglas County bank, was brought to Superior by Deputy Sheriff Rice having been arrested at Chippewa Falls Tuesday on a warrant which was issued last December. McLaren is charged by Charles H. Slocum, a local druggist with having received deposits the day before the bank suspended, having knowledge at the time that the institution was insolvent. The defendant was arranged in the Municipal court and waived preliminary examination. He was bound over to the August term of the Circuit court in the sum of $1,500, the bondsmen being D. S. Culver and Alex McLaren, the young man's father. Slocum is the complaining witness in a similar action brought against Peter Deyo, president of the bank. He alleges that shortly before closing hours, on the day before the bank suspended, a deposit of $260 was made by him, and that the condition of the institution wassuch that the officers must have known what was to follow.

10. June 15, 1896 Eagle River Democrat Eagle River, WI

Article from Eagle River Democrat, June 15, 1896

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DEMURRER SUSTAINED. Suit Against the Stockholders of the Douglas County Bank. West Superior, Wis., June 9.-[Special.]-Judge Smith of the superior court having sustained the demurrer in the case of Dr. H. P. Booth et al. against the stockholders of the Douglas County bank, who reside in the state of Wisconsin, the creditors of the institution who are seeking through the courts to hold the stockholders to their statutory liability for their deposits, have filed an amended complaint. The demurrer was made upon the ground that it had not been shown to the court that the depositors, among whom is the city of Superior with a claim of $21,212.51, had exhausted all of their resources before coming onto the stockholders. The new complaint states that the bank is indebted to the state of Wisconsin in the sum of $23,400.94 and has total liabilities of $135,000, with resources to meet them of $20,000. The bulk of the Douglas County bank stock is owned by Peter Deyo, the president, against whom there is a case pending on a charge of receiving deposits knowing the bank to be insolvent, and considerable is owned by the McLarens of Chippewa Falls. Madison, Wis., June 9.-[Special.]The Douglas County bank which went into the hands of a receiver early last fall owing the state $23,283.47 funds deposited, has made a third payment of this indebtedness, $1170.05, making $7020.10 paid on the amount and leaving $16,263.37 still due.