Farmers & Drovers Bank (Seymour, IA)

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ANOTHER BANK FAILURE Farmers & Drovers Bank of Seymour Closes Doors after Cashier Gets Away With Thousands. There is considerable excitement in Wane county over the failure of the Farmers & Drovers Bank, at Seymour, last Friday, after the cashier, Leroy Ware, confessed that he had been looting the bank for the past eight years and his shortage would run anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000. The bank was considered one of the strongest financial institutions in southern Iowa, having a capital of $80,000, and deposits of over $200,000. The stockholders are among the wealthy citizens of Wayne county and it is reported that the loss will not fall upon the depositors but will have to be borne by the stockholders, as they are liable for double the amount of the stock they own, which would make them liable for $160,000, which will cover the shortage of cashier Ware. The state bank examiner was at Seymour on Thursday and when he checked up the bank the cashier reported large sums on deposit with banks at Ottumwa and other places, but an investigation showed that they had no money there. The defaulting cashier is a young man of 35 years of age, who has been connected with the bank for sixteen years. What has become of the money is not known although it is reported that Ware and several other Seymour parties have been speculating on the board of trade and dropped considerable money. Ware's system was to receive time deposits and issue certificates but make no entry on the bank's books, pocketing the money. This has been going on for eight years, as he had the full confidence of the stockholders who supposed everything was all right. Among the stockholders is Judge H. K. Evans and several of his relatives who will suffer a big financial loss. The bank was beseiged by depositors who demanded their money, but none are being paid, as it cannot yet be told just how big the shortage is until all parties holding certificates of deposit report to the bank. Ware has not been placed under arrest, but is being watched carefully as it is feared he may commit suicide.

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CONFESSION BASIS OF BIG BANK SCANDAL Seymour, Ia., April 24.-Cashier LeRoy Ware, of the Farmers and Drovers bank. made a complete confession of his operations in the bank this morning to the state auditor and several directors. He said that the shortage would be nearer $75,000 than any other sum he could name. He feared it might run to $100,000. Ware said: "As God is my judge I have not profited by this shortage by a single cent. I was the dupe of several men who found out that I had manipulated the books by false entries and used that information to hold me up for money." "The system of robbing the bank was to issue certificates of deposit to men who did not give the bank any money. These men speculated in grain with the certificates of deposits. So long as they had money, well and good, and the certificates were redeemed." Will Prosecute. Auditor Carroll will not permit the bank to open until experts have gone over the books to get evidence for criminal prosecutions. Ware is generally believed to have been duped. He was not a high liver. R. S. Davidson, a depositor had $9,000 in the bank for which there is not a record. Twenty-five angry Italian coal miners are in Seymour clamoring for their money and threatening trouble. Extra police have been ordered to keep them away from the bank. Cashier Ware after opening the safe and making his confession collapsed and he is at his home behind locked doors. His wife is standing by him nobly and insists that men higher up in the town, though not officers of the bank, are the real culprits.

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RECEIVER FOR SEYMOUR BANK F

B. FRY, A CORYDON BANKER, IS TODAY PLACED IN CHARGE OF DEFUNCT INSTITUTION Seymour. April 29. - Special)-F. B. Fry of Corydon, formerly cashier of the Farmers and Merchants' bank at that place, was today appointed receiver of the defunct Seymour Farmers and Drovers' bank. Leroy Ware, cashier of the Farmers and Drovers' bank is resting well today. Lr. I. M. Maxwell, the attending physician says he is not in his right mind and it is not probable he ever will be. It will be quite a while before he is able to be out, if at all. The auditor has not made any statement as yet to the amount of the shortage, but it is said to be immense. There is no truth in the report that Charles Myers has turned over his land and stoc kto the bank.

