3094. West Point State Bank (West Point, GA)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
February 12, 1897
Location
West Point, Georgia (32.901, -85.140)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
de2ed0b1

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Full suspension

Other: Bank closed its doors and appears insolvent; cashier claimed depositors would be paid in full.

Description

Newspapers report an initial depositor run in mid-February 1897 (checks honored) tied to the bank's connection with the failed State Savings Bank of Atlanta; the bank subsequently closed its doors on March 22, 1897 and is reported as shut in multiple papers. Cause tied to failure/distress of a connected/correspondent institution. No reopening reported in these articles.

Events (2)
1. February 12, 1897 Run
Cause
Correspondent
Cause Details
Depositors became uneasy because officers of West Point State Bank were connected with the failed State Savings Bank of Atlanta; heavy withdrawals followed.
Measures
All checks honored; bank honored withdrawals to restore confidence.
Newspaper Excerpt
owing to the fact that J. C. Dayton, president of the West Point State Bank, was connected with the State Savings Bank of Atlanta, depositors in the former became uneasy and a run has been made on the bank during the past two days, resulting in heavy withdrawals, but as all checks have been honored confidence has been restored.
Source
newspapers
2. March 22, 1897 Suspension
Cause
Correspondent
Cause Details
Closure followed weakening after the failure of the State Savings Bank of Atlanta and prior heavy run; loss of patronage and shaken condition led to closing.
Newspaper Excerpt
The West Point State bank closed its doors this morning. It was supposed to be a branch of the State Savings bank of Atlanta, and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened from a lack of patronage.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (8)
1. February 13, 1897 The Morning News Savannah, GA
Article from The Morning News, February 13, 1897

