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Show WHIMS OF DEPOSITORS. New York Banker Tells of Odd Experiences Ex-periences With. Customers. (New York Commercial Advertiser.) Richard L. Purdy of the Bank for Savings Sav-ings enlivened an otherwise weighty address ad-dress on savings banks last evening before be-fore the Manhattan chapter of the Bank CU.rks' Institute by relating a number of humorous personal experiences with depositors. de-positors. "One of our depositors living on Long Island." said Mr. Purdy, "is' exceedingly distru.stf ul of New York men, and when he visits the bank to collect interest he takes extraordinary care to'; prevent his passbook from being stolen. It is inter-j inter-j csting to watch him when he enters the banking room; he generally goes to a corner cor-ner and then, with his back to the depositors, de-positors, looking over his shoulder occasionally occa-sionally to see that no one is observing him, he proceeds to remove his passbook from his leg, where it is tied next to the skin. After he has received the money from the teller he goes through the process proc-ess of tying the book again to his leg. and then, with teeth firmly set, he wends his way homeward. "A woman left her passbook to-be written writ-ten up, and, upon applying for it later, was nsked with whom she had left it. Wishing to use a banking expression and exhibit her learning, she answered: "Sure, with the man in uniform that certifies the ' women in their seats.' She had given it j to the usher. j Among our depositors for many years was a little, black-eyed woman, dressed , in mourning, who imagined she had an ' unlimited amount to her credit. She would take her place in line very modestly, modest-ly, but when her turn came to name the amount she wished to withdraw she would quietly ask for two or three millions. mil-lions. The cashier, who knew her failing, fail-ing, would reply: 'Won't tour or five dollars do this morning?' and she, apparently appar-ently well satisfied, would answer, Yes." tj j "A young woman, with some embarrassment, embarrass-ment, and yet quite a determined air, wanted to know whether Richard Smith had an account with the bank. Upon being be-ing questioned she said Mr. Smith was not deceased nor was she a relative of his. Finally, with much hesitation, she admitted that she expected to be married to him and would like to know beforehand before-hand regarding his financial condition. "An employe of our bank was accosted on one occasion in Nassuu street by an old woman, very ragged and dirty, who begged him for a few pennies. Looking at her sharply he recognized her us one of the depositors with some ?1,300 to her credit. When he told her of her deposit she lost no time In getting away from him. This illustrates the folly of indiscriminate indis-criminate alms giving. "A resident ot Brooklyn some years ago closed an account with our bank, receiv-inging receiv-inging a $1,000 bill with smaller bills. He carelessly put the money into his vest pocket. On reaching the ferry in the evening he was dismayed to discover that the $1,009 bill was misslni?. He remembered remem-bered stopping in front of Harry Hill's resort at Howard and Crosby streets after aft-er leaving the bank to look at a memorandum memor-andum which he carried in his vest pocket. Retracing his steps he found the bill lying open in il' suiter in plain sight under a street la. where hundreds ot people were passing. It had been there for hours. "A man coming to the bank with a written order for money was told to take it to the controller in order that the signature sig-nature might be compared with that kept on file in that department. He disappeared and in about an hour returned very angry an-gry and overheated, saying he had taken it to the city hall and shown it to the controller, who knew nothing at all about it. A man with papers and passbook laid them down on the desk at the cashier's window and with a most Important air said, 'If your honor please, I am the executioner exe-cutioner of my deceased wife and want the money.' "One day a woman of gentle appearance, appear-ance, but exceedingly pale, took her place in the line, but fainted before her turn came. She was kindly cared for and a physician was summoned. It was discovered discov-ered that the cause of her fainting was an experience she had had in the lobby. Her husband had then thrown her down and choked her until she had agreed to draw out some money for his benefit. "Two girls in the line awaiting their turn were overheard in the following conversation: con-versation: One of them was about to draw out $50, and, being advised by her friend to give $10 of it to the church in the old country, said: 'To hell with the church in Ireland. I do enough for the church in this country.' " 3 Perhaps the most remarkable and up-to-date story in the whole interesting collection col-lection was one told to illustrate the careful care-ful administration of savlnps banks in the matter of accumulated interest. He used it to show that very few of the so-called so-called dormant accounts of savings banks really are never claimed. The hero of the story is John Lee, 104 years of age, who was a servant in the Stevens family of Hoboken, and is still living and kindly-provided kindly-provided for by that family, whom he has served four generations. Born a slave, he was freed in 1823. He opened an account in 1843, and the following year withdrew all but $11, leaving his passbook in the bank and forgetting all about it. The bank recently advertised for him and some others who had not been heard from in many years, and the old negro appeared ap-peared with two friends to claim his own. He was delighted beyond measure to discover dis-cover that his $11 had grown to the respectable re-spectable amount of,,$lS9.59. Among the curious names of depositors observed by Mr. Purdy during his long career are the following: Jack Frost, Angelo Scorpion, Arkangel Salll, Rose Morning, Christian Christ, Cannon Amen, Catharine Bonesuck, Louis Nicholas Eugene Eu-gene Jules Saligny (colored). Nancy Salt-marsh, Salt-marsh, Patience Grace Jukes, Caroline Cakebread, Henrietta Moonshine, Angel Dora Cromwell, Adam Kanongreaser, John Christmas, Eliza Stoops and John Cashdollar. |