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Last week "100%" Nichols made what looked like his last possible grandstand play short of shutting down completely. Down to the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank he marched, drew out some $2,500,000 in cash and Government bonds, leaving only the $639,700 legally required as backing for his $5,806,463 deposits. Then he stuffed the $2,500,000 into safety deposit boxes in two Loop banks. Blustered he: "Now the politician will have to think up a new idea before he can get his hands on this money." Reason Banker Nichols can do anything he likes at his bank to make headlines is that he inherited 60% of its 2,000 shares from his father, who got control of the institution 33 years ago. At the bank, "100%" Nichols has a private office but spends most of his time at a desk in the lobby where he can watch people come and go. He travels to work in a Duesenberg, which he likes to drive fast, piling up in a ditch not long ago. Now 45, short, black-haired, profane, he talks out of the side of his mouth, looks not unlike the late Huey Pierce Long.
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