New-York tribune., 1910-12-28
CLOSES DOORS OF
northern BANK
State Seizes institution with
Nine Branches and Deposits
of S7,C0O.0OO.
FRAUDS ARE SAID TO ABOUND
Joseph G. Robin, Blamed for Ir-
regularities, Pronounced a
Paranoiac and Put In
an Asylum.

The Northern Bank, Of New YorA
with it's main Office at No. 21j West
125th street. and nine branches in VA
rious parts OF the city, with deposits OF
nearly S1.OOO,OOO. was seized yesterday
by the state Superintendent of BankS
and its doors were closed to business.
A notice TO that effect was posted at
the Harlem Bank and its branches prior'
to the beginning of banding hours yes4
terday morning. and as the repor0
spread an excited crowd of depositorA
gathered to demand their money at all
the institutions.
The closing of the bank was the resuiu
of Investigations by both the State
ments which. according TO the authori<
ties disclosed such a fragrant state Oh
Irregularities in banking methods an6
in the financing of several insurance.
traction and realty companies controlle0
by Joseph @. Robin. who owned a con~
trolling interest in the Northern Bank
that criminal prosecution will follow
Robin was recently adjudsed insana
bv several well known alienists and a
was obtained from Justices
Amer on Monday on the application o1
men oers of his family He was taken
Yesterday to the private sanatorium on
Mr.. Carlos F. Macdonald at Central Fay~
ley. n. Y. Robin had been i'll at his
home in this city for several days. andt
on one or two occasions recently nad'
attempted to take his own life. II Was
said. .
William II. Hotchkiss. Superintendenr
of the state Insurance Department. and
Joseph A. Broderick. an examiner in the
office of the Superintendent of BANKING
called on District Attorney Whitman
Yesterday and presented a large volune
of evidence of Robins alleged nnan-t
cierinx irregularities Mr.. Whitman sa1da
afterward that he was getting the facts
in the case together for presentation 10
the grand jury at the opening OF the
January term
insanity No Bar to Indictment.
The fact that Robin had been come
mitted 10 an asylum as insane would not
fnteI1eVe WIFI HIS llitIClfliDA-- Eo.
said. Or sed the evidence warranted it :
He could :. tried on any charge broush1
a against him If he should be cured of hiss
mental illness. 1t was explained 1t was
reported that several officials of the bank;
were implicated in the evidence present.
ed to the District Attorney. and thaci
indictments of them also were likely to
result from the grand jury investigation
Robin is a director of the bank. but his
name is not on the list of officers or
directors of some of the various corpora.
tions which, according to Superintendent
Hotchkiss, he controlled and most of
which are housed in offices on the eighth
floor of the Times building :
Subpoenas were issued yesterday by
the District Attorney for a number OF
witnesses to attend the grand jury'sl
opening session. on January 8, when ID
will start probing the Northern Bank
,ase. Superintendent Hotchkiss's inter-i
est in the case centres in n number OF
loans to and from the bank by the.
various companies In which Robin wasi
Interested. particularly the E,tna Indem-t
nifty Company, of Hartford. Conn with
us 1l6lIl OlllCc f-l -NV- 10 w iAl4d4A StAcOl,f
In this city, of which former Superin-i
tendent of Insurance Otto Kelsey is
president The District Attorney stated
ast night that nothing had been dis
closed, however. to make any Insurance.
company official criminally liable
When Superintendent Hotchkiss.
learned yesterday that Robin had been,
committed TO an asylum he was much
ncensed because. as he said. the bank
officials had known for several DAYS that
he was going to take the matter to the
District Attorneys office. He said that
of the Northern Sank
had come TO him three or four days ago
and asked him to wait until after the
Christmas holidays before presenting.
he matter TO the criminal authorities.
Deal with James G. Cannon.
Mr.. Hotchkiss said that he understood
hat James G.. Cannon. president OF the
Fourth National Bank. and his asso-
,iates were contemplating a purchase of
he Northern Bank, and that matters
eight be Strengthened out so that the
bank would be saved and the interests
II the depositors protected He COM
,Iied with the request of the bank rep
-esentatives on that account. he said
When asked about this last night Mr.
Cannon said IL was true that he and his
trends intended To buy the Northern
sank, but he added that when they
-ound out its condition they declined 10
AXE the institution
Mr. Cannon said that he had no nego-
fation with Joseph c. Robin. but he re-
used to disclose the Identity OF the per-
sons with whom the negotiations were
Mr. Hotchkiss thought IL most remark
,ble for Mr. Robin to become mentally
unbalanced Just at the time when the
state officers prepared to take action and
proceedings were threatened
This is a close parallel of the Morse
,ase." Mr. Hotchkiss said. I'VE have
,een after Robin since December 10. ana
would have had an Indictment ready for
aim to-day IL his friends had not got
him committed TO an asylum. II ROBIN
8 insane his insanity would be a re-
narkably good investment for sonne
financial concerns. The juggling of this
Institution took place within the last
week. He knew we were after him a.
he whole investigation started from this