The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-04-27
SENTENCE OF DUNNING

SlNIlNCL VI DUIvlyINu
Remarks of Judge Evans in Passing
Sentence on Mt. Ayr Banker for
Fraudulent Banking.
We present herewith to our readers
the remarks of Judge H. K. Evans. in
passing sentence on Day Dunning, the
convicted Mt. Ayr banker, which in
view of the fact there are two former
Decatur county bankers now under in
dictnent in this county for fraudulent
banking, will be of unusual interest to
the people of Decatur county. Judge
Evans had taken time to prepare his re-
marks which he read as follows:
"This case like every other which I'M
wolves the liberty OF a citizen is of
much Importance. The court having
passed on the motion for a new trial
and overruled the same, it now becomes
the duty of the court to pronounce
Judgment on the verdict. The court
has considered the matter of sentence
in this case and the kind of punishment
Oudu SllOulu OC duLulAlcCOTSuS III CdSC d
new trial was not granted, almost every
of this court in February. The court
heard all the evidence and had in gen
eral way known the defendant, and
known of him, for many years, and this
court never had and never expects to
give more careful and painstaking labor
to the matter of punishment than has
been given to this case. The court
knows that it is not prejudiced against
the defendant. The court would be
only too glad to give the defendant a
nominal sentence if it was justified by
the facts and the law. But what are
the facts?
"The evidence is that this man had
about S4S7, 900 as a general balance, as
shown by his books, and $411 900 of this
amount was deposits. This is verv
large sum of money, and the evidence
on the trial discloses that all the money
he had belonged to the creditors, either
as depositors of the bank, or as general
credits of Day Dunning, and the evil
dence disclosed that Mr.. Dunning was
in fact perfectly insolvent.
"The relation of banks to the public
is important; they are the repositories
very largely of the poor and well-to-do.
The rich are often the owners of the
banks, but are seldom depositors. Men
of wealth use their money in business
enterprises or loan it under their own
direction, and do not, as rule, become
.depositors to any considerable extent.
So that banks for the reason stated are
in their relations to the public trustees
in sense to their depositors who do
not feel capable of making investments
on their own account. The class of de-
positors they have are very largely
made up of persons who do not investi-
gate the financial condition of the insti-
tuition in which they place their funds,
but simply for the reason that it is call
ed bank they assume that it has large
resources and is financially sound. 1t
may be urged that it is the duty of one
who has money to deposit to investigate,
but we must accept conditions as we
find them, and we all know that deposit
ors in general do not investigate, and
we also know that the majority could
not know much of the actual condition
of bank in which they were deposit
ors. This very condition, we'll known
to all, places a greater burden and re-
quires more faithful administration Of
this public trust devolved on bankers,
and the state has demanded, and has a
right to demand, that persons assuming
this important place in the business
economy of the state shall be held to a
high degree of responsibility and a
strict accountability for the faithful
performance of their duty under the
law.
1t may be argued that the defendant
has been good citizen and has lived,
up to the time of this difficulty, an up
right life. That he was we'll regarded
by all and deemed good citizen, and SO
far as the evidence goes, this may all be
true, but these very things, and the
good reputation he sustained, is the
reason he had such large sum of
money belonging to the citizens of the
county. The good name he possessed
was his stock in trade and was the
means of attracting large sums to his
bank. And in almost every case where
bank fails for any considerable sum
the reputation of the manager or owner
of the bank is good and he stands high
socially. Men do not put their money
into the hands Of men of bad reputation
for honesty, morality or sobriety, so the
argument WHICH COulQ Do OHefeu 1Or Cne
defendant as to his good name might be
offered with equal force in most cases OF
this kind. Had he been a man with a
reputation or character known or be.
lieved to be bad, or even the subject OF
debate, the public would not have trust
ed him with nearly S411,000 of their
wealth. 1t has been claimed that there
was no evidence Of forgery or manipu.
lation of the books, or board of trade
speculation, and that the money was
lost in bad loans, and yet many things
in the operation Of this bank are and
ought to be severely censured.
First: 1.-The defendant engaged in q
number of enterprises, using the money
1 from the bank in these enterprises
Among others w.re, The Lesan STOCK
Farm venture; the 'Edie ock-feedine
deal, the hardware store at Omaha; the
Hickman Scale company of Des Moines
and the Louisiana plantation. He made
these investments either on his own ac
count as promoter or partner, or loanet
the money to buy steam threshers
Ishredders, feed cookers, gasoline en-