Sharp County record., 1879-01-30
SUCKED IN.
The Fate of Boston Combination Which
Invested so, ZOO, 900 IN Nevada Stocks.

Inc rate or n Boston conn 4naNlon W nltn
Invested S5,OOO,OO0 IN Nevada Stocks.
From the san Francisco Evening Post.l
When the recent excitement in Sierra
Nevada and other north-end stocks got
fairly under way, a syndicate of promi-
nent Boston capitalists was formed for
the purpose of interesting themselves in
our market. This syndicate had its
headquarters with Stone & Donner,
leading bankers on State Street in that
city, and about So, 100000 was put up
by the members for operating uses.
The Boston firm bought largely on tel
egraphic orders to this city of Sierra
Nevada, Union, Mexican, and Ophir.
Their purchases were not confined to
these stocks alone, however, for they
corraled quite quantity of such col
laterals as Gould & Curry, Savage,
Hale g. Norcross, Bullion, etc., with the
view that the developments in the Sierra
Nevada must cause vigorous appreci-
alton all along the Comstock line. The
syndicate received the best information
obtainable by telegraph from day to
day regarding the condition of the ST.
ezra Nevada, etc., and the internal
forces at work in the market. Having
purchased most of the stocks before the
imitation was at its highest, and having
made several successful turns with their
holdings, the syndicate could have
cleaned up and retired from
the field before the final crash
came, had they been so disposed, with
third as much of our peoples money
as they themselves had originally invest
ed. But like great many syndicates
and combinations formed for the same
purpose on this coast, the Boston capi-
taliSts were thoroughly enthused and
carried away by their first success. They
had't had such glorious opportunity
to make money since the good old times
during the war, and they were going to
take advantage Of the occasion. They
were advised that some kind of a fight
was going on in the market between
two rival combinations struggling for
power, but they placed very little i'm
portance upon the fact, feeling, like
thousands of others, that none of the
heavy holders of the favorite stock would
ever dream of selling out at less than
$500 per share, and that the Sierra Ne
vada mine was going to realize all the
gauguine expectations Of its friends, i'm
mediately when prosecuting cOmmenc-
ed on the twenty-five hundred foot lev
ell. The great crash, therefore, took
the Boston syndicate unawares. 1t came
as stealthily as thief comes in the
night, and the enormous shrinkage in
values happened so suddenly that they
were unable to dispose of scarcely any
stock. Their profits were destroyed.
But deeming that the decline was mere
" a stock-j0b, result of the supposed
! fight between Flood and Skae, and that
the showing Of the mine was not re-
sponsible, they did what a great many
other people nearer at home have done
averaged the cost of their cOllaterals
by purchasing more shares on the de-
cline. Two or three days of averaging
in the face of fearful sbrinkage and q
constant call for money caused the Bos-
ton syndicate to weaken. They found
themselves loaded to the guards. They
suspected that something was
wrong. Not knowing exactly
what the something was, they did what
has always been deemed the proper
thing by Eastern people, under similar
circumStances-they fell to anathema-
tizing California, Nevada, the mines
and every thing else connected with
them up hill and down dale. This
morning we were shown, through the
courtesy of local operator, letter
which he recently received from one of
the members of the Boston syndicate,
and were permitted to make the follow
ing extract:
BosToN, Nov. 20.-Your telegram of
to-day is before me. This break in
California stocks will tend to hurt the
business. People here are inclined to
consider the principals great villains,
and hence will not venture further. If
Sierra Nevada developments prove as
rich as we were led to expect, 1t will
change the sentiment somewhat. Still
the fearful decline will shake confidence,
and our citizens will not be disposed to
90 in again. Your people are worse
than folks here. If Sierra Nevada does
not show huge body of ore it will be
looked upon as a scandalous job, and
will give California very bad odor. |
feel anxious TO see the end of this.
am glad that l am not more interested
pecuniarily. However, you suggested,
months ago, that such things might oc-
cur, but we hardly believe it.
Just what is to blame for the havoc
caused among our Boston friends is a
difficult matter to state. A combina-
ton of things are at the bottom of the
disaster, and any one of which may
have been the cause. The mine did not
show as rich as was expected on the
2. 100 or 2.200 levels. It'll quite certain
that +bo 1orro blooka of incido stock