The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1905-06-03
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100000 has been discovered at our

s1,ooo,o00 has been discovered at our
| bank
who IS guilty?" was finally asked.
Frank G. Bigelow," responded
I Pfster, impresstTe7y.
The directors were literally struck
speeches. for a. moment. Then sew
eral expressed disbelief. and asked
what proof exlstetl
MIR. BigeloW has confessed te me
himself" declared Phster. .He says
his shortage is 100000
A meeting Of the directors, with
President Bigel=sW present, was hastily
arranged The defaulter seemed re-
| Iieved BY the discovery. and appeared
before the directors and calmly spoke
his confession.
Another story has it that William
Bigelow, WIGS president Of the looted
bank, and brather Of the defau1ter, ex-
posed the shortage. although at the
time lie suspected other officials of the
bank instead Of his brother.
Bankers Save the Day,
When the extent of the defa7eatfon
became known, naturally a rszn was
started On tbs hank and to meet the
emergency eszsd restore confidence,
more than s10,0Oo,ooo in actual
money was raised within two Gays to
stop the run of frightened degositors
and save the greatest bank of E[ilwau-
kee from being swept from existence
The panic was stopped by the gormid-
able array Of money, but to accomplish
this there was the most remarkable
rapid assem- bling of cash in decades.
Chicago bankers contributed $1,000
600 of the total, the metropolitan fnan-
ciers being first to go to the rescue of
their imperi1ed brothers of Milwaukee.
Another million was furnished by
the Milwaukee. clearing house. In adj
dition the other banks of Milwaukee
called in S2,000,000 Of their reserve
funds for emergency purposes.
The II directors of the robbed bank
contributed total of 81, 635, 900 by per-.
sonal pledges from their private for
tunes, which aggregated more than
$4,000. GOO
Only last September in addressing the
American Bankers association in the
Waldorf-Astoria. New York city, Bank
er Bige1oW, who at that time was
looked upon as one of the lights and
authorities of the banking world, said:
However much prejudice there may
appear to be at times against bankers,
our business is of the utmost useful
ness and Importance and the right pur-
suit of it, in its broader and better as
poets, requires all the courage and all
the conservatism we can demand.
Then he recited Robert Louis Stew
enson's prayer:
To be honest, to be kind; to earn a little
and to spend little less to renounce when
that shall be necessary. and not to be en-
FILTERED; to keep a few friends, but those |
without capituiation; above all, on the same
grim condition to keep friends with himself
here is a task for all that man has OF
fortitude and aelicaey.
To-day he stands se1f-confessed to
having done all that his utterances Of |
last year forbade.
Then he quoted the old lines:
Our little systems have their day;
Trey have their day ard cease to be.
Now for the Reckoning.
His system has had Its day and
come to the full light Of the laW-he
before the bar of justice: at home, q
wet-eyed wife; on the streets. dishon- !
ored friends; in the distance. the gates
ajar Of a prison.
a Friends Testimony.
Yet in his darkest hour 8 friend
writes Of him:
ne was a humanitarian Of the
broadest type. He has made more
young business men than any man in +
the middle west. He loved young men.
He loved children. Never yet have I
heard Of a worthy young man il bust
ness traune being turned ava By
him