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SUIT-TO OBTAIN BANK SHORTAGE STOCKHOLDERS OF DEFUNCT TRIPP INSTITUTION SUED FOR $52,000. Oli vet, Sept. 25-A suit of state wide interest was filed when John Hirning, state bank superintendent, through his attorneys, Hitchcock and Sickle, of Mitchell, started action to recover $52,000 fro mthe stockholders of the Tripp state bank, which failed May 24, 1922. The bank's libalities were more than $400,000. Depositors have been paid in full from the state bank guaranty fund, but under the banking laws of the state, the stockholders of a bank are liable for the debts of the bank to the extent of the value of their stock. It is under this law that the state bank commissioner is bringing the action. The stockholders who are named in the suit are Waldemar Wenzlaff, former president of the bank, who absconded, and whose whereabouts is unknown; Erwin R. Sailer, Manhover, N. D.: A. E. Rabel, Chelsea, S. D.: and Lee S. Kelper, Wallace Melhaff and August Brost, all of Tripp. Some of the defendant stockholders disposed of their stock within a year previous to the suspension of the bank. This, the attorneys for the banking department 'say, presents an interesting legal tangle, as the court will have to determine whether these stockholders are liable for the debts owed by the bank at the time of the suspension or only for those contracted prior to the time they disposed of their stock. The case will be tried in Hutchinson county and is expected to come up at the October term of circuit court. I
