Omaha Daily Bee
June 28, 1889
(highlights)
Sidney, Neb., June 27. - S.C. Morgan, cashier of the State Bank of Sidney, committed suicide this morning, shooting himself through the head with a Colt's 45 pistol. He was in bed at the time.
It appears that this morning Morgan called John Echert, who is working at the house, to go up to the bank to get Joe Sharmer's "pop," as he wanted to kill some rats. John got the pistol, brought it to the house and placed it on the table, saying, "here is the pistol," and went out.
At 11 o'clock he returned to tell Morgan his wife had not arrived, she being in Omaha visiting and was expected home to-day. Eckert saw blood on the bed and rushed uptown to inform Sharmer.
The sight that met their gaze was a ghastly one--Morgan lying in bed dead, with the top of his head blown off, the pistol lying along side of him.
Sheriff Eubank and jury have been taking evidence, and everything leads to the theory of suicide. The bank is now closed, but Sharmer assures everybody the financial condition of the bank is unimpaired.
Mr. Frank Johnson, cashier of the Bank of Commerce, who is associated with Mr. Morgan in the bank at Sidney, stated that he could offer no explanation of Mr. Morgan's rash act. The financial condition of the bank was excellent, and as far as he could ascertain, Mr. Morgan's business and domestic relations were unclouded.
Omaha Daily Bee
June 29, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
June 30, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 2, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 3, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 4, 1889
(highlights)
Sidney, Neb., July 3. - Frank B. Johnson . . . arrived here on Friday morning at 10 o'clock. At the depot a large crowd had congregated with eager expectancy to get a glimpse of the man who was to straighten the then unsettled condition of the bank's affairs.
Morgan committed suicide on Thursday morning about 7 o'clock. The news was spread about 11. Your correspondent immediately went to Joe Sharmer, the old reliable clerk in the bank, and asked him to inform him on the dead square if everything was all right in the bank, as it had become noised around that there was a deficit. Sharmer said everything was all right and nobody would lose a cent. He had "telegraphed to Frank Johnson, the president of the bank, to come up at once," and later he confirmed it by showing your correspondent a telegram from Johnson saying that he (Johnson) would be here in the morning.
It turned out that Sharmer was ignorant of the true condition of the finances of the bank.
Johnson...in company with J P Cavanaugh, an Omaha attorney...entered the bank accompanied by Sharmer and Adam Ickes, the county treasurer, and James Sutherland of North Platte.
They saw enough of the bank to assure them that there was a large deficit, but when interrogated on the subject they would invariably answer, "We can't make a report yet and it will take several days, as the books have not been posted in nearly two weeks."
...a few of the creditors began suit and had papers served on Johnson as the surviving partner.
When the west-bound train arrived at 10 o'clock p. m. and Sheriff Eubank was presenting his documents to Johnson summoning him to appear in court on August 5 to answer these suits, he got aboard the train, saying he was going to Cheyenne and would be back on Saturday afternoon to assist a committee of three in further examining the books. He never returned, but it is learned that he took the B & M train for Omaha. He never intended to come back here. The result was that County Treasurer Ickes, who has $17,000 deposited there, went to Omaha on Sunday in company with Mr. McIntosh, where they will probably enter suit.
The people here are determined to make Mr. Johnson pay up every dollar, and no compromise will be effected.
Omaha Daily Bee
July 7, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 8, 1889
Nebraska State Journal
July 12, 1889
(highlights)
Omaha, Neb., July 5 - From the time the bank opened it seemed to prosper. Morgan was popular with all classes, and the financial standing of his partner aided in securing business. For nearly three years his was the only banking institution in Sidney, and after a time he was unable to do the business alone. He then employed Joseph Sharmer, an honest gentleman of some means, to assist him. Morgan always kept the books, and his employee's duties were to pay the checks presented and make out the drafts of the bank's correspondents....At his house he lived very plainly, and his parties did not occur oftener than once a year. He never played cards for money, and his most intimate friends say he never had any desire to deal in options or futures. When he opened the bank he adopted the rule never to use liquor during business hours, and rigorously adhered to it.
