363101099 36310
national
44a20b7972429e25Public signal of financial health, Capital injected, Full suspension, Books examined
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Texas Bank Closes. FORT WORTH, July 21.-The Merchants' National bank of this city closed its doors Monday morning. The amount of assets and liabilities are not stated as yet. The bank had been in trouble for some time and the suspension was not unexpected.
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Another Bank Failure. FORT WORTH, Texas, July 20.-The Merchants' National bank by a vote of the directors closed its doors this merning and the bank was placed in the hands of Bank Examiner Spaulding. Assets, $1,500,000; liabilities, $500,000. The trouble began six months ago when rumors caused a heavy withdrawal of $200,000 within fifteen days, of which $85,000 was taken out by foreign loan companies on account of the alien land law. Spaulding says the bank is solvent and that the depositors and creditors will be fully protected. A movement is on foot to reorganize the bank under the new law. Other banks tendered aid, but the directors concluded best to take the course they did. No other banks are affected and little excitement is exhibited over the suspension.
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Failure of Western Banks. The Merchants' National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex., by a vote of the directors, closed its doors yesterday and the bank was placed in the hands of Bank Examiner Spaulding. The assets are $1,200,000 and the liabilities $500,000. The trouble began six months ago, when rumors caused a heavy withdrawal of $200,000, within fifteen days of which $85,000 was taken out by foreign loan companies on account of the alien land law. Mr. Spaulding says the bank is solvent, with no occasion for a receiver, and he would not have taken such a step except at the unanimous request of the directors. The depositors and creditors will be fully protected. No other banks are affected and little excitement is exhibited over the suspension. The Central Bank of Kansas City, Kan., failed yesterday. The failure was due to the failure of the First National Bank, which was taken charge of by the bank examiner last Thursday. The liabilities are $35,000; assets, $65,000. R. W. Hilliker is the president and cashier of the bank. The bank was organized under the state law.
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MERCHANTS' NATIONAL BANK OF FORT WORTH A VICTIM OF THE ALIEN LAND LAW. FORT WORTH, Tex., July 20.-The Merchants' National bank, by vote of the directors, closed its doors this morning and placed it in the hands of Examiner H. W. Spaulding. Assets, $1,200,000; liabilities, $500,000. The trouble began six months ago when rumors caused a heavy withdrawal of deposits. Within fifteen days $200,000 deposits were withdrawn, of which $85,000 were taken out by foreign companies on account of the alien land law. Spaulding says the bank is solvent and he would not have taken charge except at the unanimous request of the directors. The depositors and creditors will be fully protected. A movement is afoot to reorganize the bank under a new name. Other banks tender aid but the directors concluded it best to take the course they did. No other banks are affected and there is but little excitement over the suspension. FORT WORTH, Tex., July 20.-After two days examination of the affairs of the Merchants' National bank it was pronounced perfectly solvent. Talk that the bank was in trouble was raised abroad and the directors, lacking enough available cash to pay "deposits in full, and fearing a run, passed a resolution asking the bank examiners to take possession of the bank. The capital of the bank is $500,000; assets, $1,268,345. Liiabilities, $599,816. Bank examiner Spaulding telegraphed the comptroller of the currency he had taken possession of the bank at the earnest solicitation of the directors. S e The bank officers assign as their prinof cipal cause for the trouble lack of cono fidence and the drainage of currency occasioned by the passage of the alien land law. They further say the bank will reorganize at once and be open for a business inside of thirty days.
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THE Merchants' national bank was "talked to death," and people in Fort Worth are still talking. How many more solvent men do they wish to talk to financial death? Has not injury enough been done in the suspension of the Merchants' when there was no reason for it, save the whisperings of street gossips? People who have no other employment than talking about others and shaking their heads should go out on the Fort Worth and Rio Grande and find work on the extension of that road. The way to make a man sick is to tell him he looks bad, and the way to break a man is to whisper it about that he is "bound to bust."
