Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-12-03

guarding as mucn as possible against
sacrifice.
The amount of bonds of the State o
Tennessee that came ipto our hands, will
the assets Of the bank, was 100000
This account has been increased by re
investments of the interest and the pur
chase of some coupons, to $4,000.
The amount of Southern bank notes
turned over to the Trustee was SS4. 036
We have sold of these notes sd, 0S1, in
place of which we hold S26, 923 in Tenn
essee Bank notes, realizing profit on
the sale of S5,S42 in Tennessee money.
The rule adopted in regard to South
ern bank notes has been to convert them
into Tennessee bank notes, whenever it
could be done at par, and to hold the re-
mainder with the hope Of their improve
ment.
A large portion of the United States
currency has been loaned, under the in
StructiCns of the Chancery Court, secured,
as directed, by real estate and United
States bonds. -
Complaint has beea made of slow pro-
gress Of the present officers of the bank
in winding up its Affairs and it seems to
be thought that the Bank of Tennessee
can be wound up forthwith.
The assets Of the Bank of Tennessee
came into the hands of the new Board of
Directors in the latter part of March,
1866. They were in thirty-nine differ
snt boxes, in state of great confusion,
mixed up with books and papers of the
bank and ofNthe State. II required dill
gent labor of more than one month, by
the majority of the Directors, to assert
and schedule those effects. The under
signed was appointed Trustee on the Attn
OF May, 1866. 1t was then thought ne
cessary to re-examine all the assets Of
the bank and make an accurate record of
the same. This occupied more than a
month, so that it was not until after the
first of June, 1866, little less than two
and half years since, that the collections
of the debts Of the bank commenced.
The Bank of Tennessee was one of the
largest banks in the valley Of the Missis-
sippi. Its assets of all kinds, that come
into our hands, were several millions Of
dollars. 1t had ten branches. Its bust
ness extended into probably every county
in the State Of Tennessee.
There were many new and very i'm
portant legal questions involved in wind
ing it up. At the time we took posses
sion of its assets the country was desc
lated and impoverished by the civil war
from which we had just emerged, and yet
it is thought that the bank, with its large
assets, its extended business, its numerous
legal questions at issue, with the country
impoverished, could be wound up in three
years.
The Legislature that passed the act
for winding it up, certainly did not con.
template this, for they required the real
estate to be sold On one, two and three
years time, and they surely must
have expected that after these three
years should expire some time might
elapse before the final payment of the
purchase money.
The Union and Planters Banks OF The
State have been in the process of being
wound up about four years. They are
banks Of smaller capital than the State
Bank, their business less extended. Their
officers are familiar with all the details
and all the debtors of the banks, and
their operations for SEINE time previous
to their assignment were shaped with
view of closing their business, and they
are not yet wound up, and have debt
still due to each, exceeding in one of
them 81, 100000.
The State Bank, with none of these
years AID half about one million OF
dollars, leaving a balance Of bills and
notes uncollected at 81 ,46S, 400 90; the
amount in solvent notes and bills beng
greatly less than that amount.
The suits that will decide the legal ques-
tions affecting the bank have been brought,
some ofthem, two years, and all of them
more than year since and yet there
has been but one suit that has reached
the Supreme Court, and not one of the
remainder has been decided even in the
lower courts. The Trustee has made
every effort to havea speedy decision in
these cases, as all will testify who have
had charge of them. They are all, with
out exception, in the hands of able,
efficient and faithful lawyers, and men
who undoubtedly have the confidence
of your honorable body. +
The legal business of the ban nch at
Knoxville, for instance, has been in the
hands ofHon. o. P. Temple, and since his
appointment to the bench, in the hands
of his successor in business. There are
two cases from that branch before the
courts of Knoxville involving deeply i'm
portant questions, one of them a consti-
tutiOnal question under the constitution
of the United States, and it is highly
probable that this question will have to
be decided by the Supreme Court 81
Washington. presume that either OF
the gentlemen in charge of that branch
would say that in consequence Of these
questions that branch may not be wound
up in a period of two years. l have
spoken of this branch particularly, be-
cause it has smaller amount Of assets
than any other branch-it not being likely
to pay out of its assets, exclusive of reaI
estate, as much as $4,000.
There are suits pending against the of.
ficers of the SAelbyville and Athens
branches and their securities, seeking tC
make them liable for the removal Of those
branches. These suits were brought
about two years before the assets of the
bank came into our hands. They are
managed by able counsel appointed by
the State, and not by the bank, one Of
whom is member of your honorable
body.
These suits have been pending about
four years, and no faal decision in either
of the cases has yet been had, even in
the lower courts. Surely the Trustee is
not responsible for this delay, and l have
no reason to believe that the counsel for
the State are censurable for it.
The question is also pending before the
courts of Nashville whether the coin
taken by the State, and its proceeds,
amounting now, principal and interest, to
fully 100000, belongs to the school
| fund or to the note.holders Of the bank
There are also several other questions
pending before the courts of Nashville,
Memphis and other points in the State
involving very large amounts and very
important principles. There are suits
pending in Louisiana, and two very i'm
portant suits pending in Kentucky, one
of which, amounting to about $4,000
will probably go to the Supreme Court
of the United States.
If all these suits, or even if most o.
them, should be decided in favor of the
bank, it will add to the assets of the
bank over one million of dollars.
Ihave made this full and extended re-
port of the suits OF the bank that yOul