Maverick Bank (Boston, MA)

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Effect of the Boston Bank Failure. DAMARISCOTTA, Mr., Nov. 8.-The announcement of the failure of the Maverick Bank, which held $40,000 of the funds of the First National Bank of this town, caused a run by the depositors and the bank has temporarily suspended payment. The bank is perfectly solvent.

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Neither the Keystone bank failure in Philadelphia or the Maverick bank failure in Boston was the offspring of any sudden and unexpected loss to the bank or panic in the community. The causes that produced both of them had been at work for a long time before the final crash came, and in both cases long before the failures there must have been plenty of evidence discoverable that these causes were at work. The question naturally arises then why was it not discovered long ago that these causes were at work or, why if it was discovered did not the comptroller take action to protect the public. The national banking law provides for frequent examinations of national banking institutions by an official appointed for that purpose with a view of ascertaining their condition. Yet though it now appears that the Maverick bank has been shaky for many months, and its directors guilty of gross malfeasance in office, these facts either escaped the observation of the examiner or were ignored by the authorities whose duty it was to act upon them. It was the same with the Keystone bank of Philadelphia. The business community was convinced of the unsoundness of the bank long before the officials whose duty it was to know its condition took any action. It is difficult to say whether the fault is with the law or with the officers, but that there is fault somewhere admits of very little doubt.

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THE MAVERICK BANK

The collapse of the Maverick bank, in Boston, is an example of the sort of unpardonable failures to which the GLOBE alluded the other day. Banks very rarely fail if they do an honest banking business. No form of modern industry is freer from risks than theirs, or surer of steady profits. The banks of Minnesota, both in the city and country, which are carefully conducted, make from 12 to 20 per cent on their capital: and, while they have losses, they are able to pay their stockholders handsome dividends and put away a comfortable surplus year after year. The Mayerick bank appears not to have been of this sort. It advertised very extensively, and invited people to entrust their accumulations to it. It claimed to have large wealth and to be doing a conservative business. Its deposits aggregated big sums, and its customers were drawn from all classes of society. Many of them were business men who had no time to investigate, and who relied on what was told them, and others were women and children, who could not have investigated because they did not know how to. People on the inner circle, who knew the gossip of the street, were suspicious of the institution, and in private conyersation made wagers as to how long before it would close its doors. But the men. women and children who patronized it never heard this talk, and felt secure because the officers seemed enterprising and able men, popular in the community and prominent in social and church circles. When the crash came these officers said they were very much astonished; that "it was like a clap of thunder in a clear sky." And yet it seems that they have for a long while been engaged in illegal operations. They have used the funds confided to them in all sorts of foolish speculations. They have loaned vast sums to themselves on inadequate security, and on no security at all. They have bought real estate at much beyond its market value under the guise of mortgage paper. They have boomed suburban property with the fortunes of widows and orphans, and have used their standing before the world and their high-sounding advertisements in the religious press as instruments for the pillaging of the credulous and helpless. They have been at the bat for quite a while, and have made a good many runs. Now, however, they are under indictment, and the law is going to have its innings. This is as it should be. There is no crime SO terrible as the crime of those who, by mismanagement or dishonesty, rob their fellows whose confidence they have invited.

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Smith K. Randall has transferred the livery stable property at Springfield, occupied by Hart & Dodge to Isaac Dodge, who has deeded it to Adna Brown, in behalf of the hotel company, by whom it will be remodelled and run in connection with the hotel. The price was $2700.

C. E. Richardson, president of the First national bank at Springfield, has gone to Boston to look after the interests of that institution, which had $10,000 deposited in the defunct Maverick bank. Thomas Dana, one of the directors who has been arrested, is the nephew of B. F. Dana of Springfield.

J. Goux had his leg broken above the knee while cutting logs on the mountain at Bondville one day last week. Hiland Babbitt of the same town has recently been taken to the insane asylum at Brattleboro.