The affairs of the bank disclose about $11,000 of not gilt edged paper, no money and $3,000 or $4,000 of real estate. What has become of the difference is a great question with Sidney's people. Morgan had not squandered it, but where is it? It is generally believed to be somewhere in Omaha, but how it got into the Nebraska metropolis is another unanswered query.
It is believed here that Morgan fully realized when he went home the last time that his bank could not open the next day. He had no money in the safe and his remittances from Omaha were very uncertain. The Nebraska banking law he knew would go into effect on the following Monday, his Cheyenne creditors were clamorous for the payment of their claim, he had been unable to dispose of his bank's good will at satisfactory figures, under his agreement he would soon be compelled to yield possession of the building in which he was located and his bank was without funds - these facts the people of Sidney believed dethroned his reason and compelled him to take his own life.
Omaha Daily Bee
July 19, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 23, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 25, 1889
Omaha Daily Bee
July 30, 1889
(highlights)
The situation of the State bank affairs this week is practically unchanged, so far as the payment of the bank's debts is concerned. After much delay, and the breaking of many promises, J.P. Cavanaugh, Mr. Johnson's representative in the matter, arrived in the city, presumably for the purpose of making propositions for settlement. Johnson's agreement with Messrs. McIntosh and Ickes it is true left out of sight all such things as propositions. He agreed to assume and take charge of everything. In the event of his keeping his word a proposition would have been entirely unnecessary.
The proposition appeared quite fair, though it was not by any means what Johnson had promised, and Cavanaugh was asked to put it on paper, that the individual opinions of the creditors present might be had. Mr. Cavanaugh did this, but produced a document so completely different from his verbal proposition that he was told without further argument that negotiations might stop if he had nothing further to offer.
The matter will be taken into the courts if necessary and Mr. Johnson will find himself confronted with facts that to say the least will not be pleasant.
Omaha Daily Bee
August 1, 1889
 |
| ("Mr. Rickets" mentioned in the article actually refers to Adam Ickes.) |
Nebraska State Journal
August 9, 1889
In a nutshell, the bank partner/cashier committed suicide because all the money was gone. Nobody really knew where it went. Frank Johnson initially denied being a partner in the bank then tried having his lawyer negotiate a settlement with all of the bank's creditors. By August, they're still negotiating and hoping to make a deal. Ultimately though, Adam was responsible for ALL of the county money. If Frank Johnson couldn't come up with it Adam was supposed to make good on it.
It appears that Adam's term in office was two years and he was up for re-election. I'm not exactly sure of the purpose of his next speech - I guess it could have been delivered at a political rally - actually, I really don't know what to think. It was written on the back of Cheyenne County Treasurer stationery.
Unappreciated
Under this head there seems to be two classes viz: The
unappreciated and those who do not appreciate.
The first class appear to be the most numerous. It is certainly not a pleasant thought if we
have genius, that the world refuses to recognize the fact. To shoulder a musket in the army when we have
enlisted to wear the start of a general is hard; and we are often obliged to
follow where we think we ought to lead, therefore we are not appreciated.
There is danger of too high an estimate of our ability, we
often confound the aiming at a mark with hitting it, thus failing to merit a
high estimate of our ability. We do not
enter the avocations of life by bringing into requisition all the zeal the
energy and the powers of our being but ask for harvests without plowing or
serving, wages without thought or work.
Are there not many of us who sometimes think others are in
our places, that we have been overlooked and that positions intended for us to
fill have been usurped by others? The
world may be very slow to find us out, we may seek for place and may not find
it, but if we are truly worthy we will be found at last. But, of one thing we may be assured that
whether we are found or not the world will move on today and tomorrow and
forever. Great men only have climbed to
imperial heights by slow, hard and patient toil. It is the only sure, safe and successful path
through which all must travel in order to gain prominence. We are often too ready to conclude that
because we are not in affluent circumstances we are shorn of certain privileges
in society, and this seems to be the case more especially with the female
sex. This ought not so to be; it is
possible for the poorest the humblest in this glorious land of freedom to
outshine in beauty of character the glittering gold of the millionerre (sic.); it is not in gaudy dress or
sparkling pearls, but in the culture of the mind and the heart that we are
brought into prominence before the world.
