Clark County history: Suicides led to bank failure

Two respected employees of the First National Bank used the same pistol when they died by suicide in 1901. Bank President Charles Brown and cashier Edmund Lee Canby were well respected in Vancouver. Both were married, with children.

Born in Knoxville, Ill., in 1850, Brown married into the well-known Slocum family and — like his father, S.W. Brown — once served as Vancouver mayor.

While Brown’s life is well known, Canby’s is less so. He was born in 1848 in Wilmington, Del., and was educated there. His family was cursed by tragedy. A 14-year-old brother and his father, also bearing the name Edmund Canby, died the year he was born, leaving him with two brothers and four sisters. His older brothers Samuel and James joined the Army. Both served as paymasters, rising in rank to major and colonel, respectively. Samuel Canby fought in the toughest battles of the Civil War, including Gettysburg. Three decades later, he took his own life by jumping from the steamboat Mascot as it was about to sail to Portland. James Canby died of a stomach ailment at 72.

Edmund Canby came West in 1877 to assist James, who was then serving as a paymaster at Columbia Barracks in Vancouver. Like his brothers, Edmund showed ambition and would work in finance. The First National Bank elected him cashier in 1883. The same year, he built a $7,000 home on the corner of 12th and Main streets. Newspapers mention Canby among Vancouver’s upper society. At the Vancouver Barracks Sully Theater in 1883, he attended a formal reception for Gen. Nelson Miles and his wife.

During the depression of 1893-94, Canby signed a tax protest letter to the county commissioners and city council. Co-signers were S.W. and Charles Brown, C.W. Slocum and several other prominent men, asking all taxpayers “regardless of party” to meet in the Standard Theater on Saturday, Feb. 17, 1894. Days later, during a second session, Canby urged forming a committee and acting quickly regarding taxes.

The 1901 incident that led to the bankers’ suicides started when they were confronted by bank examiner James Maxwell. The reasons are murky. The bank’s February financial statement listed about $231,000 in deposits. Its assets included large reserves deposited in Eastern banks, several of which were presumed fictitious. With the institution’s finances thrown into disarray, it was closed immediately. An April Columbian editorial called the fiasco “the most trying ordeal.” Once in receivership, First National’s debts and holdings would be sorted out or liquidated.

Former dentist and Vancouver Mayor A.B. Eastman lost $3,000 when the bank closed and was elected receiver. Banking agencies controlled how the failed bank’s customers and creditors would be compensated. Eastman oversaw bank property sales, selling Canby’s mortgage to J.H. Jaggy for $5,000 and later nearly 236 acres of land west of Mill Plain. In August, another misfortune hit the family. Fred Heffner shot his youngest son, Joycelyn, leaving Mrs. Canby grieving two sudden deaths.

With the distribution plan decided, Eastman dispersed the funds as they were released. In compensation, some received cash and others property, like George Despro and Lowell Hidden.

Due to Eastman’s diligence, bank customers received dividends of about 90 percent of deposits by October 1902. Yet, he had challenges sorting some of the remaining claims for several years, including one involving a soldier who was labeled as insane.