Four days before the failure Mr. Ralston made a deed to William Sharon, conveying “all and singular my real and personal property situated in the City and County of San Francisco and the County of San Mateo and elsewhere and wheresoever and howsoever situated, to be managed, sold and otherwise disposed of for our joint and several interests.” What was the disposition of this vast property? No one will ever know. Was part of it used to repay any indebtedness of Mr. Ralston to the bank? Again the record is silent. Some years later Mr. Ralston’s widow, who is still living, brought a suit against William Sharon for an accounting under the deed of her deceased husband. After some delay, Mr. Sharon filed a general answer to the effect that the property coming from Mr. Ralston into his hands was worth about a million dollars less than nothing. But he offered $250,000 in full settlement, and to avoid the endless delay of litigation and expenses that she did not have the means to meet, this adjustment was accepted by Mrs. Ralston. Never in the whole history of finance has such a mystery attached as surrounds the failure of the Bank of California and the disappearance of Ralston’s fortune. My own firm belief is that had his life been spared another month, he would have emerged from all his difficulties with a clean sheet. James R. Keene, a trustee of the Bank of California and the only one who seemed inclined to speak, made a printed statement that upon an examination of Mr. Ralston’s assets he was justified in stating that they were sufficient to pay all his debts of every kind and leave a balance of $3,000,000 to his family; and it is worthy of remark that Keene had a very clear business head. No one seemed anxious to know the facts. Quite the contrary was the case. When I proceeded to gather information of a most important character, J. D. Fry, uncle of Mrs. Ralston, commanded me in the name of the family to cease. To this I had to bow. But Mrs. Ralston is here to say whether her kinsman was her faithful friend or not. Even Mr. Ralston’s private papers and personal accounts were seized, and disappeared. In some ways he was a secretive man. Once he asked me to send a check to A. A. Cohen for $5,000 each month until ordered discontinued. I followed instructions till the total amounted to over $100,000, yet I never had an inkling what the payments were for. Thus, it was currently believed that he had many interests in other people’s names. Mrs. Ralston well remembers that her husband took her to inspect a fine business block in process of completion, which he told her was his. After his death the title to this same property stood in the name of another, and in that family name it stands to-day.