We sometimes think that our opportunities have passed by and
with sincere regret look back and wail and lament over neglected duties and
wasted privileges when you, yea even wish that we were a “robust boy” at
fifteen or a rosy cheeked girl at “sweet sixteen”, with what energy and determination
would we enter upon the work before us; forgetting all the while that all of us
were girls and boys once and did not then think of it. The future is before us, many of us perhaps
have not lived out half our days and if we have neglected our youth let us
begin now and by faithful hard and earnest work endeavor to retrieve our loss.
We would not have you believe that all talent comes to the
front, that all persons may be brought prominently before the world; for it is
possible that,
“Full many a gem of
purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves
of ocean bear
Full many a flower is
born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness
on the desert air”.
We shall now attempt to say something about that
class who do not appreciate. It must be
a great comfort to some failures that the fault rests not with them but us; for
surely it is a strong proof of smallness of brains on our part that we can not
rise up to the sublime appreciation of this world’s heroes – these poets,
politicians, lawyers, doctors and philosophers all kept down because we don’t
appreciate them, well, if we hav’nt (sic.)
the ability to appreciate, then that ought to be the end of it; for surely no
man is responsible beyond his actual capacity.
We very often fail to appreciate real merit, because of inattention or a
certain dislike, whereby we do not suffer ourselves to become interested,
conseqnently (sic.) we are not
benefitted. Perhaps the fault lies at
our own door and if we can not appreciate, we should at least have the goodness
to allow our neighbor to hear and enjoy the benefit by not ignorantly and
willfully exhibiting a want of appreciation.
Our eyes have pained and our feelings revolted at young men and ladies
too, who not only do not allow themselves to be interested, but by talking and
laughing to the annoyance of others near them have shown a lack of culture
rather than that of appreciation. It’s
an evidence of ill-breeding that ought to be frowned down; it’s a crime that
ought to be punished; it’s shallow and disrespectful and merits the
condemnation of all sober-minded good thinking people.
A studied effort should at least receive our
respectful attention, for in no other way are we capable of rightly judging as
to its merits. Because we don’t like the cut of a man’s coat or that he wears a
cuff for a collar or articulates through his breathing apparatus, is no reason
why we should not appreciate his effort, especially if it be logically
arranged, showing evidences of thought and study; neither should we pass
lightly upon the studied effort of a lady though we may not admire her beauty
or approve the train she draws after her.
In conclusion, would we be appreciated? Then let us endeavor to prove ourselves
worthy of it by diligent duty and faithfulness.
Would we appreciate? Then let us show it by not only standing out
of other people’s way when they are entitled to the way, but by a manifestation
of that esteem and respect which are the true characteristics of a noble
culture.
A.I.
Sidney 8/23/89
Believe it or not, Adam was re-elected County Treasurer of Cheyenne County Nebraska for another term. But back to wrap up the whole banking fiasco.
Being privy to future documents and newspaper articles helps put some of the pieces together within this time frame. I'll start with all the rest of the documentation available to me.
Omaha Evening World Herald
March 3, 1893
Omaha Morning World Herald
May 8, 1894
(transcript)
CHEYENNE COUNTY FUNDS.
J. J. McIntosh, treasurer of Cheyenne county, was asking $9,000 in Judge Blair's court Monday as a balance due on an $18,000 account which Cheyenne county had with Frank B. Johnson, one of the proprietors of the now defunct Bank of Sidney. This balance was an account still due, 1889, it is alleged, when S. C. Morgan, Johnson's partner, died tragically and the bank failed. The court decided that the evidence failed to show that Johnson was interested in the bank at the time of the deposit and decided in his favor.
SUPREME COURT OF NEBRASKA
[decision in McIntosh v. Johnson]
JAMES J. MCINTOSH, TREASURER OF CHEYENNE COUNTY, NEBRASKA, v. FRANK B. JOHNSON.
No. 7211.
