The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-10-05
THE FAILURE OF THE ALLt-
GHENY SAVINGS BANK.

As the failure of this bank naturally
causes much discussion among all classes
of people, we give short history OF the
bank and its struggles, as detailed by
Mr.. GRAHAM, its president:
The bank was established in 1872, and
for long time WAS the only one In Allie
gheny. Its first president was henry
IRWIN, but for sixteen years Hon.
j. La. Graham has been the head OF the
institution. 81 have been The figure
head for several yesrs," SAID Dir: era
ham, "until l deserted politics. L con-
sldered the bank as solid as the rock OF
| Gibralter, but when l left the political
field and returned from the Sen
ate few years ago L made
an examination of the assets OF the
bank and found considerable paper which
l did not look upon as gilt edged. l at
| once set abou. securing the debts which
this paper represented, and by hard work
and persistent effort accomplished mucn
good. Ia some instances more money
had to be advanced to get mortgages as
security for previous loans, but 1t was
thought good policy to secure the debt oy
increasing it little than to incur the
risk of losing all. The first run on the
bank, about year ago, was occasloned IN
this way. 1t became necessary to fore
close mortgage TOR $4,000 on the prop
erty of Mr.. Andrew Ackley IN the Sec
ond ward. In noticing the foreclosure
the Legal Journal, instead OF publishing
the amount OF the mortgage, published
the penalty, which WIS twice the amount
of the mortgage, or $l2S,OO0. The same
day, by singular coincidence, Mr.. hen
derson Davis filed petition In bank
ruptcy, which showed his Indebtedness to
the Allegheny Savings Bank to the ex-
tent of $4,000. These items were pub
lished, and created a panic among the
railroad men at the outer depot. Thoy
read that one man owed the bank Sl2o,OOO
and another SAG, 600, and concluded that
something was wrong. The result was
run on the bark, but all the demands
were promptly met. In few days con-
fidence was restored, and many OF the
depositors returned with the same
packages they had taken out"
THE sHRINKAGE OF DEPOSITS.
"Well, then" continued Mr.. Grahsm,
"about year ago. when the first run was
made on the bank, our deposits amounted
to Sl,3 1000. They have undergone
steady reduction slDce that time, and
now do rot exceed $4,000. You can
see by this statement what hard strug-
gle must have been made in these hard
times to raise money topsy about SiOo,- |
600 to depositors. OF this 1891 ,O0O about
100000 belongs to directors and stock
holders, and therefore nothing will have
to be raised to pay that amount. Fur |
thermore, the bank owes about Sl2o,OOO
for money borrowed on mortgages, and
on secured debts to other banks. The |
assets of the bank will aggregate $74o,- |
600, and between 100000 and 100000
OF this sum is in real estate and mort
cages"
Gould you meet your liabilities if
obliged to realize at once on your real
estate aud mortgages" asked the writer.
"To tell you frankly" said Mr.. Ora
ham, 1--WE could not. Even If 1t were de-
sirable to do so we could not sell our rea
estate now. There is no market for 1t.
Nobody wants to invest in real estate. 1t
is drug. As you of course know, 1t has
vastly deprecated in value within the
last few years, and that held by US was
no exception TO the rule. AS | stated |
before, it will require some time to real
Ize even the approximate value OF TINS
property, and therefore tie settlement OF
the affairs OF the bank and the payment
of depositors will be considerably pro.
longed. And permit me TO slate just
here that with one exception not dlrec-
tor of the bank owes 1t a dollar. The
exception is Tor small amount, which is
amply secured"