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Will Open Mattoon's Bank Next Week Capital Stock Subscriptions Come Readily—Depositors of Old Bank Not to Lose. Mattoon, Jan. 11.—It is not certainly known when the new State Bank which supersedes the State Trust and Savings Bank will open for business, but it is the consensus of opinion that the date will be Monday, Jan. 14, or within a day or two thereafter. Plans are being made with that end in view, but definite announcement is withheld pending the completion of the work of the auditors, who are investigating the condition of the old bank. It is anticipated, however, that this task will be finished by Saturday of this week, although the statement forthcoming to us failed to state when this work would be finished. We cannot say other than that auditors are still at work. It is also thought the new bank will open Monday. DEPOSITORS NOT TO LOSE In the event general satisfaction was expressed by citizens when it was learned late Thursday afternoon through the medium of a local afternoon newspaper that a new bank would be started and that the depositors of the old bank were almost certain to receive 100 cents on every dollar they had on deposit in the institution. Whether the new bank was to profit from the assets of the old bank or from the pockets of the stockholders who are liable to twice the amount of the value of their stock for any shortage the depositors did not know and did not seem to care so long as they got their money. STOCK SELLS WELL Following Tuesday following the first of the meeting at which the formation of an entirely new bank was first suggested at its head was Mr. Milton Moore. Mr. Charles R. True, Henry Hunt and others of the committee that was appointed at the first meeting to capitalize the new bank reported the capital was practically all in. They met with small resistance to their solicitation and their work was not completed to time for the new stockholders to take in the work of completing organization at an afternoon session as had been hoped. A board of directors and subsequent election of officers will follow the sale of capital stock. It is not known as yet who the directors will be but it is certain that neither the former president nor the former vice president will appear on the directorate or roster of the new bank. MEN OF STANDING It is responsible for the new banking institution and prominent in its organization are men of the highest integrity and highest standing in the community, some of them having a reputation more than local and represent varied businesses and are to the front in this crisis to avert a more serious commercial disaster and loss to the depositors than the next to the little they had existed to the old bank. DEPOSITORS VISIT BANK Depositors are still lining up at the Seventeenth street entrance to the State Trust and Savings bank, putting their pass books to an official waiting there to receive them. The number is greatly reduced however and at no time were more than four or five seen there at one time. Once in a while there was one who watched if his or her passbook, left there previously, had been balanced. These were cited to one of the tellers' windows and if the book was ready it was returned to the owner. A few were disposed to linger with an anxious mien, clearly hoping for a word that would indicate their funds were safe. Some of these wore tattered clothing, some plainly were inured to toil, and here and there was a young woman clerk or teacher or stenographer, whose savings were at least temporarily withheld from them. Occasionally one would ask to see President Moloney and that official at whose door is by common report placed the blame for the closing of the bank appeared smiling. QUICK CHANGE It is told that the run on the State Trust and Savings bank a couple of years ago was precipitated by its quick change from a National to a State bank. It was called the State National Bank. It is said that a national bank examiner had an interview with President Moloney and that official called in his board of directors and reorganized the bank as a State bank. COMMUNITY QUIET Contrary to other situations of this sort where banks have closed their doors and there was fear that depositors would lose their money, there has been no loud clamor or untempered accusations of crookedness in connection with the conduct of the affairs of the State Trust and Savings Bank. The worst that has been said commonly is that the trouble is due either to faults in business management or errors of judgment in making loans and not to peculations or misappropriation of funds by officers or employees of the bank. TROUBLE GATHERING It is said that the clouds have been gathering for some months, that in fact conditions have grown worse since the run on the bank two years ago, checked in its incipiency by the timely, neighborly assistance of another Mattoon bank. One of the alleged instances cited is that President Moloney and his directors declared a dividend Jan. 1 or thereabouts, after being directed by the state auditor not to do so, and that the president gave a Christmas gift of $20 to each employee of the bank when he knew the bank was in distress. DEPOSITS RECEIVED It also is cited by some that the bank received deposits all last week, even at the time President Moloney is said to have been in Chicago trying to liquidate an overdraft of some $80,000 at the Federal Reserve bank, failure to do so according to one statement precipitating the closing of the bank. Furthermore it is said that a Mattoon school teacher deposited a check in the bank early Monday morning of this week, even at the time W. B. Whitlock, chief clerk in the state banking department, was waiting to close the bank immediately upon its opening at 9 o'clock. Acceptance of money on deposit when the bank is known to be insolvent is rated in the statutes as a crime. OTHER BANKS HOLD OFF It is understood that officials of Mattoon's other two banks, knowing that the State Trust and Savings bank was encountering rough seas, had been negotiating for several weeks for its liquidation by them, but stipulated they should examine the bank's paper. This stipulation was refused by the president of the bank, it is said, and not until the bank was closed by the state auditor would he permit the other bankers to have a look-in at the bank's paper, with a view to taking it over. When these experienced bankers did start examination of the assets of the closed bank, it is said that it took them only three or four hours to determine they did not care to assume the assets and they withdrew their offer. Rumor says $150,000 to $175,000 was regarded as undesirable. KLAN TALK One important contributing factor in the closing of the bank is said by some to have been the Ku Klux Klan, which inadvertently became the means of many heavy withdrawals of accounts from the institution, it is asserted. President Moloney and a number of others on the official roster of the closed bank are accredited with being members of the Klan. In fact for some months the bank is said to have been quite generally referred to as the Ku Klux bank, and it is related that a man who wished to pay an account at a local business house when asked on what bank he wanted a check, replied, "Just give me a check on the Ku Klux bank." At Christmas time a Christmas tree sponsored by the Klan, was placed directly in front of and anchored to the State Trust and Savings bank, and it is said the electricity for lighting of the cross that topped its branches and illuminated the tree came from the bank. Immediately after this it is said several prominent accounts of business men were withdrawn from this institution. The funds of the local klan, as well as those of many of the individual members are said to be on deposit in this bank. ALLENVILLE BANK D. G. Carnine, cashier of the Peoples State Bank at Allenville, which was closed simultaneously with the State Trust and Savings Bank of Mattoon, told a Review representative Thursday evening that the closing of his bank was due solely to the fact that his cash was tied up in the Mattoon bank, and with that shut off there was nothing to do but shut up shop. He himself voluntarily called for an examiner. S. W. Phillips of Mattoon, a director of the State Trust and Savings Bank, is president of the Allenville institution, the capital of which is $10,000. HOLD TWO MEN FOR CAR THEFT George Flores' Auto Found Northeast of Atwood. The Maxwell sport touring car belonging to George Flores, 239 Oakdale Boulevard, that was stolen from in front of the Elks lodge Wednesday night, was recovered Thursday afternoon about five miles northeast of Atwood, and the two young