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$400,000 CONE IN BANK CRASH Cashier Ware's Vest Pocket Record Missing--Receiver Is Appointed. Des Moines, la., April 30.-State bank authorities are today ransacking Cashier Ware's possessions in the hope of finding the missing privato accounts book in which Ware is alleged to have kept a record of his speculations. It is now believed that this vest pocket record is all that is saved to, show the big deposits in the bank for which no credit was given on the books. President Evans, of the Farmers and Drovers' bank. of Seymour, today said that $250,000 will not cover the bank's shortage. It may run up to $400,000. Receiver is Named. Bank Examiner Leland Windsor, on Monday will turn over the effect of the wrecked concern to B. F. Fry, or Corydon, who was today appointed receiver by Judge Towner. It is believed that the bank will not pay out over 40 cents on the dollar to those who are shown by the books to be regular depositors. Whether the men whose deposits were never entered on the books will ever get back any of the money entrusted to them is 11 problem. Dr. Maxwell today said in his judgment Cashier Ware is not insane. He says the man is suffering from mental anguish and his condition is slightly affected by a runaway accident two weeks ago, but he thinks Ware could make :1 rational statement of his troubles at the bank.

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WARE'S MIND WRECKED

Chier of Defunct Seymour Bank in Pitiable Condition. Centerville.-Leroy Ware, cashier of the defunct Seymour Farmers and Drovers' bank, is a raving maniac and it is feared will commit suicide. He is watched hourly by physicians and nurses. A trained nurse has been called from the Centerville hospital to take charge of him and remain with him constantly. The victim of friends who imposed upon his indulgence is now paying the debt of his false and illegal acts as cashier of one of the best banks in southern Iowa. Those closest to him have grave fears that before the matter is finally settled up Roy Ware will be either in his grave or the mailbouse. Bank Examiner Windsor has made a significant comment as he has been asked the condition of the institution while his examination has progressed: "Worse and more of it." The estimate of a shortage of $200,000 made yesterday is regarded as reasonably conservative. Yet the deposits amount to but $160,000 on the books. It is one of the marvelous cases. Some of the liabilities not represented by paper in the bank have been secured since the examiner bcgan his work. Directors of the institution have de. cided. definitely, to ask the court at Corydon to appoint a receiver for the institution. The enormous shortage makes reorganization and resumption of business impossible.

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Lose Third of Deposits

Seymour, Iowa, May 8. - Receiver Fry of the failed. Farmers and Drovers' bank announces that depositors will realize about 70 per cent on their claims.

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FINDS OLD CHECKS

Receiver of Defunct Bank Discovers Old Letters. Seymour, Iowa, May 14. - Letters containing money, checks and drafts, which have lain unopened for years in drawers and pigeonholes. have been discovered by Receiver Fry, in charge of the defunct Farmers and Drovers' bank. Some of them date back as far as six years, and the checks contained in them are too old for collection. Others were signed by persons who have since died or gone out of business.

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O'NEIL VS. ADAMS.

Centerville Man Wants $5,000 From Seymour Editor-Marshal Gaddis is Also Sued.

Seymour. Dave O'Neil of Centerville has brought suit for $5,000 against J. J. Adams, editor of the Seymour Leader, for damages sustained from an article published in his paper on February 14. O'Neil has also sued the marshal, Theo Gaddis, for a like sum for arresting and jailing him on a charge of drunkenness. Gaddis and Adams have retained Miles and Steele as their attorneys in the case.

John Hoschar returned Monday from Alamagardo, New Mexico, to attend to some business matters here. The proposition to erect and improve the West School building, voted on Monday, carried by a majority of ninety votes. The same proposition was voted on in March and lost by one vote.

The regular meeting of the Home and Foreign Missionary societies of the Presbyterian church met with Mrs. James Strome Tuesday afternoon. Howard Clark of Des Moines was a Seymour visitor Monday. The depositors of the Farmers and Drovers' bank, met Friday night and appointed a committee to employ an attorney to look after their interests in the defunct bank.

The three boys from the Seymour high school, Edgar Dyball, Alex Richardson and Kenneth Johnson, who took part in the southeastern Iowa scholastic meet at Fairfield last Friday, took second place, coming home Friday morning with five medals, four gold and one bronze. Dyball won first in the 100-yard dash and running broad jump. Alex Richardson won first in the discus and twelve pound hammer throw and Kenneth Johnson came in third ins the running high jump. Mrs. J. C. Varney returned home from Trenton Saturday night.

Sheriff E. Merrick of Corydon was in this place Saturday serving notices on a number of Seymour citizens to appear before the grand jury on May 21.