SUPREME COURT OF NEBRASKA
March 17, 1897, Filed
PRIOR HISTORY: [***1] ERROR from the district court of Douglas county. Tried below before BLAIR, J. Reversed.
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND REMANDED.
COUNSEL: L. F. Crofoot, Breckenridge & Breckenridge, and W. P. Miles, for plaintiff in error.
Wharton & Baird, contra.
JUDGES: NORVAL, J.
OPINION BY: NORVAL
OPINION: [*34] NORVAL, J.
During 1888, and a part of 1889, the defendant, Frank B. Johnson, and one S. C. Morgan were partners engaged in a general banking business at Sidney, Cheyenne county, under the firm name and style of the State Bank of Sidney. In the latter part of June, 1889, Mr. Morgan died, leaving the defendant the sole surviving partner, and the bank being insolvent at the time, closed its doors, and did not afterwards resume business nor pay its depositors. From January 7, 1888, to June 26, 1889, both dates inclusive, Adam Ickes, the treasurer of Cheyenne county, in his official capacity deposited in said bank, on open account, large sums of money belonging to the county, and withdrew a portion thereof as required for use. On the day the bank suspended payment Mr. Ickes, as such county treasurer, had upon deposit therein county funds to the amount of $ 17,357.40. Plaintiff is the successor in office [***2] to the said Adam Ickes, and as such instituted this suit to recover from the defendant, as surviving partner, the sum of $ 11,857.40, alleged to be the balance due the county of Cheyenne on account of the moneys so deposited in said State Bank of Sidney. A trial of the issues raised by the pleadings was had to the court, resulting in a finding and judgment against the plaintiff. Two defenses are relied upon by the defendant to defeat the action, to-wit: (1.) Neither the county of Cheyenne nor the plaintiff ever had any [*35] legal claim against the defendant or the State Bank of Sidney on account of the funds deposited by Treasurer Ickes. (2.) Accord and satisfaction. These propositions will receive attention in their order.
The first contention is to a greater or less extent sustained by two decisions of this court, viz., State v. Keim, 8 Neb. 63, and First Nat. Bank of South Bend, Ind., v. Gandy, 11 Neb. 431, 9 N.W. 566. The first case was an action by the state to recover certain public funds belonging to it which had been deposited with the defendants, who were engaged in the banking business at Falls City, under an agreement that it should [***3] be delivered upon demand. It was held there could be no recovery, since the deposit was unauthorized, and there had been no ratification of it by public law. The writer by no means concedes that an illegal or unauthorized deposit of state moneys in a bank constitutes no cause of action in favor of the state to recover such moneys; but accepting the decision in State v. Keim to be sound, is it decisive of the question before us? We do not think so. After it was rendered the legislature, in 1879, passed the following act, which received the approval of the executive:
"An act to provide for the collection of public funds and moneys.
"Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska:
"Section 1. That in all cases in which public moneys, or other funds belonging to this state, or to any county, school district, city, or municipality thereof, have been deposited or loaned to any person or persons, corporation, bank, copartnership, or other firm or association of persons, it shall be lawful for the officer or officers making such deposit or loan, or his or their successors in office to maintain an action or actions for the recovery of such moneys deposited or loaned, [***4] and all contracts for the security or payment of any such moneys or public funds made shall be held to be good and lawful contracts binding on all parties thereto; Provided, Nothing herein contained shall be construed to in any manner affect the [*36] liability of any surety or signers of any official bond heretofore or hereafter given or made in this state.
"Sec. 2. All actions heretofore brought by any public officer, either in his own name or officially, for the recovery of any public [**523] moneys heretofore loaned or deposited shall be sustained, and all remedies allowed in other cases, by attachment or otherwise, shall be admissible and allowed in such actions as in other cases." (Compiled Statutes, ch. 8, secs. 40, 41; Session Laws, 1879, p. 156, secs. 1, 2.)
