THE BUFFALO SAVINGS BANK Main and Tupper Streets, Buffalo, N.Y.
PASS-BOOK No. 41,118
In account with Mrs. Lillian Thompson — P.O. Box 3118, Buffalo, N.Y. Opened 4 November 1916.
[inside front cover, specimen signature:] Lillian M. Thompson — in violet ink, faded; the page has been turned often enough to have softened the gutter. Beneath, in the bank's hand: Spec. sig'r. recd. 4 Novr. 1916. Witnessed at the counter, R. H. Marsh. No subsequent specimen on file.
[leaf 11 recto — entries Jan–June 1921, transcribed:]
`` DATE PARTICULARS DEP. WDL. BAL. T. 3 Jan 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,217.42 R.H.M. 1 Feb 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,617.42 R.H.M. 2 Mar 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,017.42 R.H.M. 5 Mar 1921 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 4 Mch 1,150.00 2,867.42 M.B.K. 1 Apr 1921 Interest, qtr end Mch 21.50 2,888.92 M.B.K. 4 Apr 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,288.92 R.H.M. 2 May 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,688.92 R.H.M. 3 Jun 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,088.92 R.H.M. 6 Jun 1921 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 5 Jun 1,200.00 2,888.92 M.B.K. ``
[leaf 11 verso — entries July–Dec 1921:]
`` 1 Jul 1921 Interest, qtr end Jun 21.66 2,910.58 M.B.K. 5 Jul 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,310.58 R.H.M. 2 Aug 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,710.58 R.H.M. 1 Sep 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,110.58 R.H.M. 6 Sep 1921 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 5 Sep 1,200.00 2,910.58 M.B.K. 3 Oct 1921 Interest, qtr end Sep 21.83 2,932.41 M.B.K. 4 Oct 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,332.41 R.H.M. 1 Nov 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,732.41 R.H.M. 1 Dec 1921 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,132.41 R.H.M. 5 Dec 1921 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 4 Dec 1,200.00 2,932.41 M.B.K. ``
[leaf 12 recto — partial, Jan–June 1922; clipped to the leaf at the top right is a slip of bank stationery, pink, folded once:]
The Buffalo Savings Bank — Records Dep't
Internal — not to be entered in pass-book
14 Mch 1922
Acct. No. 41,118 — Thompson, Lillian M. — Re: specimen signature.
The specimen on file at the inside cover of the pass-book is dated 4 Novr. 1916 and is, in our judgment, of considerable age. The depositor has not appeared at the counter for the renewal of the signature, nor for any other matter, within memory of the present staff. The account is fed monthly by mail-order from Port Hume, N.Y. (account 02-000003½, Erie Trust Co.), and is drawn quarterly under the Order to Pay filed 22 Octr. 1919 in favour of A. Hewitt, attorney. The Order is regular and unrevoked.
Records Dep't recommends the renewal of the specimen at the depositor's earliest convenience and the entry, in the customary place, of a certificate of identity by the depositor's attorney. The recommendation is the second of this kind issued for this account; the first, dated 7 Jun 1921, has not been answered.
No further action proposed by this department at this time.
— H. Maclay, Asst. Rec'g Clerk
[leaf 12 recto, entries beneath the slip:]
`` 2 Jan 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,332.41 R.H.M. 1 Feb 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,732.41 R.H.M. 2 Mar 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,132.41 R.H.M. 6 Mar 1922 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 4 Mch 1,200.00 2,932.41 M.B.K. 3 Apr 1922 Interest, qtr end Mch 22.00 2,954.41 M.B.K. 3 Apr 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,354.41 R.H.M. 1 May 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 3,754.41 R.H.M. 5 Jun 1922 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,154.41 R.H.M. 6 Jun 1922 To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay 5 Jun 1,200.00 2,954.41 M.B.K. ``
[leaf 12 verso, July–December 1922 — entries continue, indistinguishable in pattern: $400 in, monthly, by mail order Port Hume, signed R.H.M.; $1,200 out, quarterly, To A. Hewitt, Order to Pay, signed M.B.K.]
[leaf 13 recto, 1923, similarly. The last visible entry, 6 November 1923:]
`` 6 Nov 1923 By cash, mail order Port Hume 400.00 4,232.91 R.H.M. ``
— after which the pass-book is closed mid-leaf and the remainder of the leaf is blank. No final balance struck. No notice of closure entered. The pass-book was found, with the Loomis envelope, in 1947.
[loose, tucked between leaves 12v and 13r, on Buffalo Savings Bank scrap:]
A single half-sheet of bank scrap-paper, in a fresh hand — not Marsh's, not Kean's; the same Records Dep't hand as the pink slip — dated 11 Octr. 1922:
Death notice from the City Registrar's office, Buffalo, regarding L. M. Thompson, was received this department 9 Octr. last and has been mislaid. Mr. Maclay to write to City Hall for a duplicate certificate. Account meanwhile to be continued at the discretion of Mr. A. Hewitt, attorney, per Order on file. The pass-book entries reflect no interruption; the depositor's interest is in regular receipt.
— H. M., 11 Octr. 1922
The scrap is unsigned but for the initials. The duplicate certificate is not on the leaf, nor pinned elsewhere in the pass-book. No further internal slip is filed.
— the entries in the body of the pass-book continue, monthly and quarterly, from the date of the registrar's notice through the day Mr. Loomis took the chief clerk's job at the Erie & Genesee in Rochester. R. H. Marsh's initials appear against every Port Hume deposit, in red ink, in the customary place. M. B. K.'s initials appear against every Order to Pay, in red ink, in the customary place. The bank's records of Mrs. Thompson and the bank's records of Mr. Hewitt are, on the face of the pass-book, regular.
— H. Loomis, on the reverse of the back cover, in pencil, undated: A pension is a thing paid by the living to the living. The Order on file is regular. The notice is mislaid. The two are not, on the face of the pass-book, the same matter.