The American Bank of Torreón

In 1901 the partners of the American Bank of Torreón were J. D. Groesbeck (manager of the Fundición de Fierro de Torreón, S. A.), R L. Bonnset, J. W. Sullivan, Pablo Schugt, George C. Carothers and others. R. L. Bonnet was the manager and E. H. Gemorts the cashier. By 1910 there were fifteen hundred foreigners in Torreón, giving it the name of the "Most American City in Mexico".

These two cheques from the bank are both bearer cheques (the first is payable to self or bearer (á mi mismo ó al portador)). The fact that they are both dated 6 April 1914 and paid on 15 April 1914 suggests that they were part of a short-term measure to overcome the lack of currency, in this case the sizeable amount of fifty pesos.

It is reported that some cheques that were circulated as money had the overprint ‘San Luis Potosí y Guanajuato’ (or maybe ‘San Luis Potosí’ and ‘Guanajuato’) which suggests that they were used beyond the Laguna.

Apropos of nothing I add here the following cheque.

It is a bearer cheque drawn on the Banco de Londres y México in Puebla, and of some interest because it is dated 14 October 1913, the time when the bank-on-bank cheques were issued, though it is for the sizeable sum of 300 pesos.