It is estimated that 200 perch of stone will be used for the foundation of the new hotel at Springfield. A fine quarry has been opened on the old Johnson farm about two miles from the village, from whence the stone will be hauled. In opening this quarry it is said that fine flagging stone have been found about four inches in thickness and nearly as smooth as if hewn. It is now proposed that these stone be used for sidewalks, in preference to cement or concrete.

The marriage of Carl Sidney Bishop, general secretary of the Fitchburg, Mass., Y. M. C. A., and Miss Jennie F. Maynard of Keene, N. H., took place in the First Congregational church at that place on Wednesday afternoon of last week. Mr. Bishop is the son of Capt. Bishop, a former station agent at South Vernon. The young man fitted himself for his present work by several years' study at Mt. Hermon.

Charles Tuttle has sold his farm in the south part of Manchester and moved to Somerset, where he has a job drawing logs. C. M. Ward of Cavendish succeeds J. M. Whalen as station agent at Vergennes.

Curtis Quimby, who has lived in Lyndon for 43 years, has recently moved to Springfield, where he is to work at his trade as blacksmith.

J. M. Sheehan, a grocer at Proctorsville, is financially embarrassed, his liabilities being about $1200.

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MAVERICK BANK CREDITORS.

The Assets Are Impaired To The Extent Of $2,000,000.

[Special to THE WORLD.]

BOSTON, November 13.—The report of the bank examiner on the Maverick Bank to Controller Lacey shows that the bank's assets are impaired to the extent of $2,000,000. It is believed that the estates of the Directors and the bank's collateral will realize $15,000,000. By assessment on the stock-holders it is not expected that more than $100,000 can be collected.

A rough calculation of the probable loss to unsecured creditors places the sum at about $100,000—not more than 75 cents each. The total amount received since the suspension and now in the United States Sub-Treasury is $1,1371,000. The bank had about two thousand accounts.

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There are loud calls in Boston for the publication of the reports that Bank Examiner Magruder sent to Comptroller of the Currency Lacey concerning the condition of the Maverick bank, The originals of these reports are in the hands of Mr. Lacey, but copies of the whole or part of them have been in the hands of some of the Boston Clearing House committee who have apparenly been dribbling out their contents or their understanding of them. These dribblings have been apparently of a very contradictory character, inasmuch as one newspaper has published what it called an authoritative statement in which it was alleged that Mr. Magruder's report contained no intimation of the heavy loans of the bank to its directors, while another has published another statement also alleged to be the authoritative in which it was declared that Mr. Magruder put the Comptroller in possession of the facts in regard to these loans months ago. The first of these statements reflects unfavorably upon the faithfulness of the examiner while the last tends to impeach the faithfulness or judgment of the comptroller. It would seem to be only fair to all concerned that the facts should be known and the responsibility placed where it belongs. It is not at all probable that there has been any wrongdoing on the part of any of the officials. Mr. Magruder may not have discovered all that a bank examiner is expected to, for there are a great many ways in which the facts can be concealed from him, or he may have discovered all the facts and furnished them to the Comptroller who may have hesitated to expose them summarily lest a panic might be precipitated. Inasmuch however (as the matter has become a subject of public discussion and portions of the reports are in circulation it would seem only proper that their entire contents should be published. With the failure of the bank all the weighty reasons for keeping them secret passed away.

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President Potter Beginning Life Anew in a Modest Way.

BOSTON, Nov. 13.-Mr. Asa P. Potter has leased a $900 house in Brookline. He will withdraw his children from the private and send them to the public schools. He expects to engage in the brokerage business, for which his long experience with all kinds of commercial paper has admirably fitted him.

A week from to-morrow all of Mr. Potter's stable outfit, horses, carriages, and harness, and even his setter dog, will be sold by auction.

At the time of the suspension of the Maverick Bank Mr. Potter held 1,482 shares, of which he is said to have bought twenty during the week preceding the failure. Mr. French held 975, all of which were pledged as security for loans. Mr. Woods had sixty and Mr. Dana forty-two shares. With ten shares for Mr. Work, the minimum required for qualification as a director, there are accounted for 3,008 of the 4,000 shares. Of the remaining 902 shares 154 were held outside of Massachusetts and 748 by 100 small holders.

