12 A-
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JANUARY 3, 1917.
OMAHA INSPECTS
NEW FIRST NATIONAL
Magnificent Interior Profusely
Decorated with Flowers
, . Sent by Friends of
- the Institution.
TO HOVE BANK ON SUNDAY
Omaha has teen the interior of the
new quarters of the First National
bank at Sixteenth and Farnam streels
The reception was held Saturday aft
ernoon from 2 to 9, and the bank will
move the books and records over to,-
day and be ready for business at the
'new location Monday morning.
: At 2 o'clock the big briss-bstr doors
were swung back and the crowds
which had been waiting in the out
' side lobby began to poor up the short
"marble stairs to view the new quar
ters of this old-established bank in
its fourteen-story building. From that
moment until 9 o'clock at night, when
the doors were closed, the (crowds
continued to file up the stairs' and
stroll through the building. '
An orchestra struck up sweet
strains from the rotunda- overhead;
pretty g(f ls pinned flowers on the vis
itor, and a half doien colored porters
in spotless white served punch. .;t.
Great baskets of flowers began to
. arrive early in tne morning wim mc
compliments of various business con
cerns and individual friends and asso
ciates of the bank from Omaha, Ne
braska and other states.
Flowers Arrive Early, ;
s Among the flowers which arrived
thus early in the morning. were those
from C. W. Hull, the Jerpe Comrais-
sion company, George H. Thujnmel,
M. W. Dimery, Hugh E. Wallace,
Metz Bros., William T. Bacon and
Lucian Teter of Chicago, I. B. Zim
man, Frank W. Judson, Hess & Swo
boda, Clifford De Fuy of Dea Moines
and Byrne-Hammer. After this hour
flowers veritably tumbled into the
palatial lobby from the other banks
m the city and business houses of all
kinds. ' . -v. . ' 'i
The lobby is worked out in a Ro
man colonade effect, with eighteen
huge white column surrounding the
rectangular enclosure. A wide stair-
way leads from the north entrance1
of the building up to the bank's quar
ters, which are really ou the second
floor.' , " i . '
.' The whole interior, the eighteen
columns, the floor, the counters and
the balustrades, are of pink Tenrles-
. see marDie ana cverywing sdovc is
shaded to keep the general tone. This
4alr( nff th irlan nf mire white
.marble and gives a soft, handsome
and rich effect to the whole
spective. . 'j' -
Marble of Pink. , '.
1 Around the stairway is a balus
trade of Tennessee marble, of excep
tional massiveness, containing five
great built-in seats heavily cushioned
with the finest leather upholstering.
A large clock looks down from
either 'end -of the lobby, ' controlled
which .electrically, controls net.. only
these two timepieces, but some ten
others in the basement. In the rooms
of the FirsttXrust company, and in
various offices. ) .
A deep arched ceiling' of snowy
white and heavily figured swells high
Overhead.'" -
The quarters of the main officers
are at the north end of the' room,
where are also several private eon
. ference rooms, all furnished in finest
, walnut' with mahogany finish. Here
will be tire quarters of F. H. Davis,
C. T. KounUe, T. L. Davis, I. Allison
and Myles Standish. -- if
At the west side of the lobby near
the south end will be the quarters of
. the city officers, Luther Kountze, O.
T. Eastman and George Zimmerman.
! 'Vaults in Basement
In the basement two huge vaults
present such a mass of heavy alter
nating brass and polished steel as
would make a modern battleship jeal
ous. - ;' ' ' .!.,-
These vaults have among othei ca-
pacities room tor ),rau aaie deposit
boxes. The old boxes, which the cus-
tomers now have in the "bid quarters
at Thirteenth and Farnam streets,
. will be moved bodily to the new quar
ters, wht.e the. new boxes will be
r,eady to receive the contents. Then
the customers themselves will come
"to the bank and transfer their vslu-
! ables from their old boxes to ,the new.
To Move "Live Money." '
i The big brass cash boxes ordered
have not yet arrived. This means
that the main bulk of the bank's
money will have to be left in the old
vaults at Thirteenth and Farnam for
a few days, perhaps until the new
cash boxes arrive. In, the meantime,
when tire bank opensfor business at
the new location Monday morning:.
enough money will have been brought
up iu carry on mc necessary ousincss.
"The live money," as the bankers
say, will be brought' up.
