The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-27

strict in its regulation of circulation, and
| there was a great issue of almost I'M
! secured currency The first bank under
| the state law was the Peoples Bank of
| St Peter, with its real headquarters in
| St Paul, and Of this Mr. Monfort became
| the cashier.
! By the fall of 1859 a great deal of state
! bank currency was afloat in the form of
notes, and but one break was necessary
{ to make the money practically worthless
| The break came one day in the fall when
a New York house having bank in St
Paul failed. AS soon as the ST. Paul con-
nection of the broken bank heard of the
| failure it closed its doors and there was
panic among the holders of the issue of
| the other banks. Nearly all the st. Paul
: banking institutions were known as
agencies of outside banks and wnen the
holders OF the money began to clamor
Ior It's redemption they said it would have
to be presented at the house.
mere was one exception to this general
announcement, and it came from the Peo-
PIE s Bank of St Paul. of which Mr. Mon
tort was the cashier
President Edgerton gave If ont that bic
bank would cash, in coin. all its notes
AAd Mr. Monfort was busy man for a
Whlle handling out the coin to the people
In spite of the returning confidence of the
people in the Peoples bank it presently
/ became apparent to the officers that the
! bank could not withstand the pressure for
! very long. They began to look about them
! Among the banks which had refused ia
redeem over the agency counter was Tho
Nlcollet County Bank of St Peter. and
/ there was lying IN the safe of that bank
! at st. Peter redemption fund of 81 am
/ IN gold. Cashier Monfort had on hand
/ Just about $1,000 of the notes of the NicoI-
Iet nailk ana 1t was hurriedly arranged
mat he should make the effort to save
ms bank by presenting these notes be,
, fore 1t heard of the panic
The one thing to do was to make the
! distance on horseback and to get thera
/ before any one else. Mr.. Monfort vao
used to the saddle and, although there
was some delay in getting started ha
dld finally get a horse and was off brt
lar IN the rear Of the messengers of tba
other banks. They had all sent men o11t
/ with all the notes on the Nicollet hank
they could find and they all went in
puggles and with two horses generally.
( Mr.. Monfort took with him an oven
$4,000 in the notes which were to he re-
deemed. 1t was practically a race for
lie, for the future Of his house was at
stake. Spurred by the thought that the
/ little pile of coin there still remained in
the Peoples bank was being paid ont az
fast as the people demanded 1t, end that
MY Edgerton could not long keep the
doors open, he took horse.
a few miles out he passed the fret oF
the other messengers, then another. and
before he could find a place to change
horses-the people ahead Of him were re-
| laying at every opportunity-he had to
make race of nearly thirty miles. and
tEen he found single horse The few
people ahead of him had double teams
ana could not use the ore animal
L.
! FOR at the next relay, twenty-five miles
! farther on, he had overtaken all tho mos
/ sengers and found horses to choose rroro
( and went through the next twentv-tI,raa
miles at a pace that surprised his
horse.
1t was exactly eight hours from the
/ time of his leaving st. Paul that Mr.. Mon
fort pulled up his exhausted horse in
| front of the Nicollet County bank and
| threw himself, even more exhausted than
the horse, from the saddle. He presented
his notes at the bank and was paid the
$1,000 in gold, leaving a single $40 gold
piece in the depleted treasury.
The roads were fearful, and it was sim
! ply impossible for him to start back
! without some rest. But there was little
time lost, and on the second day he rode
up to the door of the Peoples bank with
! his saddle bags jingling with the bur-
|
! pleted of coin, and there was an inter
! ested crowd waiting with their hands
full of notes.
1t IS possible that there was something
of ostentation in the manner in which Mr.
Monfort pushed his way through the
crowd and poured out four shining piles
of gold on the counter. It stopped the
run. People were not in the habit of
seeing gold, and they could not tell
! whether there was S., 900 or $25, 900 in the
two piles. And they went out and told
their friends that the Peoples bank had
more gold than there were notes afloat
1t was a novel experience for a banker.
and has probably never been successfully
initiated in the country. And 1t had much
! to do with establishing Mr.. Monfort's
standing as an energetic and successful
| anancier. He looked back to it as the
most notable and successful adventure
he ever engaged in.
1t may be added that Mr.. Monfort had
one Of the finest private libraries in the
state, and 1t was his delight to spend all
his private time with his silent but wise
: friends.