Bank of Sing Sing (Ossining, NY)

Episode Information

Episode UID
5822131191398
Episode Type
Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Bank ID
582213119 hash
Start Date
June 17, 1916
Location
Ossining, New York (41.163, -73.862)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini (chosen from majority vote of a three-model LLM ensemble)
Short Digest
b303b61f8c909de6

Response Measures

None

Description

Bank was an internal prison banking/token-coin system rather than a chartered commercial bank.

Events (2)
1. June 17, 1916 Suspension
Cause
Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details
Shortage and disappearance of token coin used in the prison's internal banking system, and failure to redeem promised token payments
Newspaper Excerpt
The Bank of Sing Sing...closed its doors and went out of business
Source
newspapers
2. June 18, 1916 Other
Newspaper Excerpt
Supt. Carter Orders an End to Osborne's Token Money System. The suspension of the Bank of Sing Sing was the forerunner of the collapse of the prison monetary system.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (2)
1. June 18, 1916 The Washington Herald Washington, DC
Article from The Washington Herald, June 18, 1916

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Article Text

SING SING IS EXCITED WHEN BANK GOES BROKE Ossining, N. Y., June 17.-Sing Sing populace was all agog today over a money panic. The Bank of Sing Sing, according to prison attaches, closed its doors and went out of business A shortage of token coin, it is said, forced the bank to bust. The bank was found by Warden T. M. Osborne to encourage inmates to save their earnings in token coin. For some time, inmates have been passing out the metal coin to their friends outside of prison for souvenirg and to work slot machines, until there was not enough of. metal coin inside the prison to do business. Some time ago the bank declared a dividend of 13 cents in American money to redeem one dollar in token coin, but the dividend was never paid.

2. June 19, 1916 The Sun New York, NY
Article from The Sun, June 19, 1916

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Article Text

SING SING COIN ABOLISHED. Supt. Carter Orders an End to Osborne's Token Money System. OSSINING. June 18.-Sing Sing prison's token coin, an innovation established by Warden Osborne, so prison employees reported to-day. is to be done away with The suspension of the Bank of Sing Sing was the forerunner of the collapse of the prison monetary system. A story is going around the institution that Superintendent of Prisons Car. ter. in his last inspection of the place. sounded the death knell of token con in a talk with one of Warden Kirchwey's assistants. "Isn't it like giving a boy a tin dollar when he is small," Supt. Carter is quoted as having asked, "and telling him if he'll be good when he grows up he'll get a real dollar for it?"