﻿ESAEEY: STATE BANKING IN INDIANA 291 



tinually from 1835 to 1871, first as clerk of the legislature, then in 

 the Senate, then on the circuit bench, and then on the supreme 

 bench; Addison L. Roach of Rockville, who was born in Tennessee 

 in 1817, had come to Bloomington in 1828, was graduated, 1836, 

 from the State University, was for a long time one of its trustees, 

 studied law with General Tighlman Howard at Rockville, served in 

 the legislature, sat on the state supreme bench, and became the 

 law partner of Joseph E. McDonald; and John D. Defrees of 

 Indianapolis, who by birth was also a Tennesseean, was a lawyer 

 of South Bend, editor of the Indianapohs Journal, 1846 to 1854, 

 a state senator, chairman of the Whig State Central Committee 

 in 1854 and of the RepubUcan State Central Committee in 1856 — ■ 

 a pubhc officer for nearly half a century. It is not necessary to 

 comment further on the personnel of this board. All were prominent 

 men and all had been highly honored by the people in an official 

 way. There was no excuse for their crime. They were to get 

 their pay for lobbying by selling the locations of the branch banks. 

 It would have been within their power to establish the first branch 

 out at Bridgeport instead of at Indianapolis, but the stockholders 

 would pay heavily rather than have the bank located at Bridgeport. 

 The commissioners were also empowered to appoint two sub- 

 commissioners to open the books for each branch and receive sub- 

 scriptions. 



The third opportunity for graft was in subscribing the stock of 

 the bank. The law directed that the sub-commissioners should 

 open the books to receive subscriptions between nine and twelve 

 o'clock. The commissioners were careful to appoint sub- 

 commissioners who would allow no one to subscribe except those 

 recommended by the lobbyists. The charter was worth $500,000, 

 at a fair estimate, basing the estimate on the dividend paying power 

 of the old Bank. 



A brief review of the ' 'openings" will show that the lobbyists 

 were not disappointed in their hopes in this regard. The sub- 

 scription books of the Indianapohs branch were opened by W. H. 

 Talbott and John S. Spann at the office of the Ilhnois Central 

 Railroad, and kept open from 11:50 till 12:00 o'clock. Mr. Talbott 

 had the list of subscribers already made out and during this ten 

 minutes merely copied the names on the stock subscription list. 



The books at Richmond were opened by B. F. Murphy of Middle- 

 town assisted by Miles Murphy. Mr. Murphy came into the 

 Huntington House at Richmond at 9:10, and spoke to Mr. Phinneas 

 Kent. The two left the house at once, and at 9:15 the commis- 

 sioner boarded a train which had waited for him fifteen minutes. 



