Milwaukee Avenue State Bank (Chicago, IL)

Episode Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Closure
Start Date
August 6, 1906
Location
Chicago, Illinois (41.850, -87.650)
Bank Type
state

Metadata

Notes

Receiver Fetzer took charge and paid dividends; failure due to embezzlement by officers.

Events (4)

1. August 6, 1906 Run
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Run started after reports cashier missing and later revelations of embezzlement and missing funds.
Measures
Bank closed by Theodore Stensland; twenty policemen summoned to restrain depositors.
Newspaper Excerpt
The Milwaukee Avenue State bank was closed today by Theodore Stenslin, a son of the president, while a run was in progress, and the depositors growing clamorous.
Source
newspapers
2. August 6, 1906 Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Examiner took charge after discovery that officers (cashier and president) were missing and alleged short accounts; bank suspended operations/closed its doors.
Newspaper Excerpt
MILWAUKEE AVENUE STATE BANK OF CHICAGO CLOSES ITS DOORS IN THE FACE OF FRENZIED RUN. Examiner Takes Charge Because He Could Not Find Executive Officer of Institution in the City.
Source
newspapers
3. August 17, 1906 Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
The Garfield Park bank...was placed in the hands of a receiver. The collapse of the Milwaukee Avenue State bank is said to have caused the doors of the smaller institution to be closed.
Source
newspapers
4. August 24, 1906 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Receiver Fetzer had made arrangements to pay 20 per cent to 5,000 of the 22,000 depositors ... the receiver was all day paying the 5,000, and will pay as many more today.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (22)

Article from The Laramie Republican, August 6, 1906

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Chicago, Ill., Aug. 6.-The Milwaukee Avenue State bank was closed today by Theodore Stenslin, a son of the president, while a run was in progress, and the depositors growing clamorous. Twenty policemen were called to restrain them. The bank capital is $250,000, with deposits of about $4,000,000.


Article from The Laramie Republican, August 6, 1906

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MILWAUKEE AVENUE STATE BANK OF CHICAGO CLOSES ITS DOORS IN THE FACE OF FRENZIED RUN. Run Started by Reports That One or More Officials of Bank Are Alleged to Be Short in Accounts-Examiner Takes Charge Because He Could Not Find Executive Officer of Institution in the City.


Article from Waterbury Evening Democrat, August 6, 1906

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Bank Closes Doors. Chicago, Aug 6.-The - Milwaukee Avenue State bank. one of the largest outside of the downtown districts, to-day closed its doors, following a run oz the Institution. Henry W. Hering. cashier of the bank. is misslag and a warrant charging him with contentionment has been swora out.


Article from Palestine Daily Herald, August 6, 1906

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RUN ON BANK IN WINDY CITY TO QUIET THE CROWD THE BANK WAS CLOSED, AND THE POLICE CALLED.-CASHIER GONE. Special to the Herald. Chicago, Ill., Aug. 6.-The Milwaukee Avenue State Bank was closed today by Theodore Stensland, son of the president of the institution, while a run was in progress and the crowd was clamorous. Twenty policemen were called in to restrain the crowd. The bank has a capital of a quarter of a million, and deposits amounting to about four millions. The.run was started by rumors to the effect that the cashier had disappeared. Officers of the bank refuse to state how much money is missing. The depositors were told that the bank will be re-opened when the exact status of its finances is determined.


Article from The Salt Lake Tribune, August 7, 1906

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Article from The Penn's Grove Record, August 10, 1906

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BANK SHORT $1,000,000, TWO OFFICERS MISSING Chicago Depositors in Panic--One Death, One Suicide. WARRANT FOR THE CASHIER Whereabouts of President Paul O. Stensland and Cashier Hering, of Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, Unknown to Authorities.


