16450. Oriental Bank (New York, NY)

Bank Information

Episode Type
Run → Suspension → Closure
Bank Type
state
Start Date
April 1, 1913*
Location
New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model
gpt-5-mini
Short Digest
e75a3e2e

Response Measures

Accommodated withdrawals, Full suspension

Other: Clearing House Association pressured the bank (refusal to clear for correspondents) and effectively forced resignation of president; receivership/winding up followed.

Description

Newspaper articles describe a run precipitated by Clearing House demands and adverse newspaper stories, followed by the bank being forced out of business, paying depositors in full, and a receivership/windup. The sequence is a run that leads to suspension/closure and receivership. Dates are not precisely given in the excerpts; articles span 1912–1913. I corrected no major OCR bank-name or city errors.

Events (3)
1. April 1, 1913* Run
Cause
Local Banks
Cause Details
Clearing House required Oriental to discontinue clearing relations with two Brooklyn banks and other Clearing House pressures, and adverse newspaper stories about investigation triggered depositor withdrawals.
Measures
Converted assets into cash and paid every depositor on demand; deposits fell from about $10.5M to $3.5M then recovered partially to $4.5M.
Newspaper Excerpt
This story, together with the action of the Clearing House, caused a run on the bank.
Source
newspapers
2. * Receivership
Newspaper Excerpt
represented the depositors in the receivership of the Oriental Bank. They paid every depositor every single cent they had in the bank. ... paid the expenses of the receivership ... showing that at the time the bank was forced out of business it had assets in its hands ... they paid every depositor every single cent they had in the bank, ... sent it to the wall with a crash; they blasted the reputation of Kelly, broke his heart, and he died in less than a year. But before he died he left a written statement, giving this story ...
3. * Suspension
Cause
Local Banks
Cause Details
Pressure and actions by the New York Clearing House Association (refusal to clear, demands for resignations) forced the bank out of business and led to receivership/closure.
Newspaper Excerpt
They broke Jones, plundered the Oriental and sent it to the wall with a crash; ... they paid every depositor every single cent they had in the bank. ... represented the depositors in the receivership of the Oriental Bank.
Source
newspapers

Newspaper Articles (4)
1. May 1, 1912 New-York Tribune New York, NY
Article from New-York Tribune, May 1, 1912

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Article Text

# DAVID M'CLURE. David McClure died yesterday at his home, No. 22 West 49th street, from heart disease. He was a son of the late David McClure, and was born in Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., on November 4, 1848. He was admitted to the bar in 1869, and was successively a member of the firms of Kirkland & McClure, Turner, Lee & McClure, and Turner, McClure & Rolston, and at the time of his death practised law with his son, in the firm of McClure & McClure. Mr. McClure was well known as a trial lawyer, and was engaged in a number of noted litigations. He was counsel for Cardinal McCloskey in the Merrill will case, appeared in the Schuyler Skaats will case, was counsel for the estate of A. T. Stewart, receiver of the National Bank of Deposit, and represented the depositors in the receivership of the Oriental Bank. He was formerly course! of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Consolidated Gas Company, the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, was a trustee and counsel of the West Side Savings Bank, a director in the Title Insurance Company of New York and a trustee of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. The late Governor David B. Hill had offered him appointments to the bench of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Appeals, but he preferred to remain in active practice. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1894. Mr. McClure belonged to the Manhattan Club, the Catholic Club, the Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers' Association, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Society for the Protection of the Adirondacks. He leaves a wife, two sons-Arthur J. McClure and Walter C. McClure-and two daughters, Mrs. Dulany Howland and Miss Katherine F. McClure. There will be a requiem mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Friday morning, at 10 o'clock.

