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The Bank at Toronto, Kan., Closed. Toronto, Kan., Jan. 23.-The Toronto bank, of Wilson county, a private bank owned by W. P. Dickerson, closed yesterday. It had $5,000 capital, $3,000 surplus and $31,000 in deposits. Dickerson has sustained some heavy losses recently in speculation. Attorney General Coleman sent here his assistant, Judge Close, to ask for a receiver for the defunct institution.
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LOCAL NEWS. Register Stanley Sundayed in Chanute. M. T. Jones and S. S. Benedict are In Florida. Meet your friends at Tutcher & tf Alexander's. Mr. Knappwas in the city the first of the week. Seth Wells speat Saturday and Sunday at home. If you want a fine surrey or buggy, go to Heminger and Montague's. W. D. Frisby circulated on our streets a day or two. last week. Dr. Baird, Physician and Surgeon. Country calls promptly attended. Mr. Gilbert Mark is down in Texas visiting a sister whom he has not seen for 45 years. It you want your watch to run, take it to the new jeweler-all work guaranteed or money refunded.-Dr. J.W Phillips. If you want anything in the line of buggies or carriages see us promptly. We are now closing out at cost-HEMinger & MONTAGUE. The melting snow last Saturday afternoon made the newly paved street a bed of slush. Is it not abc ut time to have it thoroughly cleaned off? Have you examined our large stock of buggies and carriages? They are to be sold this month at cost. Come in and make a selection-HEMINGER & MONTAGUE. The legislature adjourned last Friday and let the hoys all come home for Sunday. After they had settled the senatorial fight they seemed to need a little rest. The French coach horse Tresorier will make the fall season at the Farmers' Feed Barn, commencing July 1st. $12 to iusure a living colt. $5 for single service. Money to loan on farm property at 6 per cent. Money ready when title is approved. See D. M. KENNEDY, First National bank bldg. Mr. S. T. Wilson, a prominent business man of Emporia, called on the TIMES one day last week and left a reminder of his visit in the shape of a big round dollar. Mr. Wilson has a good farm in this locality and came down to look it over. C. N. McQuinn, of Shaw, paid his respects to the TIMES, last week. Newt has been playing in rather hard luck for a few years, but seems now to be getting ahead of the hounds. Newt is a hard worker and we are glad to see him coming to the front. The Toronto Bank closed its doors one day last week. The proprietor Mr. Dickerson. seems to have been speculating little too much of late, aceording to reports. There is no neces sity of a bank failure in times like these. No banker has a right to speculate on the money of his customers. At a meeting of the city council, Friday night, a motion to further investigate electric light plants in other towns was voted down. The majority of the council seemed to be in favor of an electric light plant at once. The people are decidedly in favor of it and the councilman who gets in the way of it is likely to get the band wagon run over him.
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TORONTO'S LOSS. Some Inside History of the Dickerson Failure. Toronto, Kan., March 17.-Although the Toronto bank failed nearly two months ago and Willis P. Dickerson, the defaulter, has not been heard from since he gave bond February 19, the people of Toronto and vicinity are just awakening to the real situation. Maledictions are each day heaped upon Dickerson's head with renewed energy. It is the general opinion in Greenwood and Woodson counties that the depositors would lose all, but J. D. Cannon, the receiver, believes that the depositors will realize something; 25 per cent cent is a maximum estimate. Mr. Cannon was in the bank this morning when a correspondent called. Cannon is making rapid progress in bringing to light the real situation. "When will the work be completed?" he was asked. "I can't say," he answered. "I find some good accounts, some questionable ones and there are some that are not worth a single penny. "The report of the condition of the books has not been exaggerated. It is certain that Dickerson was playing to beat his depositors and played the game as long as even his own figures would allow." There were 250 depositors of the Toronto bank. The deposits ranged from a few dollars in the name of a minor child to about $1,700, which was the largest individual deposit. There were a number of deposits for sums of from $500 to $1,000. Every depositor felt Dickerson's wild effort to secure funds. Thus far the receiver has gone back two years and finds that nearly every deposit of consequence was tampered with. Willis Dickerson's father, J. M. Dickerson of Dodge City, was a depositor in the institution for several hundred dollars and probably will realize nothing. He has accepted the statements on the books as correct, although it is the opinion of Claude Sampel, who assisted Cannon with the books, and of other citizens, that J. M. Dickerson's account, too, was doctored. Dickerson stood high in southern Kansas. There probably was not a man of his acquainntance January 1 who would have questioned his honesty and business integrity. At home he was everything that a man could be. He was the running gears of the Toronto bank, the tongue and whiffle tree of the Methodist church, and the wheels and brake of local enterprise. Dickerson stood high in church and social functions. Mrs. Dickerson was a leader in social affairs in the little town of 800, and her husband led the choir in the Methodist church, instructed the local band, boomed home enterprise, was a large stockholder in the gas company and other ventures and took a decidedly active hand in politics, mostly local. Dickerson was twice clerk of the district court. For the last twelve years he has dabbled in home affairs and at the time of the bank failure was city treasurer. He was 44 years old, had spent the greater part of his life among the people of Toronto and always led an energetic existence. The Toronto bank was an individual Institution, owned solely by Dickerson. It carried deposits upwards of $50,000, according to the statements of the state bank commissioner, Mr. Clark, and the examiner, Mr. Cannon. Of this, $9,440 were county funds, which is secured by strong bondsmen. The city and school funds were also kept here but will of course not be lost. Dickerson's business system was to cut down deposits to protect himself with the state banking officials. He and his wife kept all the books. November 2. last, A. C. Gordy deposited $1,166.99. but the ledger showed $103.99. James Boone deposited $1,235.43, but his credit on the ledger was $35.43, just $1,200 short. When a deposit was made it was credited in full, but a portion was always checked off on the ledger.