5952. Jb Watkins Land Mortgage Company (Lawrence, KS)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Suspension → Reopening
Bank Type
private
Start Date
April 6, 1894
Location
Lawrence, Kansas (38.972, -95.235)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
295116aa3710f488

Response Measures

None

Description

Articles (Apr–Nov 1894) report the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company placed in receivership (receiver J. B. Watkins appointed by court in early April 1894) and later the receiver was discharged in October/November 1894 after the firm 'straightened out its affairs.' No newspaper describes a depositor run; the primary action is a court-appointed receivership (suspension) followed by resumption/receiver discharge, so classify as suspension_reopening.

Events (2)
1. April 6, 1894 Suspension
Cause
Government Action
Cause Details
Federal court appointed a receiver on application of creditors (Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. and National Bank of Commerce), reflecting a court-ordered receivership after failure of collections following the panic.
Newspaper Excerpt
Upon application of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company and the National Bank of Commerce, of New York, Judge Caldwell, at Omaha, appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company.
Source
newspapers
2. October 24, 1894 Reopening
Newspaper Excerpt
An order was made ... discharging the receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company of Lawrence. ... The company has made a showing which warranted the discharge of the receiver. (receiver discharged, firm straightens out its affairs).
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (9)
1. April 7, 1894 The Indianapolis Journal Indianapolis, IN
Article from The Indianapolis Journal, April 7, 1894

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Article Text

PRINCESS FLOUR Best Made. Ask your Grocer. MILLIONS INVOLVED. Failure of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company of Kansas. LAWRENCE, Kan., April 6.-Upon application of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company and the National Bank of Commerce, of New York, Judge Caldwell, at Omaha, appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company. The assets are $7,000,000 and the liabilities $5,550,000. The capital stock is $750,000 and the surplus $600,000. Mr. Watkins owns about $650,000 of the stock. The constant drain on the company since last summer's panic and the failure of collections occasioned the failure. Since Aug. 1 it has paid out $955,000. The foreign stockholders and creditors held a meeting in London today to formulate a plan of reorganization, and it is thought that the receivership will not be of long duration. For the last three years the company has made most of its loans in Texas. J. B. Watkins came to Lawrence in 1870 and engaged in the loan business. He had less than $500 at that time. To-day his fortune is placed at between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000. Most of it is invested in the development of Louisiana lands, industries and a railroad.

2. April 8, 1894 The Sun New York, NY
Article from The Sun, April 8, 1894

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Article Text

LIABILITIES $5,500,000. Failure of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company-Mr. Watkins Made Receiver. LAWRENCE, Kan., April 7.-The J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company of this city. the pioneer land mortgage company of the West, has been put into the hands of a receiver upon the application of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company and the National Bank of Commerce of New York. Judge Caldwell of the Federal Circuit Court at Omaha appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the company. The assets are estimated at $7,000,000 and liabilities $5,500,000. The capital stock is $750,000 and the surplus $600,000. Mr. Watkins owns $650,000 of the stock. NEW ORLEANS. April 7.-J. B. Watkins is well known in this part of the country. Several years "go he made an inspection of the fine lands which were lying idle in the parishes of Calcasieu and Cameron, and bought up thousands of acres at twentyfive cents an acre. These investments made Mr. Watkins wealthy. In appreciation of this fact, Mr. Watkins spent a great deal of money in the improvement of the parishes where his investments were. In Lake Charles especially are to be seen signs of his enterprise. There is a bank in that town named after him, as well as a railroad and a sugar refinery. By his enterprise he has induced thousands of emigrants to settle in and around Lake Charles, and has furnished them with land at reasonable terms. Mr. Watkins. or rather the J. B. Watkins Land Company of Louisiana. of which he is the principal stockholder. is the largest land owner in the State, possessing probably 2,000.000 acres of land. of which 1,000,000 acres were purchased from the State in one body. Much of this land was subject to tidal overflow, and the company directed itself to redeeming it and rendering it cultivable. and thousands of acres have been placed on the market. It is announced by Mr. Watkins's agents here that his Louisiana investments will not he affected by the Kansas failure, aslthe J. B. Watkins Land Company of Lake Charles, La., and the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company of Kansas have been separated, and have different interests.