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BANK DEPOSITORS

There is a disposition to ridicule bank depositors who show undue anxiety about the safety of money in banks that are known by experts to besolvent. A few weeks ago there was a run upon the Five Cents Savings Bank in Boston. The depositors in five-cent banks are mostly working people. They do not have time nor the opportunity to inform themselves as to the solvency of banks. Consequently, when there is a report that a bank in which their little all is placed is unsound, they rush for their money without much regard to the probabilities as to the truth or falsity of the report. The Boston papers condemned what they called an unwarranted run upon the Five Cents Savings Bank the more severely because when the Board of Savings Bank Commissioners announced that the Five Cents Saving Bank was "solid as a rock" the depositors continued to call for their money. The journals which think the depositors should have returned home when this notice was posted do not seem to remember that the Maverick Bank had been declared sound but a few months before it failed for a couple of millions. It is true that a National Bank Examiner had declared the Maverick Bank sound, and that State Commissioners made a similar declaration for the Five Cents Bank, but the depositors in the latter bank seem to have held the State Commission responsible for the report of the National Bank Examiner. In factthey had no means of knowing that the opinion of one was not as reliable as the opinion of the other. W hen there is no deliberate dishonesty, the condition of a bank often depends upon the market value of securities. When there is a considerable fall in the bonds and stocks which a national bank may invest in, the bank may, without a guilty misuse of funds, pass from a solvent to an insolvent condition. But most of the State savings banks are prohibited by law from investing in these fluctuating securities. Their officers are not allowed to speculate with the money intrusted to them. Consequently, when there is a financial flurry, the Commissioners can tell almost at a glance if the bank is sound. If the Boston depositors in the Five Cents Bank had realized the difference between the securities of a national bank and those to which savings banks are limited, the assurance of the Commissioners that the Five Cents Bank was solid as a rock' would doubtless have carried more weight.

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The Maverick Bank Will Probably Have

No Successor in Business.

BOSTON, Nov. 27.-[Special.]-There is little prospect of the formation of another bank to succeed to the Maverick's business. Reports that Mr. Whitney and others are to form a new institution probably arise from the fact that Mr. Whitney offered to secure $1,000,000 to save the bank.

Though the Clearing House Committee warned him that his philanthropy would be wasted, he worked from 12 o'clock Saturday noon to 12 o'clock on the Saturday night preceding the bank's suspension, going over the bank's accounts with the Clearing House Committee and a few other representative Boston financiers. The bank officers had agreed to resign and give way to new men and new money. But it was concluded that even a gift of $1,000,000 would not save the institution, so the scheme was abandoned.

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NO MAVERICK BANK DIVIDEND TILL JANUARY

Boston, Dec. 5.-It is stated that the first dividend to Maverick Bank creditors will not be declared before January 1, The receiver deposited $50,000 with

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into the rear end of a gravel train that was standing on the main track.

THE southbound express on the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia railroad was held up on the 3d ard robbed by two masked men three miles east of Rome, Ga. The robbers secured $1,000 from the express car and escaped.

FIRE started in a coal and lumber yard at Plainfield. N. J., on the 3d, and all the stock was destroyed, involving a loss of $100.000; insurance about $60,000. A dozen houses took fire and were more or less damaged by the flames. The total loss will probably foot up $150,000.

LOUIS HARRIOr, the slayer of Mrs. Charles T. Leonard, who is now incarcerated in the county jail at Freehold, N. J., for the foul crime he committed near Atlantic Highlands a few days sgo, has at last confessed his guilt.

Surr was entered against ex-Mayor Richard Pearson, of Allegheny, Pa., on the 3d for embezzlement. He is charged with retaining $794 of jail and workhouse commitments.

THE 551 claims proved at the Maverick bank, Boston, aggregate about $1,800,000. The receiver has deposited with the United States sub-treasury $90,000, making a total of $2,300,000 now standing to the credit of the bank's creditors.

JOHN T. STAPLER, a wealthy cracker manufacturer of Trenton, N. J suicided on the 3d by shooting himself, while making preparations to go on a pleasure trip to Bermuda with his wife.