It was the decision in State v. Keim, supra, doubtless, which prompted the legislature to enact this law, for the purpose of authorizing the collection by suit of public moneys illegally loaned or deposited by their custodian,-- a remedy which this court had ruled did not theretofore exist in this state. If the act above quoted is to be given prospective operation, and not a retroactive [***5] effect merely, then it is very evident that the present action is maintainable. It is argued by the defendant that the purpose of the act of 1879 was to legalize prior contracts made by treasurers for the depositing or loaning of public funds and to empower the treasurer making such loan or deposit, or his successor in office, to collect the same by suit, and that this law has no prospective application. The case of the First Nat. Bank of South Bend, Ind., v. Gandy, 11 Neb. 431, 9 N.W. 566, is authority for such interpretation. The question there involved was whether county moneys deposited in a bank by county treasurers prior to the enactment of the present depository law are subject to garnishment process in a suit to recover a debt of the officer depositing the same. It was held that they were, since it did not lie in the mouth of Mr. Gandy, or any of his privies, of which the depository bank was one in respect to the funds, to assert that they were not the individual moneys of Mr. Gandy, which alone he had a right to deposit in bank, and the latter might lawfully receive from him on deposit. The only reference made in the opinion in that case to the law of 1879 [***6] above quoted is the following: [*37] "I do not deem it necessary to make any reference to the act of February 24, 1879, cited by counsel for defendants in error, further than to say that by its own terms said act only covers cases of loans of public funds made before the passage of said act, and so does not apply to the case at bar." We are persuaded that the author of that opinion either misread the statute, or had not in mind three well recognized rules which should have obtained in ascertaining the meaning, scope, and effect of the act. The statute is in some respects a remedial one, and therefore should receive a liberal construction. ( Rogers v. Omaha Hotel Co., 4 Neb. 54; Swearingen v. Roberts, 12 Neb. 333, 11 N.W. 325; Harmon v. Omaha, 17 Neb. 548, 23 N.W. 503; Wright v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 19 Neb. 175, 27 N.W. 90; State v. Fremont, E. & M. V. R. Co., 22 Neb. 313, 35 N.W. 118.) Again, an imperative rule of construction is that effect, if possible, must be given to every clause and part of a legislative enactment. ( Hagenbuck v. Reed, 3 Neb. 17; McCann v. McLennan, 2 Neb. 286; [***7] King v. State, 18 Neb. 375, 25 N.W. 519; State v. Babcock, 21 Neb. 599, 33 N.W. 247.) Another familiar canon governing the interpretation of statutes is that they will be given a prospective operation unless a contrary intention is plainly expressed. ( State v. City of Kearney, 49 Neb. 337, 70 N.W. 255, and cases cited.) There is nothing, either in the title or the body of the act, which indicates the least intention on the part of the legislature that the law should operate retroactively alone. On the contrary, it is manifest that it cannot be so construed if effect is given to each word and clause of the statute in question. That it was the purpose to legalize actions then pending for the recovery of public moneys brought by any officer either in his individual name or officially, and also to legalize prior contracts for the deposit of such money cannot be successfully disputed; but that the law was intended to have a retroactive effect alone we deny. The interpretation contended for by defendant renders meaningly the words "or hereafter" used in the proviso clause of section 1, which declares that "nothing herein contained shall [***8] be construed to in any [*38] manner affect the liability of any surety or signers of any official bond heretofore or hereafter given or made in this state." Construing the words "heretofore or hereafter given" in connection with the rest of the section in which they appear shows that the act was to have both a prospective and retroactive effect, and was intended to apply to, and cover, contracts or deposits made after the passage of the act, as well as those made prior to its adoption. The act in unmistakable terms empowered the bringing of suits upon contracts which should thereafter be made for the deposit of public funds, and not merely actions upon contracts which had been made before the passage of the law. To construe the act so as to give it both a retroactive and prospective application, effect can be given to every word therein contained, while the language of the law, without a forced or arbitrary construction, will not support a mere retroactive effect. The decision in First Nat. Bank of South Bend, Ind., v. Gandy, supra, is disapproved.
