Bank of West Line - West Line, MO

Episode Information

Episode UID: 80125371539
Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: state
Bank ID: 8012537 routing
Routing Number: 80-1253
Start Date: March 17, 1928
Location: West Line, Missouri (38.632, -94.584)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini (chosen from majority vote of a three-model LLM ensemble)
Short Digest: 907921d2420c4cb6

Response Measures

None

Description

Article states the bank closed its doors March 17, 1928 but does not name a receiver.

Events (1)

1. March 17, 1928 Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Alleged negligence and malfeasance by cashier (overdrafts, false entries, removal of ledger sheets) leading to insolvency.
Newspaper Excerpt: the bank, which closed its doors March 17, 1928.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. April 3, 1930 The Cass County Democrat-Missourian Harrisonville, MO

Article from The Cass County Democrat-Missourian, April 3, 1930

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Article Text

FILE $100,000 SUIT TODAY S. L. Cantley, State Commissioner of Finance, Sues Directors of Bank of West Line. The directors of the defunct Bank of West Line, Charles J. Wortham, Elijah H. Stark, Charles Edie and Jacob G. Ziegler and M. N. Stark, cashier, have been sued for $100,000 S. L. Cantley of Jefferson City, state finance commissioner being the plaintiff. The suit is in behalf of the depositors and stockholders of the bank, which closed its doors March 17, 1928. According to law, the finance commissioner has the same right to sue a bank's board of directors as have the stockholders, and in this case the commissioner consented to act for the depositors and stockholders. The petition was filed in circuit court here today, Mr. Cantley being represented by D. C. Chastain of Butler, James S. Brierly, Ray L. Shubert, of Harrisonville, and E. S. Carroll of Kansas City. The keynote of the petition is general negligence on the part of the board of directors during the five years prior to the closing of the bank. Among the allegations in the petition are these: That the directors (the defendants) negligently failed to direct, manage, control and watch the affairs of the bank as required by law, by reason of which the bank became insolvent. The defendants permitted the cashier to overdraw their accounts in large sums and failed to examine the books for such overdrafts. The defendants employed a cashier, M. N. (Noble) Stark, who was not capable of filling the duties of such an officer and who permitted one J. Weisser to draw heavily on the bank; so that the cashier had been making false entries on the bank's books and had removed certain ledger sheets of various depositors totaling approximately $26,000 and that the removed ledger sheets showed an overdraft of approximately $32,000; that the cashier had converted certain bonds into cash in order to have a cash reserve with which to run the bank; that he removed notes from the note case in an effort to make the books balance; that by an examination of the books by the defendants it could have been ascertained the books could not be balanced; that a full disclosure of these transaction would have been made to the directors had they not failed to examine the daily and monthly statements of the bank and had not failed to count the cash on hand and compare it with the books; that they failed to ascertain the true amount of notes and loans of the bank. That the defendants permitted the cashier to perform the duties of president, vice-president and of every other officer of the bank, including the duties of the directors, without any supervision or examination of his transactions. The defendants failed to appoint committees to examine the books and notes of the bank, or count the cash, or compare with the books the notes re-discounted, the property of the corporation carried as assets, or make an inventory and statement of same. The directors failed to perform their duties as such in that they failed to keep a register of any kind showing the amount of notes and by whom made. That they failed to number said notes, or keep a register showing all the notes they had re-discounted or sold. That they made excessive loans to certain individuals and permitted them to become long past due and remain so. They failed to keep minutes of the directors' meetings in concise and complete form, showing what took place at such meetings. They failed to keep daily balances of their notes, overdrafts, deposits and cash. They failed to discharge the cashier after learning of his careless and unlawful operation of the bank. They failed to keep sufficient cash on hand as a reserve. They failed to obtain financial statements from borrowers and keeping them filed at the bank. There are other allegation in the petition similar to the foregoing, all hinging upon the carelessness and negligence of the bank's directors. The case probably will be called during the regular May term of circuit court. This makes the fifth suit brought against the directors, the other plaintiffs suing for their deposits. They are: O. B. Davenport, for $1,399; W. H. Wilcox, Sr., for $511.21; W. H. Wilcox, Jr., for $2,064.88, and J. A. Murphy, for $2,000.