This bank soent sixty' vears on
lower Farnam street, and now, at last,
. to keep pace with the westward prog
ress of Omaha, has come to the very
hub of the city, the pivot upon which
the business life of the metropolis
. turns. , ' ' . -,
In a litte cottage at Twelfth and
Farnam streets this bank began busi
ness. In those days the bank was
known'as the Kountze bank, founded
by Herman and Augustus Kountze
In 1866 they built a two-story brick
building for their bank at Thirteenth
and Farnam. Then in 1888 thev re
placed this by i six-story building;,
which the bank 'has occupied until
- now. . ". '
"If the elder Kountze could only
be alive, today to step in here for
iust a moment, wouldn't he smile."
i was the exclamation of some of the
prominent business men who stepped
in fo a moment, to look over the.
rooms. . ;
y. Come for Reception.
: Members of , the Kountze family!
from various parts of the country are
here to fake part in the reception.
Pierce Anderson of the architectural
firm of Graham-Burnham of Chicago,
arcnitects , wno planned tne new
building, is here for the reception.
Mrs. Meredith Nicholson is here
from Indianapolis. August and Her'
man Kountze have arrived from New
York. Thejr- are elder brothers of C
T. and Luther Kountze of the First
National. Also Charles Junod, for
merly of Omaha and now with the
Kountze Brothers in New York, is
here, Harold Kountze of the Colo
rado National bank, Denver, is here. I
LOBBY OrMAIN BANKING ROOM OF THE NEW FIRST NATIONAL BANK -Reception
was held here yesterday and today the paper and money of the bank are being
moved. ; Tellers' windows along the left side. , ' ; ' ' ', .
I'll X- .1 rv'KyP;:l3i - js s ;t :
y '''kci
Wealthy' Young Chicago. Man s. t
Escapades
Omaha and an episode Said to have
occurred in the .Nebraska metropolis
last summer, when Mrs. Florence
May Copper of. Chicago alleges her
gown was torn, her feelings lacerated
and her nose broken, kit promincntlynot pressed here.. ,
mentioned in s suit the Windy City
woman contemplated bringing againsf
Mitchell Wall is, jr., son of the mil
lionaire president of the J. I. Case
Plow company of Racine, Wis. s
The facts in the case were revealed
when the United States .Department,
of Justice started investigating the
suit after the ownership of a big tour
ing car, wrecked in Lincoln park, Chi
cago, two months ago, when it struck
telephone pole at I o'clock in the
morning, .was established..,,, Th ear
proved to be the property, of Mrs.
Coppevwho left Chicago shortly aft
erward. The-wrecked machine re
mains iwt Chicago garkge. - i..
The intended suit unearthed by the
federal' authorities in Chicago snos
that the damages listed y the plain
s'
Fuy- , j TrTTTTT AMrm tvt n rTnTTvrvT n tt rrt n tttt t m
- il . - . - . y - of ; v ' ' m
:: ; ,;OMA I
; announces its removal to the I
Mew IB MnWiEi . :y:
Sixteenth and Farnam Streets i:Tx'i
.:. ' " ' 1 " " a. . ; il,
') ' ' You arc1 cordially Invited to visit . Wm
!i the Bank in Its new quarters . StS
If ; ana inspect tne building StSL '
' - : . t '--Hlll9inR9RR!l3ES WTt:fV? I
. 'v 1 aBBmmsg Nebraska's Oldest National Bank i ig gfljtM -
Into the Limelight
tiff include a bill for the wrecked joy
wagon) a broken nose and damaged
gowns. Some of the items are. those
said to haveresulted from the Oma
ha incident,' when' Mrs. Copper had
her assailant 'arrested... The case was
As an aftermath of .the Omaha ad
venture. Hinton G., Clabausrh. chief of
the bureau of investigation of the Automobile that was struck by a pas
Department of Justice in Chicago, fsenger train on the Sarpy crossing.
has begun an investigation to - de
termine whether the Mann, act was
violated by Mrs. Conner in her jour
ney from Chicago ta Omaha, accord
ing to the Chicago paper printing the
story of the affair. v;:( . v- ' . '
i The plow -family sclonis said to
have presented Mrs. Copper with, the
automobile wrecked in : the, Chicago
park. While the total amount of Mrs.
Copper's bill against the Wallis youth
is not givB out, '1118 safd'ttiltr i ew
automobile"' to replace the.wrecked
car is numbered among the items. 1
.(. While, the. Qmalja case, was hang
ing fir; art Omaha aftorntr 'seturWl
a $500 retainer fee from the father
of the young man who was in trouble.
