The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota*

Petition filed to declare E.L. Sylvester involuntarily bankrupt

March 28, 1925 - April 10, 1925

PAGE 152

E. L. Sylvester, the missing president, is the subject of a nation-wide search. Every clue which has been traced down to date has failed to reveal his whereabouts.
April 3, 1925- (from Winona Republican-Herald of March 28)

Bank Cashier is arrested in City Saturday
Warrant Issued for A. S. Kennedy on Information from Examiner
Charged with Larceny as Result of Irregularities Found
No New Clues Found in the Search for Sylvester, Missing President
Arthur S. Kennedy, assistant cashier of the closed Plainview State Bank, was placed under arrest this non charged with grand larceny, as a result of irregularities found there by state bank examiners, according to County Attorney John R. Foley, over long distance telephone from Plainview.
The warrant charging embezzlement of $650 was issued this morning by County Attorney Foley, upon information furnished by Superintendent of Banks, A. J. Veigel.
Kennedy will be taken to Wabasha this afternoon and arraigned on the charge in justice court there, according to Mr. Foley.
The arrest of Kennedy, following the irregularities at the institution discovered by bank examiners and the disappearance of Edwin L. Sylvester, for whom a warrant has already been issued, was no surprise to those close to the tangled affairs of the bank. It had been predicted for weeks by officials investigating the affair and county authorities.
The information resulting in the arrest was transmitted to the county attorney yesterday from St. Paul. This morning, armed with the warrant, they arrived at Plainview at 11 o’clock and Kennedy was immediately taken into custody.
This afternoon Deputy Sheriff John Jacobs and County Attorney Foley will return to Wabasha with the prisoner. He will be arraigned and bail will be furnished according to Mr. Foley.
(Kennedy pleaded not guilty and was released under bonds of $2,500)
Arthur S. Kennedy is one of the outstanding boosters for Plainview. During the ten years he has been connected with the Plainview State Bank, he has been one of the heaviest backers of all progressive movements inaugurated in that section. Perhaps his biggest achievement was the launching of the annual Wabasha county fair held at Plainview each fall and developing it into "the biggest little fair in Minnesota" as he termed it. Kennedy has been the secretary of the organization since it was established and has been credited with being the man who "put over" the fair.
A former secretary of the Plainview Commercial Club, he devoted a great deal of time to the developing of the truck farming industry around Plainview. He was a bog booster for the famous "Greenwood Prairie cabbage" and was instrumental in bringing a canning factory, a pickle station, and other markets for truck farming products to Plainview.
Kennedy is locally known as the outside man at Sylvester’s bank. He clerked at auctions held in that section and was in the foreground in all commercial enterprises.
He came to Plainview 10 years ago from Rochester. He is married and has three children.
April 10, 1925-
Bankrupt order Sought in Missing Banker Case
County Attorney J. R. Foley Moves in Matter of E. L. Sylvester
C. L. Mikkelson, Deputy Examiner, is Appointed Receiver
Steamship Records Show Absconding Banker has Not Left Country
County Attorney John R. Foley filed a petition in United States Court at Winona last Friday morning asking that E. L. Sylvester be declared involuntarily bankrupt. In this action Mr. Foley is acting for the state banking department. The petition cites six items as grounds for the action.
First – That on December 18, 1923, E. L. Sylvester gave a promissory note for

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* SOURCE: Manzow, Ron (compiler), "The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota - a collection of information taken from the Plainview News, other newspapers, letters, and diaries beginning in 1884": Plainview Area History Center, 40 4th St. S.W., Plainview, MN 55964. Compiled in 2001.

NOTE: from Ron Manzow, December 2001: "Feel free to reproduce the pages for anyone who wants a copy. It was compiled to be shared... All I ask is that they consider sending a check to the [Plainview Area] History Center to help us out. That should be enough."