Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-08-06
Who is Responsible for the Citizens,
Hank Eraud7

Three weeks ago the Citizens Bank stopped
payment with 1924, 1897 90 in circulation bas-
ed on S1I Liza 81 of bank notes and coin. d.
b. Turner the ostenshle President at the time
of suspension, published a card disclamiDg
any ownership in the bank and abandoned ii,
giving as bis reason, that Samuel p. Walker.
The former President and owner would not
comply with the contract of sale to him. Mr..
Walkers card in reply denies Mr. Turner's
statement Next, j. c. Jones takes the mat
ter in hand, and prevails upon two prominent
and highly respectable citizens to sign card
with him, to bring about an adjustment as
they were led to believe. As soon as Messrs.
Brinkley and McDavitt saw the real position
they were placed in, they promptly declined
| To act in the premises In the meantime the
Citizens held a meeting and appointed an In
vestigating Committee to examine the affairs
of the Bank and report the same. That re-
port has also been laid before the public,
which, with the subsequent sale of the Bank
ing house comprises all the outside transac-
tons we have been able to lay before our
readers.
The report of the Investigating Committee
shows that on the 29th of January, 1858, S.
p. Walker transferred all his stock to ID. b.
Turner and w. A. Jones, and to this item of the
report Mr.. Turner enters his protest. Mr..
Turner says it was an eLparte transaction,
without his knowledge or consent. and has
tion:-Mr. Walker was a candidate for the
Presidency of the Branch of the State Bank
at Memphis. 1t was necessary for him to
show to the President of the Mother Bank,
Hon. Cave johnson, that he was wholly dis
connected from the Citizens Bank. He there
fore, by the permission of w. n. Jones, the
ostensble acting Cashier. makes the transfer
on the books to ID. B. Turner. and receives
from Mr.. Jones a certificate that he has no in
terest in the Citizens Bank. To all this Mr..
Turner is a stranger. He knows nothing about
it. Mr.. Walkers reply is the receipt itself
but circumstances may PR ponderate over
that document. Who owned the stock on the
29th day of January last. and who elected ID.
b. Turner President. and w. A. Jones. Cash
Ter? They certainly did not step into the
Bank and assume to be its officers without
authority. Then how did they get there =
Were they elected by stock-hold RS? Who
were they, and who voted in that election? If
they were duly elected President and Cashier
on the day they assumed to act as such. they
must necessarily have known by what author
ity they were exercising the functions of Office.
If there was no election. and they went into
the Bank by the permission of Mr.. Walker
they We're mere agents of his and nothing
more. Even the transfer of Stock without
an election does not change the relation of
the parties. But the receipt which satisfied
Hon. Cave Johnson, that Mr.. Walker was out
and discharged from the Citizens Bank, and
by which he stepped into the Presidency of
the Memphis Branch of the State Bank. did
not tell the whole truth. Mr.. Walker was by
his own agreement a silent partner in the
profits of the Citizens Bank and at the same
time President of the Branch OF the State
Bank. Like ANANIAs he kept back part of
the price," and his agents were privy to it.
Could GDPUs come to earth long enough
to unraVel the mysteries of that incOmpre-
hensible corporation, the Citizens Bank.
Cough would have ample materials for an
other and widely different work on Banking.
More than that, the diyiner of the ambiguous
words of the Sphinx would expose the cep-
ton and falsehood of political bankers to an
outraged people, who in turn would bury
these worse than Theban monsters beneath
the wave of popular ndignation.-N Memphis
Eagle & Eng.