BEVERLY HALL 
A BACHELOR’S OLD COl.ONIAL HOME 
By Richard Dii.i.ard 
old-fashioned brick residence on King 
Street, Kdenton, North Carolina, now called 
Beverly Hall, was originally built tor a bank in i8io. 
It was a branch of the State bank, and tradition says 
it did a flourishing business until one day the coin- 
nuinity was shocked and startled by the announce¬ 
ment that the cashier bad absconded with all of the 
funds. Before leaving, in order to conceal the 
amount of the theft, be piled the hooks of the hank on 
the floor, saturated them with lard oil, (there being no 
kerosene then), and set them on Are. It happened 
that some servant girls, who w^ere cleaning up the 
directors’ room that day, smelt the smoke, and gave 
the alarm; the populace broke open the doors and 
saved the books and building, d'be burnt places upon 
tbe floor wdiere the books lay are apparent even to 
this day. Public censure w'as so intense that 
the young bookkeeper employed in the bank w'ent 
out into the garden and shot himself. At the 
thoroutrh examination wdiich follow^ed he w'as found 
O 
to have been entirely innocent of any complicity 
whatever wdth the crime, d'he bank staggered along 
for a few years, and Anally suspended wdien Andrew' 
jackson vetoed tbe celebrated State Bank Bill in 
1835, and the (lovernment deposit w'as wAthdraw'n. 
I'he property then w'ent into private hands, and 
became a residence; it was remodeled in 1850, and in 
1896 it was again greatly improved. Tbe vault has 
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VIEW FROM THE ROSE-GARDEN 
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