The facts upon which the defense of accord and satisfaction is predicated are these: In December, 1889, after the [***9] death of Mr. Morgan, the defendant entered into an agreement with Mr. Ickes, the county treasurer of Cheyenne county, by the terms of which Mr. Ickes, as county treasurer, accepted certain real estate in the city of Omaha of the agreed value of $ 6,000, owned by Mr. Johnson, and the promissory note of the latter for $ 3,000 in settlement of the amount due from the bank for the county funds which had been deposited therein. Mr. Ickes at the time executed and delivered to Mr. Johnson a receipt, of which the following was a copy:
"OMAHA, NEB., Dec. 11, 1889.
"Received [**524] of F. B. Johnson his note for three thousand dollars, bearing even date herewith, payable in one year, with interest at seven per cent per annum, which, when paid, will be in full of all claims against him in connection of State Bank of Sidney.
ADAM ICKES,
"Co. Treas. Cheyenne County."
[*39] That the above mentioned note was subsequently paid by the defendant is conceded. Whether the county commissioners accepted the benefits of said settlement and ratified the same with full knowledge of the facts, in our view it is unnecessary to determine, since the compromise is not binding for want of a consideration. [***10] It was admitted by the defendant upon the trial that he was a partner of Mr. Morgan in the State Bank of Sidney, and that at the time of the death of the latter there was on deposit in said bank, to the credit of the county treasurer of Cheyenne county, the sum of $ 17,357.40. No payments had been made upon this indebtedness at the date of the compromise. There was therefore at that time a liquidated amount due from the defendant as sole surviving partner of over $ 17,000, and this admitted liability was settled by the acceptance of property and note of the defendant of the actual and agreed value of over $ 6,000 less than the amount of the indebtedness. The acceptance of part of a liquidated demand past due, in full settlement, is not a bar to an action on such demand. In this case the amount of the indebtedness was admitted, and the defendant being the sole surviving partner, there was no room for dispute that he was liable for the payment. There was no consideration for the agreement to accept a lesser sum than the amount due; hence there is no complete accord and satisfaction. The proposition is too plain to require the citation of authorities in support of it. The judgment must [***11] be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Omaha Evening World Herald
March 19, 1897
So here's the bottom line. Adam lost $17,857.40 of county money. On 11 December 1889, Adam signed a note agreeing to accept $6000 of real estate owned by Frank Johnson and $3000 cash payable in one year at 7% interest as payment in full. That would have taken care of half of it. It was reported in a newspaper a few years later that Adam had already transferred "all his property" to the county and the county commissioners were looking for someone else to sue for the remainder of what was due. If that were true and Johnson paid up as promised, the county would have been out less than half of what was lost. But when J.J. McIntosh, the County Treasurer who succeeded Adam, took his suit against Johnson all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court in 1897, Cheyenne County was still due a balance of $11,857.40, meaning that only $5500 had actually been paid. How much of that came from Frank Johnson and how much of that came from Adam's own pocket is still a mystery to me. (As a side note, the lower court had thrown the suit out, finding that there was no evidence that Frank Johnson was, in fact, a bank partner and therefore not liable for the debt. The supreme court, however, determined that it was Frank Johnson who had advised Adam to put the money in the bank in the first place, and by that fact sent it back to the lower court to be re-tried.)
We have to consider, too, that if Adam trusted the bank with the county money he would have trusted the bank with his personal money. We have newspaper evidence that an agreement was reached between the bank creditors and Frank Johnson, but we don't know if Johnson ever really paid them any money. Besides, if Adam did get any of his personal money back he probably would have been required to hand it over to the county.
1889 also turned out to be the year the Union Pacific Railroad completed the rail lines into the Black Hills. Other surrounding routes were completed soon thereafter. Sidney merchants were left competing for local business only as all of those out-of-towners could now get goods and supplies delivered to local merchants by rail.
Adam was broke and business was a fraction of what it used to be. 1889 turned out to be a very, very bad year for Adam Ickes.
All original content, images, commentary, etc. copyright © by Joy Denison 2015-2016. All rights reserved. All writings, poems, speeches, essays, images, scans, likenesses, etc. by Adam Ickes (b 1845) as well as personal histories, images, and all other content by all persons referenced and discussed within the pages and posts in this blog may not be copied, shared, or reproduced in any way without expressed permission by the owner unless included here from other referenced sources or are historical records already considered to be in the public domain.
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