3. April 10, 1894 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS
Article from The Topeka State Journal, April 10, 1894

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Article Text

WATKINS' RECEIVERSHIP. No Report Was Made to the State of Connectiout. NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 10.-The J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company of Lawrence, Kas., but incorporated in this state, which is reported to have gone into a receivership, has made no report for 1893 to the Connecticut bank commissioners. According to the report for 1892 it had a capital of $750,000, of which $449,300 had been paid in, and assets of $7,283,665. It had $4,242,888 of debenture bonds and $1,500,000 of deposits, and $1,000,000 of bonds maturing last year. J. B. Watkins is the receiver.

4. April 12, 1894 The Austin Weekly Statesman Austin, TX
Article from The Austin Weekly Statesman, April 12, 1894

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Article Text

Receiver Appointed. LAWRENCE, Kas., April 6.-Upon application of the Farmers' Loan and Trust company and the National Bank of Commerce of New York, Judge Caldwell at Omaha appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company. The assets are $77, and the liabilities $5,500,000. The capital stock is $750, 000 and the surplus not known. Mr. Watkins owns about $650,000 of the stock. The constant drain on the company since last summer's panic and the failure of collections caused the failure.

5. April 13, 1894 The Goodland Republic Goodland, KS
Article from The Goodland Republic, April 13, 1894

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Article Text

KANSAS LOAN COMPANY FAILS. Failure of Collections Since the Panic Occasioned the Failure. LAWRENCE, Kans., April 8.-Upon application of the Farmer's Loan & Trust company and the National bank of Commerce of New York, Judge Caldwell at Omaha appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company. The assets are $7,000,000 and the liabilities $5,500,000. The capital stock is $750,000 and the surplus $600. 000. Mr. Watkins owns about $600,000 of the stock. The constant drain on the company since last summer's panic and the failure of collections occasioned the failure. Since August 1, it has paid out $995,000. The foreign stockholders and creditors held & meeting in London Friday to formulate a plan of reorganization and it is thought the receivership will not be of long duration. For the past three years, the company has made most of its loans in Texas. J.B. Watkins came to Lawrence in 1870 and engaged in loan business. He had less than $500 at that time. Today his fortune is placed at about $8,500,000.

6. April 13, 1894 The Pioneer Express Pembina, ND
Article from The Pioneer Express, April 13, 1894

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Article Text

Receiver Appointed. Lawrence. Kan.. April T.-Upon application of the Farmers' Loan and Trust company and the National Bank of Commerce of New York Judge Caldwell at Omrha appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company. The assets are $7,000,000) and the liabilities $5,500,000. The capital stock is $750,000 and the surplus SGID).000. Mr. Watkins owns about $650,000 of the stock. The constant drain on the company since last summer's panic and the failure of collections occasioned the failure. Since Aug. 1 it has paid out $955,000.

7. April 20, 1894 The Pioneer Express Pembina, ND
Article from The Pioneer Express, April 20, 1894

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Article Text

Receiver Appointed. Lawrence, Kan., Special-Upon applieation of the Farners' Loan and Trust company and the National Bank of Commerce of New York Judge Caldwell at Omoha appointed J. B. Watkins receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company. The assets are $7,000,000 and the liabilities $5,500,000. The capital stock is $750,000 and the surplus $000,000. Mr. Watkins owns about $050,000 of the stock. The constant drain on the company since last summer's panic and the failure of collections occasioned the failure. Since Aug. 1 it has paid out $955,000.

