The Sentinel=record., 1914-02-10
MEMPHIS BANK PRESIDENT IN CELL, CHARGED WITH MIsAP.
 PROPRlATlNG FUNDS.
ENTERS A PLEA 0F GUILTY
When Arraigned for Preliminary Hearing, Although Friends Offered to Arrange for the Heavy Bail Re- quired by Court.

Memphis, Feb. 9.-With discovery tonight that of s527 ,S67 listed as ac- ,tual cash on hand when the bank closed it's doors, s41O,O00 was repre- scented by the personal checks of the president, C. Hunter Raine is now in prison, charged with embezzle- ment of the amount of the apparent discrepancy in the accounts of the Mercantile Bank here advanced to more than a million dollars.
 The exact amount will not be known until the audit being made un. der the direction of ]. L. Hutton, state superintendent of banks, is com pleted This will require several days.
 Count of the actual cash in the vaults showed approximately 1000, jt is stated Sight exchange and clearing house certificates not count ed in detail tonight with the personal cheeks of the president, will. it is said make up the difference between the mony found and the amount list ed as cash on hand.
 Raines NoncommunicatiVe.
 Beyond the announcement of the directors that more than three-quar- ters of million dollars of the funds had been misappropriated and lost in speculation, no statement as yet IS avaiTabie of the affairs Of the Aier- cantile Bank of this city. which was closed today and it's president, C. Hunter Raine, imprisoned, charged with having wrecked the institution. J. l.. Hutton, state superintendent of banks, stated tonight that his audit of the books had not been completed and until this had been done an ac- curate estimate of the alleged dis crepancy was not possible. Raine, in his cell at the county prison, main tans silence. When arraigned today on warrant charging embezzlement he entered a formal plea of guilty and elected to gJ to jail, declinifg the proffer of friends that they en. deavor to arrange bail, fixed at $250,' 900 He was arrested at his home, one of the most palatial in Memphis, shortly before noon and within an hour had been assigned to a cell at the county jail.
 Representative of other banks here issued statements tonight de claring that the suspension of the Mercantile Bank was without effect on their institutions Only normal amounts were asked by depositors and a number of new accounts were opened by former depositors of the Mercantile Bank.
 A squad of police were stationed at the doors of the closed bank through out the day. Traffic for time was blocked by the crowds that congre- gated about the buiiding but no dis order was attempted.
 Rane, a man beyond middle age, ,maintained his composure today, but tonight he began to show the effects of the ordeal. Until a late hour he paced his cell and spoke only Ill mon Qsylables to his attendants.
 Efforts are being made by several ,of the directors to make up a fund to repay the smaller depostors, those having savings accounts, at least portion of the amounts they had on deposit. in advance of the final ad- justment of the banks affairs.
 Opinions differ as to whether the directors can be held personally ac- countable by the depositors, under the terms of the banking act of Ten nessee, which went into effect Janu- ary l. One interpretation which seems to represent the opinion of the majority of those who have studied the question is that that provision of the act does not apply to those banks which were chartered before the act became operative