Article from The Wenatchee Daily World, August 16, 1906

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Cashier Was a Bookmaker Chicago Aug. 16.-Absolute proof that Henry Hering cashier of the wrecked* Milwaukee Avenue State bank was financial backer of a bookmaking syndicate which laid odds on horse races was brought to li he late today, when Inspector Shippy found a check made payable to Harry M Smith, who for years ran a buffet at 256 South State street, and whose place was closed [this spring because of his running a handbook, that handbook being none other than that run by the syndicate headed by Hering, but whose name never appeared as connected with it until today


Article from The Paducah Evening Sun, August 17, 1906

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Another Bank Fails. Chicago, III., August 17.- The Garfield Park bank, a small institution located at 2024 West Madison street, was placed in the hands of a receiver. The collapse of the Milwaukee Avenue State bank is said to have caused the doors of the smaller institution to be closed.


Article from The Star, August 22, 1906

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# $5000 REWARD FOR BANKER Chicago Clearing House Offers This for Stensland. # LOOKING FOR WOMAN IN CASE Secret Room Found in Stensland's Magnificent Home-Property Turned Over. Five thousand dollars reward will be paid for the arrest of Paul O. Stensland, fugitive president of the Milwaukee Avenue State bank of Chicago. The banks of the Chicago Clearing House association will pay the reward. Announcement of the determination of the bankers to stop at nothing in the capturing of the accused bank officer accompanied the passage of a resolution to pay the reward. The bankers were in conference for an hour. Bonds for Theodore Stensland, who surrendered to the authorities were given in the sum of $10,000. Attorney J. J. Kern had asked Judge Kerston that the bonds would be the charge of conspiracy and the court fixed the bail at $10,000. Bond was furnished. A police dragnet was thrown out to catch a woman forger, who is thought to have intimate knowledge of the fraudulent Stensland notes found in the bank vaults. The woman's arrest was ordered by the State's attorney. Detectives who are searching for her declare that she may have forged the signatures by means of which Stensland looted the bank. She is known to have been closely associated with the banker and to be skillful with the pen. Discovery of a mysterious room in which Paul O. Stensland is believed to have prepared to hide himself in his big house in Irving park brought new interest into the police hunt for the banker. Inspector Shippy learned of the supposed existence of the room of mystery and sent two detectives to search the house. These men, with yardsticks and tapelines, measured all through the house. They discovered adjoining Stensland's "den," a portion of the house the use of which could not be accounted for. Finally they tapped upon a panel in Stensland's "den." It sounded hollow and was partly concealed by drapery. When the door was forced there was disclosed an opening large enough for a man to stand in to conceal himself. A secret telephone was discovered in the back part of a desk in the so-called "directors" room of Stensland's bank. Inspector Shippy was making investigation there. The police say that this telephone gave Stensland direct access to all messages coming in or going out from the bank. It became known that young Stensland had given to Receiver John C. Fetzer, for the benefit of the bank depositors, a deed to all the Cook county real estate held by his father, who had given him power of attorney. The property is estimated to be worth $650,000.


Article from Evening Star, August 25, 1906

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first money paid out of the vaults of the ruined Milwaukee Avenue State Bank. Receiver Fetzer had made arrangements to pay 20 per cent to 5,000 of the 22,000 depositors, and everybody was anxious to be among the 5,000. At daybreak the crowds commenced to gather around the bank, and by 8 o'clock the bank was surrounded by 5,000 people. Sixty policemen had been sent to the bank, but they were unable to handle the crowd, the greater part of which was unable to understand the English language. Forty more officers were finally sent to the bank, and order was even then restored with difficulty. It seemed Impossible to make the depositors comprehend that although only 5,000 were to be paid yesterday the others would be paid just as much within the next few days. At one time the crowd threatened to fairly storm the bank, as, waving their pass books in the air, they rushed for the doors shouting in Bohemian, Polish, Norwegian and Italian. The receiver was all day paying the 5,000, and will pay as many more today.


Article from The Roswell Daily Record, August 25, 1906

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DIVIDEND ANNOUNCED. Depositors of Milwaukee Avenue Bank to Receive Twenty Per Cent. Chicago, Aug. 24.-The receiver of the defunct Milwaukee Avenue State Bank sent out notices to five thousand depositors yesterday to call at the bank and receive twenty per cent dividend on their deposits. It was the original intention to send out the notice to 22,000 depositors simultaneously, but on account of the difficulty in handling such a crowd, the receiver decided to send out only five thousand notices per day. Five hundred thousand dollars in currency and coin was taken to the bank yesterday in preparation for today's work. One hundred policement in uniform and about fifty men in plain clothes will be at the bank this morning in anticipation of the opening of the doors at nine o'clock.


