Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-16
SETTLED AT LAST.
The Final Payment Made in Connec-
tion With the Failure Of the
BANK FOR SAVINGS.
A Pittsburg Financier Compelled to Toe the
Mark Ont in Montana.
THE ELECTRIC BOOM cULMlNATEs

The Nations Bank failed in 1873. 1t was
bad failure. The amount of money in
volved in it was between s., ,000, 900 and $2,-
100000. Hundreds of citizens were finan-
cially ruined or so badly crippled that they
never recovered from the blow. At least
two of the victims ended their lives by
suicide. The stockholders were held re-
sponsible for the losses, and so heavy was
the pressure that several of them were re-
duced to poverty. Ever since the failure
the work of settlement has been going on.
A few days ago one of the stockholders
walked into Fourth avenue bank and
presented note for discount. When he
had received the money he remarked to the
cashier: with this I will make the last
payment in connection with the Nations Bank
failure. All the claims will then be settled
and the books closed"
In connection with this incident, the cashier
In question said: "The gentleman whose note
discounted was one of the stockholders of the
Nations Bank, and was one of the principal
sufferers. don't remember how many shares
he held, but his liabilities were 100000. The
last OF this large sum was hquidated with the
money received on the note. He was in the
about $780, One-half of his fortune was
swept away by the failure. Do you know how
the Nations Bank was organized? Nor Well,
will tell you. Some half dozen citizens
OF the upper part of the city conceived the
scheme to enable them to get money for specu-
lative purposes, as alleged. They organized
the bank with capital of 100000 They then
induced q number of wealthy and influential
men to take stock in the concern and deposit
their money in it. This gave the bank good
standing in the community, and the deposits
soon ran up to over 100000 This money, so
I understand, was used in all sorts of wild
speculation, most of which turned out badly.
This went on as long as the money lasted, and
then the crash came. The cashier was held
responsible for the failure and accused of all
sorts of crookedness. This was hardly fair.
He certainly knew what was going on. but he
was simply an agent to execute the will of his
| superiors. His protests were unheeded. But
he was well paid for his services"
This retrospection called to the cashiers
recollection an incident that transpired in this
city some years before the war. A man, whose
name is omitted for good reasons, opened a
bank in little building that formed one Of the
row that stood on the site now occupied by the
Kaufman block. He had good business quail
ications was shrewd and enterprising. His
banking capital was about $50,000 He soon be-
came popular and secured a large list Of depos-
itors. One day he forgot to open his bank. He
had skipped. Going West he took the benefit of
the bankrupt law. Finally he located in
a town in Montana, and when he thought sufi-
cient time had elapsed for the Pittsburg affair
to be forgotten he opened bank. His Gus
TONERS were of the regular Western type of
| that day-honest, rugged, reckless and dis
| posed to shoot on the slightest provocation.
| One morning the bank doors were found closed.
The banker had pocketed all the funds and
made break for the mountains. The word
soon spread, and he was pursued by a number
of his victims, captured, taken back to town
and strung up by the neck until he consented
/ to open the bank and pay depositors in full.
| He reformed after this and continued in the
banking business there for several years with
good success.