USA > Ohio > Knox County > A history of Knox county, Ohio, from 1779 to 1862 inclusive > Part 12
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" MOUNT VERNON, Sept. -- , 181 -.
" Sixty days after date, for value received, we promise to pay JAMES SMITH, at the house of L. S. Silliman, the sum of without defalcation.
" Credit the Drawer.
" A. M.
" C. D. S Endorsers.
" J. P., Drawer."
[L. S.]
"THE STATE OF OHIO, County, ss.
" Before me (A. B.), a Justice of the Peace for the county of- aforesaid, came C. D., who, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that, whereas, he has thrown a note into the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon for discount ; saith, that, if discounted, he will take no advantage of any statute law of this State; and farther this deponents saith not.
" Signed, C. D.
" Sworn and subscribed before me the - day of -, 181- " A. B., J. P."
" The above form of a note you will please to insert in your paper, which note must be executed with two good endorsers, with- out a blot or interlineation. The endorsers' names must appear written on the back of the note as well as at the foot. The form of an affidavit is given, which must be made by the drawer, and accompany the note. By order of the Board of Directors.
" JAMES SMITH, President.
" L. S. SILLIMAN, Cashier.
" September 13th, 1816."
182
HISTORY OF
On the 20th November, 1816, L. S. Silliman, Cashier, notifies the stockholders of the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon that an installment of $2 on each share is requested to be paid within sixty days.
March 6th, 1817, a dividend of six per cent., on account of stock actually in Bank, was declared.
At a meeting of the Directors of the Bank, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, viz :
" WHEREAS, Unfavorable constructions have been put on the twentieth section of the Articles of Association; Therefore,
" Be it Resolved, That no Director, or any other person, shall have a right to draw any money out of said Bank, without giving their notes with sufficient endorsers.
" Resolved, secondly, That a preference shall at all times be given to the Stockholders, in the accommodation of loans, to double the amount of all money by them actually paid in.
" B. MARTIN, Chairman.
"G. BRYANT, Secretary.
" June 3d, 1816."
July 9th, 1817 .- All persons indebted are noti- fied that they must pay " at the rate of from 10 to 50 per cent., in proportion to the amount of their loans."
As showing the feeling existing in regard to such Banks in the winter of 1816-17, when the Owl Creek Bank was applying for a Charter, we give this anecdote : Two persons of color, at Colum- bus, quareled ; one, wishing to make his antagonist as contemptible as possible, called him " a d-d UNCHARTERED son of a b-h." And it became very fashionable at the Capital to apply the term unchartered to all evil doers.
183
KNOX COUNTY.
In these times of evil talk, and while the public were busy crying down this institution, there were occasionally to be found parties willing to " give the devil his due." The following extract from the Zanesville Express of December 16th, is an in- stance in point :
" Notwithstanding so much has been said against the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon, we are assured that two gentlemen, a few days since, presented bills at that bank for a large amount, which were redeemed with chartered paper and specie."
About this time an enemy of the Bank killed a tremendous big Owl, and brought it into the town and rudely threw it down upon the counter, ex- claiming, "There, d-n you, I've killed your Pres- ident."
The Bank building was located where Adam Weaver's hardware store now is. It was a rough, yet substantial piece of workmanship, a mixture of the Doric and Corinthian styles of architecture, weather-boarded, with four-penny nails thickly driven through its batten-door and window-shut- ters, so thieves should not cut in and steal. On the ground it covered about fourteen fect square, and was one low story in height, and painted red !
The bills rapidly depreciated under the heavy blows given. There seemed to be no stopping the clamor against the Bank.
The principal circulation in Knox county was Owl Creek, and we find very many advertising for it. Of the merchants advertising for it were James Miller, and Burr, Green & Co.
184
HISTORY OF
" William Stanbery offers to sell 'The Craig Farm,' at present occupied by Major Joseph Brown, to the highest bidder for Owl Creek Bank paper.