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IN GEORGIA AND FLORIDA. NEWS OF THE TWO ATES TOLD PARAGRAPHS. & Startling Decision in Reference to the Tenure of Office of Tax Colleetors-Lawyers Ask $30,000 in Fees, Run on a Bank at West Point-A Novel Point Raised in a Case for $9,000 Damages. GEORGIA. Dodge county is to have a new jall to cost $10,000. Mary Tate is in jail at Elberton on a charge of infanticide, the alleged crime being committed a day or two ago. John Lyons, a well-known citizens of Macon, and proprietor of the Lyon's carriage shops, died suddenly Thursday of heart disease. Miss Rena Sutton of Dooly county attempted suicide Wednesday by cutting her throat. Ill health was the cause. At last accounts she was expected to die. Maj. J. F. Hanson of Macon will speak at Atlanta to-night to explain the objects of the State League of Republican Clubs, membership in which is confined to whites. Dr. S. R. Belk of Rome has accepted an invitation to deliver an address in Toronto, Canada, on July 15. The occasion will be the meeting of the International Epworth League. Rumor has it that Pink Martin, one of the colored applicants for the Athens postoffice, will get it. Another rumor is the effect that Madison Davis, another colored applicant, will be the lucky man. R. M. Thomason of Fulton county died Wednesday. He was 93 years old. His wife died eight years ago at the age of 80. Mr. Thomason was for eighty one years a member of the Methodist church. The celebrated case of Butner against Boifeuillet, from the Macon circuit, has reached the supreme court docket and will come up for a hearing about the last of February The position of chief of police of Macon is involved. G. E. Stone killed a musk rat weighing two and one-half pounds in his yard at Athens Thursday. It is a mystery how it came there, as he does not live near water course, and his lot is almost in the business portion of the city. Joshua Rumsey of Turnersville, five miles from Tallulah Falls, while loading tanbark a day or two ago fell off an embankment thirty feet hign, alighting on his back and dislocating his spinal COIumn and otherwise injuring himself. Suit has been entered against the Augusta Electric Railway Company for $3.000 by Henry Ray for injuries which he alleges have resulted from coming in contact with a live wire belonging to that company, which he charges caused partial paralysis. Gov. Atkinson has issued a warrant for $50 to be paid to D. S. Reese of Wayne county as a part of the reward to which he was entitled for apprehending and turning over to the authorities Henry Manning, who was wanted for killing Mumford Harrison. The trial of Daniel Bell, Jr., Henry Sloan and Jackson Bell, three negroes charged with the murder of old man Brown Battle, near Bolingbroke, in October last, was finished in the superior court at Forsyth Thursday the jury bringing in a verdict of not guilty. Robert L. Nolan and Myrtie Murphy, an eloping couple from Sistrunk, appeared before Judge Nolan at West Point Wednesday and were married. The bride is but 16 years of age, while the groom is much older. The young lady's father would not consent to her marrying Nolan, and threatened to shoot him if he did not keep away from the house. Owing to the fact that J. C. Dayton, president of the West Point State Bank, was connected with the State Savings Bank of Atlanta, depositors in the former became uneasy and a run has been made on the bank during the past two days, resulting in heavy withdrawals, but as all checks have been honored confidence has been restored. At Columbus Thursday Judge Butt signed the bill of exceptions in the case of Henry White, and the case goes to the supreme court immediately. White is the young man who was convicted of the murder of Police Officer Jackson, and who will have to pay the penalty for his crime on the gallows unless the supreme court grants him another trial. A number of boys were before the recorder at Atlanta Thursday, charged with assaulting a boy for the purpose of preventing him from calling on a young lady with whom he is enamored. The recorder was about to fine the offenders heavily, when the minister of the church they attend pleaded with the recorder and induced him to discharge the boys. The minister promised that the boys would not repeat their offense. Steps are being taken to erect a cotton mill at Poulan. The mill will be a two-story brick, 60 feet wide and over 200 feet long. It will probably require about three months to complete the strueture. This initial building will be used for weaving purposes, and about 200 looms will be put in and started as soon as practicable. Another building of the same size is also in contemplation for spinning both cotton and woolen yarns. The suit of W. T. Huguley vs. the stock and bondholders of the Galeton cotton mills of West Point has again been resumed at Atlanta before T. B. Felder, Jr., who was appointed master about a year ago. He will hear all evidence for and against the defendants. This suit has attracted no little attention. It has lasted for ten years, and within the last year forty hearings have been held, and many more will be held before the end comes. The case of Crowart against the Southern agricultural works is being heard at Atlanta. Crowart is suing the company for $9,000 damages for breach of contract. He was employed by these works when he had his arm cut off in a shaving machine. He says that the management of the works offered him a job at $1.25 per day for life if he would not enter suit. This contract, he says, he accepted. He brings suit he claims he has been discharged and that they broke the contract. The secretary of state has been ordered by Gov. Atkinson to offer a reward of $100 a piece for the capture and delivery of E. M. McClelland and Bazine Carver to the sheriff of Coffee county McClelland and Carver are the murderers of David Lott, who they stabbed to death on Dec. 24 at Douglas The friends of Lott have already offered a reward of $300 for the apprehension of the murderers, and this coupled with the $100 offered by the state it is thought will be the means of capturing McClelland and Carver. Dr. A. Mathis met with a very painful accident Thursday morning about 4 o'clock while crossing the track of the Augusta Southern railroad at Sandersville The glare of the headlight of an

2. March 23, 1897 The Wichita Daily Eagle Wichita, KS
Article from The Wichita Daily Eagle, March 23, 1897

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interested in the concern are largely labor ing men employed in the vicinity of Deering. A bill for a receiver for the association was today asked by President Brieske, the bill charging David J. Sachsel, secretary, and Karl Kronenberger, treasurer, with being short in their accounts, and placing the shortage at $35,000. Nothing has yet been learned of the whereabouts of Sachsel. Judge Ball appointed as receiver Arthur Nollau, a member of the association. GEORGIA BANK FAILURE. West Point, Ga., March 22.-The West Point State bank closed its doors this morning. It was suposed to be a branch of the State Savings bank of Atdanta, and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened from a lack of patronage. W. C. Hale, who was connected with the State Savings bank, was vice president of the West Point State bank, and it caused a heavy run on the bank here soon after the failure of the State Savings bank and it has been in a shaky condition since. The West Point State bank had a capital of $25,000 and the nominal assets amount to about the same. INSOLVENT BANK DIVIDENDS. Washington, March 22.-The comptroller of the currency has declared dividends in favor of the creditors of the insolvent national banks as follows: Ten per cent, the First National bank, of Sedalia, Mo.; 10 per cent, the National bank of Illinois, Chicago; 20 per cent, the First National bank, of Hot Springs, S. D.; 10 per cent, the El Paso National bank, of El Paso, Tex.; 5 per cent, the Columbia National bank, of Chicago, III.; 45 per cent in favor of the stockholders of the First National bank, of Clearfield, Pa.