J. M. BENSON, treasurer of Bladen county, N. C., has absconded with $6,000 of the county's money and about $10,000 belonging to farmers in the county, which they had placed with him on deposit.

BENSON C. HAZLETON, treasurer of the Order of the Royal Ark, which recently failed, and L. G. Powers, secretary of the same concern, were fined $200 and $400 respectively at Boston on the 3d for violating the insurance laws. Judge Sherman said he regretted that the law did not allow him to send them to prison.

THE principal business block in Argyle, Mich., was destroyed by fire on the 4th. The loss was $100,000; insurance light.

At St. Paul, Minn., on the 14th, the wall of a burned building fell upon fifteen workmen who were engaged in removing the debris from the scene. Seven of the laborers were killed and the remainder were terribly injured.

THE strike among the miners at the Colorado Coal & Iron Company's mines at Crested Butte, Col., is still on, with no prospect of their going to work. Everything is shut down and the coke ovens are closed. Two hundred and fifty men are idle by the strike.

EIGHT buildings were destroyed by fire at Blair, Neb., on the 4th, causing a loss of $100,000.

AT Johnson, Neb., on the night of the 3d. a mob of masked men called at the office of Dr. P. H. Welfiey and after blindfolding and binding him, took him to an unused house and liberally laid on a coat of tar and feathers and gave him twenty-four hours to leave the town. He left.

TWELVE barges loaded with brick, in tow of the tug Townsend, of the Cornell Towing Company, were upset when opposite Croton Point, N. Y., on the 4th and thirty persons are supposed to have been drowned.

A TERRIFIC explosion occurred on the 4th in the Union Trust building in New York City. It was caused by a dynamite bomb exploding in the office of Russell Sage, the well-known financier. Mr. Sage was badly hurt, but will live. The man who threw the bomb, one of Mr. Sage's clerks, and two others were killed and many persons injured. The explosion was the work of a fiend who went to Russell Sage's office and demanded $1,300,000 from Sage and on being refused threw the bomb.

THE business failures during the week ended December 3 number for the United States 304 and Canada 26, a total of 330, as compared with totals of 295 the previous week. For the corresponding week of last year the figures were 312.

By an accident on the New England road near Boston on the 4th caused by a passenger train running into a freight train at a crossing, five persons were killed outright and another burned to death in the smoker, which took fire and was consumed. The passenger train on the Long Island road was passing on a track alongside at the time of the accident and it too crashed into the wreck, piling up three trains together.

THE annual report of W. W. Farnam. treasurer of Yale university for the year ended July 31, 1891, shows that the university had received $343,734 in gifts during the past year.

HARRY TAYLOR, a saloonkeeper, and Chris Yager, a farmer, were arrested at Port Huron, Mich, charged with counterfeiting. A quantity of the spurious coin, together with the metals used in its manufacture, were found on Taylor's premises. After the arrest Taylor confessed, implicating a number of others.

MRS. CHARLES P. JOHNSON, of Wyandotte, Kan., has organized a band of adventists who have fixed Christmas day as the end of the world. She has about 800 followers already and has fitted up a residence magnificently, where she receives her friends and holds seances.

An attempt was made on the 4th to

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WHOLESALE INVESTIGATION.

Boston and Maine Stockholders Want to Know About Some Leases.

BOSTON, Dec. 9.-At the annual meeting of the Boston and Maine stockholders to-day. William C. Whitney and G. G. Havens of New York, Joseph H. White of Brookline, Mass., and Walter Hunnewell of Boston were elected directors in the place of Messrs. Sinclair, Sewall, and Potter. The other members of the Board were reëlected.

A committee was appointed to investigate the lease of the Nashua and Rochester and Manchester and Lawrence railroads, and ascertain in whose control the roads were prior to the lease, who were the principal beneficiaries, and whether the Boston and Maine paid more than the earning capacity of these roads. The committee will report at a special stockholders' meeting to be called in Boston prior to the next annual meeting. The same committee will investigate the lease of the Upper Coos and Knox and Lincoln railroads, which are leased to the Maine Central, to ascertain whether said leases will not reduce dividends paid by the Maine Central.