" J. Brown offers to sell 156 acres of land near the town of Mt. Vernon, in the Hamtramick section, for such paper.
" OWLS .- All persons indebted to the subscriber, are requested to make prompt payment, for I am in want of OWL CREEK PAPER. JOHN SHAW.
" N. B. Those indebted for taxes, for 1817, are also requested to pay with the same."
The paper when presented was at first redeemed by the Bank with chartered paper, and the stock- holders and parties interested endeavored to sustain its credit by various devices. Among other plans adopted to keep up the paper was the following, which we give as showing the disposition of stock- holders to pay, and the strenuous efforts resorted to :
"OWLS.
" OWL CREEK BANK OF MOUNT VERNON, January 1st, 1818.
" Whereas, several reports have been circulated, some of which are false, and injurious to the credit of the Bank, with respect to certain measures adopted by the Directors : Therefore, for the purpose of suppressing the further propagating of such false rumors, the Directors have thought proper to exhibit to the public, and to the stockholders, a fair and accurate statement of the measures actually determined on by them, and which has been the subject of such reports. The Directors have observed with regret the de- preciation of the Owl Creek paper of late, and particularly in Knox county ; they have been fully convinced that the principal cause of the sudden fall of the Owl Creek paper is owing to the circum- stance of the difficulty, or almost the impossibility of obtaining such goods as are wanted by the citizens with this kind of paper.
" With a view, therefore, to obviate these difficulties, and at the same time to draw out of circulation the paper of the Bank, we have entered into the following contract with Burr, Green & Co.,
185
KNOX COUNTY.
viz. : Said Company, on their part, have undertaken to bring on a complete assortment of goods, and to retail the same for Owl Creek paper, at prices as low as they can be purchased for in char- tered paper, and to take assignments on judgments in favor of the Bank, or wait until the Bank can with convenience exchange; and for all paper thus collected, the only privilege granted to said Company is a loan of $700 of such money as will pay carriages, to be made use of for that purpose, and to be paid back in good chartered paper, in installments, within one year. Given under our hands.
" James Smith, William Mitchell, Jonathan Miller, Benjamin Martin, John Warden, John Hawn, Jr., John Shaw, Gilman Bryant, Hosmer Curtis, Wm. Y. Farquhar."
" PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN,
That a meeting of the stockholders of the OWL CREEK BANK OF MOUNT VERNON, will be held at the Banking House in Mount Vernon, on the 12th day of March, 1818, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of closing the business of said Company, and to transact any other business relative to said Com- pany which may be thought proper when met. Dated at Mount Vernon, this 6th day of January, 1818.
"Nathaniel Johnson, Jonathan Miller, Godleib Zimmerman, Benjamin Rush, I. N. Richardson, John Shaw, John Hawn, Jr., William Douglass, Samuel Mott, John Wilson, J. M. Banning, James McGibeny, James McGibeny for Joseph S. Newell, James Miller, Joseph Brown, L. S. Silliman.
" N. B. All the stockholders are particularly solicited to attend on said day."
The course of true love never did run smooth. In the career of banks as well as of nations and individuals, there are " ups and downs," drawbacks and obstacles to prosperity ; and parallels in history are always to be met with. Jackson throttled the United States Bank; Sam Williams seizes the gullet of the Owl Creek Bank : Jackson denounces
186
HISTORY OF
Nicholas Biddle ; Williams attempts to play the tyrant over James Smith : Jackson removes the deposits ; and Sam Williams refuses to deposit.
The banking question gets into the papers, and the public mind becomes much distracted thereat. Several communications appear in August and September of 1816 in regard to the Owl Creek Bank. The office of Bank President was no sine- cure in those days, at least of the Owl Creek Bank, for we find that the chief owl was compelled at all times to defend his institution from the stump and the press. The Lancaster, Zanesville, Mt. Vernon and other papers of those days, contain many arti- cles from the pen of James Smith in reply to attacks of Dr. Moore B. Bradley, Sam'l Williams and others. Some of the papers show much acerb- ity and bitterness of feeling ; but, from our stand- point of observation, we must say that our old friend James Smith beat them all.
In a communication of August 6th, 1817, reply- ing to an article in the Ohio Spectator, in regard to a meeting of the farmers, mechanics, merchants, and innkeepers of the town of Mansfield, county of Richland, and State of Ohio, on the 11th of July, 1817, James Smith pointedly says :
" If, sirs, your sympathy has been awakened for unfortunate persons who have received the paper, I hope you will shortly be prepared to discharge your engagements with the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon. It would be an insult upon your good sense for me to tell you, that for you to refuse the paper of this bank, while you are in debt to the bank, is a full sacrifice of every spark of honor. If you, sirs, and such characters as yourselves, would pay your engagements, or one half thereof, the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Vernon would be completely prepared to pay and give sat-
187
KNOX COUNTY.
isfactory exchanges for their notes in circulation. Your honors, sirs, we look after no longer, but your purses and property will have to be tried. Tavern bills and pills* ought to be paid for in this paper as well as in the Mansfield.
* * I would advise you to be industrious in col- lecting the paper, as you know you soon, or at the next court, will have judgment against you. The Owl Creek paper will answer you as well as specie. * *
* * * I censure no person, not in debt to the bank, for rejecting the paper ; both the principle of moral justice and honor enjoins on every person indebted, to re- ceive it. The sooner, sirs, you procure this paper, it will be the better for you. This bank will shortly be prepared to make gen- eral and satisfactory exchanges. JAMES SMITH.
" P. S. The editors of the Ohio Register and the Ohio Spectator will confer a favor on Messrs. Bradley and Williams, as well as myself, by giving the above a place in their respective papers.
"J. S."
Samnel Williams replies in the Ohio Register of Angust 20, in a very long article addressed to James Smith, President of the Owl Creek Bank, &c., in which he evidently lets his temper get the better of his judgment by such expressions as these : .
"You, sir, are President of the Owl Creek Bank of Mount Ver- non, you are Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, a Justice of the Peace, and, sometimes, preach the Gospel of Jesus, as I am in- formed-in politics a professed republican ; all of these callings you profess to fill with fidelity, nay, in some you have sworn to discharge their incumbent duties according to the best of your abilities.
* You have prostituted the official duties and obligations as a Justice of the Peace to subserve its interest by administering unconstitutional oaths. Were you not sworn to support the constitution of this State and of the U. States in the oath of office ? Yet swearing individuals not to take advan- tage of the statute law to prevent the collection of your illegal demands. * You loaned us your bills in order
* Bradley was a doctor-Williams a tavern-keeper.
188
HISTORY OF
to destroy those rights you profess to admire, the rights of man- aging our pecuniary concerns. That when we assert our indepen- dence, like freemen, you threaten us with destruction and tell us we are in your net, and at your mercy, the mercy of your religion, your integrity, your republicanism-your official virtue, the potent demand of one great Owl debt."
To this communication of great length-the bank President replies with vigor-we have space to ex- tract but a paragraph which may be called a clincher:
" I think it unnecessary to answer your charges against me, when you charge my official, political and religious principles; all you say about it only exposes yourself. Had you kept silent the public had not known your baseness. Truly, Samuel, you was one of the persons that took a solemn oath to take no advantage of any statute law to prevent or stop the pay- ments of your bank engagements. You brag of your full purse; you are then without excuse if you imagine you took an unconsti- tutional oath. Will you violate that oath to atone for the crime ? You ought to be ashamed to let any person impose on you so far as to publish your black crimes with an idea of injuring me. If your purse is so full and heavy pay up your bank engagements. Strangers, citizens, and your neighbors too, will have much more confidence in you. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS of the trash you men- tioned will be received of you in place of gold and silver."
On the 28th February, 1822, a paper was drawn up and signed by certain of the subscribers, bind- ing themselves to give their notes, with security, by the last of March next, to John Shaw, John Trimble and Samuel Mott, trustees, whenever the sum of $15,000 shall be subscribed, for the purpose of settling up the affairs of the Owl Creek Bank. As every thing calculated to throw light upon this mysterious subject may be regarded as worthy of
189
KNOX COUNTY.
preservation, we give the names of the parties sub- scribing, and the amounts and conditions affixed :
Gilman Bryant $600
Allen Scott. 200
Joseph Talmage, in trade at trade prices 150
Henry Markley, in trade at trade prices 700
Eli Miller, { in Owl Creek paper and & trade. 200
Jonathan Miller, in good trade or Owl's Creek paper 300
Wm. Mitchell, in Owl Creek paper or cash. 400
Hosmer Curtis, in something as good as the debts 400
Moses Merritt, in Owl Creek paper or trade 150
Jacob Young, in Owl Creek paper or trade 300
Robert Giffin, in good trade at cash price 300
Jas. Shaw, in property 300
Jolın Trimble, in good trade at cash price 250
Jonathan Hunt, in good trade at cash price 150
Jos. Brown, in good trade-say whisky 100
Samuel Mott, in trade. 100
Henry Davis, Owl Creek paper or cash 400
John Hawn, in property.
70
John Hawn, jr., $300 in traid and $500
John Troutman, in good trade or Owls 200
THE FAMOUS OWL CREEK BANK CASE.
Robert Giffin, Joseph Talmage, Jacob Young, William Douglass and others, on the 21st of Au- gust, 1829, by Thomas Ewing, their solicitor, filed a Bill in Chancery in the Supreme Court of Ohio for the county of Knox, against Jacob M. Banning and others, claiming the defendants whose names were set up in said Bill as Stockholders in the Owl Creek Bank, and demanding that they should be decreed to account, pro rata, for their shares of stock held to apply in payment of a certain suit prosecuted by one Luke Walpole upon the paper of said bank, and upon which a judgment thereon
190
HISTORY OF
was recovered by said Walpole at the September term, 1826, against the parties complainants and Abraham Darling, John Ewalt and William Mitch- cll, for $8,445 20, and costs of suit. Upon said judgment executions having been served out and levied upon the lands of complainants, and they demanded that those who were with them in equity alike bound for payment of the same should be required to liquidate their proportion of the same, and for such other further and complete relief as they were in equity and good conscience entitled to at the hands of the court.
These parties admitted themselves to have been stockholders to the amounts following, to wit :
Robert Giffin, 25 shares, contributed $200-cash deposited in bank. Joseph Talmage, 10 shares, contributed $250.
William Douglass, 76 shares, contributed $600. Jacob Young, 10 shares, contributed $500.
Of the other judgment debtors to Walpole, Wm. Mitchell had 25 shares, and paid $500; Abraham Darling 25 shares, and paid $500 ; and John Ewalt had 20 shares, and had paid nothing.
The stockholders to the bank were never fully known by reason of the mutilation or alteration of the books, which took place pending a suit between Luke Walpole and some of the stockholders. The bank was entered one night, and the large box that contained the papers carried off, and subsequently the box was found in a thicket of hazel, cast of town, broken open, and the books and papers scat- tered about with several of the names of stock- holders obliterated. The testimony in this case,
191
KNOX COUNTY.
the proceedings of the court, and reports of the Receiver, exceptions to his report and final decree, make one of the largest volumes of record in the Clerk's office of Knox county-duly labeled "The Owl Creek Bank Case." From this official, and authoritative record we copy the names and shares of stock of parties alledged to have been partners in the firm, name and style of the "Owl Creek Bank."
Hosmer Curtis
50 shares, paid $500 00
Jonathan Agnew .
20
30 00
William Scritchfield
5
Insley D. Johnson
5
=
Joseph Critchfield
10
133 00
James Barkhurst
5
66 00
Robert Dalrymple
12
3S0 00
James M. Gibeny
15
725 00
Allen Scott
10
250 00
Joseph Mann
10
Gilman Bryant
50
900 00
John Green
10
John Hawn
15
66
150 00
Philip Melker
50
510 00
John Stilley
25
200 00
John Shaw
10
66
316 00
Wm. Darling, of Richland county
10
James Boltom
20
160 00
George Davis
20
John J. Tulloss
10
50 00
Jonathan Hunt
21
150 00
Abel A. Webster, of Richland
50
Eli Miller
50
66
250 00
Benjamin Rush
10
266 00
Henry Markley
25
375 00
Nicholas Riley
25
500 00
Henry Davis
20
66
625 00
Jacob M. Banning
50
66
150 00
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HISTORY OF
Gotlieb Zimmerman
20 shares, paid $345 75
W. Y. Farquhar
20
125 00
Nathaniel Scritchfield
10
133 00
Francis Wilkins
25
100 00
Eli Gregg
10
58 00
Jacob Lepley
20
Samuel Mott
30
125 00
Aaron Hill
10
Thomas Irvine
20
66
Jonathan Miller
50
350 00
Jolın Trimble
15
66
316 00
James Smith
50
66
Isaac Richardson
5
66
66 00
Jolın Hibbits.
10
200 00
Jacob Draper
10
66
200 00
Henry B. Carter
10
100 00
Wm. Robeson
20
James Severe
S
66
Rebecca Harris
25
Jonathan Rapp
10
66
. .
Wm. Bevans
20
Wm. W. Farquhar
15
66
265 00
All of the county of Knox-
James M. Taylor, 10 shares.
Joseplı Fulton.
10 shares.
John Cully 10
Jonathan Conard 10
A. H. Caffee 10
Wm. Robinson 70
Noble Landon 10
Wm. W. Gault 50
A. Warthen 10
John Houston 67
Silas Mead 10
Benj. Warner 10
66
All of the county of Licking-
Jacob Been 10 shares. John Badger
6 shares.
Hiram Ball 9 Matthew Kelly 10
Benj. Mochaber. 8
Henry Vaught 10 66
Buckingham, Sherwood and Eben P. Sturges, traders, under the name and style of Sherwood & Sturges, 20 shares, all of whom are of Richland county, and
193
KNOX COUNTY.
Elijah Newcomb, 17 shares ; Thomas Butler, 50 shares, paid $350-both of Coshocton county.
John Beckwith, S shares, of Perry county.
Jacob Morris, 5 shares, of Perry county.
Samuel B. Carpenter, 15 shares, of Huron county.
John Leyland, 10 shares, of Huron county.
Enoch Harris, 15 shares, colored man, of Marion county.
John Morris, 20 shares, of Wayne county.
John Shrimplin, 20 shares.
Adam Johnson, of Coshocton county, 50 shares.
Isaac Dillon, of Muskingum county, 50 shares.
George Reeve, of Muskingum county, 50 shares.
Robert Dalrymple, 50 shares.
James Barcus, 50 shares.
WVm. Critchfield, Sr., 50 shares.
Wm. Darling, 50 shares.
James Rightmire, 50 shares.
Insley D. Johnson, 50 shares. Jacob Cook, 50 shares.
The above named were claimed, as above repre- sented, by the bill of complainants, to have been interested in the concern ; and having been duly subpoenaed and brought into court, their own an- swers and testimony, of much extent, was given as. to who the partners were, &c. While some few plead the statute of limitations, in addition to other testimony, the greater number-to their credit be it said-confessed the soft impeachment, and ex- pressed themselves ready to stand the consequences.
Henry B. Curtis was appointed Master Commis- sioner, and, after a thorough and searching exami- nation, he made, on the 18th of September, 1837, a very elaborate and able report. Having, upon his appointment, caused publication to be made by
13
194
HISTORY OF
newspaper to all interested, either as creditors or partners, of his appointment to close, and finally settle, as far as practicable, the concerns of said Bank, and having before him all the testimony, he determined the relative position of the parties. defendant, and discharged from liability, as stock- holders, of that number Jacob M. Banning, Wm. Bevans, Isaac Dillon, George Reeves, Sturges and Sherwood, Francis Wilkins and Matthew Williams for insufficiency of proof.
At the said September term of Supreme Court, A.D. 1837, Judges Reuben Wood and Peter Hitch- cock approved said report, by which it appeared that the sum of $26,796.20 was required to be raised to meet and discharge the present unpaid debts of the Company, in Owl Creek Bank Bills, commonly called; and the liabilities of the par- ties defendant being established equal, it was fur- ther ordered that said sums, as assessed by said Master Commissioner's report, be paid by said par- ties to him, and the cause was continued for fur- ther report.
Several of the parties defendant, by their Attor- neys, filed exceptions to said report, and, as to their rights, and for further examination, the papers in the cause are referred to H. H. Hunter, Esq., of Lancaster, as Special Master, who, at the Septem- ber Term, 1838, submits a partial report, as to cer- tain parties referred to him, and still further re- ports, as by testimony, the following additional stockholders equally liable, viz : Solomon Geller, owner of 20 shares; John Hawn, Sr., 15 shares ; Nathaniel Johnson, 60 shares (50 of which being
195
KNOX COUNTY.
transfers from Jonathan and Eli Miller) ; William Blackburn, 20 shares ; Matthew Merritt, 4 shares ; G. B. Maxfield, John Troutman and N. M. Young, 10 shares each. At the same time the Special Master concludes with this statement :
" It is believed that no man can, at this time, possess himself of the facts necessary to do exact justice in the case. Though it is believed that much additional evidence, with proper exertions, may be collected, to render the case more perfect. All which is respect- fully suggested.
"H. H. HUNTER, Spl. M. C.
At the September Term, 1839, Judges Peter Hitchcock and Frederick Grimke allowed the com- plainants leave to amend their bill, and make the newly-discovered stockholders parties, &c .; and the Court continued H. H. Hunter Special Master for further investigation, and with more extensive powers.
At the September Term of 1840, Master Com- missioner Hunter submitted his final report, con- cluding with a statement of accounts and an ag- gregate amount remaining due-$17,457 27; and the Court, upon further hearing of exceptions by counsel and arguments for their respective clients, decreed accordingly, and continued the appoint- ment of Henry B. Curtis as Receiver, to collect from the parties the sums assessed against them, and to pay off the judgment creditors, &c.
At succeeding terms of the Court, various orders were made, as necessary in the progress of the cause, and upon the reports of the Receiver of his action had in the premises.
And thus the case " dragged its slow length
196
HISTORY OF
along," until the final report of the Receiver was filed, and the cause finally disposed of upon excep- tions taken by Miller & Dunbar, of attorneys for certain defendants, which were overruled by the District Court in chancery, 16th of June, 1859-and an entry upon the journals expresses the satisfac- tion of the Court at its termination-by the Re- ceiver in having disposed of the remaining assets by sale under order of Court, for an amount suffi- cient to liquidate all outstanding indebtedness.
" It is now, therefore, ordered and decreed, that said report be forthwith approved, and sale fully confirmed," * "and this whole case is accordingly discontinued."
" The undersigned, now, therefore, regarding substantially all in- terests adjusted and settled in behalf of party creditors, and the assets for that pupose exhausted, recommends that the snits pend- ing be finally dismissed from the docket, without prejudice to the rights of the assignee to collect the balances against party credit- ors, standing unsatisfied, agreeably to former reports and decrees in this cause. The undersigned reports all costs paid, as far as known to him, and, as he believes, in full.
" In taking leave of the case which, for more than thirty years, has occupied a conspicuous position on the docket of this court, and in closing the trust which, for more than twenty years, has been confided to the undersigned, he takes leave to congratulate the court on the final adjustment of the whole matter, and to ex- press his profound thanks for the confidence so long continued, without which, the vexed, complex, and protracted labors of the case would have been rendered much more onerous, and the results obtained proved far less satisfactory.
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