The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-30
Paying OF First DepositOrs Pro
ceeds Without Excitement.
CONTENTED TO WAIT
Feeling That Their Accounts
Are Entirely Safe.
State Banks Agree Not 10 Make
Demands Oh the Columbia.

The banks of Oklahoma City opened
for business at their usual hour with
out a jar, despite the fact that the
biggest bank in Oklahoma operating
under the bank guaranty law. the
Columbia Bank and Trust company,
had been declared insolvent by the
state banking board.
The doors of the defunct bank were
opened by A NJ. Young, the state
bank commissioner, as if it were
ready for the usual days business.
When the doors to the marble en-
trance of the bank swung open fewer
. than one hundred persons were wait
lsng for admittance and ten minutes
bank was easily passable for
pedestrians. At $50 there were
probably $50 depositors in line inside
the bank, and of this number not to
Forty or fifty persons drawn by
curiosity stood on the sidewalk and
watched the scene inside the bank
Business men in motor cars stopped
in the street at intervals and looked
curiously and in some surprise at the
orderly crowd and then proceeded to
their Offices
The one thing that appeared to i'm
press the people most was that there
was no need of hurrying to present
depositor had any protection at all
that protection was just as good
year from this time as 1T would be
at the present moment. This was
contrary to the exciting scenes when
in other days crowds filled the streets
in front of closed banks, the de-
pOsitOrs not knowing when they
would be paid at all. Not the least
doubt was expressed that the state,
through the guaranty deposit fund,
would pay every cent of the banks
obligations. 1t was estimated un-
officially that the total amount due
depositors was about II million dol
lars.
Mrs. L. Matthewson of oklahoma
City was the first person to ask for
withdrawal of deposit. She was paid
Sl20, the fuH amount she had in the
bank. BY 9:37 O'Clock only three de-
positors had been paid, time and care
being required to make proofs of the
claims One of these deposits was for
$1,000.
There Was no Commotion.
There was no commotion in the line
of depOsitors that extended from the
entrance to the paying teller's win
dow. In no instance did an in
divldual appear to be agitated or in
distress. This was as true of the
women as of the men. Practically all
the depositors in line appeared to be
in comfortable circumstances. To
avoid the danger of exposing large
sums of cash in the presence of a
mixed crowd depositors often were
given checks upon local banks for
their accounts.
The statement is made generally
among all classes of business men
that if the state banking board takes
over the affairs of the Columbia Bank
and Trust company, the largest state
paws the depositors in full. the
guaranty deposit law, at least from
the standpoint of the individual de-
positor, will have been vindicated.
amenabIe to the levies of the
--Ssaranty law will be after the affairs
ofSehe defunct bank shall have been
disposed of is a question that may not
be answered at this time.
The most insistent question in
Oklahoma city is what was the par
ticular thing that led the state bank
ing board and the state bank COM
missioner to close the bank. The
overt acts of the officer or officers of
the bank that caused its downfall are
yet a secret. though there are in
Vulnerable stories afioat
KemDcr Is the Man
Bankers in Kansas City and else
where became dissatisfied weeks ago
with the business methods of Presi-
dent Norton and at least one Kansas
CITY bank refused longer to carry the
persons in Oklahoma City were as
tonished when they heard that the
bank was in trouble. Its distress was
closely guarded at home w. T.
Kemper of Kansas City is said to be
the man that dug out the banks in
most secrets. He was invited to come
here by James Menefee, state treas
urer. also a stOckholder in the bank,
and ascertain if possible what could
be done to put the bank sOlidly on its
feet. Kemper bored into the banks
books and his auger brought out a
mass of new information.
This is the second bank failure
since the guaranty deposit law was
International bank of Coalgate was
closed by the bank commissioner be-
cause officers of the bank had made
excessive loans to themselves. The
banks liabilities. about S3S,0O0. were
paid in full. the bank was reorganized
and is now open.
The state banks that have made the
Columbia Bank & Trust company
their Oklahoma reserve agent. have
agreed not to join in the demand of
d depositors. for their deposits. This
reduces the states immediate liability
Fnder the guaranty law s1.3OO.OOO.
If all the banks questionable paper
should prove worthless it is claimed
more than 100000 to pay de-
positors while more than S1.OOO.0O0
for that purpose is now available.
Causes of the Trouble.
Guthrie, Ok, Sept. 30.-While State
Bank Commissioner Young declines
to make a detailed statement as to the
exact status of the Columbia bank and
trust company's funds until a more
thorough investigation has been made.
it is pointed out on official authority
that the crash was chiefly due to
heavy loans and overdrafts. 1t de-
veloDs that among other items $780,