Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-06-07
CHICAGO BANK CRASH.
Herman SChaffner & Go. Close Their Doors
and Mr.. SChaffnep Missing.


CHICAGO, ILL.,, June 3.-The old and
well-known banking firm of Hermann
,Schafner & Co. has failed, and Her
mann Schafner, at the head Of the
house, is missing and has probably
committed suicide. The assignment of
the bank was made to the American
Trust & Savings Bank. Early to-day
he cashier of that establishment visit
ID the bank at the Title & Trust build
ing, only to find large and
'demonstrative crowd assembled and the
doors closed. Schaffner q Co. has been
the largest private concern in this CITY
or in the Northwest dealing exclusively
in commercial paper. The firm was
also about the oldest one of it's kind in
Chicago. No statement of the affairs of
the bank was filed in court on the appli-
cation for receiver.
The assignment was undoubtedly
caused by the disappearance of Herman
Schattner, the senior member of the
firm, of which the other member is A.
u. Becker. For several days the bank,
1t is said, has been in trouble, and the
impending disaster appeared to have a
most distressing effect upon Mr.. Schaff-
ner. Yesterday afternoon he left the
bank and since that time he has not
been seen. The worst is feared by his
friends and business associates. Dur
ing yesterday afternoon he did not ap-
pear at his usual places and all during
the evening vigorous search was main
tanned by his family and friends.
Towards midnight he was yet missing
Rosenthal, his brother-in-law, went to
the home of Chief of Police McClaughrv
and told the superintendent of police
all the facts in the case RI. Rosen-
thai was not yet ready to make a formal
call upon Chief McClaughry for aid in
finding the missing banker, and
he would not leave detailed
description as is usual in such cases;
but he made request that the depart
ment report to him at once any infor-
nation that might be learned of the
absent bank president Mr. Rosenthal
said that he did not know what to think
Of the absence of his relative; neither
did he know what plan of action to fol-
low. The police were this morning,
however, instructed to keep sharp
lookout for Mr.. Scaftner.
Mr.. Schaftner's partner was so much
sociate that last night he became i'll and
to-day he is at home suffering from the
depression, SO i'll that he is confined to
his bed. The gravest fears are
entertained by Mr.. Schafner's
friends for his safety. It is
said that acute mental alteration is not
unknown in his family 1t is feared
that the trouble threatened by the
shadow of the coming business collapse
might have made him temporarily ire
sponsible mentally and that an accident
of some kind may have Overtaken him.
j. r. Chapman, cashier of the Ameri-
can Trust d Savings Bank, the assignee,
put up the following notice:
This bank is in the possession of the
American Trust & Savings Bank.
Mr.. Chapman, in reply to inquiries,
said: Il cannot tell you what the as
sets and liabilities are until | get a state
ment from the banks. That statement
The cause of the failure Too
much commercial paper. They were
the biggest dealers in commercial paper
in the country. They handled $50, 100000
last year. There was no sale to speak of
IN commercial paper this year, and that
is the cause of the failure | can say
nothing further until a statement has
been prepared of the banks condition
and men are at work on that now as fast
as they cam
Some months ago, it is said, Schaffner
& Co. got caught in the Deimel Bros
failure for over 100000, in the D. Dali
zell newspaper failure for S25, 900, and
in the M. E. Page failure for large
amount.
The deposit business Of Schaffner &
Co. is said to have been only moderate.
Regarding the firms transactions
in commercial paper it is stated
that Schafner never sold any
with his own endorsement, but always
on it's merits. One theory Of the cause
of the failure was that Schafner had
been caught in the big slump on the
Stock Exchange.
Cheverton, Martin & Co., private
bankers, made a voluntary assignment
yesterday. Assets were scheduled at
100000 and liabilities at $4,000.
TWO KILLED IN A DUEL,