The committee will further investigate the circumstances of the large deposit in the Maverick Bank at the time of the failure and ascertain if the directors, in the exercise of proper care, shouldn't have withdrawn the deposit before the failure.

The agreement of June 22, 1887, between the Boston and Maine, Boston and Lowell, and Nashua and Lowell roads was approved.

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MASSACHUSETTS.

An accumulation of wood gas in one of the large brick charcoal kilns at the Richmond iron-works furnace at Cheshire caused an explosion and the kiln was entirely demolished.

John Hayes and Michael Larkin of Worcester, who were excavating a cellar March 2, were completely buried by the caving in of an embankment. They wer rescued finally and will recover.

Four burglars were arrested at Weston after breaking into the grain store of Keefe brothers. The men were taken to Waltham and were held in $3000. They gave names as follows: Henry Evans of Middletown, Conn., Frank Carter of Rochester. N. H., Fred Carter of Eno, O., Frank Warren of Newton.

Corporation Counsel Babson of Boston appeared before Judge Colt in the United States circuit court on a motion to have the case of the city of Boston against Receiver Beals of the Maverick bank set down for a hearing. The court assigned the case for the 12th. The city seeks to recover $12,500 for taxes on the bank's capital for 1891.

The North Amherst church is to be equipped with new furnaces, and half the cost will be borne by Mrs. Fisher, wife of Rev. G. E Fisher. It was only two years ago that Mrs. Fisher gave this church a beautiful new organ from Steere & Turner, and painted the church. Mr. Fisher also offers $500 for a new library building for the village.

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THERE WAS NEVER A QUESTION

THERE was never a question as to the guilt of the officers of the wrecked Maverick bank of Boston. Proofs were abundant that they had used their positions for the purpose of looting the bank, and that they had rendered themselves liable to the penalties provided in such cases by the national banking law. The amount involved was more than $1,000,000 and there was proof that the inculpated officers had made sworn statements to the Treasury Department that were clearly false. There were unpleasant rumors at the time of the bank's suspension that the guilty parties had made their peace with the United States attorneys having the prosecution in charge. These have been justified by the recent dismissal of the whole case against the officers of the defunct bank on a demurrer raised to the pleadings of the Government counsel. It should be said that the attorneys whose complaint was thus successfully demurred to have asserted that the criminals will be once more brought to bar and their punishment made certain. But this is the speech of lawyers who had full knowledge of the case and displayed their inability or unwillingness to give such careful attention to the complaint as to have prevented the present disgraceful outcome. These gentlemen are warned that the very statement of the amount involved and the prominence of the guilty parties make the case the more serious so far as the honest purpose of the prosecuting attorneys is concerned. Because of this miscarriage of justice it will occur to many that not all the million dollars lost to the depositors and stockholders of the ruined bank was out of the control of the wreckers. They have probably placed some of it where it would do the most good to themselves.

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THERE was never a question as to the guilt of the officers of the wrecked Maverick bank of Boston. Proofs were abundant that they had used their positions for the purpose of looting the bank, and that they had rendered themselves liable to the penalties provided in such cases by the national banking law. The amount involved was more than $1,000,000 and there was proof that the inculpated officers had made sworn statements to the Treasury Department that were clearly false. There were unpleasant rumors at the time of the bank's suspension that the guilty parties had made their peace with the United States attorneys having the prosecution in charge. These have been justified by the recent dismissal of the whole case against the officers of the defunct bank on a demurrer raised to the pleadings of the Government counsel. It should be said that the attorneys whose complaint was thus successfully demurred to have asserted that the criminals will be once more brought to bar and their punishment made certain. But this is the speech of lawyers who had full knowledge of the case and displayed their inability or unwillingness to give such careful attention to the complaint as to have prevented the present disgraceful outcome. These gentlemen are warned that the very statement of the amount involved and the prominence of the guilty parties make the case the more serious so far as the honest purpose of the prosecuting attorneys is concerned. Because of this miscarriage of justice it will occur to many that not all the million dollars lost to the depositors and stockholders of the ruined bank was out of the control of the wreckers. They have probably placed some of it where it would do the most good to themselves.

