Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-09-22

A ROMANCE OF BANKING.
Rare Good Fortune of Chicago stock
holders Twenty Years After
Failure.


More than 20 years ago the Thirt
national bank of Chicago formall
closed its doors and receiver was an
pointed to satisfy the depositors. Som
of the stockholders feared an l,umedi
ate assessment for the payment of liza
bilities and offered to give their stool
to anyone who would assume its obliga
tons. To-day this stock is held at near
ly double its par value, and it is re
garded as gild-edged security Within
five years, although the bank has re
ee.Ved no deposits, made no loans, is
sued no currency, sold no drafts, i
has paid two dividends to its stockhold
ers and promises many more, Tn,
very name of the bank has been for
gotten, except by few gray-heade,
men who are personally interested il
its affairs. Moreover, it is unique il
being a corporation having large assets
and no liabilities beyond the obligation
to its stockholders.
The earliest report on the condition
of the bank, made by the receiver, Col
Huntington w. Jackson, showed thai
the nominal assets were about 81, 500.
900 and the debts were nearly 81 900,
300, leaving n nominal SS00O00 to pay
the stock liability of Si50,O00. On paper
this looked most encouraging, but &
close examination showed that many
of the loans of the bank, made in flusl
times, were secured by collaterals ot
uncertain value, and real estate sched
, uled at boom prices and taken as the
only available payment or money
loaned. There was too much SLOW
paper and not enough "short" paper.
OF the real estate, one tract of 1OC
, acres lay on barren sand ridge near
the lake shore and nearly ten miles
southeast of the city hall, in a wholly
unsettled part of suburb. Another
tract of 45 acres was nearly as far to
the west of the city on the bare fiat
prairie, where there was little prospect
of its ever being anything more than
cabbage plant. Still another piece of
property lay far out in the southwest.
ern portion of the city, in region as
yet almost wholly undeveloped and
promising little immediate growth, cx.
cept in taxes and special assessments.
There was score of other lots and
parcels of land, some in New York city.
and great quantity of paper, much OF
it more or less doubtful or worthless.
In fact, il seemed TO some of the 90
stockholders that il would hardly paw
the bank to retain its property and
meet the expenses of management.
BY the process known as "squecz.
ng' and the sacrifice of some of the
choicer pieces of real estate the re-
ceiver managed to pay before the close
of 1881 the depositors the face value
of their claims. 4 year later they re.
ceived their interest in full, and the
stockholders were left, nearly five years
after the close of the bank. with score
of pieces of expensive real estate. most
of which had comparatively little pres.
ent cash value, and a quantity of doubt.
full claims and lawsuits, the legacy OF
the panic.
But Chicago was growing. The sub.
urb in which the hundred-acre tract
was located became part of the city,
a cable line reached down and almost
touched it; an electric line dropped
passengers Immediately in front of it:
an elevated railroad approached il
within half a dozen blocks. Early in
the nineties the worlds fair found root
IN Jackson park, which adjoined the
tract Immediately on the north. A city
Of great hotels. apartment houses and
residences sprang suddenly into en-
tstence around it, and Chicago was Il
city far out beyond the park.
In July, 1891, the receiver called the
stockholders together and laid before
them an offer of S1,OOO,000 for the de.
spised 100 acres of land, and the stock.
holders, upon mature deliberation. re.
.ccted it, feeling that il would be worth
much more few years later. If the
offer had been accepted it would have
paid OF not only the entire capital
stock of $1jO.0OO, but it would have left
a comfortable $25O,OOO to be divided
among the stockholders for their pa
fence. In manner hardly less re.
markable the 45-acre cabbage patch be
came valuable. Car lines passed il. the
suburb of Oak Park, itself a consider,
able city, grew out around il, and every
year has added thousands of dollars
to its value.
And so it happened that in 1893 the
receiver was able to pay dividend of
ten per cent. to the stockholders. and
he followed it in 1895 with a second div.
idend of five per cent.
And thus, by combination of good
fortune, shrewd management and pa-
tience, the Third national bank now
the spectacle, probably un-
in finance, of business insti
,utlon for 20 years defunct, and vet
paying dividends on stock worth near
" twice its par Value Chicago Even.
ing News.
Edible Birds Nests,
The nests of the little swift "a kind OF