Evening star., 1934-08-01
g ARE INDICTED
IN DETROIT PROBE
Bankers and Former Bank
erS Charged With Various
Federal Violations.
Nv the Associated Press.

DETROIT, August 1.-Twenty-eight
present and former Detroit bankers
were charged with various infractions
of the Federal banking laws today in
% indictments returned by the Fed
eral grand jury which has been in
vestigating the circumstances that led
to Michigan's financial debacle of last
year.
The charges mainly are conspiracy
to make false statements and mis-
application of funds.
Many Of the men named today were
among the 13 indicted on June 20 by
the same grand jury.
Among those indicted today are:
Wilson w. Mills, chairman Of the
board of the closed First National
Bank, Detroit: John Ballantyne.
former president of the Detroit
Bankers Co., holding company for
the First National and other banks;
E. D. Stair, president of the Detroit
Bankers Co. and publisher of the De-
troit Free Press; Oscar Webber, vice
president and general manager of the
j. L. Hudson Co. and former direc-
tor of the First National, and Robert
o. Lord, former president of the
Guardian Detroit Union Group, hold
ing company for the Guardian Ma
tional Bank of Commerce and score
of other Michigan banks.
Others included T. p. w. Living
stone, former president of the old
Dime Savings Bank and later a vice
chairman of the Executive Committee
of the First National; John R. Bodde,
former vice president of the First
National Board; James L. Walsh,
former executive vice president of the
Guardian group: Herbert R. Wlkin,
former general manager of the
Guardian group; Donald N. Sweeny,
former president of the First Ma
ton; William T. Barbour, president
of the Detroit Michigan Stove Co.
and former director of the First Ma
tional; James Thayer Mcmillan,
former director of the First National.
Others on List.
D. Dwight Douglas, former presi-
dent of the old First National and
subsequently vice president of the De-
troit Bankers Co.; Ralph Gilchrist,
president of the Detroit & Windsor
Ferry Co., and former director of the
First National; Herbert L. Chitten-
den, former chairman of the Execu-
tive Committee of the First National;
W. Wesson Seyburn, capitalist, for
mer director of the First National;
James S. Holden, former director of
the First National; Ralph Stone, vice
chairman of the Detroit Trust Co.,
tional; James o. Murfin, Detroit
attorney, and active in banking cir
cles; Edwin j. Eckert, George Wiley,
John M. Donaldson, Julian P. Bowen,
Fred J. Robinson, Richard H. Web
Der, Mark A. Wilson, Robert Shell
and William B. Mayo.
s544,221 Misapplied.
1t is charged that IA former officers
and directors of the Peoples Wayne
County Bank, which merged with the
First National Bank, Detroit, in 1882,
misapplied $544, ,221 IS of bank funds
In the purchase of tnadequately Sc
cured notes. It also is charged that
IL officers and directors of the Detroit
Bankers Co, holding company for the
First National and other institutions,
and Of the First National, had knowl-
edge Of these purchases.
Three former officers of the Guar
dian Detroit Union Group, Inc, a
holding company for the Guardian
National Bank OF Commerce and a
score OF other Michigan institutions,
are charged with having made false
report to the Federal Reserve Bank,
by emitting 100000 of bills payable
in q report OF the Union Industrial
Bank & Trust Co. of Flint, Mich
Two of these men, James L. Walsh,
former vice president Of the
Guardian Group, and Herbert r.
Wilkin, former executive vice president
and cashier of the Flint Bank. were
named in State warrants issued in
Flint last week, based on the same
transaction. The third, Robert o.
Lord, former president of the Guardian
Group, was among those indicted a
month ago.