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TELEGRAPHIC JOTTINGS.

The government of Uruguay will negotiate for 5,000,000 piastres in Paris.

Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, the first president of the republic of Brazil, is dead.

Buck Wilkerson, wife murderer, has been sentenced to hang in Belton, Tex., on September 30.

Peter White, aged twelve, fell into the dry dock at Simpson wharf, Boston, yesterday morning and was instantly killed.

James S. Failey, Indianapolis, has been appointed receiver of the Order of the Iron Hall. His bond has been fixed at a million.

Judge Bond of Baltimore yesterday appointed Walter G. Oakman receiver of the Richmond Terminal company to give a bond of $100,000.

First Lieutenant W. J. Pardee, Twenty-fifth infantry, has been detailed as professor of military science and tactics at Brown university.

David J. Corwin, formerly treasurer of the Hub Blank Book and Stationery company, and a confessed firebug, was yesterday held in $5,000 for trial.

Mr. Herbert, the British charge d'affairs, was at the state department in Washington yesterday, presumably in connection with the matter of Canadian canal tolls.

The conflict between the congress and the government of Argentine has ended, the minister of marine having answered the interpellation in regard to the naval expenditures.

The senate committee investigating the Maverick bank failure resumed its sessions in Boston yesterday afternoon, Senators Chandler, Pfeiffer, Dixon and Carlisle being present.

Severe weather in the south of Ireland has caused great damage to the crops. The hay crop has been destroyed and the potato blight has appeared. The potato crop had promised to be the best in years.

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The Discounting of Office Boys' Notes.

From the Boston Daily Advertiser.

On the whole, the hearings during the Maverick Bank investigation have been interesting, valuable, and important. Although devoid of sensational features, there has been a steady outpour of information regarding the way in which the affairs of the wrecked bank were managed. It was known before that the Maverick made use of "men of straw" to sign accommodation notes so that the officers of the bank could borrow the bank's funds to a greater extent than that allowed by law, but it was not realized to what extent this practice had been carried on. There was a very effective object lesson given to the public upon this subject at the hearings of the committee.

Young men; smooth-faced and under age; messenger boys, and lads who were in charge of elevators; office boys, clerks, business men, all came upon the stand and told under oath how they had signed notes for the accommodation of the officers of the Maverick, notes that they were in no condition to pay at the time of signing, nor in condition to pay now. One fact brought out at the hearings was that in most of these cases, especially in those of the boys, the persons who gave their signatures so willingly and widely knew nothing whatever of the reason why their signatures were desired. They were told to sign papers, told that it was merely a matter of form, and thus blindly put themselves under obligation to pay thousands of dollars. Unconsciously they loaned their "credit" to the bank, expecting never to hear of the matter again, to be rudely awakened from their dreams of fancied ease by a demand from the receiver of the wrecked bank to pay the notes which had been found in the bank bearing their signatures.

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Sensational Claims in the Maverick Bank Case.

At a hearing in the Evans case at East Cambridge Friday, counsel for Receiver Beals of the Maverick bank declared that for years before the death of Irving A. Evans there were speculative accounts between the Maverick bank and Evans, and that a settlement was made Oct. 21, 1891, to let Potter out of a bad scrape. Receiver Beals charges that there were two sets of special speculative accounts kept between the two men at two different times. The later accounts covered the last year of Evans's life, and involved over $500,000. Ex-President Potter of the bank refused to testify when questions were put to him.

