The Collapse of a Whatcom Banker
Cashier C. M. Atkins faces a laundry list of embezzlement charges following the insolvency of the First National Bank of Whatcom.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
C. M. Atkins, cashier of the First National Bank of Whatcom, was arraigned before the United States court yesterday on an indictment for embezzlement found against him last Saturday. Atkins is charged with widespread financial misconduct, including the misapplication of multiple promissory notes and the falsification of bank journals to hide insolvency. Among the allegations, it is claimed he entered over $2,000 as deposits when no such sum was received and diverted funds to pay for personal debts, including thousands of dollars in gold and silver coin. He is further accused of manipulating books to deceive the National Bank Examiner, Charles Clary, in the months leading up to the bank's failure on June 22, 1893.
“He is also accused of drawing a check for $1,634.43 in favor of the Whatcom County Investment Company, although it owed the bank that sum.”
Bank failures and internal fraud during the Panic of 1893 reflect the extreme instability of the era's financial institutions. The intricate schemes described here, aimed at hiding insolvency from federal regulators, prefigure the regulatory battles seen in later banking crises.
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