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t
Husbands Settle Suits .'
; For Deaths of Their Wives
. The . cases . brought' against the
Union Pacific by Kenneth V'homp
son and Alonzo C. Ash, whose wives
were killed in an automobile-train
crash at Sarpy crossing, two miles
east of Millard, on June 11, 1914, have
been settled for srtotal of $3,000. In'
the .original petitions filed with, the
clerk of the district court each of the
plaintiffs asked. $15,000 damages. The
wives, Maud Brainerd Thompson and
iva Vivian Asn, were riding in au
Montana Man Blows Out the '
;5. Gas; but His Life is S,aved
, ''Blowing out the gas almost -ended
the' life of Jack Woods, 40 years of
age,, of Talking Creek, Mont;, who,
with his friend, Newell Bayes, rooms
at 1115 Douglas street, Friday night
Police surgeons say the only thing
that saved Woods' .life, was the fact
that" hef pulled Hip 'cldtftel
head before he went to sleep, thereby
creating an air pocket In which there
remainei . sqmewnprijyilresh
Bee Want Ads Produce! Results.
Boy Thought to Have Been Drowned
Tells His Reasons for Running Away
Decided the Bridge, Had Been V
Moved to Suit Him, So He V
' " Went to Lincoln.
INTXEESTED IN BUILDINO"
His inherent, bred-in-the-bone in- .
terest in structural works' of all
kinds was responsible for Carl Mer-
ker's sudden disappearance from his .
home and consequent hours of arur-
iety suffered by hit parents, Mr. and -Mrs.
WilliamMerker, 317 North .
Twentyfirst street. Carl left home
Monday and it was believed that he '
had been drowned in the Missouri
river near the Union Pacific bridge,
until he was found alive and well at
the Detention home in Lincoln. He '
was returned to his home Friday .
night and there, in his childish way, '
he told of how he came to run away.
"Well, it was always lots of fun
for me to go down to the river and
watch the work on the big bridge."
Carl began, as he toyed with an air
gun his father had just i given him,
"and I was down there nearly all the
time that I couldNget there, and lots
of times I had to ditch school to get
there. But finally, when they, got it
built and engines were running over
it all right and it was put in place, I
didn't have any place much to go, for
there was nothing being built around
town that I like like a bridgor
- Found the drU'fre AU Right
"Well, Monday' I thought I'd go
down and look at it anyway, but I
didn't see no other kids and was all
alone. I watched three or four trains
go across the bridge, and after I saw
that it- was all right and everything
and nobody working on ft, it wasn't
so much fun any more and I didn't
know what to do to have any fun.
"But when-1 was wondering what
to' do I thought of a building that
was being built in Lincoln-when I
was down there one time and was
only half finished then, so I thought
I'd go. down So see hpw' it' looked
when it was all built. So I went to
the depot and found out when the
train went and when it was ready
to go I got on and crawled in .be
tween the backs of two seats. No-
Dooy saw me, -ana tne conductor j
FarmerBreaksL.Toe and Sprains His
Back When Girl On Skates Hits Him
As a result of . a head-on collision
at Hanscom park while skating- Carl
M. Johnson is suffering from a broken
little toe and sprained back and' is.
wishing' that the unwieldy lady who
disturbed his equilibrium would be so
kind as to .come to his assistance as
nurse.-. Carl is a young man of 25
and lives' on a farm about six miles
northwest of Florence. " After his
chores, were done he drove his horse
to the skating pond to cut a few ca
oers on the ice. ' - 1 ' -
6vhijilk'fie'Wientertaining a large crowd
wrcn nis iancy wock wnen a nneiy
dressed young lady alighted from a
limousine and when her skates were
Oil vnttire! down the southwest bank
of the lake. But as she descended she
lost all ' control and did not stop
'
- T
" j CARL MERKER.', y "
didn't ask me for any tftket, and I
guess I'd of got put off if h . had, be
cause I didn't have no ticket nor any
money.' One time j purta pear got
caught when somebody turned the
seat over, but t didn't, and I just laid
still till I knew we were in Lincoln.
Taken tojail." ' ' V'
"Then I got off, Tut i didn't 'get to
see the building I wen: to see, for
someone saw me around the depot
and called a policeman and he tootq
me to jail. It was fun there, for there
were lots of Dther kids, but, any
way, sometimes I got lonesome and
wanted to come home, but they
wouldn't call up " v ' :
"Car-rll Here the lad's story was
interrupted by a voice from " the
kitchen. " 1 '
"Yes!" answered Hie youngster.
