The producers news., 1927-03-04
McKee-Langer Co. Evacu-
ated Library Bldg. March !

ated Library Bldg. March l
Continued from page One)
which closed its doors during the
bank crashing days, leaving sorrow
and suffering in many a Sheridan
county home. AS the wrecking of
this bank may yet be the subject of
an investigation by the Comptroller
of the Currency and possibly a Unit
ed States Grand Jury, we will not
touch on its ramifications here. AS
illustrating the way bankers worked
when the sun shone on both sides of
the fence for them some years ago,
we publish an affidavit which Gust
Olson of Dooley filed in the office of
the Clerk and Recorder early this
week.
The Olson Affidavit
Beneath the legal Technology of
the Olson affidavit can be read
story of suffering and wrong, a
story of clever scounderlism on the
one side and trusting confidence on
the other. Perhaps twenty such
stories could be told of the ways of
bankers in Sheridan County. Gust
Olson was an honest Scandinavian
who toiled for years in the city Of
| Minneapolis so that he could earn a
competence before marrying the girl
of his choice. That girl also worked
in Minneapolis and by thrift and in
dustry saved up little bank account.
AS they spoke of their coming mar
rlage they visualized a time when
they would not have to work for a
boss or live with the terror of the
alarm clock always in their mind
Like thousands of others they read
the railroad advertisements about the
free land that Uncle Sam was giving
away in the west. They decided tc
get married and soon we find them
locating on the barren prairie neal
what is now the town of Dooley
They built up a rugged homesteader'
shack and started to make a home il
the wilderness. Gust felt that at las
: he had a home of his own and toileC
from early dawn to dusk turning tn,
sod and trying to make the land tina
lay fallow since the dawn Of creation
produce sheafs of golden grain. H
used up his savings buying wagons
harness, horses, plows and all the diff
ferent kinds of farm implement
J needed to make such a place ego.
Naturally when the time for provinj
: up came he was running short o
cash. Then came a letter from Nc
: hee, asking him to call if he wante
money. This was the first "Com
INTO my parlor said the spider to tn
fly note that Gust got. He did no
fall for the bait at once but he di
finally call and get a loan from MC
hee. From that day to this he neve
left the clutches of the willy ban
S shark.
The Spiders Web
5 Some there are who will read th
y affidavit and say that Gust shoul
d have watched his step and that h
e present predicament was due to ba
business transactions, that he shoul
= not sign the notes that the ever read
e hand Of the foxy banker showed undt
: his nose while he pushed a fountai
! pen IN Gusts right hand. But Gu.
and Mrs. Olson had the honesty
e the people raised on the Scandinav
y an peninsula in their veins. The
It believed in the Golden Rule and tn,
7 everybody was as honest as then
4 selves. Their state of mind made
IS easy for the confidence man wi
e wished to take advantage of ther
y They saw Mckee, well groomed.
n man of honest looks and pleasir
/ personality. He came to them in Il
gulse of good Samaritan, holdir
< out to them what looked like a hei
II ing hand. Wasn't he a banker up,
IS whom they had learned to look
I the backbone of the community
le lie was churchman and a patriC
=, lie walked ostentatiously to the {
!; tar rails on Sunday and looked t
ie ward heaven with the expression
IS one of the saints in the stained ola
70 windows, on his face He sold libe
81 ty bonds and delivered "four minut
w talks and waved the flag as the bo
VI went off to the war. He was t
x very personification of solid citize
= ship; of the man who would do
y; wrong. Is it any wonder that hone
III 10 Gust Olson and others fell for
I wiles? They only found out that
or was wolf in sleeps clothing VIII
ne they drank the bitter cup of expe
no ence to its dregs.
W m Worries Unhinge His Mind.
bt The affidavit tells story of py-
IN miding of the first loan that wol
of make the financial schemes of Po
look honest in comparison. 1t sho
IN how the crafty Shylock got back /
K. sum he originally loaned seve
nd times over. 1t shows how the N
ali who wanted to escape from the b.
'ts and the alarm clock became the 81;
'O' 49, ~a~
w,