The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1907-12-05
CHARLTON BANK AFFAIR
Will Take Several Years to Wind I'D
the Banks Business and Loss
to DepOsitOrs will be Big.

mas the IOllOW1nS TO say regarding Jne
failure of the First National Bank of
that city:
The Herald editor received letter
from the Comptroller's Office, at Wash
ington, last Sunday, as follows:
Mr.. s. M. Greene,
Dear Sir:-You are advised that
the first report of the receiver
of the First National bank of
Charlton, Iowa, has been received at
this Office. According to this report
the total book value OF all the assets is
$745,503. OF this the receiver esti
mates $434,4 is good; S164,546 is
doubtful and $147.4SS is worthless. The
liabilities Of the bank amount to 81 ,440,-
S33. Cents are omitted in the above
statement.
Respectfully,
f. p. Kane, Deputy and Acting
Comptroller.
From this statement Of the condition
of the bank it will be seen that at least
thirty per cent of the depositors' money
is in sight. The $534, 4,489, which is con-
sidered all good, will shrink consider
ably, no doubt, through payments that
have been made on notes and not re-
corded, etc. But of the S164,546 of
doubtful assets, receiver Bostwick esti-
mates that $80,000, and perhaps more
can be collected. A small amount Of
the worthless paper, it is believed, will
also turn out to be good. In addition
to this the assets that are loans are
still drawing interest, and at six per
cent, which is low estimate, from $12,-
900 to $4,000 per year will be coming
in as interest, until the paper is col
lected.
On the other hand, the $1,440,833
liabilities may increase, and probably
will, from crooked bookkeeping and
obligations not yet found. Receiver
Bostwick and his assistants accomplish
ed tremendous task in going through
every paper and book account in the
bank in little over three weeks, and
time of course will be required to verify
their estimates. The expense of the
permanent receiver will not be large,
as compared with the exaggerated
rumors concerning the matter. Instead
of per cent, the receiver will get a
fixed salary, somewhere from $4,000 to
$4,000 per year, and after the first few
months of work is over, he will require
but one assistant, and not very large
suite of rooms to do business in. The
receivers work cannot last more than
four or five years, and, will probably be
much less. So the greatest possible
cost of closing up the affairs of the
bank will be from $4,000 to S25,0O0.
The interest on invested assets will
much more than Offset the cost Of the
receivership, so it is practically GER
tain that the bank will pay at least 80
cents on the dollar, and probably more.
And to add to the $434 ,469 of sure as
sets, the $4,000 assessment on the cap
ital stock is to be added, making nearly
| $500, 900 in assets to be divided. The
modern Woodman claim is $290,00O in
stead of $350,000 there being 100000 OF
the account found on an old ledger,
which will not be counted in the claim
If this $290,000 claim could be thrown
out or settled so that it would be with
drawn, it would reduce the liabilities
to $1,150,S33, and would guarantee the
depositors over 40 cents on the dollar
Instead of only about $1,060,0O0 OF
liabilities, as was sworn to in August
there is nearly half a million more
And instead of million dollars of as
sets, there is but half that amount in
good paper. The cash reserve in the
Chicago and other exchange banks was
practically exhausted, it now develops
So terrible had been Mr.. Crocker's de.
lnand for money that he forged the
names of his best friends recklessly
and only luck and the faith of the bank.
ing world in his honesty kept him from
being caught before he ended his life
While 30 cents on the dollar looks
like poor start, it is vastly better
than nothing, which many feared il
would be, and business can now settle
down and the work of repairing the
damage begun in earnest.
Comptroller Ridgely ordered full
assessment made on the capital stock OF
the bank this week, and the notices
were served Monday, $4,000 to Mrs
Mallory and Mrs. Tbayer, $1,000 to the
Crocker estate, 81 900 to Alfred Good
win, of Russell, and 81 900 to A. d. Gray
They comprised the list of stockholders
according to the books.
1t has been reported that some Of the
locked safety deposit boxes in the bank
had been rifled by Mr.. Crocker. This
is mistake. Some of the deposit box
es that were not locked had been tam
pered with, however, money having been
collected on some of the notes depos-
tied therein and not paid to the owners
of the notes.
1t seems strange that head banker
McNider, of the Modern Woodmen,
knowing that he had deposited $35O,O0O
in the First National Bank, instead of
loaning it to Mr.. Crocker personally, as
he claims, did not notice the absence of
his immense deposit from the published
statements of the bank, which he
no doubt received, as he is national
banker himself and as he would natural
| ly be interested in the condition of this
bank. Neither the sight deposits nor
the time deposits as published exceed
ed about 100000, and with $3.50, 900 ad-
ded to either of them, or divided be-
tween them, the published statement
should have been greatly increased.
Anyone knowing of the big deposit
would have noticed the discrepancy
long ago, it would seem. There is some
thing queer about the Woodmen de-
posit.
Bank Examiner Shaw concluded his
work as assistant to Receiver Boswick,
last week, and examined the Charlton
National Bank Tuesday and Wednesday
He found it in first class condition.