The Lamar register., 1922-05-31
BANK CLOSES DOORS
Citizens State Bank Is Forced to Shut
Its Doors Pending Re-
organization.

for many years list oaluiuay VIII"
the early arrivals in the downtown
district read the sign on the Citizens
State Bank door that the institution
had been closed by the board of di-
rectors for the purpose of reorganiza-
ton. Later in the day second sign
went up that the bank was in the
hands of the state bank commissioner.
Excitement ran high all day as bank
failure was forgotten feature of fl
nance so far as Lamarites were con-
cerned. The only previous experience
the town had had was the failure of
the Scott bank here in 1888. With n
period of over one-third of a century
between such incidents and only about
two per cent of the population that is
here now being residents at that time,
the people can easily lose most all
recollection Of such events.
The Citizens State Bank has been
one of the leading financial institu-
tions of the city for nearly fourteen
years, and was the third largest bank
of the county, having total assets of
about s36O,OOO and deposits at the
time of the last published statement
on May 9th of $220,000. The latter
had been considerably reduced at the
time of closing the doors and are now
under two hundred thousand dollars.
Rumors that had been spread in vari-
Gus manners had been causing steady
withdrawals for week which on
Thursday and Friday developed into
a regular run. In face of this the
bank kept up payments Of all checks
until the closing hour on Friday af-
ternoon. They were unable to meet
their clearings. however, with the 9TH
er banks after the closing hour and
were therefore forced to announce
that the doors would not open on Sat
urday morning.
The officers of the bank are ]. NJ.
Williams, president; Chas. Maxwell,
vice president; J. ID. Spooner, cashier;
and Geo. A. Everett and Mrs. l. l..
Maxwell, directors. They are all sub
stantial business people of our city
and all have full faith that the diff
Guilty is only temporary and the bank
will be reorganized under new name
and opened again in a few weeks.
Several additional business men of our
city will assist in the reorganization.
The depositors will be paid in full
under a plan now being formulated,
which will have to meet the approval
of the state bank commissioner.
Our citizens generally have accept
ed the Inconvenience and trouble which
the tying up Of their funds will cause
in fine spirit a. they have confidence
in the honor Of the directors of the
bank, and there has been n minimum
amount Of the usual complaints that
are made on such occasion. It has
complicated many business deals that
were under way and has and viii!
cause much annoyance, but it is not
believed that there will be any serious
loss IL the long run.
TIE temper of the people was best
proved at the three other banks of
the city. All had prepared for
panicky feeling on the part of the
public ard n run on all the banks.
However, by closing time on Satur-
day all the banks found they had TAX
en- in as much on deposit as they had
paid out and by Monday the people
were over any semblance of distrust
and the deposits overtopped the checks
paid. Several of the hanks in other
towns of the county also prepared for
a run but there was nothing even look
ing like excitement.
Down in Baca county where there
were two banks in which the Citizens
State Bank owns an interest, The
Bank of Baca County at Two Buttes
and the Farmers State Bank at Spring
field, there was more excitement. In
Two Buttes the trouble was over long
before closing time on Saturday as
the bank had ample cash resources to
quiet all alarm At Springfield a
more serious situation developed as
enemies of the Farmers State Bank
oroanizad a largo sized r11n. The