Article from The Paducah Evening Sun, August 25, 1906

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PAYING DEPOSITORS. Looted Milwaukee Avenue State Bank Opens Doors. Chicago, August 25.- Receiver Fetzer began the payment of the first dividend to the depositors or the Milwaukee Avenue state bank this morning. This is the earliest payment ever attempted in the case of a defunct bank and the preparations for the big crowd kept the employes of the received at work hours after the time for closing last night.


Article from The Fulton County News, September 13, 1906

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# Will Get Stensland. Chicago, Ill., (Special).-Assistant State's Attorney Barbour received the following telegram from Charles L. Binns, who is representing the State's Attorney's office in the Stensland matter at Washington: "Warrant being prepared for the President's signature. Instructions will be cabled to deliver Stensland into custody of Olson and Keely." "As soon as the warrant is signed by the President," said Assistant State's Attorney Barbour, "it will be sent to Tangier, and then the start for this country can be made at once." Mr. Barbour received a message from Assistant State's Attorney Olson at Tangier requesting that the authorities at Washington permit Stensland to return without waiting for the arrival of legal documents. The prisoner was said to be willing and anxious to return to Chicago at once. Receiver Fetzer, of the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, which was wrecked by Stensland, receiving the following dispatch from Secretary of the Treasury Shaw in Washington: "Assistant Secretary of State consulted the Solicitor for the State Department concerning the $12,000 deposited by Stensland in the French Bank at Tangier. The Solicitor sees no course open but for you to attach the fund acording to law and according to the proceedure controlling judicial questions affecting the French Bank at Tangier."


Article from The Washburn Leader, September 28, 1906

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# FOREIGN NEWS. In a formal note to France and other powers Turkey draws attention to the warlike preparations which are going on in Bulgaria. While it is declared that the note makes no allusion to retaliatory steps on the part of Turkey this formal notification from the porte is regarded as ominous. Mail advices from China are disquieting to Americans having financial interests in the Orient. There is no abatement of the anti-foreign feeling and the animosity is no longer confined to Americans, but includes all foreigners except Japanese. Sunday was George Washington day in Budapest, Hungary, and the entire population from morning until night gave itself up to enthusiasm over the unveiling on monarchial territory of a monument to the first president of the United States. A column of the Thirteenth infantry under Captain Fassett was fired upon at La Paz, island of Leyte, by Pulajanes on the night of Sept. 10. Corporal D. H. Pierce of Company A and Private A. E. Winegardner of Company B were killed. Pulajanes on the island of Leyte attacked a detachment of the Twenty-fourth infantry (colored) on the night of the 10th and killed two and wounded eight of the colored soldiers. They were finally repulsed with heavy loss. The people of Sicily are in a condition of panic because of the earthquake shocks which have been occurring there for a week past. They continue to camp out in the open and many have taken refuge in caves. Besides eleven schooners wrecked at Belle Isle recently by storms seven others with over 100 people on board were driven ashore on the Labrador coast. Four fatalities only are reported thus far. The steamer Prinz Adelbert has left Tangier, Morocco, with Paul O. Stensland, president of the wrecked Milwaukee Avenue State bank of Chicago, on board. Albrecht, prince of Prussia, regent of the duchy of Brunswick and the richest prince in Germany, is dead. Death followed a stroke of apoplexy. Dominican rebels defeated the government troops in a severe battle on the Haytian frontier. The government losses were heavy. Rear Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, who commanded the British squadron at Manila during the Spanish-American war, is dead.