Frank Miller and W. A. Gordon were in Sewal between trains Saturday. A. D. Montgomery of Howard was in town Saturday. M. Z. Green returned from a trip to Colorado Springs Sunday. Dr. Banning was a professional visitor in Sewal Sunday.

W. A. Gordon went to Excelsior Springs for his health Sunday. Dan Bennett, Rile Anderson and Mr. Briggenhorst were Powersville visitors Sunday.

About a dozen young people from this place went to Sewal on No. 3 Sunday for a picnic on the shores of the C., M. & St. P.'s big pond, returning on the southwest limited. Rev. W. E. Hardaway of the Methodist Episcopal church delivered the baccalaureate sermon in the Baptist church Sunday morning. There were no services in the other churches in the morning.

Ben Ellis went to Sewal Sunday to work on a farm south of that place this week. John Smith of Unionville, Mo., visited Saturday and Sunday with his brother, Sherman, who has been quite sick with pneumonia.

The opening game of the baseball season was played at Sportsman's park at this place between Seymour and Mystic, resulting in a score of 6 to 1 in favor of Seymour.

Edgar Smith has gone to Omaha, Neb., where he has a position as foreman in the halter department of a large harness shop. He will take his wife to that place soon. Mrs. Barney Ward of Centerville arrived here Monday for a few days' visit with old friends.

Many people fall over themselves by clinging to an idea.

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FINDS OLD CHECKS

Receiver of Defunct Bank Discovers Old Letters. Seymour, Iowa, May 14. - Letters containing money, checks and drafts, which have lain unopened for years in drawers and pigeonholes, have been discovered by Receiver Fry, in charge of the defunct Farmers and Drovers' bank. Some of them date back as far as six years, and the checks contained in them are too old for collection. Others were signed by persons who have since died or gone out of busi. ness.

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FINDS OLD CHECKS

Receiver of Defunct Bank Discovers Old Letters. Seymour, Iowa. May 14. --- Letters containing money. checks and drafts. which have lain unopened for years in drawers and pigeonholes, have been discovered by Receiver Fry, in charge of the defunct Farmers and Drovers' bank. Some of them date back as far as six years, and the checks contained in them are too old for collection. Others were signed by persons who have since died or gone out of business.

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FINDS OLD CHECKS

Receiver of Defunct Bank Discovers Old Letters. Seymour, Iowa. May 14. - Letters containing money, checks and drafts, which have lain unopened for years in drawers and pigeonholes, have been discovered by Receiver Fry, in charge of the defunct Farmers and Drovers' bank. Some of them date back as far as six years, and the checks contained in them are too old for collection Others were signed by persons who have since died or gone out of business.

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GRAND JURY IN PROBE

Hearing Evidence in Seymour Case at Corydon. Corydon.-The Wayne county grand jury has begun its sessions and the first work taken up was an investigation into the affairs of the wrecked A armers and Drovers bank of Seymour. Bank Examiner Windsor and Receiver Bird Fry were called before the body and submitted the evidence gathered from the probe of the institution. A number of depositors were also examined. LeRoy Ware, cashier of the tank, was not able to attend. owing to his illness. Sheriff Merritt, who is still guarding him, and the attending physician, said he was too weak to appear before the inquisitors. 1. S condition is about the same with a slight improvement noted.

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GRAND JURY IN PROBE

Hearing Evidence in Seymour Case at Corydon. Corydon.-The Wayne county grand jury has begun its sessions and the first work taken up was an investigation into the affairs of the wrecked armers and Drovers bank of Seymour. Bank Examiner Windsor and Receiver Bird Fry were called before the body and submitted the evidence gathered from the probe of the institution. A number of depositors were also examined. LeRoy Ware, cashier of the bank, was not able to attend, owing to his illness. Sheriff Merritt, who is still guarding him, and the attending physician. said he was too weak to appear before the inquisitors. H S condition is about the same with a slight improvement noted.

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LEROY WARE IN JAIL.

Bondsmen Have Withdrawn and He Awaits Trial.

Corydon.-Leroy Ware, cashier of the defunct Farmers and Drovers' bank of Seymour, is in jail here awaiting the decision of a motion for the continuance of the criminal cases against him. Several of his bondsmen withdrew, from his bond and he has made no effort to secure a new one. Ware, who has spent the summer at various resorts to regain his health, looks much better than he did when he left this county, and he has mustered up new courage for a fight for his freedom.

