The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-12-08
DANroRD.s ABRAMS.
A Discrepancy Of &2e.ooo Reported Re-
tween the Assets aad Liabilities
OF the CALDWELL Bank
Tho Opinion Prevails That DanFoEd Has
Slneient Means TO Pay Every
thing He Owes and That He
gusIN ~

o4 tno CALDWELL 15aEak.
Tho Opinion Prevails That DanFozd Has
SRmeient Means TO Pay Every
thing He Owes and That He
VIII Do It.
The following information regarding
Danford and his career as a banker is
found in special dispatch dated No
yember 29lh, and sent from Wellington
to the Topeka Commonwealth:
The dispatch sent out from this city
to the Associated Press concerning the
closing of the doors of the banks of
Caldwell and Hunnewen was the first
news given 10 the public concerning the
matter. Danford came down the next
| day and in company with Cashier Smith
started TO Wichita on g special
the same day. They were both
arrested at Wichita and brought
back 70 this city, where they
waived preliminary examination and
were trying TO give 81, 900 bonds each
| for their appearance at the next term of
the district court Pending these pro-
ceedings a delegation of the citizens
from Caldwell to the number of fifty put
| in an appearance and finally took the
| prisoner in charge and at II o'clock on
the night of the 18th, started for
| Caldwell. They claimed that they sim
| ply proposed to make Danford disgorge.
/ Tie last news from here is to the effect
that the Hunncwell depositors have
been settled with but the Caldwell peo-
pie have not. II is believed that DAN
| ford has a large sum of money and they
propose to have what he owes them or
trouble is expected to night. The whole
country is in an uproar and no man can
predict the end.
Danford came 10 Kansas in The sum-
mer of 1869, and settled in EmporIa,
where he engaged in the real estate bus
mess with L. p. Bancroft and Mr.. Han
na He removed TO Eldorado in the
spriBg of 1870, and afterwards assisted
| in establishing a National bank at that
/ place in connection with j. Q. Frak er
and others. These same gentlemen
shortly afterwards established the First
National at Wichita. The EldorSdo
bank failei, and the president, w. p.
Gossard, was shot; the Wichita bank
failed, and the president, j. G. Fraker,
was sent to the penitentlary. Danford
had sold his interest in both of these in
situations before they suspended. His
bank at Usage City was established by
John r. Swallow, formerly of Emporia,
j. 8. Danford, General A. w. Ellet
and others purchasing this institu-
ton in the year 1874 or 1875.
Since then Danford has been con-
nected with number of other banks.
G. B. Schmidt, NJ. L. Sargent and J. s.
Danford established the Harvey county
savings bank, Daniord selling his inter
est last summer. The Caldwell bank
and the Hunnewell bank were both un-
der his control, while the new bank at
Carbondale was his. Tradition to this
he had made arrangements to start a
small institution at Lyndon.
j. s. DanfOrd has been very prosper
Gus since his residence in this state, and
was reported to be worth many thou
sands of dollars. He was considerably
spread out with so many banks on his
hands, but it was not thought that he
was In straighthened circumstances, al.
through run, if kept up, will close the
doors of any bank. He has lived eX-
travagantly, but for all that many think
he Will not only be able TO pay out but
have something left besides.
A special dispatch from Wellington
to the Topeka Capital. dated December
LIST says:
Everything is now quiet down here
SO far as any personal violence to either
Danford, the president, or Smith, the
cashier, of the closed bank, is concerned
4
to fear. The rough element, which ha:
done all the threatening, and which
would have done some hanging had il
been given half a chance, has subsidized
and all those composing it who had an J
employment have gone back to it.
THE OFFICERS OF THE LAW
have taken such precautions as will rem.
der Danford and Smith perfectly saft
from any personal violence, and it ii
hardly probable now that any mob, I'm
less composed of unusually determined
men, could get at the two men
as they are now well guarded and in
safe place. There is no denying tht
fact that these two men have been in ;
very tight and critical place, and tina
had not wiser and better counsels pre-
vailed,
THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN DANGLING
from the limb of some tree long before
this Had Danford been hung, how
} ever, the chances of getting anything
: from the broken bank would have beer
very small indeed, and therefore tn,
fact that he wasn't hung is reviewed
with a good deal of satisfaction by thu
} depositOrs, who now see some chance Il
) get something, if not all, of what thel
, had in the bank at the time it closed il
doors.
ASSETS AND LIABILITIES.
J. It is now said that the assets of thu
1 Merchants and Drovers' Bank will foo
. up to about $40, 600, while the liabilitie
are somewhere in the neighborhood o
c 100000. Owing to the fact that tn
f books and papers of the bank were sto
f len or hidden before the doors wer
closed, those making the Investigator
of the banks affairs have been having {
4 good deal of trouble, but the above fig
{ ures are about as accurate as can at thi
: time be obtained. The statement a
/, made leaves Danford
ABOUT 1000 TO MAKE GOOD,
: but it is the general impression and be
:. lief that he has enough to pay every
!. thing he owes. He has IL block of build
ings and an opera house here which ar
! valued at $4,000 and besides this h
s has other property and valuables of vari
/, Gus kinds that, if sold at sacrifice
r would enable him to settle up in full.
is probable that when Danford sci
. ties up everything he owes, that is T.
say should he do so, he will not hav
If much left, but with the inducement
i, held out to him to settle on the square
is believed he will do it.
u THE COMPROMISE COMMITTEE
Il which has been sitting at Wichita Wi
# come to a conclusion of some kind Il
n morrow, and will be enabled in all prof.
ability 10 wind up its labors at this
II time. Danford has fully realized III
D great danger he has been in for the pas
If few days, and is willing according to Tia
most reliable reports, 10 made good a
losses by
THE FAILURE OF HIS BANK,
so far as he is able, and this is general
/ believed, to the fullest extent Of ever
obligation. There is no doubt, ais
4 that it will be better for the future safet
:, of Mr.. Danford if he settle in full nov
II for the people here believe that he
l. fully able to do so, and therefore wi
\, stand no foolishness.
). Another dispatch from Wichita says
IS The Danford compromise eommitte
4 which has been sitting here for day {
so past, has succeeded in getting abol
Is $4,000 of Danford for the liquidatio
e. of the Indebtedness of the bank
20 Caldwell, and they think they will g
- more The committee will probabl
close its labors about TO morrow evening
+ and by that time it will he definitel
It known how Danford's affairs stand. tt
N belief here is that he can settle up fl
everything he owes, though il migl
leave him with little or nothing. The
Is is about $50, 900 yet to make up to max
e him square with his depositors an
# other creditors.
Ie The following special dispatch frol
% Wellington appeared in the Kansas CT
As Journal yesterday:
N Danford and Smith, the president an
ID secretary of the failing bank at Caldwe
in are still in the custody of the par
which forcibly took them from Il
sheriff on Monday night and took the
to Caldwell, where they have been hol
ing them under guard ever since. Tne
y day afternoon about the time the trai
was leaving Caldwell for the nortl
Judge Campbell, of Wichita, Danford
y attorney, was waited upon and requisite
10 leave fhe Town with the assnrans