Warren Wesley Finney

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50753713/warren-wesley-finney

Son of Hellen McConnell and David Finney. When Mr. Finney was 16, he enrolled in the prep class at Washburn Academy, a Congregational institution in Topeka, KS. The following year he was admitted to Washburn College where he became a full-time liberal arts student for the next three years. E was elected president of Gamma Sigma, a literary society. Though he had enough credits to graduate, his transcript shows that he last attended school in 1894 without graduating. After completing his studies at Washburn, Finney joined his father in the milling business in Neosho Falls. Shortly thereafter, he became interested in the telephone business, and organized the Neosho Falls Telephone Company in 1895.

In 1897, he married Mabel Tucker. They met at Washburn. Mr. Finney became a leading citizen of Neosho Falls, serving terms as mayor and as Sunday School superintendent of the Congregational Church. In 1905, Finney sold the Neosho Falls Telephone Company and purchased the Independent telephone Company at Emporia, KS, and subsequently moved to Emporia. A few years after he moved to Emporia, he borrowed heavily to acquire an extensive series of small phone companies in eastern Kansas (Yates Center, Burlington, Sabetha, Paola, Fredonia, Altoona, and others), over twenty in all by the early 1920's.

After becoming well established as one of the state's leading utilities powers, Finney decided to go into banking, a fateful decision that would ultimately lead to his downfall. He bought controlling interest in the Farmers State Bank at Neosho Falls about 1920 and soon consolidated it with the rival Neosho Falls State Bank, a very costly acquisition. He purchased and reorganized the Fidelity State and Savings Bank at Emporia in 1924.

Warren and Mabel Finney were active in the civic, social and religious life of Emporia soon after their arrival. They joined a host of civic organizations, becoming members of the Emporia Country Club and the Good Road Boosters and were official welcomers to visiting dignitaries. They moved into a 25-room mansion which allowed them to entertain extensively. From the time that automobiles first became available to the public, Finney possessed the largest, most conspicuous cars in Emporia. By the end of the 1920's, Finney owned several farms stocked with prize cattle as well as extensive oil well interests in the Flint Hills.

As a 22-year-old, he ran for the state legislature and was elected to the same House seat that his father had held 30 years earlier. He never again ran for political office after his term as Representative, but he remained a lively interest in politics throughout his life. He served his alma mater, Washburn, on its Board of Trustees from 1917 until his abrupt resignation in the fall of 1933. He also became a lay leader in the Congregational Church, whose board of trustees he headed up for several years.

On November 9, 1932, Mr. Finney was found guilty of extensive embezzlement charges. His banking practices were linked to his son's security bond scandal. Mr. Finney was sentenced to 36 to 600 years in the Kansas State Penitentiary for 12 embezzlement charges. The sentence was sent to the Kansas Supreme Court for appeal, but on January 26, 1935, it upheld the prosecution on all counts. His attorneys attempted to file a motion for rehearing to give Finney time to decide whether or not he wanted to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. On June 5, 1935, the Kansas Supreme Court announced that it had mailed a mandate to the Lyon County Court for execution of the court order; all avenues of appeal had been exhausted. The following day, the Lyon County Sheriff went to Mr. Finney's home. He left, allowing Mr. Finney one hour to spend time with his family to say their goodbyes. When he returned, Mr. Finney had left the home, travelling to his cabin 5 miles east of Emporia. The phone then rang in the Finney home announcing that Mr. Finney had been found at the cabin with a gunshot to his head. He had been found by a friend who happened to drop by to discuss business. Mr. Finney died later at 7:40 PM at an Emporia Hospital.