Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-03-11
THE WHEAT GAME.
Settling Down After the Big Tumble on til,
Forged Telegram.

llH w HEAI UAME.
Settling Down After the Big Tumble on the
Forged Telegram.
[Chicago Tribune, March 81
The furry in the wheat market is over.
The deal is finished, and the military COM
mand, Gas you were,' expresses the condi
ton with more than tolerable accuracy. The
telegram which raised the scare proves to
have been fraud. Keene repudiated the
entire transaction. Fisher bought back the
grain he had sold, and everybody is happy.
No, not everybody. Many small operators
who had chosen the 'slong'' side under the
conviction that the steadily increasing for
eign consumption would advance the value
of No. 2 spring to ST. about the opening of
navigation, and had put up $4,000 or $15,-
600 as margins, found themselves thoroughly
cleaned out Friday noon. Many country
men, who became panic-stricken at the
course of events the same day, rushed in
wildly and ordered their brokers here to push
things, under the belief that the bottom had
fallen out and the Day of Judgment had ar
rived. They too were losers. Who made
the money? A few bears who had been con-
oV1AuAy SOL11S dSdAQSG lA0 uGIA0C over SlQC0
the contamination of the Keene purchase at
the beginning Of December. Some of them
managed to whipsaw the deal. They filed
their shorts at the decline, and Immediately
turned over to the bullside. These were the
lucky ones, but their number was few
THE REGULAR SESSION OPENED VERY FIRM
at $500, and under the influence of more IA
vorable reports by cable the market steadily
stiffened until the ticker indicated that IS 10
had been realized. It was observed that the
same parties who had purchased so largely
on the call were still filling up their cards,
and taking everything offered until the last
named figure was reached, when they seemed
to loose al interest in the deal, and refused
to follow it any further. The bulls, finding
that they could not force prices any higher,
dropped their horns for the time being, and
the market receded to 94I@9424c, at which
the large export buyers again took hold, and
the market once more rallied fraction, clos
ing very firm at 94%c. During the deal
Archie Fisher strolled into the pit and in
quired for few car loads of gilt-edged re-
ceipts. He was soon accommodated. and
those who closely watched him failed to dis
Germ that he had any interest whatever in the
noise and hustle going on in the option
crowd. What he wanted with Car load lots,
gilt-edged at that, was mystery. They GER
tainly had no connection with the Keene
deal, and he must have received an order
from a country miller.
Throughout the entire regular session the
dea! was just as much of a mystery as it was
the day before. Many operators implicitly
pinned their faith to the story of the bogus
dispatch and Keene's denial, but all this
while they wondered what Fisher was doing.
He must protect himself, they reasoned, and
why not now? They looked over the field
to discover what prominent brokers were do
ing, but there was nary a sign. Others WHO
believed that the Keene wheat had been hon.
estly dropped, and took no stock what
ever in the Keene denial, wondered why the
throwing of three millions of wheat on the
market did not break it down to at least 80
cents. The only reasonable explanation
that suited on this case was the fact that the
shippers and exporters believed the property
to be cheap at the prices ruling, and pur-
chased to fill orders which had been lying
here untitled for some time.
There were others who still adhered to
the story that local syndicate had been
formed in conjunction with some prominent
houses in New York, and that they had
agreed to break the market, squeeze out the
small s'longs," and then rush things for all
they were worth. It is obvious that these
parties took no stock whatever in Keene
Keene's wheat, or Keene's tel egrams.
About 8 o'clock it beca me whispered in
sort of behind til e-door style, that BOWS g.
Go. and Baker & Co. had given up Fisher as
the principal in all their transactions of the
day. AS the news spread, the fellows who
knew it all and ''thought SO all the time''
became very important. They protested
power of omniscience that would have brok-
en- the back of Roman soothsayer. Half an
hour later it was reported that Fisher had
given up the whole deal. The reporter has
tened to his Office, and, failing to find him
there, visited the Chicago club, where he
discovered the object of his search quietly
hiding behind the smoke of Bouncio cigar,
three for half dollar.
II understand the agony is over and that
you are out of the woods?'' remarked the
newsgatherer as he took the proffered hand.
eyes; you bet it isl
'Wel, tell me all about it,
"On Friday morning received half-rate
message over the Atlantic & Pacific, signed
Keene, ordering me to sell wheat
"Let me see the telegram
Mr.. Fisher went down into the recesses of
capacious pocketbook and pulled out
crumpled telegraph blank printed in red ink,
on which was inscribed the following:
New YORK, March 60. K. Fisher d Co.,
Chicago: Sell whatever wheat, March or April.
market will take without declining more than
three cents. KEENE
'"lh!s looks straight enough on its face.'
eyes, resumed Mr.. Fisher, 81 supposed it
to be genuine. It is written in plain Ian
guage, but that is not surprising, for we have
received several such kilograms from him of
late. went into the market myself on
Friday morning and
BEGAN SELLING IN LARGE BLOCKS.
advised Keene every little while of what
was doing.''
Odd you hear anything in reply?h
''Not at first
n never suspected anything until after
had sent my third dispatch, when a mes
senger-boy from the Atlantic & Pacific office
came and told me that Mr.. Keene did not
understand my kilograms. This rather stag
gered ME, and q minute or so afterwards I
received dispatch from Mr.. Keene asking,
what kilograms have you sent me to-day p
Then it Immediately flashed through my
mind that had been victimized by bogus
dispatch. telegraphed, Received order to
sell; was it forgery? Answer quick
With the sending of this I stopped selling
having then disposed of 100000 bushels
"Did you hear again from Keene?''
eyes; a little after I received dispatch,
in which he stated that the telegram order
ing the sale was forgery. We had some
further telegraphic correspondence, and
took steps to buy back all the wheat could