The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-06
MONEY IN BANK VAULTS
THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN
CALLED FOR
DEPOSITS BECOME DORMANT
Some Time People Put Money Away
Under n Fictitious Name,
and Death Hides the
Secret.

A story is told in the city Of London
Of a bank which has been established
more than half a century. On the first
day that 1t opened its doors a gentleman
walked In and deposited 81, 900, and there
st has remained ever since. having been
neither added to nor taken from, but
simply remaining dormant, for the space
of fifty years.
That a similar thing has happened thou
sands of times is beyond all doubt or
question. And this is true, not Of money
alone, but of plate. jewels, scrip, deeds.
portable valuables of all kinds. Deep In
bank vaults in England lie many boxes
and packages, some deposited by mill
tary officers during the Indian mutiny
some by French refugees who fled thence
FOR safety, some by noblemen called
abroad never to return. In ireland there
are stu numbers Of such relics Of the
Rebellion, notwithstanding that many
have been recovered from time to time
? An Irish peer once heard in Melbourne,
of all places in the world, of the exist
ence of quantity of silver plate in
Dublin bank where 1t had been deposited
by relation early in the present cen
fury and forgotten. He recovered it
ne put in his claim the bankers kept ST.
lent as to their custodianship
n II is not difficult to see how deposits
sometimes become dormant. says the
New York Press. Sudden deaths, dying
intestate, habits of secrecy, fleeing the
country-these and many other causes
operate to leave accounts, as well as
plate, jewels, etc, in the hands of bank
ers An important factor in the mat
ter is the common practice of making
deposits in assumed names-a practice
edOpted for a multitude of reasons. The
maximum balance allowed in most saw
}ngs banks is so small that it is fire.
quently resorted to by people who can
bot bring themselves to trust their
money elsewhere. Rather than
purchase stock or otherwise invest their
eapital, they prefer to open a second
recount in another name. In the case
bf ordinary banks the possibility of fail
pre, the lodging of the inland revenue
commissioners, mere ecCentricity, and so
forth, impel persons not to put all their
eggs in one basket. A certain man who
bied intestate was found to have large
buns to his credit at no fewer than five
banks
Some folk never bank a penny in their
pwn names. Whatever their reason may
be. the fact remains that from the time
they first become possessed of a pass
book till they make their last deposit
they are known to tellers by cognomens
which are not theirs by right. And these
adopted names are, many Of them, of
such nature that they are palpably ffc-
htious.
As an actual instance, take tx. N. Pep
perm full King Napoleon Pepper.
That is obviously derived from Cayenne
pepper. of which, indeed 1t is only a
phonetic rendering, but 1t nome the less
stood for a considerable time on the
books-of a well known bank. 1t was an
alias of a certain chem st, who shortly
before his death gave his wife a note,
signed OK. N. Pepper authorizing her
to draw his money from that bank. Until
then she was ignorant of the existence
of the account. The corporation holding
the fund refused to give 1t up, on the
ground of insufficient evidence of the
3" Identity of the deposltor but an appeal
to the law resulted in favor of the widow,
who. however. had as a consequence Of
her husbands eccentricity to pay her
own costs.
If *. N. Pepper strikes you as an ex-
Cepuonally patent fabrication, I can only
say that an unquestionable authority as
Sured me that the books of any large
bank will furnish more remarkable ex-
amples.
There is always the possibility that
where there are two accounts of the
same nature one will be overlooked. That
is a common form Of error, and is doubt
less responsible for much money lying I'M
claimed.
Nearly thirty yeras ago a Scottish mar
iner, who traded between Bombay and
Calcutta, left money in both places. His
family received the fund in one town, but
not that in the other. This was left lying
dormant for 20 years when it was re-
covered. The agent who had taken up
the matter called upon the lawyer who
had conducted the usual negotiations and
told him Of his success, remarking that
there would be $500 more for the widow
"Oh! man, we've received the money"
% said the legal gentleman, scornfully.
mo, you haven't" returned the agent
The Scot insisted that they had all that
was due to the deceased, nor would he
give way till he heard that the Bombay
fund alone had been received, and that
there was still another account in Cal
cutta Then he subsidized; and eventually
the widow was enriched by about G4C0.
In the same manner, perhaps. NAV tbe
next-of-kn Of a depositor overlook
fund. daughter may know that her
mother has money in the savings bank
and after her death may find the deposit
book. That accomplished she searches mo
more, the thought never crossing her
mind that there may be another book
And so 1t Is that the money Is lost.
Should 1t happen, however, that one of
these institutions is wound up, then the
existence Of an unclaimed fund sometimes
becomes known to outsiders More than
that, 1t may be recovered If it stands in a
real name. But what if it was deposited
under an alias? A man might without
exposing himself to the accusation of he
ing reckless, pay 90 cents on the dollar
for 1t, and take the risk Of somebody
coming forward and proving his title to