Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-01-25
TREASURES IN BANKS.
SOMETIMES LIE UNCLAIMED FOR
MANY, YEARS.

Keeping-How Interest, Under En-
g1ish Law, Accumulates on Unclaimed
Observation-Disclosures for Owners.
AS is well known, banks act as Gus
todians Of boxes deposited with them
for safe keeping. They make no charge
for doing so, their object being to IN
dertake no responsibility and incur no
risk, as the acceptance of payment
would imply. Naturally it happens
that boxes slowed away by the banks
in this manner come to be lost sight OF
by their owners. Those who left them
for safe keeping die without passing on
the secret Of their existence to their
heirs. Who is to know that such pos
sessions could be claimed? 1t has been
suggested that these boxes should be
occasionally oyerhauled and their con-
tents made public.
An advertisement was issued in 1881
by order of the court of chancery, Ire
land, with view to discover the own
ers Of the following among other valu-
ables deposited in Dublin bank: "O
| Box containing a number of silver arti-
cles, coins, medals and seals, and hav-
| ing on it crest and the name 'E. 5.
| Cooper (2) box containing number Of
| silver articles, of which several are
| crested with coat of arms, supposed
| to be those of Viscount Netteryille; O.
box containing thirty-nine articles OF
| plate, some of them bearing a coronet;
| az box containing diamonds and arti-
cles Of jewelry, lodged by DR.. Andrew
Blake and George Jennings on Dec. %.
| 1896" There were some curious In
| quiries and tales about the chests found
| in their vaults, which were eventually
handed over to the court of chancery.
| In the vaults of the Bank of Ireland
| are some chests of plate which were
| deposited with the bank before it moved
| into it's present building-that is, be-
| fore the year 1S00-the owners of which
| fidential staff of the Bank of England
| discovered in the vaults chest which,
on being moved, literally fell to pieces
from age. 1t contained a magnificent
! and very valuable toilet service of solid
silver No clue to the owners identity
could be found either on the box or on
any of the pieces of plate, which were
simply engraved with cipher and a
coronet.
However, among the numerous other
things found in the box were gold
casket of the period of Charles IL. and
a packet Of old love letters written
during the time of the restoration
These afforded some clue to the orig
inal depositor, and, the directors having
caused search to be made in the banks
books, the representative of the old
owner was discovered and the plate
and love letters handed over accord
ingly. The sale of the plate brought in
sum which was most welcome to the
poverty-stricken descendants of once
great family. So far as known, there
are no unclaimed boxes in the keeping
Of the Scotch banks.
Unclaimed deposits occasionally crop
up when from time to time calls are
made on banks to pay them. Instances
Of this become public iH sufficient num-
Der to indicate that there is something
in the demand for publicity of these
dormant balances. A few years ago
Glasgow man died and among his pos
sessions was an old desk. This fell to
one of his heirs, and not so long since
a woman connected with the family
was struck with the similarity of this
article to one she had herself, and she
expressed a curiosity as to whether it
had. like her desk, a secret drawer.
Examination was made and. sure
enough, a drawer was found and in it
two deposit receipts for sums aggregat-
inc something over $500. These de-
posts were dated away back between
thirty and forty years and one Of them
was on the City of Glasgow Bank.
They were, Of course, duly presented,
and both were paid with interest. In
an old box with books belonging to a
provincial library there was found a
bank book which must have lain there
for about thirty years. The amount de-
posted was only about S1S, but so long
had the money remained that the inter-
est on that sum amounted to about
$4,000. making total of about $59-not
n despicable sum in these degenerate
days.-Chambers' Journal.