Arizona republican., 1921-03-24
PHOENIX ENJOYS
 THE SPECTACLE 1OF RUN LIN BANK
foolishly Frightened Ones Yesterday Crowded Phoe- nix National To Amuse- ment Of More Sensible Citizens

Phoenix had a chance yesterday to Are what a run on a bank looks like. -~ mtknt have been alarming in certain S~~amsfances. but in the circumstances -1 which 1t took place it was ridicu- rc9s- It demonstrated how like sheep Eopie in the mass may become. Sheep &ten get scared, with good reason wncn they are harried by destroying c~&- But more often than not, sheep are tnrovn into trepidation with no reason at all, and then they are bereft cs reason. they become the most fool m Of four-f footed creatures, as foolish As fhe two-footed ones which took part m the run on banks yesterday.
 There were three such runs. Those an the morning on the Valley bank and ~he National Bank of Arizona were rather mild affairs. The participants n9d hardly succeeded in working them selves into a panicky state.
 But in the afternoon a sudden des- cent was made upon the Phoenix Ma rtcnsi Bank and the Phoenix Savings Bank and Trust company. The people who took part in it were such strate- gssts that if they were contemplating an invasion of the Iberian Peninsula they would first attack the Rock of Gibraltar There was no better place n all the Southwest for run to break itself against than against these two institutions.
 How the run got started, no one has effered a surmise- Public confidence in this as in other federal reserve insti- rUt,ope had been apparently unshaken. The Phoenix National had been pop asarly supposed to be one of the stron- ERet institutions in the West The theory is advanced that some depQsitor vas rendered suddenly insane by the appearance of the long line of deposi- tors who may be seen at the tellers' F.f f-c h,r l. o1xr,r e-f ', c< the day and almost any day of the week throughout the year, so great has become the patronage of the bank as well as of the other larger banks of the city. reflccting the phenomenal busi- ness growth of Phoenix.
 One insane person becomes the nue. leas or a mass of insanity in such a caoe. and within a few minutes the Aonh1eS of both the Phoenix National nud the Phoenix Savings Bank and Trust company were filled with a wrigglinE throng crowding away from Inc windows of the tellers. sane per- oone MhQ had come to put money into ske banks Long lines of the strugg- iing ones stretched across the Hobbies, and the spaces between the lines were f8sed with anxious. sweating souls looking appealingiy at the windows and he great piles of money behind them Int itself ought to have been re-
 
 when they are thoroughly scared. f<tEht must run its course
 The scene was made to appear the wilder by the large crowds of citizens vho rhoughtiessly congregated in front CT the banks to marvel at the folly of the frightened. Many of them were heavy deposftors. wishing that they had more money to put into the banks. They joined in the censure of the panic stricken but their presence no doubt ar6ed 10 the ridiculous scene.
 One womsn-czkme down the street tn an automobile in disregard of the speed regulations She slowed down Der machine in front of the Phoenix National and, throwing out the clutch >e icaped from the car before it's mo hsentum had been quite overcome Leaving it in the very middle of the street she rushed to the bank, fought her way in and struggled to one of tho windows and demanded her money.
 Another depositor. breathing heavily worked his way in by the process O pushing weaker persons aside ant position now to rescue the savings O years from loss. In a few moments h, retired trimphautly- He was clutchinf sHe preposterous sum of $3.15.
 Meanwhile. the officers and attache, of the banks were unperturbed. The, &d money for all corners, no matte ~ long they might be in coming. In kead of closing the bank at the usua Fscar of o'clock though by that tim rNe storm had begun to subside tn, hank was kept open for nearly anothe hour. until the crowd had thinned of it own accord.
 How much money was paid out b. the two banks is not known. but it wa.