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Four persons were cremated in a hotel fire at Cincinnati. Miss Mittens Willett, the actress, died at New York Thursday night. A company to furnish Duluth and Superior a new terminal and transfer system is to be incorporated. Asa F. Potter, president of the bankrupt Maverick bank, Boston, has been convicted of false certification of checks. Minister Egan is making an effort to obtain from the Chilian government the privilege of running express cars on the state railroads, ,

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Friday, Feb 10. Fire damaged Clarksville, Tex to the extent of $150,000. Four persons were cremated in a hotel fire at Cincinnati. Miss Mittens Willett, the actress, died at New York Thursday night A company to furnish Duluth and Superior a new terminal and transfer system is to be incorporated. Asa F. Potter, president of the bankrupt Maverick bank. Boston, has been convicted of false certification of checks. Minister Egan is making an effort to obtain from the Chilian government the privilege of running express cars on the state railroads. Senator Pettigrew has introduced a bill to ratify the agréement between the Rosebud and Lower Brule Indians in South Dakota, which, if passed. will have the effect of making the -Brules a part of the Rosebad agency.

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Boston Capitalists at Bar Harbor.

BAR HARBOR, Feb. 25—J. Montgomery Sears and a party of five representative Boston men, including Mr. Thomas Beal, receiver of the Maverick Bank and Mr. E. W. Hutchings of Hutchings & Wheeler, are enjoying a glimpse of Bar Harbor in winter attire.

They arrived this morning in Mr. Sears' private car and will return tomorrow night by special. They brought a cook with them, and are occupying a cottage in the field. Fishing is the ostensible object of the trip, though a little business connected with the Porcupine block, which was owned by the Maverick Bank, is interlarded.

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Questions for Comptroller Eckels.

We would ask Mr. Eckels when any failure has occurred in the west that was so complete and disreputable as that of the Maverick bank of Boston, which occurred a year or two ago, or the Spring Garden and several other banks of Philadelphia, and what he has to say of the Plankinton in Milwaukee, and the other failures in that city and Louisville and other central points, and how the New York banks themselves would have gotten along if they had not resorted to the clearing house certificates. The west gots tired of these unwarranted flings and tells Mr. Eckels that had it not been for the disturbances caused by the collapse of the fraudulent "trusts" in New York and had eastern politicians and their western allies not undertaken their "campaign of education" by getting up a financial scare, there would have been no panic either in the east or west.—Kansas City Journal.

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THE acquittal OF asa POTTER

The acquittal of Asa P. Potter, president of the wrecked Maverick bank of Boston, by order of the judge of the federal court of appeals, ends the first and most important chapter of a most remarkable affair. The wrecking of the Maverick bank in the light of the facts that the charges of criminal acts brought against its officials could not be sustained and that the bank has paid 100 per çent. to its creditors, was apparently a useless piece of financial vandalism. Two district attorneys have labored zealously to convict Mr. Potter, and both have failed, chiefly because they could not prove the allegations upon which the indictments were drawn. Judge Putnam once ruled that the indictment against Mr. Potter was loosely and faultily drawn, and threw the case out of court, and again instructed the jury to find the defendant not guilty because the government had conspicuously failed to prove its case. The history of this case is replete with interest, and interesting theories. It is, for example, claimed by a large faction that the whole process of ruining the Maverick bank was the result of business jealousy. Certain bankers of Boston were displeased with the vigorous growth of the Maverick and determined to wreck it at all hazards. This seems a strange, almost preposterous, theory, but has much to support it. The raid that was suddenly made upon the Maverick seemed at the time unnecessary, and is now shown to have been unjustified, as the bank has met its obligations in full in liquidation. There is another theory, seeking to account for the failure of the prosecution of Mr. Potter. It is alleged that the present administration took up his cause and, through the kind offices of Hon. Frank Jones of New Hampshire, the appointment of Mr. Olney by the president as attorney general, the appointment of Mr. Sherman Hoar as district attorney has connived at the escape of Mr. Potter from the toils of the law. Neither of these theories are such as good citizens like to accept. It is not in the general interests of business to have one portion of a business combine to wreck another. It is opposed to all principles of good government to TaMipulate official appointments for the purpose of obstructing, or even directing, the course of justice. From whatever point of view it is approached the Maverick bank affair is a lamentable blow upon the fair business record of the city of Boston, and it seems all the more lamentable now that it appears that the bank was not insolvent and its wrecking was not inevitable or necessary.