Ware says it will be shown at the trial that the bank has been a losing proposition for many years, mainly caused by the high rate of interest paid for time deposits and the inability of the bank to loan these deposits. In this manner Mr. Ware explains for a deficit of something near $30,000 a year, plus the running expenses of the bank, bad loans. and many other matters which should have been stricken from the live items on the book and charged to losses.

Mr. Ware says the dividends which the bank paid were simply paid on wind, or paid with money which the bank had not earned, and that the dividends also made a big item. He admits it was a case of trying to bluff the people into thinking the institution was making money, when, as a matter of fact, the bank has not made any money for years, and the crash was the final end which comes to a business which is running with borrowed capital.

Corydon.-All of the indictments against Roy Ware for fraudulent banking have been continued. This means that Ware will have to lie in the Wayne county jail until next March, as his bondsmen have surrendered him to Sheriff Merrick and at the January term of court Judge Evans presides, and he being interested in the Seymour bank's affairs cannot hear the cases. All of the civil cases connected with the failure of the bank were also continued and will now go over until the next March term of court, when Judge Towner comes back to Wayne county.

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Crimes and Criminals

George Aunspach, during a quarrel in a saloon at Boone, Iowa, shot and fatally wounded W. Oviatt and Chas. Ortner. Leo Manhart, a wealthy cigar manufacturer of Kansas City, shot and killed himself at the Centropolis hotel on account of domestic difficulties. He was sixty years old. Charles Caldwell of Byesville was killed and several others seriously injured as the result of a fight at a dance at Trail Run, a mining camp near Cambridge, Ohio. Daniel C. McKnight, cashier of the Foster State bank, was arrested at Foster, Ky., charged with embezzling $10,000. It is said that McKnight lost the money in speculation, As the result of a quarrel over an election bet, William Hopkins and Frank Foley fought a duel at Fernalda, Ky. Hopkins was instantly killed and Foley is fatally wounded. Leroy Ware, former cashier of the Farmers and Drovers' Bank of Seymour, Iowa, which closed its doors recently, is now in jail awaiting trial on the charge of fraudulent banking. Mike White, C. A. Green and Frank Williams, charged with leading the mob that lynched a negro murderer at Osage Junction two months ago, were indicted for first degree murder by a federal jury at Pawnee, O. T. Infurlated because his offer of marriage had been repulsed, Shreve Yaeger, a drunken lather, murdered Mrs. Lena Dobmeir and then almost severed his own head with a razor at Buffalo, N. Y.

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Crimes and Criminals

George Aunspach, during a quarrel in a saloon at Boone, Iowa, shot and fatally wounded W. Oviatt and Chas. Ortner. Leo Manhart, a wealthy cigar manufacturer of Kansas City, shot and killed himself at the Centropolis hotel on account of domestic difficulties. He was sixty years old. Charles Caldwell of Byesville was killed and several others seriously injured as the result of a fight at a dance at Trail Run, a mining camp near Cambridge, Ohio. Daniel C. McKnight, cashier of the Foster State bank, was arrested at Foster, Ky., charged with embezzling $10,000. It is said that McKnight lost the money in speculation. As the result of a quarrel over an election bet, William Hopkins and Frank Foley fought a duel at Fernalda, Ky. Hopkins was instantly killed and Foley is fatally wounded. Leroy Ware, former cashier of the Farmers and Drovers' Bank of Seymour, Iowa, which closed its doors recently, is now in jail awaiting trial on the charge of fraudulent banking. Mike White, C. A. Green and Frank Williams, charged with leading the mob that lynched a negro murderer at Osage Junction two months ago, were indicted for first degree murder by a federal jury at Pawnee, O. T. Infuriated because his offer of marriage had been repulsed, Shreve Yaeger, a drunken lather, murdered Mrs. Lena Dobmeir and then almost severed his own head with a razor at Buffalo, N. Y.