3. March 23, 1897 Wheeling Register Wheeling, WV
Article from Wheeling Register, March 23, 1897

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GEORGIA BANK GOES UNDER. Weakened By the Failure or Another Bank With Which it Was Connected, West Point, Ga., March 22.-The West Point Bank closed its doors this morning. It was supposed to be a branch of the State Savings Bank of Atlanta, and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened from lack of patronage. W. C. Hale, who was connected with the State Savings Bank, being the vice-president of the West Point State Bank, caused a heavy run upon the bank here soon after the failure of the State Savings Bank, and it has been in a shaky condition since. The West Point State Bank had a capital of $25,000 and the nominal assets amount to about the same.

4. March 23, 1897 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Seattle, WA
Article from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 23, 1897

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Business Troubles. PARIS, Tex., March 22-Martin. Wise & Fitzhugh, the biggest firm of cotton buyers in Texas, conveyed all of their real estate in deeds of trust to J. M. McMurray, cashier of the Farmers' and Merchants' bank, this morning to protect the bank and other creditors in Texas, England and France to the amount of $98,820. The total amount of other liabilities is unknown. The firm has been prospering for years. and has branch offices in England, France, Germany, Holland and in the principal cities of America. WEST POINT, Ga., March 22-The West Point bank closed its doors this morning. It was supposed to be a branch of the State Savings bank of Atlanta, and since the failure of that institution It has been weakened from lack of patronage. W. C. Hale. who was connected with the State Savings bank, was vice president of the West Point State bank. There was a heavy run upon the bank soon after the failure of the State Savings bank, and it has been in a shaky condition ever since. The West Point State bank has a capital of $25,000, and the nominal assets amount to about the same.

5. March 23, 1897 The Herald Los Angeles, CA
Article from The Herald, March 23, 1897

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Savings Bank Closed WEST POINT, Ga., March 22.-The West Point bank clased its doors this morning. It supposed to be a. branch of the State Savings bank of Atlanta, and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened from lack of patronage. W. C. Hale, who was connected with the State Savings bank, was vicepresident of the West Point State bank. There as a heavy run on the bank here soon after the failure of the State Say, ings bank, and it has been in a shaky condition ever since. Capital, $25,000; nominal assets about the same.

6. March 24, 1897 The Times Richmond, VA
Article from The Times, March 24, 1897

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BUSINESS TROUBLES. Building and Loan Officers Short-Bank Failures, CHICAGO, ILL., March 23.-A bill for a receiver for the Christopher Columbus Building and Loan Association was filed in the Superior Court yesterday by the president of the association, who charges that David B. Sachsel, secretary, and Karl Kronenberger, treasurer, are short in their accounts to the amount of $35,000. The bill states that Sachsel admitted that he had appropriated $10,000 of the funds. Judge Ball appointed Arthur Nollan receiver of the association. The liabilities are stated to be $113,500, and assets $7,500. Police officers were sent to guard the offices to-day to prevent a threatened breaking open of the safe and conhscation of the property. Mrs. Sachsel says her husband is in Indiana and will return. WEST POINT, GA., March 23.-The West Point State Bank closed its doors yesterday. It was supposed to be a branch of the State Savings Bank of Atlanta, and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened from lack of patronage. W. C. Hale, who was connected with the State Savings Bank, being the vicepresident of the West Point State Bank, caused a heavy run upon the bank here soon after the failure of the State Savings Bank, and it has been in a shaky condition since. The West Point State Bank had a capital of $25,000, and the nominal assets amounted to about the same. PARIS, TEX., March 23.-At 1 o'clock this morning the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank, one of the oldest, and thought to be the strongest of the financial institutions in North Texas, with a paid-up capital of $200,000, and a surplus of $60,000, made an assignment to Judge D. H. Scott. This action was precipitated by the failure of the cottom firm of Martin, Wise & Fitzhugh yesterday. It was known that the firm owed the bank money, depositors became alarmed, and a run begun. All checks presented yesterday were promptly cashed. The bank officials foresaw that if the run was kept up it would be forced to the wall. An appeal to the other local banks for assistance was made, but refused. When the doors opened this morning the run was renewed, and continued until the bank was forced to close. This set people wild, and a rush was made for the City National, which was also a large creditor of Martin, Wise & Fitzhugh. A great crowd gathered in front of the building. and it became cessary for the police to clear the sidewalks. At 11 o'clock Colonel George E. Hicks, vice-president of the First National Bank, walked in and laid $100,000 on the City National's counter, and told the people to come forward and get their money. This was followed by the announcement that the bank would remain open until 6 o'clock to pay depositors. This allayed the fears of some, but many continued to withdraw their money. Apprehensions are felt for banks in neighboring towns who are involved in the failure of Martin Wise & Fitzhugh.