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"And So Sav We All." Waco Day. Of the recent failure, in Fort Worth, of the Merchants' national bank, THE GAZETTE says: There is no excitement in Fort Worth, not a ripple on the waves All the officers of the bank are here or on their way home, the bank will be reorganized, we are assured, and the failure has hardly proved a one-day's wonder in this city There is too much to regret in the failure of SO prominent a bank as the Merchants' national, without permitting any er roneous estimate of the effect on Fort Worth to go abroad. The failure was not unexpected-the whisperings had prepared the people for it -and to-day Fort Worth is busy thinking of tomorrow and the work it will bring, rather than of yesterday. That is the true spirit in which to discuss the matter. It was expected, it came, and it is regretted -but there is no crooning over it or killing time by talking about what might have been. It was not the first bank failure in Texas nor will it be the last. Commercial stability and integrity are not to be shaken in any town because of such a happening. Fort Worth has rock-based elements of prosperity and is solid financially. So, too, are Waco. Dallas, San Antomio, Houston, Austin, Galveston and all the sisterhood of Texas cities. There will be no panic, no bating of breath to see "where the next blow falls," but a pull altogether for the better times and a return of confidence that wait in the near future, as surely as sunrise waits behind the first tints of morning light. Let a sister city, recognizing Fort Worth's solvency and capacity to deal with the emergency, repeat the assurance of confidence that is based on the actual facts of the situation. Money may be tight and hard to get in Texas at this time, but the concomitants of real prosperity are here. Our people have raised plenty of food for man and beast, and will have some to spare, The farmer will soon have cotton to sell, and with the wild craze for land speculation placed within bounds. Texas, a year from to-day, will be all the better off for the experience that is now crystalizing.
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TO RESUME BUSINESS. The Merchants' National Bank Getting Ready to Reopen Its Doors. Special to The Statesman. FORT WORTH, Tex., Aug. 31.-Matters at the Merchants' National bank are likely to soon be in running order. A meeting was held in the president's room this morning for the purpose of determing what course to pursue with reference to reorganizing and resuming business. A resolution was offered and adopted reducing the capital stock to $250,000 and placing the surplus at $50,000. A second resolution was offered and adopted calling for the resignation of all the old officers and all of the old directors, and providing for the election of an entirely new outfit before business is resumed. Before the bank resumes business there will have to be deposited in the vaults, subject to a check of former depositors, the full sum of $250,000, which will be more than enough to pay all depositors. The meeting adjourned over until Thursday when it is supposed the final arrangements for a resumption of business will be made.
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The Bank's Statement. The followi g is the sworn statement of the financial condition of the bank at the time of resuming payment. It is interesting, as it shows the bank has been perfectly solid all the time, though forced to a temporary. suspension: Condition of the Merchants' national bank of Fort Worth, Tex., on re-opening for business September 26, 1891:
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is the reopening of the Merchants' national bank on September 27th last, with its former cashier, A. B. Smith, still retaining his position. The enactment by the Twenty-second legislature of what is widely known as the alien land law, impelling as it did the withdrawal from the custody of a sudden, very large balances of money maintained in the usual and regular course of business to the credit of alien corporations, in a sense was primarily the fruitful source of woes unnumbered, and chiefly the cause of events which led up to the disaster with which the Merchants' national bank was, when in the flush of pride due to a long line of brilliant achievements overtaken, is incontestably true. Between July 20, when the bank closed, to day of opening, there were collected of the bank's loans about $436,000-more than half of its outstanding bills receivable. The bank now has a paid up capital of $250,000 and surplus of $50,000. On the day of opening, its deposits were $296,000, and cash in sight exchange, $252,000. The new president is A. P. Luckett and A. B. Smith, cashier. Mr. Smith was unanimously re-elected, which is an indorsement over which any man should feel especially proud. We congratulate Mr. Smith.
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TEXAS BANK SHAKY. FORT WORTH, Tex., May 18, 1893.-1 - In a petition of 4,500 words, Portwood and other stockholders of the Merchants' National Bank of Fort Worth ask for a receiver for the bank and an injunction to prevent the officers from longer acting. The petition alleges bribery and conspiracy to wreck the bank. Specific instances of alleged misuse of the assets ot the bank and the taking of bribes by officials of the bank are set forth in the petition. About ten of the thirty plaintiffs are of Adrian, Mich., a similar number are located in Indiana, and others are of this city.
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Accused of Bank Wrecking. FORT WORTH. Tex., May 19.-A petition of 4,500 words from Portwood and other stockholders of the Merchants National bank of Fort Worth asks for a receiver for the-bank and an injunction to prevent the-officers from longer acting. The petition alleges bribery nd.conspiracy to wreck the bank.
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SUIT FOR A RECEIVER FOR A TEXAS BANK. Fort Worth, Tex., May 18.-In a petition of 4,500 words, Portwood and other stockholders of the Merchants' National Bank of Fort Worth ask for a receiver for the bank and an injunction to prevent the officers from longer acting. The potition alleges bribery and conspiracy to wreck the bank Specific instances of alleged misuse of the assets of the bank are set forth in the potition. and the taking of bribes by officials of the bank. About ten of the thirty plaintifs are of Adrian, Mich.: a similar number are of Indiva and others are of this city. The filing of the suit caused A great surprise and sensation. all the officers. directors and stockholders who are not plaintifts being joined in the suit.
