"I found him at the house of his mother-in-law in company with a couple of dozen of the amateur detectives. They were awaiting the return of Wm. Greene, whom the boy was leading another wild goose chase. It was the consensus of opinion that if the last effort with the boy failed, the crowd should take the old man from the jail and threaten to lynch him. This might possibly make him confess. I felt perfectly sure that the boy had taken the money in the sack and concealed it and argued that it would be more easy to intimidate him than his father, who seemed to be hardened and determined. Objection was made on account of his age, and on the score of cruelty, but they finally agreed that I might make a trial on the boy, and that in case of failure, they would deal with the old man. Pending the discussion, William Greene and the boy drove up in a buggy. The boy had added another to his many lies about the disposition of the sack. He was a sturdy chap of thirteen, and under the embarrassing circumstances seemed pretty cool. When they got out of the buggy William Greene made a final appeal to him. 'My boy,' he said, 'you have been lying to us all day as you well know, but I will make a last offer to you. If you will tell where you have hidden the money, I will give you $200.00 and you shall not be hurt, or anything done to you, but if you don't, I will turn you over to these men, and I don't know what they will do to you.' The boy said, 'that as true as there was a God in heaven, he didn't know anything about the money, and could tell nothing.' Then I took up the role; I seized him by the throat and threw him pretty heavily to the ground, and called for a rope; the crowd had a rope prepared for the old man, which was immediately put about his neck; then I raised him up and told them to throw the rope over the limb of a tree under which we were standing. They did so and drew it taut, and I said, 'now you lying young rascal, we are going to hang you instantly, and if you have anything to say, this is your last chance.' The suddenness of the attack, and the jar he received in falling sort of dazed him; at all events he cried out, 'don't hang me and I will tell.' He at once confessed that he had the money in the sack, and had buried it in a clump of bushes within three hundred yards of where we were. I led him by the rope, followed by the crowd, and in a few minutes a couple of the men unearthed the sack. We then returned to the house, the money was counted and only a few hundred dollars was missing from the original $6,000.00 which the package contained. The boy in the meantime had regained his courage, and on being asked to explain who gave him the money, said that while going with the sack for the meal early in the morning of the robbery, he had met two men, who gave him the money and told him to bury it and they would call in a few days and pay him $200.00 for his trouble, and that his father had nothing to do with it, and knew nothing about it. Asked to describe the men, he looked at the crowd and gave a very accurate description of myself and John Weare, who stood beside me. The bystanders appreciated the joke, and inquired whether Weare and I were not the men. He gave us another look and said he was not quite certain, but they were men who looked mightily like us, if we were not the very men.
"The old man was kept in jail but the boy was left with his mother. In a few weeks the prisoner escaped, the boy having with an axe one night dug a hole in the wall of the jail. He and his father were heard of no more, and were never brought to justice. I have always had a sneaking sort of an admiration for that boy and feel certain that he must have reached distinction in some way or another.
"The above episode took place, if my memory is not at fault, about 1854-5, and at that time and on till 1857, the real estate dealers and bankers throve apace. Personally I had arrived at a position that I thought entitled me to become a financier, and in company with L. H. Lehman, of Wooster, Ohio, and E. C. Kreider, of Lancaster, Ohio, we opened our doors and proclaimed ourselves bankers under the firm name of Carpenter, Lehman & Co. Soon afterwards another bank was started, the firm name of which I have forgotten, but of it Henry Wood, an early settler of the town, was a member. Thus Cedar Rapids, with a population of less than 2,000, could boast of three banks. Meantime Greene & Weare grew apace, and besides the home institution, within a few years they established branches in Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Omaha, Ft. Dodge, Sioux City, and it may be at other places, and in almost every county seat that I can think of there were two or three banks. Cook & Sargeant, of Davenport, were the Pierpont Morgans of the day, and had even more branches than Greene & Weare.
