The Redwood gazette., 1901-06-19
THE GRONNERUD FAILURE.
People of Renvilie County are Wild Over
the Loss of Money.
Re7,pille Record.

into state OF great excitement last
week BY the report that Hans Gron-.
nerud Of Olivia and Beaver Falls
had filed a petition in bankruptcy.
| The news seemed incredible at first
but it was soon found that every in
dication pointed to the truth OF the.
. runor. The news came as a thun-
/ lderbolt to any number OF people,
and Olivia was soon crowded With
people financially interested trying
to find out the real situation. But
the more inquiries we're made the.
more mysterious the situation be-
came. Hans left Olivia a couple Of
weeks ago and his whereabouts are
unknown, to the public at least.
His Beaver Falls bank has been
closed and his land and his interest
in the Olivia State Bank have been
assigned to D. D, Cheney of Sparta,
Wis, for whom he has loaned money
in this county for years. It was
! further declared that petition in
bankruptcy had been filed in Man
kato with assets nothing and liabili-
ties upwards of $500, 900. AS these
facts, if they prove to be true, be-
come generally known the excite
ment will become intense. The
failure of Gronnerud means fnan-
cial loss to people in every part OF
the county. He has been in busi-
ness in the county for more than 80
wears and has been implicitly trust
ed by farmers and business men.
In the southern part of the county,
especially in Birch Coulee township,
there are many people who have
placed all their savings for years
in the hands of Gronnerud through
l deposits in his bank and there seems
to be a good chance of their losing
all their savings. But there is a
worse feature to the case than this.
which will make this failure the
most disastrous ever known in the
county. Gronnerud's S investments
have been almost entirely in Ren-
vile county farm loans. He has
placed loans on farms all through the
county and the sum of the mort
: cages taken by himself and as al
; agent for D. D. Cheney amount tc
many thousands of dollars. Many
of those mortgages have been paie
and no satisfaction given or the sat
: isfaction given has been improperly
: signed and the notes not turned
over. Money has been paid, it is
said, as interest and there is moth
ing to show for it. At the time O
Gronnerud S sickness last year, hi:
death would have been regarded a:
a public calamity because Of th'
careless business methods he hat
always pursued. Scores of innocen
people would have lost their farms
and money because they had no evi
dence but Gronnerud S memory o
their transactions with him. Tn
same will hold true to-day of an as
signment on his part Large sum
of money paid in are not to be &C
counted for and the people wors
hit, are those, in many cases, VIII
can least afford it.
''No one can explain the reasol
for the smash up. There is some
thing mysterious about it. Ugl.
rumors are floating and all add t
the excitement of the situation Th
general belief is that there is some
thing radically wrong somewher
but no one is able to locate it exact
ly. Has Gronnerud left, never t
return, with a big Wad of money, o
has he lost his fortune througl
some ones dishonesty? That is th
question asked on every hand
), There is no plain reason known t
outsiders why Gronnerud shoul,
fail. He has not speculated rashI,
e or lost money in any big deal as ia
as anyone knows. He has alway
invested his wealth in Renvill
: county real estate and his land hold
ings, most of them secured Whel
land was very low, have been nee
essarily profitable. On farm loan
he has always secured good rate
of interest. Much of the money b
has handled was D. D. Cheney
with whom he has been associate,
|. |. since the early days. Cheney claim
( i IAI1 L 4.