Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-05-20
FORMER coRWlTH BANK Gsl
wEAR,sp OF nouDLE, LsF9 & q
he LED IN TEXAS. y
HAD GAINED CONFIDENCE
OF MEN IN NEW NOME
Held Rsspensibls Position and Man
aged Affairs ~ Large Company Of
Ranehmsn- Downfall Due 10 Desire
70 Gain Fortune I'm Short Time
Sympathy Exprsssed.
Special to Times Republican.

i u "
who suddenly reappeared here .yester-
day after an absence Of seven years.
pleaded guilty to fifteen indictments
for forgery and was sentenced to fif-
teen years in prison. created q pro-
found sensation here.
His return was brought about by the
fact that altho he was prospecting on
ranch in Texas. holding the confidence
Of wealthy and powerful capitalists.
| with growing opportunity to again
amass q comfortable competency. he
longed for his family and to be free
from the awful suspense Of living a
double life. With the courageous pur-
pose Of voluntarily giving himself up
to the courts and paying the penalty Of
his wrong doing, and atone in the best
way he could Tor his errors. he began
more than a year ago TO pave the way
for the denouement Of yesterday. And
his story reads like romance.
A Splendid Beginning.
Twenty seven years ago John Stand
ring as lad, bright-eyed and full of
promise. only Ii years Of age, began
clerkship in the Stilson bank. He had
schools Of his neighborhood so that he
was an unusually good accountant and
penman. First as office boy, then as
clerk and subsequently as cashier of
the bank he developed to be one Of the
popular and progressive citizens OF
this part Of Iowa. He had the reputa-
ton for honesty and probity which
few young men possessed and but for
~%~- 70 1lot he VnyN
still have been one of the most
trusted and prominent men in this
part Of the state. He was 80 compe-
cashier Of the First State Bank when
Of o. n. Stilson & Co. He also married
his employers sister,. 30 he enjoyed
the fullest confidence and close rela-
tionship Of the principal stockholder
OF the bank.
The Old Story.
On Nov. 10, 1907, John Standing
disappeared and the bank went Into
liquidation. It was found that Stand
ring had forged papersto the amount
OF nearly @75. 900 and the condition Of
the bank was deplorable. The depoN
tors secured the services Of attorneys
and they succeeded in getting out Of
the wreck 81 cents on the dollar for
the depositors. The stockholders Of
the bank and other banks which had
taken the forged notes, however. lost
about $4,000 in the transaction. The
largest loser was relative of Stand
ring, losing more than one-third Of the
entire amount. He was q capitalist
living in the east and fortunately had
ample means for his needs after sus-
tanning the loss The rest Of the losses
were divided among six or eight Iowa
banks whose loss. was from $4,000 to
$4,000 each. Standring took $500 with
MIN and left $500 In hiding for his
wife and family to give them support
! till he could find some means Of earn
ing livelihood. He went to Minneap-
oils but before officers could locate
him he was in Texas. where apparently
he disappeared from sight. The $500
he left for his4wife he placed in hiding
and wrote her where she would find
it. In the same letter he sent back to
the bank and the creditors the deeds Of
everything he possessed amounting to
500 acres Of good Iowa land and which
sold at $65 and SIS per acre for the
satisfaction OF the creditors. If Stand
ring had been able to have tided over
the financial reverses OF the panic
and held his Iowa land till now. the
rise in value would have discharged
every obligation and he would have
been a free man instead of hunted
lawbreaker. Another incident CON-
nected with his career is that he was,
when young man, the victim Of q
forger himself and paid $1,000 for a
farm to find shortly after that the
owners name had been forged to the
deed and he lost his little. all.
Thought He Would Rseoup.
Standring, like all others of warped
judgment. got into trouble specializing
with the funds of the bank. His first
venture was In California oil lands.
and then he bought Texas rice lands
to recoup, and this venture was as
disastrous as the first. In order to pro-
tee: the funds of the bank he forged
notes and sold them to his relatives
and other banks. He kept paying old
notes by forging new ones, but seeing
that he could not play the game much
longer. disappeared.
Dspositees Paid.
After the depositors had been paid
almost In, full indictments were rel
turned against the officers Of the
bank and the Same attorney who to-
Does Tanxo