. . . the issuance of Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Bank-ing Company notes commenced on January 6. Smith advised his Church members to bring their silver and gold (not their bank notes) and take stock in the company; but with a commendable caution, he wisely went to Painesville the day prior to the opening of business, where he and Rigdon signed a note for three thousand dollars from the Bank of Geauga, payable in forty-five days. The bank was obviously begun on a shoe string, and a borrowed one at that, but no one knew how thin and worn the string was until it was revealed that even the plates from which the notes had been printed had been purchased on credit.