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THE BANK MATTER The filing of an application for a receiver for the Merchants' National bank, the partculars of which were.printed in The Gazette yesterday, was the principal theme of discussion among all classes There were no new developments in the case other than similar documents were to have been filed yesterday, but up to a late hour last night nothing had been put on file with the district clerk. A circular was yesterday distributed in the city by Mr. A. B. Smith. cashier of the bank, in which he asserts that the allegations as printed in the document in The Gazette of yesterday as relates to himself. were untrue, wilful and malicious. The case will be heard in Judge Greene's court tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.
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the city, and has a paid-up capital of $150,000. A. M. Cannon is president. Washington, June 5.-Comptroller Eckles has received information that the Merchants National bank, of Fort Worth, Tex., with a capital of $250,000, failed today. New York, June 5.-The Canal Street bank is in financial trouble. Kansas City, June 5.-The Kansas grain company, a big commission house with branches all over Kansas, has failed. The officers decline to make any statement. Sandusky, O., June 5.-The savings bank here was put in the hands of a receiver this morning. Philadelphia, June 5.-Washington Butcher & Sons, an old established house in the provision trade, have made an assignment. No statement was made as to the assets or liabilities. The tightnes of the money market was the cause of the failure.
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A Sandusky, O., Bank Assigna SANDUSKY, O., June 5.-The Sandusky Savings bank, supposed to be one of the safest in the city, closed its doors.and made an assignment this morning, giving as the reason its inability to realize on assets and saying that all depositors would be paid in full. A heavy run was made on the bank six weeks ago, which it withstood. The drain, however, is believed to have weakened it. The available assets are estimated at $300,000 and the liabilities $205,000. WARRINGTON CITY, June 5.-Comptroller Eckies has received information that the Merchants' National Bank of Fort Worth, Tex., with a capital of $25,000, failed today. It was closed on an order from the directors and Bank Examiner Stone IS in charge.
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Merchant's National bank of Fort Worth, capital $250,000, failed to-day. The bank was closed on an order from the directors and Bank Examiner Stone was placed in charge. SANDUSKY, O., June 5.-The Sandusky Savings banks closed its doors this morning, owing to its inability to realize upon its securities. The depositors will be paid in full. PORTLAND, ORE., June 5.-Private advices from Spokane, Wash., state that the Bank of Spokane has suspended. It is one of the smaller banks of Spokane.
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A NEW TRIAL. THE FEDERAL COURT WILL BE ASKED FOR A RECEIVER. To Vote on the Question of Voluntary Liquidation of the Merchants' National Bank. Late last evening a Gazette representative called on Mr. A. B. Smith. cashier of the Merchants' National bank, in regard to future action in the bank matter. In referring to the organization of a new bank, Mr. Smith said: The organization of a new bank will not go into effect until the Merchants National bank goes into liquidation. Under the national bank act. the law requires that sixty days notice be given the public before such action can be taken. The proper notice of proposed liquidation will be sent to each and every stockholder in order that the stock may be fully represented at the stockholders meeting to vote upon the question of voluntary liquidation. "In the matter of liquidation it will be the purpose of the officers of the bank to wind up the aff ilts as soon as possible, but as a large portion of its assets is in real estate, it will necessaril take considerable time to dispose of it to the best advantage to the association. Each and every stockholder's interest will be fully protected and as large results as possibly can be obtained out of the assets will be distributed pro rata among the stockholders. Mr. Smith says that he and his associates have decided to test their rights in the courts against the parties making the charges, and swearing to the same in the recent case of application for a receiver for the Merchants' National ) bank, which has just been decided by Judge Greene in favor of the bank. Referring to the proposed new bank, Mr. Smith said he was not yet able to give the details, but said that the capital stock would be not less than $200,000, Last night a reporter of The Gazette called at the residence of D. Portwood, one of the complainants in the suit recently brought against the bank. asking the appointment of a receiver for the Merchants National bank, and asked how the recent opinion of Judge Greene refusing to appoint a receiver suited the stockholders who brought the suit. Said he: "The opinion does not give satisfaction at all: we, with the non-resident sharen holders, are not at all satisfied, as we d believe the allegations set forth in our 1 petition sufficiently strong to have a reS ceiver appointed. So far as resident stockholders are concerned, they are out 0 of the case in a measure, but you can rest assured that the not-residents are I in the tight to a finish, and within a few . days a suit will be filed in the United States court at Dallas, asking the ap n polutment of a receiver. Mr. Portwood refused to be quoted as 1 having anything further to say ou the d question for the present. it
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THE CASHIERTHE BEST SHOT. He and the Vice-President of the Bank Dis. pute with Pistols In the Office. FORT WORTH. Tex., July 6.--A. P. Luckett. President of the Merchants' National Bank. which temporarily suspended eighteen months ago: A. B. Smith. cashier: R. M. Page VicePresident. and Col. R. M. Wynne were in consultation over the affairs of the bank this morning in the cashier's office. When a dispute arose Page and Smith dis. agreed and drew pistols. Eight shots were fired. Page received is deep flesh wound. which is not serious. Col. R. M. Wynne pushed between the men and got Smith on the other side of a brass wicket door. and then left the bank. Smith and Page emptied their revolvers at each other through the door. but neither was hit.