2. June 13, 1912 The Jeffersonian Thomson, Atlanta, GA
Article from The Jeffersonian, June 13, 1912

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Article Text

# How the Money Trust Smashes Certain Banks THE Pujo Congressional Committee is doing some splendid work. It is bringing to light the brutal manner in which the New York Clearing House Association crushed such banks as it did not favor. And the peculiar feature of the case is that every victim of the Trust owed its ruin to its own cowardice. So great was the fear of the Clearing House Association that its orders were obeyed, no matter how arbitrary, lawless, and unreasonable. For instance, there was the Oriental Bank, a perfectly solvent institution, and one of the oldest banks of New York. It was from the Oriental that I borrowed the $25,000 with which this paper and Watson's Magazine were founded. It's president, Mr. Jones, was a perfect gentleman, and a first-class banker. But for some reason the Money Trust determined to put the Oriental out of business. First, Mr. Jones was required to redeem his time certificates within a fixed limit which had not been put on the other banks. Right there he should have bucked. Had he done so, the Clearing House Association could not have done a thing. It might have bluffed and refused to "clear" his checks, but as he was able to clear them himself, he could have safely defied the Trust. But he weakly yielded and the Trust advanced its line of attack. It required the Oriental to refuse to "clear" for two Brooklyn banks. Mr. Jones ought to have known that compliance would mean "a run" on the two Brooklyn banks, and that this run would inevitably come to the Oriental next. Indeed, it seems that he did foresee that very danger, and pointed it out to the czars of the Clearing House Association. The czars conceded the point, and pledged themselves to stand by the Oriental "to the last ditch." Mr. Jones did not exact this pledge in writing. Even had he done so, he could not have enforced it. He should have flatly refused to ruin the Brooklyn banks. By yielding to the czars, he wrecked two of his correspondents, and then came his own turn. The czars who had pledged him support cynically refused to give it. That his bank was solvent is proven by the fact that the depositors got every dollar of their money. No wonder Mr. Jones went to bed when he realized what he had done. A man who is so structurally weak as to allow another to ruin his solvent business, by threats and arbitrary demands, is hardly of the tough fibre needed in the present fight for existence.

3. April 17, 1913 Meade County News Meade, KS
Article from Meade County News, April 17, 1913

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Article Text

out waiting to wind up the receivership: For this they paid the trust company $200,000. They paid every depositor every single cent they had in the bank. They paid the expenses of the receivership amounting to $245,000 more, a total expense of $445, 000. They have paid the stockholders' dividends, amounting to 37 1/2 per cent, and still have $1,500,000 of assets left untouched, showing that at the time the bank was forced out of business it had assets in its hands that have actually paid over 200 per cent on a forced market. And this is the story of the Oriental Bank. The financial pirates of Wall street broke up the Brooklyn Bank and the Borough Bank; they broke Jones, plundered the Oriental and sent it to the wall with a crash; they blasted the reputation of Kelly, broke his heart, and he died in less than a year. But before he died he left a written statement, giving this story as I have given it to you. But this is only one of the many instances that could be given. One hundred and ten banks and trust compenies have been bought out consolidated, or forced to the wall in New York City during the last ten years, and it is for the people to say whether or not this financial brigandage shall longer be telerated. "The Stock Exchange" next week.

4. April 25, 1913 Barton County Democrat Great Bend, KS
Article from Barton County Democrat, April 25, 1913

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Article Text

was sound and solvent and in good condition; that it was doing a legitimate business; was being neither used nor abused by anyone, but required that it discontinue its clearing relations with the two Brooklyn banks. The result was that the Brooklyn Bank and the Borough Bank promptly closed their doors. Jones had also been engaged in promoting an electric railroad from Boston to New York City. He had negotiated the sale of its securities and had a profit of $500,000 almost in hand when he was advised to discontinue his operations. He declinedi to comply with the request and the next day certain New York newspapers printed a story that Mr. Jones and the affairs of the Oriental Bank were being investigated by the district attorney's office. This story, together with the action of the Clearing House, caused a run on the bank. / Jones converted the assets of the bank into cash, and paid every depositor on demand. His deposits dwindled down from ten, and a half millions net to three and a hal millions, but no suits having been brought, and no prosecution having been instituted, public confidence began to be restored, and the deposits climbed back to $4,500,000. It was then that due to the strain and worry incident to his troubles, Jones took sick and while he was confined to his bed, with periods of delirium, a committee representing the Clearing House went to his home and demanded his resignation as president of the bank. / This was according to a rule of the Clearing House requiring any bank officer to resign his official position upon demand by the Association. Jones protested against such action. He told them that every dollar he had in the world was invested in this bank; that not only was his money at stake, but that his reputation and his very all was involved, but that if such action were necesIsary) to save a single cent to a sin₇ gle depositor he would gladly resign. They insiste upon his resignation, he signed it and they took it away with them. They then went to Mr. Hugh Kelly, president of the board of directors, and requested that he accept the presidency of the bank. Kelly told them that if he was to be a "threeday president'' he wanted nothing to do with it, but they assured him. that the Clearing House would see them