Article from The Washburn Leader, October 5, 1906

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FOREIGN NEWS. In a formal note to France and other powers Turkey draws attention to the warlike preparations which are going on in Bulgaria. While it is declared that the note makes no allusion to retaliatory steps on the part of Turkey this formal notification from the porte is regarded as ominous. Mail advices from China are disquieting to Americans having financial interests in the Orient. There is no abatement of the anti-foreign feeling and the animosity is no longer confined to Americans, but includes all foreigners except Japanese. Sunday was George Washington day in Budapest, Hungary, and the entire population from morning until night gave itself up to enthusiasm over the unveiling on monarchial territory of a monument to the first president of the United States. A column of the Thirteenth infantry under Captain Fassett was fired upon at La Paz, island of Leyte, by Pulajanes on the night of Sept. 10. Corporal D. H. Pierce of Company A and Private A. E. Winegardner of Company B were killed. Pulajanes on the island of Leyte attacked a detachment of the Twenty-fourth infantry (colored) on the night of the 10th and killed two and wounded eight of the colored soldiers. They were finally repulsed with heavy loss. The people of Sicily are in a condition of panic because of the earthquake shocks which have been occurring there for a week past. They continue to camp out in the open and many have taken refuge in caves. Besides eleven schooners wrecked at Belle Isle recently by storms seven others with over 100 people on board were driven ashore on the Labrador coast. Four fatalities only are reported thus far. The steamer Prinz Adelbert has left Tangier, Morocco, with Paul O. Stensland, president of the wrecked Milwaukee Avenue State bank of Chicago, on board. Albrecht, prince of Prussia, regent of the duchy of Brunswick and the richest prince in Germany, is dead. Death followed a stroke of apoplexy. Dominican rebels defeated the government troops in a severe battle on the Haytian frontier. The government losses were heavy. Rear Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, who commanded the British squadron at Manila during the Spanish-American war, is dead.


Article from Rock Island Argus, October 13, 1906

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STENSLAND NOW BANKRUPT U. S. District Court Formally Adjudges Insolvency. Chicago, Oct. 13.-Paul/O. Stensland, now in the state penitentiary as the result of his embezzlements, which caused the failure of the Milwaukee Avenue State bank, was adjudged a bankrupt yesterday by Judge Kenesaw M. Landis in the United States district court. The order of adjudication was accompanied by an order referring the case to a referee in bankruptcy for the discovery of assets. The receiver of the bank of which Stensland formerly was president is the largest creditor.


Article from The Evening Times, October 19, 1906

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TURNED OVER REWARD. Chicago Tribune Places $5,000 Reward In Hands of Bank Receiver. Associated Press to The Evening Times. Chicago, Oct. 19.-The Chicago clearing house association has sent to James Keeley, managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, a check for $5,000, the amount of the reward offered by the association in the capture of Paul O. Stensland, the former president of the Milwaukee Avenue state bank, who was arrested in Tangier, and who is now serving a sentence in the penitentiary at Joliet. The check was at once turned over by Mr. Keeley for the Tribune, to the receiver of the bank to be included among the assets and ultimately distributed among the depositors. In addition to sending the check to the receiver of the bank, the Tribune, which bore the entire expense incident to the pursuit, capture. and return of Stensland, has made a present to the taxpayers of Cook county of the total sum expended in the undertaking. which amounted to another $5,000.


Article from Waterbury Evening Democrat, November 6, 1906

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Stensland and Hering Sentenced. CHICAGO, Nov. 6.-Pani O. Stensland, formerly president of the failed Milwankee Avenue State bank. who was arrested in Tangier, and Henry W. Hering. cashier of the same Institution, were sentenced by Judge Pinckney In the criminal court to indeterminate terms In the penitentiary for embezzlement and forgery. The sentences may run anywhere from one to ten years.


