In 1907, Gates took his usual summer holiday in Europe. Upon arriving in Paris, he was met with an urgent cablegram from Grant Schley. Schley, the owner of a brokerage and a board member of Republic Steel and Tennessee Coal and Iron, advised Gates of serious business trouble and asked him to return to the US at once. As the Panic of 1907 began, Schley's brokerage had become short of money and it was necessary for him to obtain large loans to try to keep the brokerage solvent. Schley offered some US$6 million shares of Tennessee Coal and Iron Company as part of the collateral for the loans. Oakleigh Thorne was the president of the Trust Company of America bank and also a member of the Gates coalition. Thorne believed his bank was in sound financial condition until a "New York Times" article stated otherwise. Thorne told reporters that if he paid off every depositor, he would still have US$4 million in assets. When the clearing house run by J. P. Morgan audited the bank's books, they found the bank was sound, but were quite interested in the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company stock they found and indicated that the stock was not acceptable to them as security.