The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1906-05-25
BANKS In A FIRE CITY
THE PRESSING NEED OF MONEY IN
A STRICKEN COMMUNITY.

Experience of a Chicago Financial
House In 1S71--Greed of Depositors
anu How It Showed ItseIf-An I'm
expected Proposition.
W heneVer great fire devastates a
large city the first effort of those con
cerned with the work of restoration is
70 get the banks open SO that the press.
Ing needs of q homeless population
may be cared for. At such times bust
ness Is done on a strictly cash basis,
and everything sells at a premium.
The consequence is an extraordinary
demand for hand to hand money, since
the merchant can use the poor mans
dollar to better advantage than the
rich mans credit in buying supplies to
replenlsh his fame emptied warehouse.
the struggle that ensues to obtain
all the cash in sight is full of human
interest 1t has its picturesque fea-
lures. On Monday, Oct. 10, 1871, when
all Chicago trudged downtown to see
what was left of the city, great crowds
besieged the banks. Some men were
crying, others talked incoherently, and
everybody seemed half dazed. An Off
Ger OF one of Chicago's greatest banks,
who fought his way through the smol-
derlng embers to the white marble hall
which surrounded his vault, gave the
following description of what occurred:
Although the iron door of the vault
had been somewhat expanded by heat,
found that the combination worked
perfectly. That treasured me, and aft
or hunting about the debris I fished
out one or two iron crowbars and by
Wedging them in finally opened the
vault door. The Enclosure smelled
smoky, but soon found that the cash
was all right, and so were our books.
That made me feel good, and I got
down to work In short order. The first
thing did was to look at the balance
sheet and see what our exact resources
were. A glance showed me that by
collecting what was due from out of
town creditors the bank could pay ey-
erything it owed and declare 10 per
cent dividend besides, even If it lost
every dollar due from its Chicago eli
4
Son leaving the vault saw four men
for me in what had been the
cashiers office. They We're among our
largest depositors, and / knew well
enough what they wanted. They were
OF very different types-one shrewd
money lender who had $4,000 to his
credit on our books, another was
school treasurer in an outlying district
who would have been ruined had we
not been able to pay him $4,000, a
third was an out of town banker with
S15O,000 to the credit Of his institution
In our bank, and the fourth was q man
who has since become one Of Chicago's
greatest capitalists and who had always
professed his sincere friendship for me,
1t was trying ordeal and one calculat-
I'D to make each of my visitors show
the real stuff that was in him. AS
events proved, this did not take long.
'"The little money lender grabbed me
first. With strange little wink he
forced me one side and said in half
whisper, do you know how much I
have in your bank%
Il said, Yes, about 100000
"'Well, | will give you $4,000 if you
will give me the cash right away
"T won't do that said T. Your
money is all right, but you will have to
wait week for it until we get in
shape again.
What he fairly gasped, do you de-
line $4,000? That is good deal OF |
money in a city that has gone to de-
Jtruction'
II answered no, that I would not, |
md told him in plain English what I |
bought of him. said: 7 am not knaye |
'nough to take your bride and give you
N unfair advantage over the other de-
,ositors, and | am not fool enough to
10 1t, because I know as soon as you
discover the bank paid its claims with
n week you would sue me for the
5000. Get out of here right away"
"That was the last of him. He took /
is money when the week was out and
ept clear of the bank after that. Then
he school treasurer came to me with a
Straightforward story of how his bonds
0Sii WNlN 1nA1ouo " hAO" ios aJ
TODD. When I told him that his money
7as safe and that he would not lose
ent he burst into tears, saying the
ews was too good to be true. The out
f town banker was also very nice,
aging that he did not care to with
raw his money SO long as he knew it
yas safe. Then the man who has since
roWn enormously wealthy accosted
le with the remark that he had come
own to see how things stood. That
ave me chance to test him, SO I said
"'You know how things are as well
s do. Can't you see the position we
re inT oh, yes, yes he answered
astily. I don't care about the fire. We
re all in the same fix. But I want to
now how you stand personally. Have
Oh plenty Of ready cash? You cannot
ct credit these days, SO if you need
nythinr from 4ha rrpaaar's Won want