7. March 24, 1897 The Morning News Savannah, GA
Article from The Morning News, March 24, 1897

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sume Operations-The West Point State Bank Closed-Sheriff Closes a Store at Columbus-Pitched Battle Fought at Jasper-An Indian Trapper to Hang. GEORGIA. Georgia's cotton mills give employment to 50,000 people, and 3,000,000 spindles are kept in constant operation. W. A. Jester, a prominent business man of Athens, fell from the loft of his stable Monday and had his shoulder blade and collar bone broken. A. J. Riddle, for about twenty-five years a photographer of Columbus, died at the Inn, of which his wife is the proprietress, Sunday night. D. H. Smith, boss of the picker room of the Dixie cotton mills, at LaGrange, was killed by a train Sunday night. He was under the influence of liquor at the time. Fred D. Johnson, a negro boy, attempted an assault upon the 4-year-old daughter of W. J. Eaverson, three miles from Royston, Sunday night, about dark. He is under arrest. H. F. Everett's stove store at Columbus was closed by the sheriff Monday, at the instance of W. H. Brannon, executor of the estate of I. G. Struppa. Liabilities, principal, $5,967.60, and interest, $2,803.25. The Piedmont Marble Company, at its works near Jasper, will resume operations in a few days. This is one of the largest companies doing business in the south, but has been closed down for more than a year, owing to litigation. The name of Dr. I. S. Hopkins of Atlanta has been presented to President McKinley as an applicant for appointment as minister to Greece. Senator Clay handed in the application Saturday. He did it, it is said, at the request of Dr. Hopkins. London papers publish a denial by Clyde Shropshire of Georgia, United States army, former vice consul to the consul general at Paris, in which he declares as absurd the recent reports of heavy embezzlements and general crookedness on his part. The Grady hospital physicians attending J. P. Weaver, who was shot Saturday morning by Charles Owens at Atlanta, who took him for a burglar, say that Weaver is much improved, and that there is a strong possibility of his recovering. Weaver was suffering with the tremens when shot. The supreme court has decided that M. Lowry, an Indian trapper on the Altamaha river, must hang. Lowry and a white man named Patrick Burns lived in a little shanty on the Altamaha river and kept their rations there. It appears that the Indian was in the habit of eating the white man's provisions, and that the latter was consequently annoyed by this free and easy way of appropriating his property. The matter culminated in the Indian shooting Burns. The West Point State Bank of West Point closed its doors Monday. It was supposed to be a branch of the State Savings Bank and since the failure of that institution it has been weakened for a lack of patronage by the business men of the place. The fact that W. C. Hale, who was connected with the State Savings Bank of Atlanta, was the vice president of the West Point State Bank caused a heavy run upon the bank soon after the failure of the State Savings Bank, and it has been in a shaky condition since. The West Point bank had a capital of $25,000, and the nominal assets amount to about the same. Mr. Bailey, the cashier, states that all depositors will be paid in full. At Jasper Friday Charlie McHan, A. McHan's, son, and Eugene Rhyne had a quarrel, in which A. McHan took part. Monday Cecil Rhyne and Charlie McHan had an encounter, which resulted in Cecil Rhyne getting knocked down. He went home and returned with his older brothers, Hardy and Eugene. Hardy Rhyne demanded or started to demand an explanation of A. McHan, when McHan knocked him down. A pitched battle followed, and the three Rhyne brothers and A. McHan and his son being participants. Rocks and clubs were used freely. All were very bloody and considerably bruised. Charlie McHan, Cecil and Eugene Rhyne were most seriously wounded. Friends interfered and prevented further trouble. A suit was brought against the Jacobs Pharmacy Company of Atlanta for $4,550 by Jonathan Norcross. The property for the loss of which the suit is brought is alleged to be a lot of shelving valued at $3,000; one lot of fine counters valued at $1,000; one lot of electrical appliances, consisting of fans, motors, wires and other appurtenances, valued at $300; and one lot of gas fixtures, consisting of pipes, burners, shades and chimneys, valued at $250, making a total of $4,550. These goods are alleged to have been in the building on which the Jacobs Pharmancy Company had a lease, and which was OCcupied as a drug store. The petition alleges that the fixtures was the property of Mr. Norcross and that the Jacobs Pharmacy Company refuses to give them up. The store in which these goods are alleged to have been kept was the store that collapsed in 1894, for which a suit was brought by the Jacobs Pharmacy Company for $25,000 against Mr. Norcross, the amount alleged to have been lost by the collapse. That was tried not over two months ago, and resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for $5,000. FLORIDA. Richard Alfred died at his home at Umatilla Saturday morning.

