The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-21

Franrx M r.raaInan. the son, had pur- lrhaass . controliinr interest in the com psny and had two tools, w ". na.n a. shaw and F. B. McMullen, as tsasu .ss.. '. and vice-president, began the ,.t hs of the cornpany's notes without author lfxafion. They were issued to an extent 1 he said. of almost s300,0o0, and nearly | all of them were discounted py the Creelman Interests. Bankruplcy Loi- lowed. and Smith is now fighting the payments of the notes, wnlch, ne u ciares, Creelman promised to take up before February 15.
 l As recently as January 5, Cnlcago saw the result of Creelman's work. The Johnson and Knox Lumber Com. pany with ofices m the Chamber or | lCommerce went to the wall because or notes which were outstanding against lit Oficers of the defunct corporation last evening declared that these notes Ihad bee,, given to Creelman as advance oavment on timber which he had con I tracted for with them and which ne said was piled ready for them They said they found that he had no sucn supply of lumber as he stated, they could not fill their orders, business died. and they went to the wall.
 Finds Lumber Below Grade. Another company, the W and B Hardwood Lumber Company. had an lexperience with Creelman which, it IS now declared, the company regrets. A tconfract was made whereby he was to | furnish the concern certain grade or lumber, and after the company had received 1t, 1t found that II was or liar inferior sort, and pore the loss rather than to make public the facts. but all bushes relations with the man Iwere cut off from that time
 Still another. the W. R. Tucker Com pany. came in contact with Creeiman. and although MT. Tucker refused to discuss the case. other lumbermen declared that after the experience CreeIman was threatened with expos ure and bought the concern out at loss.
 | Last year Mir. CreeIman secured con | trol of the Kratz Manufacturing Com pany, of New Orleans. and organized the F. E. Crcelman Lumber Company of Cairo, Ill, the Florida Lumber Com lpany, of Montgomery, Ala, and the Melville Box and Lumber Company. of Melville, La. All the stock was prac- Itically owned by himself and he planned a large bond issue which he Hailed to float. This put his affairs Tn a bad way, and, lumbernen think, led to the troubles of the John M smith Icompanx.
 Thrown Into Bankruptcy.
 A crisis arose on Thursday, when MT lCreelman suspended payment or the lcompany's debts and a petition Of in Ivoluntary bankruptcy was filed aSainst Ihim at Urbana, III. The petitioners were the City National a-.d the Enter prise Savings banks of Cairo, and Att ttorney Paul Moves, of Chicago. Their lplea was granted and D. s. Lansden, lof the firm of Lansden and Leak. of lCairo, was appointed receiver.
 | Almost at the same time similar Ipetition was granted at Montgomery IzAk ff Merchants and Planters National
 Bank of that city, was appointed an- Icillary receiver Petitions also will be made at New Orleans and St. Louis and perhaps in Arkansas and Mississippi, las the company owns property in those loities and States.
 With this apparent severe check on This operations, banks which hold his paper throughout the country have be- lgun to worry. This Is caused partly by a conclusion that he was intending to widen his field of work when the fatI- lure of the Bank of America brought Ihim up with a sudden stop. The banks
 which have suffered the most, 1t is lsaid, are country institutions, espec- liaIly the Defiance City bank of De- fiance, O., in which he holds $20,00O
 worth of stock. e
 Where the Smith Paper Is.
 The fictitious Smith paper which was
 floated, Mr. Creelman declares, does
 not amount to much more than $100.00O
 and it is said $50.000 of that is in the
 Oriental National Bank of New York
 and $40,000 in the Fourth National
 Bank of St. Louis. Still another $17,00C lis in the collapsed Bank of America
 where 1t was placed by Frank Creel-
 man. The dificulty of finding bankers who would accept such paper Is said to have been the cause of Creelman'l ha a hank a Dickson, Tenn, which never was put into operation, as he lacked some capi' tai.
 The Chicago banks. from the largest
 which at first he dealt with to tht
 least, which finally refused him credit
 have had several narrow escapes from
 being pinched by his schemes. One ac'
 cepted more than $10o,000 worth of hi: paper. and barely scrambled out with . out loss, one of the directors whC . brought in Creelman's business being 7 required to help make good the short , age. On another he unloaded lot ol Ithe Johnson and Knox paper, but 1t re ceived warning in time. and he wal lcoml oled to liquidate the obligation |, and withdraw his account.
 Buys Stock in America Bank. With part of the funds which ht realized from the discount of the John , son and Knox notes, Creelman pur' ! chased 25O shares of stock in the Banl of America for s50,000, thus becoming its principal stockholder He came ex
 tremely near to being shown up to thi public between the failures of tn, Johnson Knox Company and the JohI , M. Smith Company. When the formel concern went to the wall. CreelmaT
 was threatened with exposure in con
 nection with notes to the extent O
 $25, ,00O, which 1t was demanded h, , should make good. He promised tc square the deal. but had not when
 week later the Smith company failed
 Then he was compelled to sell hIi stock in this concern for $17,O00, witt (which amount he partly satisfied tn, demand of the Johnson Knox people. ;