""Set the table."
"All right, ma." And the interview
was at an end. . . ' - x -
Carl's father first intended to send
his boy-to some school where he can
be given more attention than his
parents can give him, but when he
learned of the youngster s - bug . on
big construction projects he decided
to buy him a set of mechanic 1' struc-
tural toys.
Carl will hve the -set;
today. ,,
until she had knocked Carl dqwn And
besides had sent him sliding on his
back.
.'In speaking of the encounter Carl
says: '"Poor girl, she must haVe hurt
herself . badly. If a farmer like me
comes' high getting killed a pretty
society girljike her must be dead
by this time. I never had such ex
citing a .time in all my life before.
What else could I do but -accept her
apology when she asked with si'ch,
a pretty smile?" -,.-..
Promoting-' IttmtM. '; .v I -
'Tou iay my husband needs exerolse.
but ha won't take any and I don't know
how to male him," said a. woman plain,
lively. "Is there any way in which we can
tffce Mm to exerciser" "
iV'Pid you ver try, on windy days, making
him wear a hat that will he lura to blow,
off ?" asked thsdoctor. Buffalo Express.
Trial of. Colcord
.AridAssmanisSet- ;
V C For January 15 .
Fremont, Neb!, Jan. 6. 'Special.)
The date for the trial of Tom Col
cord and Louis-Assman, in the county
jail here on a ojiarge of robbing the
Vmslow , state bank a month ago,1
has been sot for January 'J5. The
case will be -the first on the docket
at th lantiarv . (Mm Nnther k.Ol-
corenor Assman have engaged jm
attorney, so far as Sheriff Condit
knows, and it is not known whether
they will ask for separate trial. J
Nq trace of the remainder of the
money, amounting to $2,200, has been
found. Sheriff Condit is of the
opinion that the bandits threw- the
h,i .nntiininfl th ortlrt anfl Silver .'
in the brush as they jan. from Win-,
nebago the night they were arrested.
Mrs. Assman has visited Assman re
cently and declares she will stand oy
her husband. " ' '
. . ' -4;
Sure Lewis Slayer
Thought Unbalanced
Philadelphia, Jan. 6.-Police search,
for. the slayer of Maiie Colbert, ar-
. j , l . - , i
lists moaei, wno was niurucrcu in
her apartment here last Friday,
ended today, and tonight Captain of
Detectives Tate announced he was ,
convinced that Bernard W. Lewis, son
of aretired Pittsburgh coal operator,
who committed suicide, at Atlantic
City last night just as the police werd
about to arrest him, was the mur
derer, v
, The detective department hrfs ac
cepted beyond doubt the conclusion
that Lewis, a former law student at
Yale, who has been separated from
his wife in Pittsburgh, felled the
model with a blow from'a blunt in
strument, and fled after strangling
her. with-a silk stocking. The police
investigation riow has narrowed down)
Ho the motive for the- crime, and
while the general belief of the detec
tives is that Lewis was temporarily
embarrassed financially and may have
been driven to strangle the young
woman to secure funds, the supposi
tion that his mind was temporarily
unbalanced is also given credence.
Mrs.-Sarah Coker, Aged More
Than Four Score Years, Dead
Mrs. NSatah Coker, aged 84 years,
and for twelve years -a resident of
Omaha, died Friday afternoon of pneu-
monia. at the home of her daughter,
Mrs. "H. E. Stine, 4314 Ames avenue.
The "Hate-for the funeral has not been
set, but when it is held, it is probable
that Hhe. services will be conducted
by Bishop Stuntz of .the .Methodist
church. .'. ' - . ' -
Mrs. Coker is survived by two sons
and .two. daughters. Rev. H, J. Coker,,
jenver;.. v.,v0Ker, imcago; wrs,
H. E. Stine, Omaha, and Mrs. F. L.
PSr,.r iatf I at Citv " . '
1 V. W. Straub Honored. -
Avoca, Neb., Jan. 6. (Special.)- ,
V. W. Straub, the well known breeder
of. fancy Galloway cattle in the mid-
oie wesi, wno lives tdsi oi rtvuca, nas :
betn presented with a "fine walking
stick by the Live Stock Breeders' as
sociation for professional service ren
dered at the last American. Royal Live .
Stock show.
,',A- r- L ly . I . ' s J ;
