Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-10-05


Another swindie in New York-Failurs o
the Artisans Banl-PeeulIar ManaGe-
ment Of the COneern-RIysterIous BOr-
rowors- The Institution Used for POliti-
cal PURPOSES,
Il seems that nothing can be closely ex-
amined in New York without revealing dis
honesty or swindling Of some sort. In re-
gard to the suspension of the Artizans' Bank,
already announced by telegraph, Wednes-
days Times has this information;
This failure is one of no common moment,
for out of it must inevitably grow disclos-
ures-provided the Receiver appointed'be an
able and honest man--such as can not fail to
involve one member, at least, of our city
government, in q charge which no statute Of
limitations can be put in plea to bar. Mr..
Nathan c. Platt, President of the bankrupt
institution, is City Chamberlain and while
he has managed, by negotiations to be de-
tailed hereafter, TO have all the city funds
apparently transferred to bank still sound,
the Park Bank, we have no satisfactory evil
dence as to the security of those funds be-
longing to widows and orphans, exceeding
81 .0OOO 900, which have been placed in the
Cbamberlain's hands, as official trustee,
under orders of the Supreme Court.
The Artisans Bank, now that its true his
tory comes to be written, was never safe
institution-never had in it the elements of
commercial integrity or success. Organized
for the most part by men Of recklessly spec
ulative tendencies, and many of them noto-
Tious money-boTowers, it seemed to those
who had an inside view of its operations to
be little better than a machine for collecting
money from depositors for the benefit of
Directory and Board of Management in need
of continual private loans. We need only
point to such names as those of the late DR..
uarva1, p,rda1l ond I r. CAilmOra tO iustifV
these remarks.
It is not long since Mr.. Benjamin Wood
brother of the Mayor, became an extensive
purchaser of stock in this Bank, said stock
then ranging about eighty-three or eighty
five on every hundred dollars worth of scrip.
By him it was that the scheme for transfer
ring the city funds from the Shoe and
Leather Bank to the Artisans was organ
ized and he had his reward for this, in con-
junction with Mr.. b. f. Camp, a newly
appointed Director, by an apparent rise in
such stock to par. We learn, moreover, that
Mr.. Camp has lately purchased nearly forty
thousand dollars worth of Artisans stock at
par, or thereabouts, in his own name-the
Bank itself making him immediate loans to
the extent of his purchases-thus showingth
whole thing to be mere trick to run up the
price of this fancy stock to fictitious value,
for the benefit of those wishing to sell out
at a plOhb bCiOl6 Rldhu CRASH Ohiubs
Keeping the interests of Mr.. Benjamin
Wood in view, and with yet further light,
which will be thrown on this whole subject
when any honest Receiver asks about the
disposal of large sum of money, which dis
appeared from the Artisans safe two or three
days before Mr.. A. V. Stout's removal from
the Office of City Ohamberlain,-itc ceases to
be a puzzle why Fernando Wood, in his ca
pacity as Mayor, should have removed the
city deposits from an institution thoroughly
safe and above suspicion, such as the Shoe
and Leather Bank, in favor of an institution
always regarded as the weakest and least
reputable in our city. 1t was to enhance the
interest of his brothers stock, in which
rumor says he really holds half interest;
and also to obtain some other considerations,
which may possibly be disclosed whenever
the affairs of the Artisans are correctly
wound up. "The Mayoralty is indeed
great estate" says The Journal Of Finance
and Bank Reporter, "and Mayor Wood seems
to understand the value of its rewards;
therefore, let no man impeach his disin-
terestednesslh
1t will be remembered that not many
weeks ago the Clearinghouse became dis
satisfied with the Artisans Banks mode of
doing business. 1t suspected the financial
soundness of the institution, and appointed
a committee of its own body to investigate
and report upon its affairs. This committee
found trouble of a deep and serious nature
the capital of the concern being one-third
lost or impaired, and the books showing loans
of $4,000 and $4,000 to borrowers whose
names the bank refused to disclose. These
loans the committee believed to have been
made for electioneering and corrupt purposes,
and no answer could be extorted in relation
to the men who had obtained or the motives
for giving such enormous accommodations
Rather than undergo a second and more
strict examination by this committee, the
Artisans Bank pretended to withdraw of its
own accord from the Clearinghouse, offer
ing thereafter to make its exchanges at the
counter of the American Exchange Bank.
"A second examination, such as the
Clearinghouse Committee proposed" says
the journal of Finance, and Bank Reporter,
would have shown that the funds of this
institution (the Artisans) had been used to
purchase place and power for Mayor Wood,
who repaid the kindness by making it the
depository of the city's funds. Let us have
the secret history of the whole affair"
There is some truth in this, but not by any
means the whole truth. Let the officers of
the Bank be examined under oath touching
one of those missing sums of $4,000 or
$50 0000, which were "lent without security"
just previous to Mr.. Platts appointment.
There are statutes on our law-books which
| assume to have control over such cases, and
/ a. L.