The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-05-26
BOSTON BANKING FIRM
 GOES INTO BANKRUPTCY
SEYENTK-oNE BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES ARE AF-
 FEGTED.

liabilities of Burnett, Cummings & CO.
 s1,7f4,36s While the Assets Are Un-
 certain-Credftors, However, Given to
 Understand That They VIII Not Ex-
 ceed s200, 00,o0O--BuiIding and Finan-
 chg of Street Railways the Cause of
 the Failure.
 Boston, May 25.-Seventy-one banks and trust companies, most Of them in Massachusetts, but several located in various parts of the country, are among the creditors of the banking firm of Burnett. Cummings & Co, of 4s Milk street, this city, which to-day filed voluntary petition in bankruptcy in the United States district court with lia- bilities placed at $1,714,36S The assets are stated to be uncertain. The cred itors have been given to understand that they will not exceed $200,00, if, in- deed. they prove to be of any value whatsoever. The bankruptcy petition is the heaviest ever filed in this dis trict.
 Attorney J. T. Auerbach, counsel for the bankrupt firm, said that the cause of the failure was the building and financing of the Concord & Boston Street Railway company, the Middle boro, Wareham & Buzzards Bay Street Railway company, the Lowell & Bos- ton Street Railway and the Bristol County Railway company. These roads were in thinly settled districts and were unable to make suitable connec- tions with roads running to Boston
 The four companies were placed in the hands of receivers and their notes became valueless. Furthermore, the Massachusetts Securities company's bonds, which were secured by obliga- tions of the railways lost value and en- tailed losses upon the firm. Lawyer Auerbach stated also that the buying of the Hampden Trust company of Springfield. and of the Taunton Safe Deposit and Trust company of Taun- ton, both of which, unknown to the firm. were in serious financial straits and which were placed in the hands of receivers, hastened the firms financial embarrassment. The refusal of the ex- tension of credit by banks then, made a continuance in business impossible.
 The secured creditors number 87 and the unsecured S1. There are 32 Massa- chusetts savings banks in the list of creditorss and thirteen Massachusett National banks. It is understood that the securities given the banks for their loans were bonds of the Massachusetts Securities company which, in turn, were secured by notes of the bankrupt electric railways. The largest unsecur- ed claim is that of the Worcester Five Cent Savings bank, Worcester, for $S0 600. Other banking institutions credit ors are the Danvers Savings bank of Danvers for $26,721; the Millbury Saw ings bank of Millbury for $26, ,660 and the International Trust company of Boston for $44, ,495. All these claims are in the secured list. Among the other larger claims, most of them unsecured, are: The Lynn Five Cent Savings bank, Lynn, $21, 1899; the National Bank of the Republic, Providence, R. l., $17, ,000; City Savings Bank, Providence, R. T., s20, I'll; Brockton Savings bank, Brock ton, $11,121; Amherst Five Cents Saw ings bank. Amherst, S21,776, and the Crocker Institution for Savings Tur- ner's Falls, Mass, 4,158.
 Among the western institutions af- fected are: The Chicago Savings bank, Chicago, $3,039; the State Savings bank, Ann Arbor, Mich, S1,345; the western Trust and Savings bank, Chicago, $11,- 896; For Dearborn National bank, Chi cago s7.S6S. and the State bank of Chicago, Chicago, $1,425.
 The firm of Burnett, Cummings & Go, is composed of Archie c. Burnett and Charles s. Cummings, 2d. The firm has been in business three years and a half, succeeding the firm of c. S. Cum mings & Co.
 In connection with the bankruptcy petition the state savings bank commits sioner said this afternoon that so far as their Investigations had gone, the sav- ings banks which had loaned money upon the Massachusetts Securities bonds had not violated any laws.
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