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INTO VOLUNTARY LIQUIDATION. THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MERCHANTS' BANK MEETING Yesterday-S. W. Lomax's Suicide. A New Bank-Arrested for Burglary-John R. Hoxie Seriously III. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the Merchants' National bank was held in the bank building yesterday. The object was the election of a board of seven directors and officers of the bank. The following directors were chosen: C. J. Swasey, J. B. Littlejohn, B. B. Paddock, D. Portwood, R. M. Page, A. B. Smith and A. P. Luckett. The directors then elected officers as rollows: A. P. Luckett. president: R. M. Page, vice-president. and A. B. Smith, cashier. The meeting was a very harmonious one, all the differences between the various interests having been adjusted. On the 18th Inst. the stockholders by a nnanimous vote decided to go into liquidation, and A. B. Smith. cashier, was appointed liquidating agênt, The bank, upon resumption of business atter its temporary suspension two years ago, had a debt of $740,000. Of this all but $18,000 has been paid, and the bank is simply maintaining its organization until this is paid. The stockholders will receive notiess than 75 per cent on the original $500,000. and should the financial situation Improve, they will receive par. The stockholders of the bank feel very much elated over the showing made.
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LATE TELEGRAMS BOILED DOWN FROM PRIVATE SPECIAL AND OTHER SOURCES. Mexico is coining 20 cent pieces Hillsboro has a seduction sensation. Mexico's army numbers 35,000 men. Mason has rain enough to settle the dust. Miller, of Dallas, is due to hang tomorrow. Rockport grapes are nearly all marketed. Cotton is eoming into Seguin quite lively. Many of the suspended banks are resuming. Two Swedish missionaries murdered in China. Ticknor & Company, publishers, Boston, assign. Ten cases cholera and six deaths daily in Moscow. Quarantine station, Alexandria, free from cholera. Nothing definite determined as to blockading Siam. Mexican murdered by his mistress in Kerr county. Spreckels backs queen Lil for the throne of Hawaii. Interoceanic railway earnings last week were $38,000. Confederate reunion at Floresville is a pleasant one. Epidemic in Vera Cruz caused by bad drinking water. Average loss of life in the Hidalgo mines is three daily. The Italian pilgrimages are inhibited owing to cholera. The first fight in congress will be over the adoption of rules. Cleveland has the gout and is threatened with apoplexy. Forged securities get away with $50,000 Chicago bank funds. Steamer Pearl sunk in a collision off Irish coast and 7 drowned. Willis P. Green, of Albia, shoots himself, probably an accident. Those Choctaw executions are suspended until September 5th. Number of employes in Federal district, Mexico, will be reduced. Vessels from Naples are quarantined five days at Constantinople. Spanish steamer San Juan, for Manilla, burned and 221 lives lost Colored child 4 years old poi soned at Galveston by eating ratsbane. Mitchell's Bank, Milwaukee.has paid depositors over $2,000,000 this month. Harrison Alexander kills Tom Moore at Carmona, for slandering his wife. Germany is happy over the prospect of trouble between France and England. Farmer's National bank of Henrietta will probably resume withOI u! Rumor of cholera, at Chester, Pa. The victim a new arrival from Austria. Merchants' National of Fort Worth pays its stockholders 75 per cent of capital. State bar meets at Galveston and are entertained by Attorney Terry, of the Santa Fe. John Spradley arrested at Bryan for murder committed 16 years since in Alabama. Two persons killed, 5 hurt and 7 houses demolished by a hail storm at Alamistlan. Commons defeats motion to col-
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IN THESE days of suspensions and failures it is gratifying to note that many of them are due only to temporary embar rassments and that many of the reputed bursted banks are over their trouble and are again doing business. Among those which have re opened during the last few days are: Gate City National Bank, At lanta, Ga.: First National Bank, Los Angeles, Cal.; First National Bank, San Diego, Cal.: First National Bank, Santa Anna, Cal; First National Bank, San Bernardino, Cal: the Southern California National Bank, Los Angeles, Cal: Merchants' National Bank, Fort Worth, Tex.; Second National Bank, Ashland, Ky.; Capital National Bank, Indianapolis, Ind: First National Bank, Palouse City, Wash; Washington National Bank, Spokane Falls, Wash; National Bank of Commerce, Provo City, Utah, and First National Bank, Cisco, Texas.