The Leavenworth weekly times., 1878-06-13
GgusER the cRaBeER.
How the Affairs of the State Ssvings
Bank of Dallas, Texas were
Conducted.
The Depositors will Receive About
twenty-five Gents on the
Dollar.

From the Dallas Herald OF the Sth, We clip
the following concerning the defunct State
Savings Bank, OF Dallas, Texas, OF which
Z. II. Gruber, formerly OF this city, was the
President:
The meeting of the c-es,itors of the state
Saving Bank yesterday evening was held al
the lie Grand Hotel, and the result was what
We had expected. The COMMITTEES reported,
and report shows that there is nothing LETT
oct Of which the creditors can realize any
thing. The report shows the liabilities TO be
s7l,lsl. The assets foot up s5j,S3O. A deficit
of Sl5,-5l Among the bills receivable as
turned over 10 the assignee were 81 6l6,
while the book of daily balances shows that
bins receivable ooi should be s7soco' "a a
not know how this is TO be explain
ed 4; they think an expert ought to examine
into the matter: They mud that only $1,000
have exceeded profits by S6,2S2. The commit.
tee were ofthe opinion that not over twenty
five cents on the dollar can be realizeds The
committee were discharged from further du-
ties. There was an earnest discussion by the
creditors as To what ought TO be done. Some
favored bankruptcy. some there We're VINO
thought II best 10 treat Mr.. Gruber kindly for
fear of his ire. Th;s was great surprise 10
u.s. There is no time TO coax such men. We
want TO use the seyerer remedies
Here WAS an Institution calling itself a
bank holding out the idea TO the public that
they had capital stock OF sJ0.00o, Wien in
reality the only money that was ever paid III
WAS $1,000.
This so-callcd bank claimed to have stock
holders, but the truth of the matter is that
Mr.. Gruher and Mr.. Lai shtou are the only
men who ever receipted for any stock IL
had men who were published To the world
AS directors. One OF these directors says he
never did any business there-never even
bought exchange there.
Among the items in the assets Is that of
thirty land certificates, valued at II, or. How
the amount is 10 BE- realized no mortal man
can tell. Land certificates can be bought at
Austin in wagon loads for $40 per section OF
land. and even these certificates here men
toned are now hvpOthecaied for about ii, iOD.
One of the difficulties the committee md
which remains unexplained Is the amount
charged TO Mr. Gruber. He was entitled to
81 900 year as salary. The bank was in ex-
istenee say two aud one-haif years, in which
pretty fair salary. Most anybody could
afford 10 he the president OF n bank
at that rat. IL only took $1,000 10
start the machine ard the boss drew out S2I,-
OJJ in two years. That was certainly a pay
ing business! There are great many things
connected with this failure that require close
observance. \ few weeks before the bank
closed its doors, Ir. Richard Cohn went 10
the bank and arew out bis mOney-he had
heard Of its weakness. Mr.. Gruber, soon
after went To his place and asl:ed him 10 re-
turn IL 20 the bank. telling Mr.. {. that he did
not need IL, and il would b" safer In mis- place
than in Mr.. C'S safe. Mr.. tOhn was per- E:tt-
ed, ana when he went int the ba' he las
shown the safe and told how muc' e. cost and
how good IL was. He placed the zone, N a
safe place, and from thence it neya- return
ed
The selling of exchange ;. .Ien it was clear
10 the President and caS' er that they must
fail, and when they had no money out To
draw against, is, or should be, made crimin-
al.
We have talked with = great many who
have examined thejmatter, and IL is their gen
eral Ooinion that nothing can be realized out
of the assets worth mentioning. The fact is,
no bank ever did such n loose business.
There are men here now, and who have gone
from Dallas, that passed in their checks TO
the bank and drew money without any col
lateral, whom no man ought to credit. men
whose professions alone ought to have been a
sufficient warning. The opinion generally
prevalent is, that such frauds ought to be
punished and punished severely. We ask
again, II such acts cannot be made criminal
If so, let us have a precedent, and save other
innocent people from a like fate.