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Financial Institution at St. James Temporarily Embarrassed. M. K. Armstrong Is at the Head of This Concern. Affairs Will No Doubt Be Straightened Out Very Soon. He Is at Present Quite Sick in a St. Paul Hospital. [Special to The Free Press.] St. James, Sept. 24.-Closing of the Old Bank of St. James, of which M. K. Armstrong is the president, has caused somewhat of a flurry in this city. It seems that some of the Old Bank checks were protested on Monday evening and the report gained circulation that the affairs of the institution were in doubtful condition-consequently, on the following morning a mild run was started and owing to an unfortunate circumstance there was only a small volume of currency on hand. It was exhausted and later a placard was posted at the cashier's window stating that payment was suspended on account of lack of funds. Another circumstance which aggravated the situation was the absence, at this crisis, of Mr. Armstrong himself. It is altogether unlikely that he had any idea of such an occurrence. A careful inquiry produced no evidence that this little flurry was any indication of a weakness in the resources of the bank. The worst feature about it is that it causes an uneasiness among the patrons which will interfere with the routine of affairs and make some shifts necessary which would not otherwise be called for. Mr. Armstrong has an abundance of resources financially if the best advices obtainable are in the least to be considered. The time deposits of the Old Bank are variously estimated at from $100,000 to twice that amount, besides the amount which was subject to check. The bank at one time paid as high as 6 per cent of long time deposits and recently has pand 5 per cent, hence it is no wonder the volume was large. Mr. Armstrong's holdings are quite largely composed of realty. In St. James he owns the magnificent Park hotel, another hotel, several fine brick business blocks and something like thirty dwelling houses. In Butterfield he owns a nice hotel property and a large number of vacant lots. Filed in his name are between $75,000 and $80,000 worth of mortgages, whether held as collateral or actually owned by Mr. Armstrong cannot be stated. During the past three or four years Mr. Armstrong has disposed of something like 8,000 or 9,000 acres of farm lands in this section all of which brought from $30 to $40 per acre, and in all probability largely represented by contracts for deed. An extremely conservative estimate of the value of interest-bearing land contracts owned by the Old Bank would be $100 000 The bank has done a thriving
