The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-07-01

Os
about the only man found who thought
that Davis had money when he went
away. He SAYS that he examined the
books of the commission house in Kan
sas City with which Davis did business,
and found that they had paid him much
more money than he paid them. Davis
and Sherman are bitter political enemies.
II have been expecting this for some
time said Mr.. Sherman, land l warned
the only friend had that Davis owed to
get his money. He laughed at me. Mr.
Smith, of the commission house with
which Davis did business, told me that
Davis must have had $4,000 or 5000
when he went away"
l. 81. Alter, cashier of the Rossville
bank, said: This matter was great sur
prise to me. No one suspected that Da-
Wis was not all right We paid his over
drafts right along and we had no thought
that there was anything wrong. When
he came into the bank Wednesday and l
told him that we would have to have
money | did not notice any change in
him, but when I was called to his house
in the evening I found him all broken
up. / was astounded when | learned the
facts Mr.. Davis himself offered
to turn his property over to
the bank to secure US. He was direc-
tor in our bank and no one connected
with the institution was more trusted
When ! went away he was left in charge
of the bank because he knew more about
the business than any one else. Mr..
Davis was a man whose word you could
depend upon. If he told you he would
do thing tomorrow you could feel sure
that he would do it. The bank will lose
nothing for l am satisfied that the prop
erty we have will net US over $4,000.
| Davis failure caused run on the bank
last Friday, but we had money on hand
| to pay every check presented, and Satur-
| day night we quit with 81, 800 more than
we had in our vault before the run COM
menced. l consider that he owed the
bank $4,000 directly and $4,000 indirect
Iy."
Mrs. Davis said: 81 am sure that Mr.
Davis had but 500 when he left. He
wanted to divide with me, but refused
to accept any of the money. and told
him that he would need all he had
had just So in the house when he left
and not a cent more, and I know he had
but $50, for took the money out of his
pocket myself. This whole thing was a
terrible blow to me, for l did not suspect
the truth. A day before the crash came
I went on an excursion to Fort Riley and
Mr.. Davis gave me SO. l never felt more
light hearted or happy. spent So and
had So left, and that was all the money
there was in the house when Mr. Davis
left He never told me a word about the
trouble, and no one could have been
more startled than l was when he told
me Wednesday.
"Where is Mr.. Davis now?"
81 have no idea. l don't think that
any one knows. / did not want him to
GO away at all, but the only reason he
went was because he could not face his
friends. l expect to hear from him soon
and think he will come back"
P. H. Anderson, brother-in-law of
Davis, and his confidential clerk, said:
"There are two ways in which Davis may
have lost his money. Either in straight
deals on the board of trade in Kansas
City, or he took the deals himself on the
bucket shop plan and tried to carry
them. Farmers are always bulls, and
he may have thought that he would be
able to carry them. 1 am certain that
he has lost everything. He mover en-
couraged the people to deal in options
and more than once have heard him try
to discourage them. kept his
books for him, but he never had any
thing about his option deals on his books,
so l am not able to say for certain just
how the money was lost A great many
of the people who claim to have lost
money did not lose it all They gave
Davis 500 or so to invest, and when
wheat went up their money doubled IN
some of them. But they kept on invest
ing the money and then lost it, and now
they claim he owes them"
E. B. Merriam president of the Ross
Vile State bank saids 81, with other di-
rectors, was utterly dumbfounded, We
believed Mr.. Davis good for everything
he called for,and that he was worth fully
$4,000. For these reasons we took care
of his overdrafts, this time as heretofore.
He had always met them promptly up to
now. About one-half of his indebted
: ness to US is due to overdrafts. Mr.. Da-
4 Wis has fully protected the bank by deed
, ing US all of his real estate and assigning
over all his bank stock and book ac-
counts We expect to realize on all of his
indebtedness to the bank within ninety
days. So far as our depositors are con-
cerned we have the money to meet every
dollar on demand"
John Fritz, one of the creditors said:
at has just about busted up this town
ship. We thought that Davis was all
right and trusted him. We will lose
everything unless we can knock out this
!. transfer to the bank and we will try to dc
that"
J. W. Mccoy, another creditor said:
, 81 do not think he would have gone away
l at all if he had not been advised to &c
and if he had staid here I am confident
that it could have been fixed up satisfac-
torily. He has the sympathy OF everyone
1 in the township and I believe he is al
: right"
4 The following is partial list of Davis
J, creditors and the amounts are approx
mately correct:
: c. W. Higginbotham, 900 bushels wheat
Tr edi endorsement on note 1s
D. KeStler, grain sold ...,............. 4O
James DeVinney Observation-Disclosures. 20
i Victor Case, labor ................,....... 20
p James ShumWay. labor Observation-Disclosures, 4O
. j. w. Mccoy. .............. 100
A. +. JamSon ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 40
2. Ressville State bank Observation-Disclosures. $50
a James BlandOn, 1 800 bushels CON-. 45
= | VIM Strange. ......... ............... 90
Hopkins. Bond and DeVinney, sureties.. s.
/ 7 m