The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1910-04-09
PLAYED THE STRING OUT
President Smith of Defunct Banl
Uses Above Expression In
Interview at Reno

In q news understanding the failure
Of the Eureka County Bank, the Reno
Gazette Of April 2 concludes IL with the
following interview with Oscar ]. Smith,
president Of the bank:
o. ]. Smith was seen by a Gazette
representative this morning and was
given the nrst interview that has Al
peared since the failure. Mr.. Smith
has perceptibly aged during the past 10
days and he has assumed . more serious
aspect than his wont, but he is philo.
sophie through IL all. He said:
my brother, my wife and / were in
apparently prosperous circumstances
before the crash came, but we played
out our hands to the last card. or, as q
billiard devotee would say, to the end
OF the string.
I'VE did not really. know that the
crash would come until the night before
the suspension Of the Rhyolite institu-
ton. It would have been better for our
depositors and for ourselves II we had
wound up our banking business months
ago, but we had investments that were
liable to prove Of great value at any
moment.
THAT is all there is to the story. and
we have all three placed what fortune
we possess back Of the in situations. Mrs.
Smith will possess absolutely nothing
more than the equity in her house, and
1 will have my law library, the tools Of
my trade; Bert will emerge equally
stripped of his possessions.
II am confident that the Rhyolite
bank will pay every oent of it's indebted
ness, and am assured that the Eureka
institution will do equally as well. My
brother and I will not only surrender
all our present assets. but we will labor
for the balance OF our days to the end
that no man q say we ever took i'd
vantage of them to the extent Of q frac-
tion of q cent.
I'VE have q lease ct Pioneer, oil lands
in Southern California and other prop
critics, any one Of which should pull out.
not only the banks. but ourselves. and
that within q very few months.
1.-THE affairs of the banks will be
closed up without any expense other
than that which is absolutely necessary.
"The failure was due to our invest
ments. particularly in southern Nevada.
many of which proved disastrous. We
worked in the face of innumerable OBJ
s~tacles, the first being the San Francisco
fire, which caused q shrinkage in our
securities amounting to half a million
dollars. The fall in the price Of our
Goldfeld holdings. due to the labor
troubles there. caught MS for o couple OF
hundred thousand dollars more, and the
great panic completed the disaster. Since
that we have struggled to get our heads
above water, and l think we should have
succeeded in time. But the crash has
come now and all we will do the rest Of
our days. If it requires our remaining
years, will be to make everybody square,,
and this will, we hope. require only q
few months. Then, and only then. We
will endeavor to repair q individual
fortunes.
IT want to say this, that I Am in close
touch with the banking institutions
throughout the State and all Of them are
in a most prosperous condition. es-
pecially those Of Reno, which are as
strong as the rock Of Gibraltar. The
First National Bank of Elko. with
which my brother and myself were once
prominently connected. is as solvent as
any other banking institution In Ne
vada. The Bank Of Manhattan, which
we controlled, has been liquidated with.
ont loss to q single individual. Nearly
all accounts have been paid, and there
is more than enough gold coin in the
vents to pay everything that remains,
aud then some"