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BOSTON LETTER

The increasing number of defaulters and men in high business positions who suddenly disappear with large sums of money is a startling commentary on our so-called fin de siccle age. The latest sensation in business circles is the disappearance of T. O. Richardson, formerly of the well-known firm of Richardson & Dennie, dealers in leather. He is wanted in Boston on the charge of procuring money by false pretences. The amount named is $174, 000. Richardson has been in business since 1881, and by various means, including a failure, has drawn from his business, with his partner, no less than $440,000 for private use As his house has been overrated to an absurd degree. and has donea comparatively small business, it is difficult to see how this has been accomplished. It is, however, said to be an assured fact, and as he has dealt extensively with such famous concerns as Kidder, Peabody & Company, such results show a wonderful ability in the line of deception There has been such an array of Cases of disapplied Contid nces ever since the Maverick Bank failure that one cannot help inquiring the meaning of alland wondering when it will stop. President Pot ter of the Maverick has been adjudged "not guilty of dishonesty by the court in which is he was tried, though in some quarter it freely said that justice has miscarried. The miserable offender who has stolen the amount to provide hir with a few the barest necessities of life is easily punished by the process of law. but it seems very hard to bring the larger. but equally guilty thieves, within the scope of the law. While this re mains true and while the demands of fashionable society require such immense incomes, there will doubtless be found from time to time plenty of men,who for the sake of "rolling high' for a while, will be willing to blast their wholelife. met a man the other day who told me in all seriousness that he was hesitating about taking his family out to the World's Fair for fear of a railroad accident. Accounts of so many terrible smash-ups have recently appeared in the papers that timid people seem fearful of making the trip. As a matter of fact. the proportion of accidents is not greator than before. Such an unusual number of people are visiting Chicago at present that a great many extra trains have to be run and the surprise is that no more calamities have resulted. The railroad companies are now particularly careful and no one should stay away from the fair for fear of is collision. A Red-hot Trolley Wire in the middle of the street at night is sight to tremble at. I saw one recently on Columbus Avenue which gave me the cold shivers as I realized the danger of the people who lined up on either side of the death-dealing but fascinating stream The wire had snapped and fallen to the ground where it lay between the rails extending for sev eral hundred yards. Now and then it would flutter and squirm as if alive and the crowd which had gathered seemed anxious to see how near it could stand without getting a shock. After what was fifteen minutes of agony to me. the emergency wagon arrived and the connection was cut. Slowly the red-white light in the wire disappeared and to my relief no one had been hurt. It was great wonder too that no one was killed, for people were continually crossing the street and stepping over the wire as if they were not within a foot of death. Many Curious Professions are employed to gain a livelihood, but Boston probably takes the lead in the originality and uniqueness of some of her citizens in the lower walks of life. Some of these occupations I am about to speak of have the merit of novelty to such an extent that it may be said that only one man in the world is in the business Such a profession is the work done by a man who goes from house to house in the Back Bay winding, setting and regulating clocks. He makes his rounds daily and does the work for a certain amount per year Another fellow has an establishment where he washes dogs, sort of dog laundry. There is a bird hospital and a dog hospital at the South End. On Brattle street is the headquarters of "chimney sweeps' who still find work to do in the old fashioned houses And at the North End is a horse dentist who not only pulls horses' teeth but makes artifleial teeth and fits them in with plates just as is done with the hnman mouth. The Theatres are doing a good business. At the Tremont E. S. Willard, the talented English actor, is playing a three or four weeks' engagement. Mr. Willard is a sterling and refined artist and is worth going far to see in almost any of his characters. Mansfield is still at the Globe. The "Black Crook at the Boston is improved by the addition of Paquerett a vau, deville artiste. An Irish dr una, "Glen"da-Lough" holds the boards at the Columbia. "The Fencing Master" is a good drawing card at the Hollis St., and the up-to-date fantasie, Prince Pro Tem," is still at the Museum. "The Land of the Midnight Sun" is drawing well at the Bowdoin Square. "Venus," at the Park seems to bear out E. E. Rice's reputation that whatever he takes hold of becomes a success. Probably it is true that he does not take hold of anything that has not the elements of success in it. That is what he is a producer-and he brings out good things "Venus" is a decided success in every way