Year: 1873




New YORK, April 26.-Rumors begun
to circulate in " all street to-day, soon
after noon, concerning the solvency of
the Atlantic national bank, No. Il Mas
sau street. The bank was originally
started, twenty years ago, as a State in
stitution, but was changed into a ma
tional bank soon after the act authoriz-
ing such banks was passed by congress.
The capital upon which it did business
was fixed at three hundred thousand
dollars. The bank sustained severe loss
es soon after its opening, by the depre-
citation OF securities which it held as
collateral for loans, which were not
redeemed, consequently it has never
had the reputation of being
strong, and many bankers and business
men in the street, did not even know
that such concern existed; its checks
passed regularly through the clearing
house, which was first advised of its
condition to-day. Although the clear
.ing-hOuse officials had not regarded the
bank as strong, they were not prepared
for the disclosure which took place at
about one o'clock, when F. S. TaintOr,
cashier, stepped in and after asking for
Mr.. Tappan, chairman of the clearing
house examining committee, announced
that the hank was inSolvent, and he a de-
faulter to the amount of four hundred
thousand dollars, which he had taken
from the funds and lost in stock specu-
lations. Tsppan, who is president of
the Gallatin national bank, was per-
fectly astOunded at the revelation, and
Immediately made preparations for an
examination of the banks affairs on the
part of the custOmhOuse commissioner,
who is authorized to take such a course
for the protection of banks and the pub
lie. Taintor told Tappan that he had
come to him because he felt more like
giving him the information first,
and that he wished to aid in whatever
investigation that might take place.
The reason of the banks embarrassment
reached the street so late in the after
noon that but few depositOrs gathered
about the doors to raise the cry for their
money. One customer, who had depOs-
tied few hundred dollars, at half past
two gained an entrance, and talked
rather lively for short time concerning
the thieving of men who took money
up to the last moment when they knew
that they were hopelessly iuSOlvent,
but with that and one or two other
trifiing exceptions, affairs passed off very
quietly. The directors, who were to
have made an examination in the after
noon of the bank and its securities at
the request of the president, finding that
other parties were at work to accomplish
the same end, under different auspices,
merely stood around seemingly bewild-
cred, and loudly protested that they had
not entertained the slightest suspicion of
the banks solvency up to that afternoon.
They said that they had always
examined the securities carefully, and
had not found any deficiency existing,
either in them or in cash. The exam
lining committee, consisting of Messrs.
Tappan, Severidge, Hays, Hunter and
Perkins, gave the fullest details in their
possession of the losses and actual state
of affairs. They went through the Sc
curities carefully, throwing out those
bad, and figured up as nearly as possible
the cash on hand, in this way arriving
approximately at the assets. While
they were engaged in this work,
messenger was sent for warrant, upon
which to hold TainLOr, who was act
lively assisting the committee in ar
irving at the true condition of affairs.
The cashier was not informed of this
movement, although he undoubtedly
expected it. United States Deputy
Marshal Purvis arrived about five O'Clock
at the bank, and awaited orders from
the examiners when to make the ar
rests. At about seven o'clock their work
was finished, and it was found that the
deficit, independent of capital and sur
plus, amounted to six hundred and four
thousand dollars. About one hundred
and eighty thousand dollars of this
amount could be traced to bad debts, for
which the cashier was not responsible.
About four hundred and twenty thou
sand dollars of the losses were made by
him in his stock speculations. 1t was
found that besides using the funds of
the bank for purposes of speculation. he
had also "spouted" one hundred and
sixty-two thousand dollars of private
securities left for safe-keeping in the
bank. Two tickets were also found in q
drawer representing seventy-five thou
sand dollars in gold, as assets. The
Times goes on to say that the money
and securities of the establishment had
been effectuelly cleaned out, and that
the drawers and pigeOn-holes in the
safes used for their accommodation were
almost empty, so that the examin-
ing committee found their labors
comparatively light, and so long
as the concern had gone to smash, it
took them but little time to wade
through the sums. 1t was found that
among the depositors the State figures
as q creditor to the amount of thirty
thousand dollars, which had been placed
there having been derived from canal
tolls. Then the Western Union tele-
graph company kept an account averag-
ing about fifteen thousand dollars at the
time of the failure. The total amount
of deposits as computed blythe examin-
ing committee was five hundred and
six thousand dollars. tits thought that
the depositors out of the assets of the
bank will realize about fifty per cent. of
their money, and if the stockholders
can stand the assessments for which
they are liable the depositors will be
entirely reimbursed.


Carl Sehurz has gone to Europe.