The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1911-10-18
MORE THAN 100000
IN SAVINGS BANKS
"Dormant" Accounts Whose
Owners Have Not Been
Heard From For Years.
ORE than 100000 is lying
in the savings banks of New
X' York city in what banking
ooonlo coil s6orrnonf ap.

OANO luuA rAsOOOsOOV - AJAA6 |
in the savings banks of New
IN York city in what banking
people call dormant &C.
counts'-that Is, accounts to which
nothing has been added and from
which nothing has been withdrawn for
many years. But the depositor in each
case is liable to appear any day and
demand it.
Some of these dormant accounts are
more than seventy years old, none Is
less than twenty-five, and what to. do
with such deposits has been a puzzle
ever since savings banks were first es-
tablished in this city more than eighty
three years ago.
Money at 4 per cent interest per an
mum doubles itself in about eighteen
years, and as 4 per cent Is the average
ate paid by the savings banks in New
York it will be seer that the 'unclaim-
ed money or dormant accounts, unless
checked, would pile up enormously in
the course of time and become such
q burden that the banks might col
lapse under it. Accordingly the legis-
lature limited the period during which
interest must be paid on dormant &C.
counts. At first the limit vas fixed at
twenty years, but later was extended
to twenty-five years.
What They Represent.
Most of these sleeping accounts were
originally sums Of only S. or $40, flag
ends Of accounts which nee were &C.
tive. The n perhaps had left
these small balances simply to keep
their accounts open and finally perhaps
forgot all about them.
But many Of the accounts represent
money deposited by some emigrant
who later probably went to some other
section Of the country and, unable to
write, had never again got in commu-
nication with the bank.
Several Of the deposits were made by
men for the benefit Of some child or
other person. while a number Of others
represent the savings of s~eafar1ng men
who had sailed away and for some
reason returned.
Year after year efforts have been
made to cause the passage of SOM
measure providing that after a certain
lapse Of time the funds should revert
to the state. The prompters Of such
legislation, the bankers assert, want to
see the money so disposed that they
could trump up claims to 1t.
Under the law the savings banks are
required to report to the state bank
ing department every dormant account,
but the amount of each Is not given.
because If it were INSCRIPTIONS law-
yers might overwhelm the banks with
fictitious claims to the larger amounts.
Hunt For Owners or Heirs.
Banks do not want dormant &C.
counts. Most Of them employ clerks
or agents to hunt up the owners of
heirs. Often when the owner has been
found the searcher has been CURLY told
by him that he knew all about the ac-
count and he didn't thank the bank for
troubling about it.
1--WE usually said one of these
searchers, "look up the depositor in
the old directories and go to the house
where he resided at that time. If he
is dead we inquire as to his relatives
If he has moved out Of town we To-
cate, as nearly as possible, the section
into which he moved, and then we ad
vertise for him or his heirs. Soone,
or later we find some n who has 8
claim to the money.
zone day q woman walked in ant
presented an old bank book, saying
that her husband had died in Panama
leaving her without mean beyond hi:
deposit of $1,000. The total, will
interest, was $4,000. She got thu
money.
1.-THE other day a bank book came t.
us from Scotland with a dormant &C
count Of about forty years standing
We had worked on that case for sew
eral years before we found u de
positor. He was a wealthy man il
Scotland. We find them In Scotland
England, Ireland, Germany, Franc
and Italy"
Some Unclaimed Moneys.
Among some Of the moneys unclaim
ed Is $4,000 belonging to the heirs o
stefano Belmonte and his wife, Lydia
It is known that Stefano Belmont
was married in Maine prior to 1873
and that a daughter, Marie, was Dor
there Aug. Is, 1881. A record hi
been found Of this daughters baptisr
In the Catholic church In. 1855, a
which time her parents, 1t Is believed
were dead. The money has been VI
claimed for about twenty years. Som
of the heirs, it Is thought, are Twin
Chinese Library Commission.
Three prominent Cinnamon are II
specting American public buildings
an effort to arrive at a conclusion r
garding the erection of a new librar
IN China. They are Guam Kai, speci'
representative of the viceroy Of Cal
ton; Moy Back Hin, Chinese cons'