Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-03
TWO MILLIONS OUT.
ALI the Big Figures OF the
Maverick National Bank
Melt Like Ice
BENEATH THE FAILURE.
President Potter's Own Story of How
the Crash Came About
HE LAYS 1T ALL TO NERVY EVANS.
The Friends of the Suicide Deny he
Was at All to Blame.
HE LAYS 1T ALL TO NERVY EVANS.
The Friends of the Suicide Deny BE
Was at All to Blame.
PROSPECTS OF Is CENTS ON A DOLLAR
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE prsPArc

ANU buc CltThS NnO are lO SSSlSi Hlll A.
Strengthening out the awful tangle in whicl
its affairs have become involved. The gen
eral condition OF the Maverick Bank ma,
be epitomized as follows: 100000 capita
stock, SS00,0O0 surplus $3.50, 900 undivided
profits-all gone, no one is willing to tel
where.
1t is estimated that the losses will exceed
S2,000,00O, which will wipe out the re
ported surplus and undivided profits o
S1,00o,00O, the capital of S40O, 900, and al
the per cent assessment which the share
holders may be called upon to paw Tc
meet these losses the bank has for creditors
Asa Potter who owes it 81, ,2OO,000 or more
Colonel Jones II. French owes it more than
5000 there is an unpaid loan to Irving
Evans OF 100000; Thomas Dana owes il
SS00,0o0. Mr.. Porter's property at Cohas.
set stands in his own name, and is free from
all incumbrance. 1t is estimated that the
property has cost him S150. 900, but it is not
likely that at forced sale it would realize
more than a third of that sum. The Com
monweaith avenue property stands in the
name of Mrs. Potter. Mr.. Potter has life
insurance in the neighborhood of $780, 900,
also beyond the reach of the creditors.
seventy-Five Cents on the Dollar.
Depositors may receive about 20 cents on
the dollar. Irregularities in the bank have
been extending back for period of two
years, it is said. Cashier Evans quietly
resigned his position several years ago
There have been vacancies in the directory
contrary to law. The bank has been a Gone
man" bank for years. For almost three
weeks Asa Potter has been the most
maligned man in Boston. He has kept
persistently silent. The statement, part of
which follows, is made public, not for his
own sake, but because his duty to others
makes it wise that the other side of the story
be told. Mr.. Potter says this:
ga week or more before Mr.. Evans
death he owed the Maverick National Bank
q large sum of money. Changes in the
market made it necessary, in the interest of
the institution of which was the president
and responsible head, that at least portion
of his liabilities should be taken up. L
talked the matter over with him. and he
agreed to pay q certain sum the next day.
That afternoon 1 went out of town and did
not return for two days. When 1 entered
the bank on the third day and looked over
the mail on my desk, found there note
from the cashier, saying that Mr.. Evans
had failed to keep his promise. 1 was read
ing that note when Mr.. Evans came into
nv private Office 1 turned to him and
said, without any heat or passion: 'Nervy,
this won't do. 1 am personally disap
pointed. believed you would keep your
promise"
One Way OF Being Murderer.
"I turned away from him then, and he left
fba off,oe That uoS tho Lost tima I eor
him. The members of his family say that
he brooded over the matter, and that it was
one of the causes of the despondency which
led him to take his life. So am accused of
being his murderer. Well, am his mur-
derer in the same sense as the girl who re-
jects a respondent suitor is his murderer. 1
do not blame the members of Mr.. Evans
family for feeling as they do toward me-"
President Potter has made an assignment
of his individual estate to Postmaster
Thomas n. Hart and Henry d. HYDE
There was fully attended meeting of the
Clearing House Association this morning,
at which the Maverick Bank was expelled
from the association. The other banks
voted to advance money to relieve the ne
cessities of depOsitors. MANY of the banks
naturally are receiving new accounts, and
they are not unhappy. No other banks
show any indication Of being seriously
affected by the crash. Two or three busi-
ness houses are said to be little shaky
Mr.. Potter continues: s'The loss of the
Maverick National Bank, on account of its
dealings with Mr. Evans. would be about
100000 The banks dealings with Mr..
Evans can in no sense be considered the
direct cause of the suspension. The real
causes of the failure are somewhat eompli-
Gated, but easily made clear. OF course,
everybody knows now freely we were
talked about Oh the street, and what the eff
feet was finally upon our depositorS. The
first tangible thing was the refusal bv
President Wllmot X. Evans, of the Win /
tnrop National Bank. to accept one of our
certified checks. We promptly paid green |
backs over our counter for the check.
Action by the Clearing House People
Mr.. Evans went to Colonel Newman. the |
President Of the Commonwealth National |
Bank. Mr.. Newman told him that he con- /
sidered it his duty as a member of the |
Clearing House Committee, to bring the |
matter TO the attention of his associates. |
The full Clearing House Committee later
acted upon the case. The members of the
committee sent for me and asked me for the
privilege of going into the bank and eyam
lining our loans. / said, ''No, gentlemen.
that would be an outrage. OF course know
Just what that means" The members ap-
pealed to the Comptroller OF the Currency. |
Finally they were allowed, last week, to
examine the condition of the bank. They
charged off as worthless every item which,
in their opinion, was in any way doubtful. |
They also proceeded to argue that, in all
bank liquidaticns, there was an average
shrinkage of % per cent in the value of as
sets when it came to wind up a concern.
Then, forthwith, after throwing out eyery-
thing about which they had any doubt,
they deducted 20 per cent from everything
that was left. The resulting figures are, in
the opinion of the Clearing House, the net
market value of the Maverick Banks assets
to-day. OF course, after such a process the
figures show apparently large deficit Let
me say, on the other hand, that if was al
lowed to wind mp the affairs of the Maver-
lex, no depositor and no stockholder would
lose 81 he has deposited or invested. L
have no complaint whatever to make L
ask no favors, and above all things, j won't
allow anybody to pose me as martyr"
The Other Side of the Story.
That is Mr. Potter's side of the story.
The Boston News Bureau is authority for a
statement of an entirely different CON-
Plexion. 1t SAYS: ''The friends of Irving
a. Evans declare that he offered up his life
as tribute to friendship; that he was worth
sSO0,0O0 one year ago, and gave all that and
more 10 save his friends; that he kited
checks between New York and Boston; bad
enormous arbitrage transactions in both Ex-
changes 70 make clearings between the two
cities ana assist the Maverick National
Bank to meet enc draft with another; that