Metacomet National Bank - Fall River, MA

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run Only
Bank Type: national
Bank ID: 924
Charter Number: 924
Start Date: August 17, 1879
Location: Fall River, Massachusetts (41.701, -71.155)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 2734ab01c8d08557

Response Measures

None

Description

Article (Chicago Daily Tribune, 1879-08-17) describes panic among Fall River institutions after discovery of embezzlement by Walter Paine, who was connected to the Metacomet National Bank. The piece refers to a local panic but does not report a formal suspension, closure, or reopening of the Metacomet National Bank, so classified as a run-only event driven by bank-specific adverse information (embezzlement).

Events (3)

1. March 22, 1865 Chartered

Source: historical_nic

2. August 17, 1879 Run

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Embezzlement/misappropriation by Walter Paine (treasurer of American Linen Company) involving roughly $100,000 and losses that touched multiple Fall River institutions, producing local panic.
Newspaper Excerpt: He was connected with the American Woolen Mills, the Fall River Savings Bank, the Metacomet National Bank ... and there was more or less of a panic among all these institutions when his misappropriations, speculations, and losses were discovered.
Source: newspapers

3. May 28, 1928 Voluntary Liquidation

Source: historical_nic

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. August 17, 1879 Chicago Daily Tribune Chicago, IL

Article from Chicago Daily Tribune, August 17, 1879

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Article Text

alized and panicky himself, and the result was a general scramble for available assets. The edifice of credit was toppled over, and came down with a loud crash, involving wide-spread loss. Fall River, Mass., is a good place to look for specimen panics on 8 small scale. There was Mr. GEORGE B. DURFEE, President of the Montauk Mill and Treasurer of the Mechanics' Mill, who recently succeeded CHASE, HATHAWAY, and STICKNEY, of the same State, in defalcations. Mr. DURFEE abstracted $35,000 of the money intrusted to his keeping, and lost it in cotton speculations. When this embezzlement was discovered there was a panic in the circle of which Mr. DURFEE was the centre. A still more recent case is that of Mr. WALTER PAINE, Treasurer of the American Linen Company, who took $100,000 of the Company's money and invested it in "futures." Mr. PAINE invested about $75,000 of other money in the same way and lost the whole of it in his little stock-gambling games. He was connected with the American Woolen Mills, the Fall River Savings Bank, the Metacomet National Bank, the American Print Works, the Fall Granite Company, etc.; and there was more or less of a panic among all these institutions when his misappropriations, speculations, and losses were discovered. With these constantly-recurring cases of individual panics before the people, it is surprising that any one should be in doubt about the cause of general panics. When it becomes the general custom of the country to borrow or steal money belonging to others and then gamble with it, the result is just as sure to be a general panic as individual panic is sure to follow in isolated cases of a similar procedure.