8. March 27, 1897 The Diamond Drill Crystal Falls, MI
Article from The Diamond Drill, March 27, 1897

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Chicago, killing Alexander Frank. engineer, and Edward B. Smith, fireman. A fire that started in Cullen & Co.'s dry goods store in Ottumwa, Ia., spread to other buildings, causing a total loss of $175,000. A passenger train on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was wrecked near Oakland, Md., and Gen. J.S. Fullerton, of St. Louis, was killed* and ten other persons were injured. The visible supply of grain in the United States on the 22d was: Wheat, 40,430,000 bushels; corn, 26,077,000 bushels; oats, 13,797,000 bushels; rye, 3,648,000 bushels; barley, 3,068,000 bushels. George Kelly was hanged in the jail at Center City, Minn., for complicity in the murder of Edward Paul and Jacob Hayes. A cyclone at Arlington, Ga., wrecked the academy building and eight children were killed and many others were injured. Fire destroyed the Gleason building in Lawrence, Mass., the loss being $100,000, and eight persons were badly injured. The Christopher Columbus Building and Loan association of Chicago, with liabilities of $113,500, asked for a receiver, charges being made that David J. Sachsel, secretary, and Karl Kronenberger, treasurer, were short $35,000 in their accounts. The West Point (Ga.) State bank closed its doors with liabilities of $25,000. Richard Mannon, with his wife and six children, living in a cabin on the river bank in Henry county, Ala., were drowned in a freshet that swept their home away. A tornado wrecked many houses near Abbeville and Genoa, Ala., and near the latter place n family of five persons were killed. An earthquake shock in several towns in Rockingham county, N. H., shook houses and frightened the people. The prairies of western Kansas were covered with snow which had been falling for three days, blockading all travel. Martin, Mise & Fitzhugh, the biggest firm of cotton buyers in Texas, failed in Paris for $150,000. In Lews valley, near La Crosse, Wis., Barnard Koch, a farmer, his wife and brother-in-law, John Herman, were drowned while trying to cross a stream swollen by a freshet. A cyclone at Cynthiana and Washington, Ind., wrecked several buildings and in the country adjoining much dam"эпор SUM exe Floods along the Des Moines river in Iowa swept away many bridges and outbuildings and drowned a large number of cattle. National officers of the Woman's Christian Temperance union have forwarded an appeal to President McKinley asking him to secure the aid of congress and that of the governors and legislatures of every state to prohibit pugilismand the exhibition of pugilistic pictures. All farms in Iowa in the valleys of the Floyd, Big Sioux, Little Sioux, Rock, Jim, Vermillion and Elkhorn rivers were under water and hundreds of bridges have been swept away and much live stock drowned. "Ferndale," the suburban residence of the Cohen family at Alameda, Cal., was burned, the loss exceeding $300,000. High water in the Minnesota river flooded 50 houses at Mankato, Minn., and in one street four men were drowned. Half of North Mankato, a village of 700 inhabitants, was under water. A slight earthquake shock was felt at Vandalia, III. The engine and four cars of a train on the Chicago & Texas railway went through a bridge at Aldridge, III., and Engineer Joe Forester and Fireman James Anderson were drowned. Nineteen business buildings in the village of Bloomington, Wis., were de-