Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-04-02
Who Forget the Fact That They
Have Money.
REPORTS OF SAVINGS BANKS
Show That Great Deal Of Money Remains
UncalIed Tor and the Deposliors Cannot
be Hundreds Of Thousands
Of Dollars Without Claimants.

unclaimed deposits Of the savings banits
OF Boston were obtuinahlc.' says The
Herald. they would make stories of alb
sOrbing interest
In the long list of deposits published
according TO law every FIVE years by the
savings banks, and representing nun
dreds Of thousands Of dollars for which
there is no claimant. are the names OF
many people around whom cling the
atmosphere of romance, the suggestion Of
adventure or the memory OF human
tragedy. Facts, however. are The hapl-
est things TO get nj In these cases, for
those who are aware Of the facts, lhe
officers of the banks feel In duty bound
TO keep them 10 themselves as their
means Of identifying the owners or right
ful heirs 70 the funds. In many cases
however there are no cirmlm sta lces
other than the bare fact Of the name and
deposit and the date thereof
On the banks bucks arr The names Of
depositors, who, after making their de-
posits. have sudagply dropped out Of eX-
istence SO far a4faly .knowlelge Of them
aftcrwnrd came No the bnnk Others
adding 20 or drawing from their account
and then they ceased 20 come ana the
bank knew and heard Il thniu ~ more.
Death. coupled with the l)ss OF The bank
book, no doubt, plays the most Important
part IN explaining these unclaimed de-
como 10 light in seeking for the reason
Of these accumulatio1s in one case
mSn had made q deposit Of few hum
bred dollars, and had not disturbed II for
81 long that he forgot all about IT, and
had meanwhile settled Ia another city.
Twenty years later, seeing his name
among the advertised lst Of dcpastcrs
he remembered the transaction, AMI rum
maCing In the depths of an old trunk
brought 70 light the bank book. Upon
presenting himself at the bank with
proof Of his identity, h0 found himself
the owner Of Sl4OO more than he ever
dreamed of.
Every five years all savings banks are
required by law TO publish n list Of de
posits that have been undisturbed for
twenty years. In compliance with this
statute, one bank alone, the Provident
Institution for Savings, advertised ON
Jan. !, 1898, 221 names representing
Sl39, 3G75O In unclaimed deposits, and
ranging from the trilling SUN of S27O1
20 S315O.57. Though the latter Is the
largest amount on the lot. there are
three names, presumably members Of the
same family whose combined deposits
amount 10 $40, 161.63.
Much Of the difficulty in Identification
arises from the lax methods pursued
with depostors In the early days of the
banks career. It's organizers never
dreamed that the deposits of the bank
Woutu ever huTDnsa the sum OF 9lOO,OOo,
an amount far below the present ac-
foundations of unclaimed deposits No
questions were asked of q dep0sitor His
money was taken aud Il bool, given him.
after getting his signature or ha mark
aud therecyas an end of II. Thus IL
happens that a great many Of the I'M
claimed deposits are left to accumulate
or late years however, dcpositors are
required TO give names Of parents aud
other data. and n personal description Of
the deposior is taken as Il means of
future standardization of his claim
The banks show every willingness TO
pay old claims upon proper proof of title.
and many Of the amounts advertised
finally reach their proper owenrs. One man
recently received Sl4OO by proving that
the depOsitor was his mother He re-
membered that about the time the money
was deposited, twenty years before, his
mother, since deceased. had had some
business in the probate court. which
necessitated her signature there The
latter was secured and compared with
the signature az the bank. and the two
being found identical, the man received
the amount without question.
As 90 the final disposition Of the I'M
claimed moneys. there is no provision In
che charter or bylaws Of the institutions
In n general way II is believed that they
will revert TO the state. though after what
length Of time or In what particular way
no one knows
The following message has been sub
mitted to the legislature, In relation TO
this subject;
The board Of savings bnnk commission
ers has the honor 20 present its supple
mentary report, under provisions Of
chapter $40 of the acts Of the year 1887.
relating 10 unclaimed deposits I'm the
savings banks of the commonwealth or
the 1874 banks In the commonwealth,
100 report no such deposits, and seventy
nine report 1916 accounts, aggregating
$500, 131. 49, The number of banks re-
porting the aggregate amount reported
are somewhat IN excess of those reported
In 1887 In 1887, sixty-threc banks re-
ported 1922 accounts, aggregating de
posits unclaimed for twenty years of
S47S, 33S2S. 1t win thus be seen that
there Is an increase Of eleven In the num-
Der of banks reporting such deposits
1O4 in accounts and Of $2IT429l In de-
posits.
AS an illustration Of the effect Of pub
fishing a report Of this class of deposits
and advertising the same, the following
examples extracted from the returns are
given: One bank, which reported IN
1887, seventeen unclaimed accounts, has
since discovered the owners of al the ac-
counts, and return this year only three
new ones. Another bank. which reported
twenty in 1857, has discovered the own
ers of seventeen Of them, and returns
tVe new ones. Auolnef, Whlcn reported
thirty IN 1887. has discovered twenty
four and added six,
On the other hand several banks have
added more new accounts than they
have discovered owners for old ones
For example: One bank, which returned
337 accounts In 1887. discovered 200
and added 240 new ones. Several banks
have discovered all the owners OF ac-
counts reported In 1887 and returned no
new ones and eighteen which returned
no accounts In 1887 report 157 this year
The number of deposits standing in the
name of judges Of probate reported in
1887 were respectively twenty-six ac
counts, aggregating S3O,2O83T; the re
turns Of 1892 show fourteen accounts,
aggregrating S9511.S2. OF the amount
returned Ia 1897. SD 1920 has been
distributed by banks.
Although the Legislature Of 1889 passed
a law authorizing judges Of probate TO
make final deposits Of this class by
decreasing It's transfer TO the state treas
ury, from whence Il may be drawn With
IN limited time by the persons law
fully entitled thereto, yet, under the OPP
Grafton of this law. not one dollar has
been SO transferred TO the treasury but
on the contrary, fifteen accounts, aggre-
eating 22,402,90 have been distributed