The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-02-01
WOULD GUST BIcKEL
ONE HUNDRED MINNESOTA saw
INGS BANK DEPOSITORS DE-
MAND AssIGNEE's SCALP.
1-..--g-
A MOST SUGGESTIVE ROAST
sa-~ ~s~-~r~
-+.s@s>-<sra
FOR BICKEL Fills is INDUCED IN
BY ANGRY PASSBOOK
H0LDERS.' s---- ~-s-s>
TRUST IN THE Committeeman
Named at the Last Meeting Does
Not Seem to Be Implicit, or
Nearly SO.

/
some by announcing that in his opinion
about rs per cent Of the assets Of the
bank were worthless. He suggested
that if the depositors of the bank would
have the affairs of the institution thor
oughly looked into, it might be possible
to make it interesting for w. F. Bickel
1t might be, he said, that the creditors
of the bank would not get very much
of their money, but there might be
some satisfaction If they cared to prose-
| cute.
| About 100 Of the depositors attended
the meeting. one-third of the number
| being women. The session promised to
be a very warm one as a number Of
gentlemen put in an appearance before
| the gathering was called to order, who
were evidently opposed to taking any
action, at least at the present time,
| locking to a change in the assignee.
They were met at. the door of the hail.
however, by Otto SHERMAN and G. E.
ROmbaek and questioned as to
whether they were in favor Of ousting
Mr.. William Bickel from the position
Of assignee. The ones who were not
! in favor of this course were politely
told that they were not wanted at the
| meeting. A number of them made
strong talks about the propriety Of such
/ action at this particular time, but their
/ arguments had no effect. They were
| informed that the hall had been hired
! by those interested in the removal of
! William Bickel as assignee, and, if they
! did not agree to sign a paper to this
effect, they were not wanted. There
was deal of grumbling, but Mr.. Sill
| herman was firm in his ideas and said
! that those opposed to securing 8
| change in the assignee could go some
| where else and hold meeting. This
was the purpose for which the meet
| ing had been called and those not in
| terested in the movement need not re-
main
Mr. SHERMAN, in calling the meet
! ing to order, stated that a number of
well-informed depositOrs had been do
ing little investigating on their own
| hook and had concluded that there was
a systematic organization to mislead
and cover up certain transactions. At
the first meeting of the depositors held
in his store, he said, a number of gen.
tlemen pretending to be friends of the
unfortunate depositors had secured
places on the committee of seven which
was appointed to investigate for the de-
positors. It could be proved, he said,
! that the Bickels had their friends on
the committee, and the purpose of the
meeting yesterday was to organize in
the interests Of the depositors and to
make the best effort at the least ex-
pense to save as much as possible for
all depositors. This, after careful in
VOC tool h.
by getting an impartial assignee who
would promise to proceed at the small
est possible expense. 1t was. not the
intention Of this branch Of the de-
positors to secure $4,000 assignee and
$4,000 attorney, as claimed by w. F.
Bickel.
Mr.. Bomback, on being elected as
chairman, said the meeting was called
for the purpose of taking steps to have
| William Btckel, assignee Of the bank,
removed. The gathering, he said, was
not as large as he had expected, and
not sufficient to take the necessary
steps, as the deposftors who had signed
the paper represented only about S12. 600
OF deposits He would ask that those
having any facts bearing on the affairs
OF the bank state them to the meeting
Leo G. Bruggeman said he was in ia
| Vor Of Mr.. Bickel being knocked out
He knew Of depOsitors representing
! $4,000 and ever who were Of the same
kind Of thinking. He had called on
! NJ. u. Mum, a good attorney, and had
been told that it would not cost one
cent more to have a receiver for the
| bank than it would to have an as
signee. This settled the thing in his
| mind, and convinced him that the
statements made by those interested
| in keeping Mr.. Bickel as assignee, on
| of
! rect.
! S. E. Atkins said he had been MAX
ing an investigation into the affairs of
the bank, as shown by the statement
! filed with the bank examiner in De-
cember, 1895, the last one made by the
/ officials Of the bank. The law, he said
under which the bank was operated
provided that not more than $4,000
could be loaned to any one person. In
the face Of this, he said, $4,000 had
been loaned on q personal note to Ha-
gel NJ. Bickel, the wife of William F.
BlckeL The law under which the bank
! operated also provided that no loan
! should be made to any officer, trustee
or servant Of the bank, and, in his
| opinion, the loan referred to looked as
| if there had been two violations Of the
! law. Both Mr.. BOmback and himself
had been endeavoring to find cut who
| the trustees Of the bank were Will
| lam Bickel the assignee, had told them
| that they would have to see his son,
as he was not informed as to who the
| trustees were. He said he felt very
| dissatisfied at the work of the commit
tee appointed by the depositors. They
had done. nothing and had been ten
days doing 1t. In his opinion the COM
mittee were owned by the BickeIs and
were simply delaying matters. Two Of
the committee appointed by the de-
positors were, he said,- at the office Of
the assignee on Saturday when he and
Mr.. Bomback called. One of them he
had overheard say to Mr. Bickel, "Win
you promise to stand by us for two or
three days more"'
/ After the two committeeman had left
Mr.. Bickel had told him the gentle
men were talking about his resigna-
| ton. CCnroy and Burden, Mr. Atkins
said, were the two men VINO were with
| Mr.. Bickel when he called at the office
| of the assignee. The SAL 600 mentioned
| in the report of the bank officials as
real estate assets in 1895, Mr.. Atkins
! said, were assessed in the court house
books at $4,000.
In conversation with William Biclel.
the assignee Mr.. Atkins said, he had
been unable to find cut who the present
| trustees of the bank were Mr. Bickel
had stated that he resigned as trustee
| two years ago, and he thought Fred
erick c. Stevens had taken his place.
| From the fact that the records showed
that Mr. Stevens had been a trustee
| since 1889 and UP to a recent date paesf-.
| Gent Of the bank, Mr.. Atkins thought
| thissd Ignorance sof the assignee showed
thatfhe was not a fit man for the posi-;
| t}0n.g>'+ sfTsen frt9taf'T fS,.1sE
Figures yrern Rad nv 1fr AfIr;vr 80