Changes

==Business career==

By the mid-1890s, William S. Keyser & Company owned two lumber mills outright, along with operating interests in some twenty others, with foreign exports of over 150 million feet of timber annually. In 1904, [[James Muldon]] became a partner in the firm, which was renamed Keyser-Muldon & Company.<ref name="Appleyard" />

In early January 1914, the Liverpool-based lumber brokerage Crow, Rudolf & Co., into which Pensacola's First National Bank had invested nearly half a million dollars, announced it would not be able to pay its debts. The bank failed on January 8, causing a cascade of financial upheavals throughout Pensacola. The Liverpool firm also served as the sole foreign agent for Muldon-Keyser, and the company filed for bankruptcy the following week on January 13, 1914.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32163392/keysermuldon_bankruptcy/ "Keyser-Muldon Co. Bankrupt; Three Other Firms Involved"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. January 14, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref> Within a month, Keyser himself declared bankruptcy, but almost immediately reentered the export business, forming the W. S. Keyser Export Company. Keyser, who held significant stock in the failed bank, was later indicted along with three bank officials on federal charges of misuse of funds.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32165408/first_national_bank_indictments/ "Four Indictments Returned Against 1st Nat'l Officials"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. August 2, 1914. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref> Keyser and the other defendants were acquitted after a lengthy trial, with Judge [[R. M. Call]] finding that the government had failed to make a case.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32169745/first_national_bank_acquittal/ "Acquit Local Bankers"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. May 26, 1915. p. 1. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref>