A Banker's Day of Reckoning in Walla Walla
A local savings bank president is charged with larceny and receives a stinging rebuke from the bench over his bond amount.
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J. K. Edmiston, president of the suspended Walla Walla Savings Bank, was today arraigned in justice court on a charge of larceny of $10,000 of the bank's funds. The justice fixed his bond at $40,000, segregated by the court as follows: 'Thirty thousand dollars for the money you have stolen, and for the crime you have committed.' The preliminary hearing was postponed until January 22. Edmiston's attorneys took exception to the justice's prejudgment of the case and the excessive bond, and this evening brought the matter before Judge Sullivan in the form of a writ of habeas corpus. After argument, Judge Sullivan reduced the bond to $10,000, which Edmiston says he will give tomorrow.
“Thirty thousand dollars for the money you have stolen, and for the crime you have committed.”
Bank failures and the subsequent pursuit of executives for alleged financial malfeasance remain a recurring theme in American civic life. The stark judicial rhetoric used here reflects the intense public anger directed at financial leaders during the Panic of 1893, a period of deep economic instability that echoes modern frustrations with banking accountability.
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