8. October 24, 1894 The Topeka State Journal Topeka, KS
Article from The Topeka State Journal, October 24, 1894

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Article Text

RECEIVER DISCHARGED. J. B. Watkins' Mortgage Firm Straightens Out Its Affairs. An order was made yesterday afternoon in the United States circuit court, discharging the receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company of Lawrence. J. B. Watkins was appointed receiver of the company on April 9, by Judge Foster, on application of the Girard Life Insurance and Annuity Trust company of Philadelphia. The company has made a showing which warranted the discharge of the receiver. Have you moved? Change your registration. 332 calls up the Peerless, Have you registered? Books close Friday night.

9. November 7, 1894 Barbour County Index Medicine Lodge, KS
Article from Barbour County Index, November 7, 1894

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Article Text

City. It snowed in Leavenworth last Monday. Salina's registration fell off 100 this year and is now 1,395. Kansas City, Kansas, is flooded with "green goods" circulars. The registration in Leavenworth was 5,379-379 more than in 1892. A church service for deaf mutes will be held in Trinity church at Lawrence soon. There is a U. S. Grant at Horton and he has named his new boy William McKinley. Frank Holmes had his leg broken in two place while playing football in Winfield Saturday. The Atchison electric line is nearly completed. It is expected that it will be in operation by November 20. The contract for the addition to the Girls' Industria! school at Beloit has been let and work will be commenced at once. G. W. Brown of Newton has already sold 3,000 bushels of apples from his orchard near town, and has many yet to dispose of. Cam Clawson of Ellsworth threshed out twenty-five bushels of alfalfa seed the other day, the first ever raised in Ellsworth county. Nine convicts were taken from Hutchinson to the state penitentiary Monday morning. Three of them were sent up for horsestealing. The Oxford club at Atchison is preparing to put on a minstrel show that will cost $350. An offer of $500 has been offered for the gross receipts A minature Midway, in which the streets of Cario and "Goody-bum-bum" figured conspicuously, cleared $300 for a church society at Hutchinson last week. J. B. Watkins, receiver of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage company at Lawrence. has been discharged by Judge Foster, who appointed him in April. Another good flow of gas has been struck near Parsons and it is expected that that city will be lighted and heated by the product within a few weeks. James Fahey, an old pioneer of Cowley county, having come to that locality in an early day, dropped dead in the St. James Hotel Tuesday night at Winfield. North Dickinson county farmers who made a flying trip north to buy cattle at $3 a head came back without any. There were no $3 cattle.-Abilene reflector. The K. U. Glee and Banjo club will go to Parsons, Kansas, under the auspices of the I. F. F. club, (I feel forlorn club) a club of forty young ladies. -Lawrence Gazette. The Kansas City, Kansas, stock yards have been catching cattle from Old Mexico. The stock is of the same quality and sells in competition with that from Texas. An attempt was made the other day to burn the high school building at Cherokee, the supposed purpose being to create excitement which would make robbery easy. A franchise has been granted Guffy & Galey to pipe natural gas into Neodesha and that city will soon be heated and lighted by the product of the wells in that vicinity. There was a novel church entertainment at Kingman Wednesday evening, which netted nearly $200. The price of admission was 1 cent for each year of a person's age. A man in Walnut township has 23 acres of apple orchard. He sold the crop for enough money to buy the best 160 acres in the township, and still has $1,000 left-Atchison Globe. The latest from the Junction City Fort Rily electric road is that the material has been purchased. That is farther along than the scheme has over been before, which is encouraging. The largest pension granted to residents of this county, SO far as we know, was granted last week to five heirs of W. J. Rasor, deceased, of whom T. C. Ballinger is the guardian, It amounts to $4,700.-Burlington Republican. Apple growers will try to get a bill through the next legislature prescribing eleven pecks as the size of the standard barrel, and forty-eight pounds as the standard weight of a bushel. Fifty pounds is the standard weight now. Senator Taylor of Edwardsville will have charge of the bill. An Abilene youth wrote letter to his best girl in Solomon, who was practicing bicycle riding, that he had sent a pair of bloomers by mail. She was mad enough to bite him in two,