"I cannot remember that there were any banks of issue in Iowa, nor do I know what the banking laws of Iowa were at that time, but if there were any, they were not so favorable as those of the territory of Nebraska. Cook & Sargeant, I believe, were the discoverers of the new field, and organized a bank at an obscure town in that territory named Florence, and very soon currency of the Bank of Florence was in active circulation; to keep abreast of the times, Greene & Weare started a bank at Fontanelle, a still more obscure place in the territory, and bills of the Bank of Fontanelle were greatly in evidence. I do not remember what provisions were made for the redemption of the notes, but imagine that the holders had a pretty tedious journey to get to the places of issue. They however did duty as money, made times good, and stimulated speculation. When the land office was opened at Fort Dodge, I made a trip to that place with John Weare, Jr., who went, I think, to establish a branch there. The journey consumed several days, and on arriving we found all the buildings that had formerly been occupied by the soldiers filled to overflowing with land seekers and bankers. Not only were the old buildings full, but many were in hastily built cabins, and even in tents. There were seven banks in full operation; one in a tent which served as a background for a large sign, announcing that ten per cent would be paid on current deposits. John Garaghty, of Lancaster, Ohio, an old friend of mine, had his bank in one of the recently built cabins. I found him on the floor of the bank, diligently sewing at a bed tick, which was to garnish a bunk in one corner where he slept. He seemed cheerful, but animadverted severely on his competitor in the tent, whom he said was taking a rascally advantage in offering ten per cent interest. Things went on swimmingly for a couple of years. Immigration was large, lands advanced rapidly in price, with plenty of buyers; to make money one only had to buy real estate, so we all cheerfully used all our cash and credit in that line.
"Without much warning, so far as I can remember, the hard times of 1857 struck us, as the stringency extended over the whole country. Our supplies were suddenly cut off. We that were wearing the 'Lion's skin' began to bray, and to take to the tall timber. Our firm fortunately had not gotten entirely beyond its depth, but it was in well up to the chin. By strenuous efforts we managed to pay our depositors and then divided our lands, and went out of business, as did the other concern which had started in about the time we did. Greene & Weare were left alone in the field, but their difficulties were great, and the firm was soon dissolved by the withdrawal of John Weare, Jr., whose place was taken by Wm. Merritt, and the name changed to Greene, Merritt & Co. That financial cyclone I should say wiped out at least one-half of the bankers of Iowa, and had they been asked why they failed, they could have answered in the laconic terms of John Thompson, the bank note reporter, to a similar question, 'for want of money.'
"For a couple of years thereafter I devoted my whole time to real estate, trying to get rid of my holdings, which were more than I could comfortably carry. In 1859, or thereabouts, having gotten my affairs into better shape, I again embarked in the banking business, having for partners John Weare, Jr., and Henry B. Stibbs, both of whom had been with the firm of Greene & Weare, the former as a partner, the latter as cashier. The firm name was Carpenter, Stibbs & Co. Banking had then become more legitimate. The railroad had been completed to Cedar Rapids. Commission houses had been established. Grain, hogs, and cattle were shipped in carloads, which furnished bills for discount; merchants were on a firmer basis and did a larger business, and the deposits were of considerable volume: real estate and tax paying still had a place, but were inconsiderable.
"Things in a commercial way went on pretty smoothly till the breaking out of the Civil war. At that time our currency consisted principally of bank notes from Wisconsin and Illinois, which were based mostly upon state and other bonds held by the banks which issued the notes. As these securities fluctuated so did the value of the notes. Those who held them wanted to deposit in the banks, and when a customer came in, the banker had to refer to Thompson's Bank Note Reporter to ascertain their value, and even when so determined, the risk of the banker was great, because of their liability to depreciate. I remember going to St. Louis, shortly after the war began to withdraw our account from a bank there, and I had to pay 13 per cent for a gold draft. Still we managed to worry along and I do not remember that many failures occurred. When the war broke out, Cedar Rapids raised a company for the first regiment, and as the state had no money, our bank furnished the funds to equip, maintain, and transport the company to Keokuk, where it was mustered into the service. From that time till I entered the army early in 1862, I had little to do with the bank. I was chairman of a committee of thirteen whose duty it was to encourage enlistments and the formation of companies for the service, and by subscription to raise money for bounties, till finally I went myself and was not mustered out till August, 1865.
"From the time I left for the war, I had nothing to do actively with the banking business and have never since been behind a banking counter in an official capacity. What little knowledge I have of the early banking in Iowa, I gained there, but as Cedar Rapids was a typical town, I imagine that the banking done there was very similar to that done in all the other towns of the state.
"After a lapse of forty-four years, one's memory is not reliable and you must therefore make liberal allowance for errors in date as well as other things. In writing I regret the want of old papers and other data, but have done the best I could under the circumstances.