"November 14, 1919, a high powered auto containing four people, drove into Pierce and stopped in front of the Bank, but the engine kept running. Two men, W. S. Lower and M.L. Bishop, got out of the car, armed with revolvers and entered our bank. As agents of the Federal Reserve Bank, they demanded the currency on checks drawn against the Cones State Bank of Pierce, Nebraska, of the aggregate face value of $31,900, some of which had been held for over three weeks. While one of our Bank force was counting out the money (about $13,000 more than we are legally required to carry in our vault) to Mr. Bishop, Mr. Lower told us that Bishop was a United States marshal, hard boiled and armed, and that he had cleaned up the State of Kansas and would get us anyway, so we had better sign up the agreement and keep our money. "Bishop said that a banker in Kansas who had the only bank in the town, held out against parring, and that he told him they would start a National Bank and drive him out of business, and that he personally was instrumental in starting the National Bank and said he would stick to it until he drove the Kansas bank out entirely. "Mr. Jones and a Mr. Davis came along later and claimed they were peacemakers direct from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Said that Lower and Bishop were ---- fools and had done entirely wrong at Pierce and advised us to forget what Lower and Bishop had done and sign up as the day was near when we would be forced. They took a draft for the checks they had and departed saying that they had enough of this ---- business. "Subsequently checks were sent through the Express Company and returned by the express agent for the reason as I said that he didn't have time to count the money. "Along about the 27th day of December, 1919, a Mr. Farley came to Pierce from Kansas City and asked us to sign the paper relative to parring checks or join the Federal Reserve System. We refused. He then stated that he was instructed to stay in Pierce until he had accomplished something. From that date until the day of making this affidavit Mr. Farley has been here continuously and collects cash every day on checks sent him by the Federal Reserve Bank. "On January 5, 1920, a Mr. J.G. Bryan came in from Kansas City and he and Mr. Farley have been instrumental in trying to start a National Bank at Pierce, devoting practically their entire time collecting cash on checks sent by the Federal Reserve Bank upon banks in Pierce and promoting a National Bank that they will compel the banks of Pierce to join the system. Our customers report to us that these men have told them that we are robbing them out of ten cents on every hundred dollars of their money.