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Crimes and Criminals

George Aunspach, during a quarrel in a saloon at Boone, Iowa, shot and fatally wounded W. Oviatt and Chas Ortner. Leo Manhart, a wealthy cigar manufacturer of Kansas City, shot and killed himself at the Centropolis hotel on account of domestic difficulties. He was sixty years old. Charles Caldwell of Byesville was killed and several others seriously injured as the result of a fight at a dance at Trail Run, a mining camp near Cambridge, Ohio. Daniel C. McKnight, cashier of the Foster State bank, was arrested at Foster, Ky., charged with embezzling $10,000. It is said that McKnight lost the money in speculation. As the result of a quarrel over an election bet, William Hopkins and Frank Foley fought a duel at Fernalda, Ky. Hopkins was instantly killed and Foley is fatally wounded. Leroy Ware, former cashier of the Farmers and Drovers' Bank of Seymour, Iowa, which closed its doors recently, is now in jail awaiting trial on the charge of fraudulent banking. Mike White, C. A. Green and Frank Williams, charged with leading the mob that lynched a negro murderer at Osage Junction two months ago, were indicted for first degree murder by a federal jury at Pawnee, O. T. Infuriated because his offer of marriage had been repulsed, Shreve Yaeger, a drunken lather, murdered Mrs. Lena Dobmeir and then almost sev. ered his own head with a razor at Buffalo, N. Y.

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Crimes and Criminals

George Aunspach, during a quarrel in a saloon at Boone, Iowa, shot and fatally wounded W. Oviatt and Chas. Ortner. Leo Manhart, a wealthy cigar manufacturer of Kansas City, shot and killed himself at the Centropolis hotel on account of domestic difficulties. He was sixty years old. Charles Caldwell of Byesville was killed and several others seriously injured as the result of a fight at a dance at Trail Run, a mining camp near Cambridge, Ohio. Daniel C. McKnight, cashier of the Foster State bank, was arrested at Foster, Ky., charged with embezzling $10,000. It is said that McKnight lost the money in speculation. As the result of a quarrel over an election bet, William Hopkins and Frank Foley fought a duel at Fernalda, Ky. Hopkins was instantly killed and Foley is fatally wounded. Leroy Ware, former cashier of the Farmers and Drovers' Bank of Seymour, Iowa, which closed its doors recently, is now in jail awaiting trial on the charge of fraudulent banking. Mike White, C. A. Green and Frank Williams, charged with leading the mob that lynched a negro murderer at Osage Junction two months ago, were Indicted for first degree murder by a federal jury at Pawnee, O. T. Infuriated because his offer of marriage had been repulsed, Shreve Yaeger, a drunken lather, murdered Mrs. Lena Dobmeir and then almost severed his own head with a razor at Buffalo, N. Y.

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FAVORS POSTAL BANK

Postmaster General Meyer Receives Unique Letter.

AN IOWAN'S BREEZY VIEWS

Likens Proposed Scheme to "Sweet Song" From Beyond.

HAS "KANNED" HIS MONEY

Tells the Story of One "Bills" Carler at College and Points Out Moral.

Cabinet officers are accustomed to have words of all sorts hurled at them in let- ters, though the honeyed voice is about all they usually hear. Occasionally a bouquet comes in an epistle, and Post- master General Meyer has recently re- ceived one of that sort, which was se- cured by a reporter of The Star as a literary curiosity, for it might have been written by Old, Gorgon Graham when he penned "The Letters of a Self-made Mer- chant to His Son."

Dr. J. A. Wailes of Mystic, Iowa, who sent the letter, had his upbringing in Kansas, near the soil, and his experience of early western banks was not of the happiest. It apparently affected his vo- cabulary, for he does not lack the power of expressing what he feels.

But he can speak for himself, for here is his letter to Mr. Meyer, just as he wrote it:

Has a Sweet Sound. "Dear Sir: Herewith I send you a clipping from the Kansas City Weekly Star that sounds to me like a sweet song from life's other side-with your picture, which you must return. I am going to frame it and hang it in my office (unless you send me a better one).

"I have been a strong advocate of a postal bank for many years. Thirty- five years ago, when I was a boy, I worked on the Atkinson, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad in Kansas, and de- posited the first money I ever had in the First National Bank of Lawrence, Kan. The bank busted and I lost-More than fifty other boys who worked with me done the same. What the effect was on the others I can't say, but it put a damper on me and caused me to squander and waste my wages for ten years.

