Smith County News Articles

WINONA (AP) - Residents of this little East Texas town expressed shock Saturday after the arrest for embezzlement of Butler McClung, Winona's only banker and the scion of a prominent banking family.
"People around these parts would have trusted him with every dime they had," said truck driver Alton Blalock. "I just don't get it." McClung, 62, was charged by FBI agents Friday with the embezzlement of $380,392.34 from the Winona State Bank. He was its president, as had been his father. He was also the only employee and the only person who knew the combination of the vault in the bank, which had a capital stock of $20,000 and deposits of approximately $50,000. The bank ceased to exist technically, Friday after the soft-spoken, bespectacled McClung closed its doors at the suggestion of the State Banking Department. Its assets will be liquidated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp as soon as the agency makes good accounts up to $10,000. The bank had 250 to 300 depositors. McClung, freed under $10,000 bond, apparently spent the day in his large white house on a hilltop. He declined to talk to newsmen.
"I've known Butler 45 years," said Virgil Hussey, city clerk and owner of Winona's only cafe. "He was the most prominent man in town— an outstanding citizen and I've had nothing but the utmost respect for him."
Justice of the Pence B. C. Dale said McClung "always was a tight-lipped fellow, but that's a pretty good way for a banker to be." Several townspeople described McClung, a native of Winona, as courteous but businesslike. He preferred lo spend quiet evenings at home with his family rather than attend social events or ball games.
"Everyone in town, from the lowest to the highest, still stands behind him as far as I can tell," said a city councilman. "I think of him as one of the most honest men I've ever known."
The first sign that something might he amiss came Thursday when McClung didn't open the bank. He could not be located and speculation spread among Winona's 500 residents that he might have been kidnapped or locked in the bank vault by a robber. Police broadcast a missing persons alert until McClung was located at a Tyler hotel under an assumed name early Friday. He then helped examiners and FBI agents pore over ledgers and account statements at the Bank. "He was very coopertive and helpful to us," said Bob Stewart of Austin, a State Banking Department examiner. Stewart said it has not been fully determined how or when the alleged embezzlement took place. It appears, he said, The shortage resulted "over a period of years and in relatively small amounts." Although the bank's state charter is dated 1927, Stewart said dust-covered checks had been found in the vault dating as far back as 1907. "I came here in 1912 and the bank was already here then," said N. S. Metcalf, a retired farmer. Directors of the bank were McCIung, his wife, his daughter and a sister. It's books were examined twice a year by state officials and annually by the FDIC. "The books seemed in order the last time we checked."
Denton Record-Chronicle | Denton, Texas | Sunday, February 07, 1965 |

HANGING IN TEXAS
Tyler, Texas, April 15 – Charles Scott colored, was hanged here today in the presence of 3000 people for shooting B. H. Curtis last July 12th. Scott was a Greek and Latin scholar. The governor was hanged in effigy for granting him two weeks respite. (Worcester Daily Spy, April 16, 1893, page 7 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)