Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1897-04-08
In SAVINGS BANKS.
RoMANCES WHERE ONE WOULD
HARDLY EXPECT THEM.

dents Instances of the Accommodating
Powers OF Interest-How a Depositor
Was Robbed by AN UnprincipIed Lawyer.
Ii one has the good luck To get several
presidents of savings banks together and
when they are through with talking bust
ness hear them exchange interesting ex-
periences, he will have an enjoyable hour
Here are some of the things which he will
be likely TO hear or might have heard any
time within the last few years. Imagine "A
group of presidents seated around a glow
ing sea coal fire in the luxurious office Of
one Of them. After the conversation has
become general" rs some of the novel
writers say, Mr.. A. discourses to this effect:
81 don't know whether any of the rest
of you have ever had anything like this In
your experience or not. IL il against the
rules, of course, for our bank 10 take
charge of the books of any of the deposit
ors, but l must plead guilty To violating
the rule TO certain extent myself In
one of the drawers in my desk for the last
six or seven years l have kept the book of
a woman who opened AN account that long
ago. As soon as she had done SO she came
10 me and told me IA moving tale Of the
cruelty of her husband, saying that he
knew she had put money in bank She
was afraid To take the book home with her,
as she had no place to conceal il where he
could not find 1t, and she didn't want TO
tell any friend about what she was doing
'unbeknownst, as she might have said.
So she begged me, with tears in her eyes,
to allow her TO leave it with me, and ms
personal favor / consented to take charge
of 1t. Every now and then she comes in
here, asks for the book, takes it out TO
make her deposit and then returns 1t to
me. Her account now amounts TO about
$500. And | think l can say that have
never suffered from a pricking of con
science because of having winked at VIC
lation of a rule of the bank. "
Mr. A. having been acquitted by the
unanimous silence of his confreres, Presi-
dent Is. began TO speak. 81 don't want To
bore any of you who may have heard this
before" he remarked, but 10 certainly
was singular experience. Some years ago
Woodworking mechanic opened an ac-
count in our bank, TO which he added reg
ularly for some time. After that for long
period the account lay dormant, growing
| by the addition of the interest until it
amounted TO about So 800 In some way
an INSCRIPTIONS lawyer heard of it and
after the manner of his kind went to the
mechanic with plausible tale What will
you give me, he asked, If will prove TO
you that there is a sum of several thou
sand dollars due you and put you in the
way of getting the money! The mechanic
was naturally astonlshed and was easily
prevailed on by the smooth tongued law
| yer to sign contract that If the lawyer
could make out such case as he said he
could the money would be divided between
them. Thereupon the lawyer let out his
secret. The money is due you, he said,
from such and such savings bank. oh,
| know all about that, replied the me-
chanic. / have known all along that | had
the money there. But the lawyer Haunted
the contract in the man S face, and, though
il was IA plain case of fraud, the man be-
| lieved it was valid contract and actually
gave the scoundrel lawyer half the amount
| in the bank. "
After n suitable interval President G.
took up the tale II don't know that l can
do better, " he began, than to tell IA little
story which | heard few years ago from
the president of one Of the Brooklyn banks
and l shall try to tell il as nearly as pos
| sible in his own words as l recall them.
| As | was sitting in my office one day one
of the young men in the bank came To me
and showed me book which bore "A date
of many years before. He said ii had been
brought in by an old woman told him
TO send her to me. On inquiry ! learned
| that she could neither read nor write, but
she said the book belonged to her and she
| had put the money in the bank long
time before. As nearly as she could remem
| Der, the amount was about $500, and sew
eral times, pointing to the book, she asked
anxiously if it was not all there. / assured
her that IL was and proceeded To question
her as to why she had left the account so
| long undisturbcd She said that many
years before she had been employed as
servant in Brooklyn and had taken all she
could spare from her wages and put the
money in bank. After time She went
away from the city and had never set foot
in il until that day. She was getting old
and thought il would be good thing TO
go and get her money. Again she asked if
1t was all there indicating the book and
of course / told her ii was all right, ex-
cept the interest, "a word that seemed To
convey no idea to her mind. became con
WINGED that she was entitled To the money
and told one of the clerks 10 write up the
book just as though IL had been an active
account all the time. When his work was
done, found that the amount due the old
woman was about So, 600 She was simply
dazed and asked how 1t could be. ex-
planned as well Us | could about the inter
est, but she was unable to understand it.
Overcome by her feelings, she burst into
tears when the money was brought TO her.
"Oh, sir, " she said, you don't know what
you have done for me. 1 can't understand
at all how all that money belongs TO me I;
| but do Won know / shanit hava m do
another days work as long as live"
don't think, said my Brooklyn friend in
telling the story, that l ever had a keener
appreciation of the benefits of savings
banks than at that moment, and / fancy
all of us would have said the same thing
If we had been in his place New York
Tribune
Ouick Reef