The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-11-21

Boston, Nov. 15.-"Closed by order OF
the Comptroller of the Currency. w. f,
Neal, Receiver"
white paper, and pasted on the glass {
the door of the Central National bank,
al Devonshire street, was the first init
nation that a large number of its de-
positors had that the bank had gone in
to the hands of the receiver. The sign
first drew two or three men, and the
sight of them standing on the short
flight of steps leading to the entrance
of the bank soon attracted many others
until there was quite good-sized crowd
around the entrance to the bank dis
cussing the why's and wherefores OF the
banks closing
The action by Comptroller Ridgelcy
was taken upon application of Bank En-
aminer Neal, and he was appointed the
receiver, for the present at least. Mr..
Meals action in notifying the comptrOl-
Ter of the currency was not taken until
after the clearing house committee ad
taken action refusing to extend aid to
the bank
To financial men as a rule the closing
of the bank came as big surprise be-
cause of the general knowledge that
only recently an arrangement had been
trade whereby the Eliot National bank
was to liquidate the deposits of the Cen
trail National bank and the stOckhold-
ers were to appoint a committee to liq
uidate the assets, meeting of the
stockholders having been called for Dec.
10, for the purpose of approving plans
for the liquidation. The reason that
the Eliot bank was unwilling to as.
sumo the liquidation of the deposits of
the Central bank is said to have been
due to the fact that President Burrage
and his board of directors of the Eliot
bank refused to accept the assets of the
Central bank as security for any
guarantee of the S2,700,OOO deposits.
Therefore this method of liquidation
had to be abandoned.
AS a result of this refusal by the
Eliot bank the stock of the Central
bank began to decline and on Wednes-
day last it sold by auction at $50 a
share-a decline of Is points. This fact
resulted in an abnormal demand upon
the bank by the depositors. Seeing
that the bank needed assistance, the
Eliot bank came to it's rescue in a meas
ure, by purchasing substantial amount
of the good notes of the Central bank.
This purchase was made so as to allow
the Central bank to protect itself in
the large withdrawal of deposits that
resulted from the decline of the stock. |
The matter next came to the atten- |
ton of the clearing house, and after
a consultation with Bank Examiner
Neal and the comptroller, it was de. |
ctded to have the bank placed in the
hands of receiver and have him liuui. |
date the assets. This turn of affairs !
will surprise nearly every one, as the |
Central had good commercial patronage |
md was supposed to be financially |
strong.
The condition of the bank is under
stood to be due to three causes. First
here is a considerable amount of ex-
:ess loans. Second, large amount of
)aper which can be realized upon
slowly, though it may be good ulu-
nately. Third, the bank has never
'een able to overcome the blow it re-
eived at the time of the failure IF the
'acific National bank in 1SS2-2O years
go. 1t was quite heavily involved
With the Pacific bank in the failure of
he Lebanon Springs railroad-now a
art Of the Rutland railroad-and when
he Pacific bank failed the stockholders
f the Central bank were assessed 100
ercent ($500,000) and no dividends
we're paid until 1885.
The bank was involved in the Leban-
n Springs company failure to the ex-
ent of about S350,OOO, and ever since
has been charging off its profits to
educe this bad debt. 1t is believed
hat the bank has more recently been
in the loaning of its funds.
he book value of its stock, according
D the last report to the comptroller,
ept. Is, figures $14592 per share.
Student Accidentally Killed