Article from The Democrat-Sentinel, November 8, 1906

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# HERING GOES WITH HIS PAL Both Are Doing Time at Joliet For Chicago Bank Failure. # STENSLAND ON THE STAND He Told How the Bank Was Wrecked and Said Hering Knew About All Transactions - Cashier Pleaded Guilty and Also Drew an Indeterminate Sentence. Chicago, Nov. 6. - Henry Hering, cashier of the Milwaukee Avenue State bank, which he and the president, Paul O. Stensland, wrecked, went with Stensland to the penitentiary at Joliet to serve an indeterminate sentence, which may run from one to 10 years. Hering made no defense against the accusations of Stensland on the witness stand. At the conclusion of Stensland's testimony Hering was called to the bar of the court and, withdrawing his plea of not guilty, he entered a plea of guilty. Both men were then sentenced. They were taken to Joliet. Stensland was brought from the penitentiary at Joliet to give evidence against Hering. On the witness stand Stensland said that irregularities in the bank began about 10 years ago, when he commenced to invest funds of the bank in real estate. During the last eight years, he declared, he lost $400,000 in real estate transactions. He also lost $218,000 running a cooperative store. Stensland declared that he kept investing the money of the bank in real estate deals to use it for the payment of his debts at the suggestion of Hering. He asserted that he never forged names despite the fact that he pleaded guilty to forgery when he was brought back to this country. "All transactions Hering knew about," declared Stensland, "and they were all credited to my account." The new sentence given Stensland will not lengthen his term of imprisonment, as the new sentence is concurrent with the old.


Article from The United Opinion, November 9, 1906

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# Stensland and Hering Sentenced Chicago, Nov. 6.-Paui O. Stensland, formerly president of the failed Milwaukee Avenue State bank, who was arrested in Tangier, and Henry W. Hering, cashier of the same institution, were sentenced by Judge Pinckney to indeterminate terms in the penitentiary for embezzlement and forgery. The sentences may run from one to 10 years. The sentence given Stensland is concurrent with the one given several weeks ago.


Article from Northern Wisconsin Advertiser, December 19, 1907

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# BANK DIRECTORS FREED. Statute Held Unconstitutional as Applying to Them. Chicago, Dec. 15. - Five directors of the defunct Milwaukee Avenue State bank were freed yesterday when Judge Windes held the statute under which they had been indicted unconstitutional. Michael A. Labuy, Joseph Lister, Marcus Kirkeby, Frank R. Crane and Elof Johnson are the men who profit by the decision. They were accused of having guilty knowledge of the bank's condition previous to its suspension. Paul O. Steensland, president of the bank, and Henry Herring, cashier, who were convicted of embezzling, are now in the penitentiary. The decision will not affect them.


Article from The Evening Times, January 18, 1909

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NEW JUDGES QUALIFIED (By H. n. Paulson.) Bismarck, N. D., Jan. 18.Judges Ellsworth and Carmody were today sworn in as members of the supreme court of North Dakota. penitentiary, Chief Justice Olson of the municipal court and former State's Attorney Healy-and when the board of pardons meets at Joliet next Tuesday it is declared that it will be bombarded by a mass of data, much of it seeking to show that Stensland has paid full penalty and should be let out of prison. Polish Alliance Active Against Him. While the convict's friends are thus rallying in his behalf, the Polish National Alliance of America, the largest organization of that nationality in America, took up the challenge of battle to-day and announced that it would do its utmost to keep in prison the man who caused so much suffering in the northwest section of the city through the failure of the Milwaukee Avenue state bank. Marion B. Stenczynski, the president, outlined a campaign and sounded the alarm among his countryman. Added zest was given to his movements when he learned that State's Attorney John E. W. Wayman had announced that if Stensland were released there would be no further prosecution, inasmuch as he would move in court to dismiss all standing indictments. Judge Kersten. when interviewed in reference to the efforts to free Stensland, said: "It is true that I have written and sent a letter in Stensland'es behalf to Gov. Deneen. In it I expressed my opinion that under the existing circumstances of the case, which I enumerated in my letter, he ought to be released as having been sufficiently punished. I make that recommendation on facts I set forth in the letter." Harry Olson Suggests Leniency Harry Olson, chief justice of the municipal courts, who was the chief assistant state's attorney and prosecutor of Stensland, has relented to some extent as to the bank wrecker, and has written a letter to the state board of pardons suggesting leniency for the convict. One of the reasons assigned in the letter as an extenuating Circumstance in Stensland's crime, is that he caused the state's attorney's office no trouble at the time of his arrestoin Algiers and paid his own passage home to face trial and certain conviction.