"When Gov. Hoch lived at Florence, Kan., and edited a little paper there, the grasshoppers ate my crop, my brother in Iowa sent me $50, I put $25 in the Florence Bank. Old Pete Aller run away with all the money. Three years after he was caught in Connecticut and brought to Kansas and was sent up for twenty years. About eighteen months ago my brother, a carpenter at Plano, Ia., hid $60 in the old round oak stove. His wife filled it full of waste paper and burned it up. A smart Alec (a neighbor) said it served him right. Hains (the same Smart Alec) put $1,100 in the nearest bank, the Farmers' & Drovers' Bank of Seymour, and lost in less than a year.

"When me and my wife started in life we run a boarding house in a labor camp. I tried to get the boys to save their money and get ahead by depositing it in bank. The answer was always the same. 'No dam bank can blow himself on my money.' You see they lack confi- dence, and their lack of confidence is well founded, and in view of my own experi- ence and observation I had to go way back and set down.

Conspicuous by Absence. "Well, I have just heard of a good old friend who has dropped his little wad of $800 in the Chariton, Iowa, bank, that went busted a few weeks ago. My sister in Kansas has money in a bank that in- vested in warehouse and cold storage stock in Kansas City. They are looking for the money, the promoters, the 100,000 cases of eggs and other things galore that said to be stored there, all of which are very conspicuous by their ab- sence. I have my money kanned up. Can you blame me for it? Does the bankers and others who scold us think we are all a peck of fools? Give us postal banks that is absolutely safe and every dollar will come to the surface, as it should- when a safe place is provided, and there will be no more hoarding. Even if you restrict deposits to $5 it will save more men, women and children, and make them independent, self-respecting law- aviding citizens. I am a democrat, but I have got so interested in Roosevelt that I went to Keokuk to see and hear him speak. If he strikes out from the shoul- der for a postal bank in his message I will vote for him if I have a chance.

"Whoop It Up, My Good. Dear Friend- You are engaged in the most humanitarian work of any man on earth today, as well as the most economic business move. We don't kneed more money-too much now -You see with cheap silver coined in dol- lars at private mints that no one on earth can tell from the ones made by Uncle Sam, the country has become in- flated, and that is hurting no worse than the panic.

Iowa Prices. "Horses are selling here at $150 to $200. Not worth over $75 to $100. Overcoats and gowns in our shop windows $20 to $30, not worth over $5 to $10. Land in Iowa at $100 to $125, dear at $40. In Kansas, $75 to $100, dear at $25. Our people are crazy. When Bill went to College Pap gave him money enough to take him through. He blowed it. Pap pumped in more. Bill blowed it again, and Pap kep right on pumping in till he was tired, then he went down to see what was all the trouble. He kicked Bill through the glass front of a saloon and wiped up the sidewalk with him. If Uncle Sam, in- stead of pumping in more money every time the Wall St. Wind Bag bursts will do as Pap did, and give us a P. O. Bank with equal distribution and less cach-peny advertising. fake lies through the U. S. mails, fewer slot machines, we will be all

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Referee Court

Attorney V. R. McGinnis, of Leon, who was appointed referee for the purpose of receiving evidence in the numerous claims filed against the defunct Farmers and Drovers Bank, of Seymour, Iowa, has been holding court during this week. As we understand there is about four hundred thousand dollars in claims against the bank. Of this amount there has been about $180,000 allowed, and this evidence is regarding the genuineness of the other claims, also as to whether some of the claims should be in the preferred class. The receiver, Mr. Bird Fry, stated that the total assets of the bank that he deemed collectable he thought would amount to in the neighborhood of $100,000. That there were already about $180,000 allowed by the court and he considered that about $100,000 more should be allowed. That the claims presented against the bank amounted now to about $400,000. This would make much less than fifty per cent as probably payable, after the expenses are taken out and the assessments of a hundred per cent upon the stockholders. This evidence taken before the referee will be submitted to Judge Towner, who will finally decide as to what claims should or should not be allowed and what claims, if any, should be preferred ones.-Corydon Times-Republican.