Gate City National Bank

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run → Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type: national
Bank ID: 2424
Charter Number: 2424
Start Date: *
Location: Atlanta, Georgia (33.749, -84.388)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 83002bb3

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Capital injected, Full suspension

Other: Cashier embezzlement discovered; directors covered losses and repaid depositors, cashier arrested and convicted. Event took place in the 1890s (referred to as 'Black Week'), but original article is a 1925 retrospective.

Description

Article recounts an episode in the 1890s when crowds swarmed the Gate City Bank and it 'closed its doors' after discovery of large shortages by the cashier. The bank suspended payment for a while but did not fail; directors reimbursed depositors and the bank reopened. No precise date given in the excerpt (referred to as 'Black Week' of the nineties). Bank type not specified in text.

Events (5)

1. May 3, 1879 Chartered

Source: historical_nic

2. July 25, 1893 Voluntary Liquidation

Source: historical_nic

3. * Reopening

Newspaper Excerpt: Although the bank suspended payment for a while, it did not actually fail, and the directors and bank officials paid back every cent that had been on deposit at the time of the embezzlement.
Source: newspapers

4. * Run

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Discovery of a large shortage/embezzlement by the cashier prompted depositor panic and heavy withdrawals.
Measures: Directors and bank officials paid back every cent that had been on deposit; officials covered shortages from personal funds.
Newspaper Excerpt: Crowds swarmed about the doors of the bank, asking questions, demanding their money, some frightened and crying because all their little savings were endangered.
Source: newspapers

5. * Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Bank suspended payments following discovery of cashier's default/embezzlement.
Newspaper Excerpt: The Gate City Bank closed its doors ... Although the bank suspended payment for a while, it did not actually fail
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. May 10, 1925 The Atlanta Journal Atlanta, GA

Article from The Atlanta Journal, May 10, 1925

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Article Text

ATLANTA'S "BLACK WEEK" Continued From Page 1 woman visitor, Polluck rushed past her and out to the street, calling the alarm at the top of his voice as Myers fled down Fraser street and round the corner into Fair. It was noon, but few people were abroad. Several witnesses afterward recalled seeing a slim young man near the corner of Fair, but since that day, when Polluck caught a fleeting glimpse of his prisoner's heels disappearing round a building, there has been no sign of Will Myers. Rumors About Escape Despite the witnesses who saw Myers make his dash for freedom, many rumors became current. Some said that Myers had really escaped three days before the fact was made known, and that otherwise he would have surely been caught. Another version was that he made his getaway in the guise of a woman, and walked past the guards in safety. Still another story was that a gun had been smuggled in to him, baked in a cake, and with this weapon he forced his way to freedom. From time to time, during the thirty years that have elapsed, rumors have become current that Myers had been seen in Havana, Berlin or South American ports, but have always proved unfounded. The mystery surrounding his escape is as deep now as it was then. The two ideas most commonly accepted were that the escape was planned, and that friends had a closed cab waiting around the corner for Myers. The other was that he dropped through a nearby manhole and made his way through a large sewer pipe to its entrance near Connally street. At any rate, the earth seemed to swallow him up. This escape, coming on top of the long and hard-fought trial, threw the town into an uproar. Police searched and watched railroads and wagon roads, and private citizens buzzed with theo- ries, rumors and fevered conversation. Atlanta went to sleep that night agog about Myers, and woke to find a new sensation ready for them-this time a murder more gruesome and bloody than that for which Myers was convicted. An Italian, whose name does not appear on the police records after all these intervening years, became jealous of his wife, waited until she was asleep and then, taking an ax, proceeded to hack her to pieces. Evidently overcome by the horror of his crime, the Italian reached under the bloody pillow for his pistol and blew out his brains. The noise of the report brought in the neighbors, who found the smal: room a blood-spattered shambles and the two bodies lying on the soaking bed. With the double-header of crime still fresh in mind and the search for Myers being pursued with vigor throughout the nation, with rumors of his capture in a dozen different cities coming in constantly, the third day of the week ushered in the third sensation. Julia Force Kills Sister Julia Force, daughter of a prominent family, went suddenly insane and killed her sister. The Force family had noticed a growing shortness of temper and peculiarity on the part of Julia Force, and her sister, unaware of her real mental condition, undertook to remonstrate with her. The quarrel continued for a lengthy period, during which time Julia displayed an insane rage, which finally ended by her rushing into the next room and returning with a pistol. She shot and instantly killed her sister, and then was overpowered and disarmed by members of her family, who were attracted by the report of the weapon. So while the funeral of the Italian and his wife was in progress, plans for the Force funeral went forward, simultaneously with the search for Myers and the commitment of Julia Force to the State Insane Asylum. During this time of general upset, burglars, petty thieves and pickpockets seemed to take advantage of the situation and their trade flourished, the number of burglaries and holdups reported to the police during the following three days being unprecedented. As a result, the idea became fixed that it was indeed a "Black Week." In one of Atlanta's many saloon districts, then known as Brooklyn, there was gang of hoodlums, known as the "Wildcat Club," whose especial business it was to harass the police and make life miserable for their neighbors. It was never healthy to walk through the Wildcat gang's territory after dark. During this "Black Week' one of the Wildcats conceived a scheme whereby the rest of the gang could have entertainment at the expense of the city. They piled up an enormous number of boxes, around the corner of a side street from Marietta, lit a bonfire of papers behind it and rang the fire alarm. The fire wagons and horses started at a gallop. Rounding the corner sharply, the horses piled up on the barricade of wooden boxes, the heavy wagon pushing the plunging animals forward. The wheel of one wagon was splintered, one of the horses suffered a broken leg and was later shot, and several others were badly cut and bruised on the legs and body by wire and nails in the wood. It seemed the irony of fate that on that day when the department was crippled an unprecedented number of fire alarms should be turned in. As if the foregoing events of the week, the escape, murders, insanity, suicide, robberies and crimes of minor violence, had not already harrowed the town enough, the last catastrophe, which involved both rich and poor alike, rounded off the seven days as sensationally as they had begun. The Gate City Bank closed its doors, and as this was one of the largest of the Atlanta banks, with hundreds of de. positors, the town was thrown into a panic. Crowds swarmed about the doors of the bank, asking questions, demanding their money, some frightened and crying because all their little savings were endangered. The closing of the bank, due to the defaulting of many thousands of dollars by the cashier, was the final blow to the town, causing most people to believe that Atlanta was indeed hoodooed. Although the bank suspended payment for a while, it did not actually fail, and the directors and bank officials paid back every cent that had been on deposit at the time of the embazzlement. Many of the thousands made good came out of the pockets of the officials themselves, who did not wish any depositor to suffer because of the crime of a bank employee. The cashier, who had fled when his shortage was discovered, was arrested and convicted. But finally the end of the week came, and with it the end of the seven days Reign of Sensations. Atlanta tremblingly picked up its Monday's paper and found nothing new in the way of bloodshed, violence or crime, and breathed a sigh of relief. Atlanta has had other exciting times since then, but "Black Week" of the nineties still stands out in the minds of the older generation as the worst week the town has ever known.