The Sylvester Family of Plainview, Minnesota*

Stoltz case goes to trial; claims minor role and lack of education

December 4, 1925 - December 11, 1925

PAGE 169

Austin had come into the bank on that day to transact business connected with his notes and that he and Sylvester had gone to one of the office rooms at the back of the bank. When questioned regarding the carrying of that amount of money in cash Mr. Austin said that it consisted of three $1,000 bills and one $500 bill. The money, he said, was sporting money used in betting and that for years he had carried such sums. The records of the bank had already been proven unreliable in the Kennedy case. The question of the signature of the notes was not stressed. Senator James A. Carley represented the State Bank and Paul Strickland of Minneapolis, the defendant.
December 11, 1925-

Stoltz’ diary Reveals Much in Evidence
Trial of Assistant Cashier of Plainview Bank on at Wabasha
Large Expenditures of Sylvester Family Arouses Suspicion
Introduces Notes in Evidence – Examiner Fails to State Loss
With the state resting its case against G. A. Stoltz at 10:15 Thursday, defense attorney J. W. Murdoch made his statement of the case and called Stoltz to the stand for testimony. Murdoch pictured Sylvester as a dominating power in his community, trusted by everyone as a man who could do no wrong in taking up the task of proving to the jury that Stoltz was an innocent victim, that the insolvency of the bank was due to the same trust in Sylvester that was held by the community.
Stoltz had kept the list of transactions, known as the Sylvester IOU, through fear of his own safety. On various occasions he has signed bonds for Sylvester until at present he is liable to the extent of $23,000. When the spending of unusually large sums by the Sylvester family came to his notice he made this list as a means of checking up his own situation. Murdoch characterized Sylvester as the financial power of the community, the executor, the guardian and trustee of the entire countryside. "That is what he looked like to the people of the community when he left Plainview on February 28, and that’s who he looked like to Adolph Stoltz when he accepted the deposits from Annette Gorrell at 1:30 PM on the day the bank closed." He also pictured Stoltz as jealous and curious when Sylvester was spending such an ungodly amount of money on his children, his wife and his home, and wanted to know if Sylvester could afford the "splurge" or whether he was forced to borrow money. Then there came the mental picture of the bonds for which he was liable if Sylvester became involved. He found the overdrafts and checked up the sources of the money that went into the account, but never knew that Sylvester was dishonest or stealing money from friends who had entrusted their money to him. That the Sylvester family had no knowledge of his plans and that they feared for his safety was revealed by Stoltz soon after he went on the stand. He declared that Sylvester left the bank on Saturday morning saying that he was going to Minneapolis and would stay at the home of his daughter there. Nothing unusual was suspected until Monday morning when park Sylvester came into the bank and inquired if anything had been heard from his father, saying that he had failed to arrive in Minneapolis. "Mother is hysterical and we fear something has happened to father," he said.
Stoltz averred that he realized that if this knowledge came to the public, resulting in a run on the bank, a collapse was inevitable as at the time they carried considerable paper that could not be negotiated on short notice. Although he did not suspect the true condition he advised the closing of the bank but was overruled by Kennedy. On March 3, he continued working and at 1:30 accepted the deposit of Annette Gorrell. At 2 o’clock, he said, when he could stand the strain of uncertainty no longer, he went home and told his wife that he had quit. Kennedy called him back to the bank to discuss affairs and at 4 o’clock the doors were closed never to open again.
Murdock brought out the facts of Stoltz’s life, showing that contrary to usual procedure of today Stoltz entered the bank with only a seventh grade education. He entered he said at the urgent request of E. L. Sylvester after he had sold his farm and

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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."