Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-04-10

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Some months back we published
an account Of the trouble in south
/ ern Todd, caused by the muddle in
| the bank at Trenton, and having
learned from gentleman recently
from that town the following par
ticulars i'll relation to the matter,
we give them in substantiation Of
/ the statements originally made by
our reporter.
III November, 1879, the cashier of
the bank of Trenton, p. e.. Bacon,
reported to his directors that he had
made some losses in a wheat specu-
lation, buying futures, and that if
4 the bank would mid him he thought
he could make his losses good. The
directors, therefore, consented to al
low him to Over-check his account
to the amount of $500. This amount
was also lost by Bacon. The direct
Ors then called the stock holders to-
gether and made statement of the
affair. A committee, consisting of
DIR. j. S. Dickinson, chairman, p.
III. Smith, and =. G. Garth, were
appointed to investigate the affairs
of the bank. 1t was suggested that
the books Of the bank be placed in
the hands OF an expert for examina-
ti0n. To this the cashier offered OBJ
jections, but the committee decided
that il was advisable to dO so. Sew
eral parties were named as experts,
from which number Mr.. John w.
Faxon, of the Northern Bank OF
Tennessee, at Clarksville, was un-
animously chosen. The books were
turned over to Mr.. FaxOn, who
took them to Clarksville, and since
December last he has been steadily !
engaged out Of bank hours in check |
ing off entries, and i'm making a |
thorough investigation. The books |
ran hack to July, 1872. The work |
not only necessitated the searching
for errors, but required the mastery |
of the banks whole business; letter |
books were studied, statements ex-
amined and verified, and monthly ]
balances of all the ledgers were |
drawn of from July, 1877, to De-
cember, 1879.
The errors or irregularities ia the
books amounted 20 about. 90 |
Which. with Bacon's overchecks...... 2,200 co 4
Makes total deficlt on boolrs.......s4, 800 90 4
Besides this the bank holds Bacons IA
MRfsg fHE S%GpRns 0a oss g Rs bank about
Mrs. A. M. Steger, of Trenton,
was surety for Bacon, the bond \
being fixed at $4,000. Mrs. Steger
is also the largeststOck holder in the
bank, owning at least one-third of /
the stock. The directors have for |
some time been trying to effect |
settlement with Mrs. Steger of her |
bond. AS some of the deficit or eX-
cess of liabilities occurred before !
Bacon gave bond, the surety held /
that she was not responsible for the
whole amount of the bond. A com
mittee of arbitration, OF Trenton /
merchants, was selected by the
bank and surety for a settlement of 4
their differences, which decided that
Mrs. Steger Should pay $4,000 and
the bark lose the balance. Mrs.
Steger declined to accept this. An
other committee was selected. The
stockholders of the bank selected
Mr.. John w. FaXon, of fClarksville.
Mrs. Steger selected j. Ii. Linden
berger, Esq, cashier Merchants
National Bank, Louisville, and both
the parties selected Mr.. BOwden, AN
attorney of RussellviIle, for legal
counsel. Monday, March ID, WAS
the day appointed. All parties
acknowledged their Willingness TO
serve late Saturday afternoon. Mr..
Perkins, Mrs. Steger's lawyer, ar
rived from ElktOn, and advised her
not to submit to arbitration. Messrs.
Lindenberger and Bowden were
telegraphed not to come, but by
some means Mr.. Fazoa received no
information of the dissOiving of the
He therefore arrived
at Trenton, and upon learning from
the bank committee the state of af-
fairs, determined to see Mrs. Steger
in person, with view to settling
up the matter without a lawsuit.
He saw Mrs. Steger, and aftersh
ing to her the utter folly ofcarrying
the matter into courts, she agreed
with Mr.. FaxOn that a compromise
was far more profitable. She there
fore, upon consultation with Col.
+. q. Sebree, determined to leave
the whole matter in Mr.. Faxon's
hands. The bank agreed to do like
wise, and a compromise was soon
effected by Mrs. Steger paying to
the bank $1,000. The people of
Trenton were much eiated over the
settlement OF the affair, and both
sides were highly gratified. A law
suit would have arrayed the friends
of each side against the other in
such manner as to have caused a
breech in the social circle of Trenton
which it would have taken years to
have healed up.