Foreclosures, riots and jail time, part one

In the depression era, due to hardships of both urban and rural families, many people couldn’t pay their back taxes nor make their payments to the banks, insurance companies, loan companies, etc. If a person was lucky, the mortgage holder would try to work with him. Other lenders were eager to repossess a person’s property. Three of the many foreclosure sales are listed below to give a bird’s-eye view of what farmers faced in regard to their farms.

The first incident took place near the Missouri-Iowa line. It was the day of a farmer’s foreclosure sale and all his livestock and machinery was being sold in order to pay a large debt. A few hours before the auction was to start, a truckload of Farm Bureau members from nearby towns arrived. They blocked the car of the man in charge of conducting the bank’s business and serving as the sales clerk, in such a way he couldn’t drive away. The men had a 30 minute conversation with the banker.

The sale began and the high bid for a wagon and rack was $1.50. The banker tried to leave but his car was blocked. After another conversation with the banker, the truck was removed and the banker drove away. Two other men acted as clerks and the total proceeds of the sale were only $64. The money was paid to the bank and the legal part was satisfied. All the equipment was returned to the farmer.

In September, 1935, a Daviess County farmer had his farm mortgaged with an insurance company and still owed them between 30 and 35 dollars an acre. The farm was located in northeast Daviess County between Jamesport and Gilman City. He’d applied for a federal loan to remortgage the land to take up the insurance companies mortgage.

When the land was appraised, it lacked $700 of allowing as much as needed to pay the insurance company’s loan off. He had all the interest and taxes paid to August 1934, which was the last interest paying date. The insurance company wasn’t willing to cooperate and work with him on his loan. The farmer sent a message to President Roosevelt asking for assistance in selling the farm and also requested a second appraisal. The farm was appraised again, but unfortunately, his report couldn’t reach the proper officials by the allotted time

(Previously, the president had stated publically if any farmer was losing his farm and felt as though he wasn’t treated fairly to write him at his expense.)

The foreclosure date was set by the insurance company and the location was to be at the Daviess County Courthouse door. When the date of the sale, at approximately 11 o’clock, scores of North Daviess County farmers packed the courthouse lawn awaiting for the trustee who was to sell the farm.

Upon his arrival, the large mob of farmers met him and told him they didn’t want the farm sold. The farmers were orderly, but they still insisted the sale was not to take place. Seeing the mob and hearing the mob’s spokesman, the trustee decided it was best not to conduct the sale and it was called off and it was hoped the two parities could reach a satisfactory agreement.

Lastly, a large dairyman at Cameron had his farm mortgaged with a trust company that had closed its doors. Sale day arrived, when all of his livestock and machinery were to be sold. Fifteen hundred unhappy people arrived at the farm and voiced their opinion that the trust company was not conducting their affairs properly and much unnecessary expense had occurred when the bank had closed is doors two years prior to the sale.

The liquidator of the sale lived at St. Joseph and had been tipped off – if he came to this Cameron sale and tried to conduct the sale there would be problems. Upon his arrival, he talked to the auctioneer and they decided it would be to the best interest of all concerned if the sale was canceled. Instead, a speaker was presented to talk to the furious mob.