Hutchinson gazette., 1898-11-24
BANKER CROSS A SUICIDE
His Bank, tho First National Of
Emporia, Closed,
BANKERS HAD LOOKED FOR IT,
Soon After tho Comptroller Took Charge
OF tho Institution tho President Shot
Himself at sunny slope" Ills Here
eord a,nct Farm,


EMponIA, Kan, Nov l7,--This morn
Ing the comptroller Of the treasury Or
dered the First National bank OF Em-
porla closed, An hour later Charles s,
Cross, the banks president, shot and
killed himself at sunny SLOPE" his
stock farm near here,
TO the majority OF the people OF the
town tho comptroller's card on the
door OF the bank came rs n complete
surprise, but In financial circles both
here and in the state the result has
been anticipated for six months,
The statement published quarterly
by the bank has been growing very
bad and last May the bank had only
one.half per cent Of It's deposits moro
cash on hand than tho law requires,
Since then exam ners and special cS'
aminers have been in and out Of the
bank and the statement published In
midsummer was q little better on the
face Of it, but not much, Tho fall
statement did not materially Improve
The talk In the town spread quietly,
and there has been small withdrawal
of deposits, but most Of the business
men In town did not believe the ru'
mors and heavy deposits were made
up to 10 o'clock this morning,
The bank has $500, 900 on deposit, but
It's assets are hard to determine. For
week Charles Jobes, the bank eS-
amlner, has been wrestling with the
problem OF the assets, and ii Is au-
thentically reported that he has found
them badly shrunken, The loans and
discounts are now about 100000 the
capitalization 100000 and the surplus
the same, The officers Of the bank are
Charles Cross president; William Mar
tindale, vice president; d. NJ. Davis,
cashier. Cross and Martindalo are
popularity supposed to be worth the
amount OF the deficit liabilities, but
each Is heavy borrower at tho bank
Examiner Jobes, who has been ap'
pointed temporary receiver, said to n
reporter "Whilc | do not know cS'
actly what the outcome of this matter
may be, still think ! am justified in
saying that the depositors will not
suffer seriously. Yet when n thing
like this occurs IL lops off 20 per cent
of the assets Of the bank Mt one blow, "
Since this statement was made, and
exactly one hour from the time The
white card appeared on the door,
Charles s. Cross had committed sui
eide, and It is now believed that his
fortune has gone down with the bank.
He shot himself at Sunny slope farm,
where all his famous cattle are.
Among the heavy losers by the bank
failure are Lyon county and the city
Of Emporio, All the city and county
funds are deposited there,
Charles S. Cross Is president of the
First National bank Of Emporin. His
father was one of the institutions
organizers, In 1871, On the elder
Cross's death, several years ago, the
son took up his fathers interest in the
banlS. Mr. Cross Is also we'll known
as Hereford breeder, At Sunny
Slope stock farm, near Emporia, he
had herd known all over The West.
"Sunny slope" Mr.. Cross famous
farm, is three miles north Of Emporia.
The farm consists Of 1850 acres,
Twelve men are required most of the
time to care for the stock In the
Hereford herd are over i?j registered
animals, worth from 500 to $1,000
each 1t Is said that Mr.. Cross has sold
calves of Wild Tom his prize winning
Hereford, for $4,000, At the auction
sale at "Sunny slope in March l5C
head were sold at an average price OF
S407