Shelton’s Shuttered Bank Promises to Pay Every Depositor in Full
After the sheriff closed the Bank of Shelton, its president bought out the cashier and announced a $20,000 reorganization.
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.
A. H. Anderson, president of the Bank of Shelton, which was closed by the sheriff, has arranged for its reorganization. He said yesterday:
'I have bought the interest of A. F. Metzger, the cashier, for $8,500 cash and will take care of the liabilities. I have arranged to pay dollar for dollar of all deposits. The bank will be reorganized with $20,000 capital. New blood will be brought in from the East and some stock will be taken in Shelton and the neighborhood. I have undertaken the reorganization.'
“I have arranged to pay dollar for dollar of all deposits.”
The Bank of Shelton's near-collapse and quick recapitalization shows how dependent small-town Washington was on confidence and eastern capital in the 1890s. Modern bank failures and deposit-insurance debates still turn on the same promise: that depositors will be paid dollar for dollar.
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