Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-28
THE HARDWOOD HUMBUG.

IN. Interesting Statement by One of Har-
,cOOd's B"yers--POsitire PROOF That the
Firm Planned the Failure.
By far the most interesting chapter i'm
the HARDWOOD business that has thus far
come to light has been furnished the pub
lie by Mr. A. T. Morse, resident buyer
for the firm of HARDWOOD & Co. The opin-
ions of Mr.. Morse are not the expressions
of ''business men," but are founded upon
his own knowledge of Harwood's opera
tons. He shows conclusively that Mr.
HARDWOOD knowingly paved the way for
the failure. Mr.. Morse's statement.
throwing an inner light upon the failure.
is as follows:
had charge of buying or ordering all of
the goods for the furnishing or white goods
department. Mr.. Ingram, the New York
buyer, has claimed in letters written since the
failure, that he bought no goods without
orders. That is not true in some respects
OF course if ordered Ingram to buy and got
in an over-stock, then | am to blame. But |
will say on the start that do not believe
there was man or buyer in the house that
knew just what was going on when the enor-
nous quantities of goods were bought. They
thought the goods were necessity, yet it is
certain that about 100000 worth of goods
were ordered by some one without any very
definite authority. All through the month of
September MIR. Harwood came to me and said
that Mr.. Ingram, the New York buyer, was
coming home by October 1, and to order all
goods needed in any department to last until
January l. When the LIST of October came
ORDERS TO PURCHASE HEAVILY
were again positively issued and often repeat
ed. Against this 1 protested. telling Mr.. Har-
wood that my department was already over
stocked. He replied by saying he thought
prices would advance, and that freight pools
would be made, and that he would be respon-
sible for the over-stock. About this time
goods began to arrive for my department,
which | had not ordered, and | felt injured,
| and asked Mr.. HARDWOOD in the presence of a
number of clerks if he had taken the purchas-
ing power away from me. He called me aside
and said not to speak of that in the presence
OF the clerks, as it would create suspicion, and
again gave orders TO buy largely. This went
| on until three days before the failure, when
| one of the men in the store told me what
was going to happen, and then the
MEANING OF PREVIOUS PROCEEDINGS
| suddenly flashed over me. As an example
of the way goods were bought will say that
Mr.. Ingram purchased 81 900 worth of black
silk dress goods for my department without
my order, and thirty bales of mosquito bar
for next season-we never sold over twenty
five bales of the latter in year.
GOODS CAME PoUNCING IN
until my room was filled to the very ceiling.
There was nothing to show who ordered
them or where they came from. When Mr..
Harwood last went to Chicago, gave him
memorandum to buy fifty dozen mittens at s.
nm. dom, ,saI,,
season. He did SO, and Immediately upon his
return ordered go dozen more of two differ
ent houses, which made enough to last for
three years. These goods were not on hand
and consequently were not shipped before the
failure: | have, since the failure, received
letters from dealers which show that there
were
THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS
WORTH OF GOODS
ordered which, fortunately for the dealers,
they were unable to Immediately furnish.
Letters were here shown as proof of the above
statcment] Another item is the ordering of
10000 paper collars by some one In the
matter of shirts, Mr.. HARDWOOD repeatedly i'm
portuned me to order large quantities |
thought it at first a wlim and did not obey
orders. finally yielded, and ordered seventy
live dOzen-enOugh to last until June This
order Mr.. HARDWOOD o. X. d, as he did all or
dcrs. In copying it | came across an order
made by Mr.. HARDWOOD for the purchase of 800
dozen more, which l had known nothing
about. This was
ONLY THIRTY DAYS BEFORE THE FAILURE
The shirts were shipped. In ordering the nit
tens Mr.. HARDWOOD instructed the firm to hurry
up the order as they would be needed two
weeks earlier than usual.
When learned of the coming failure sup
posed he would make an assignment i'm the
usual manner for the benefit of all his credit
ors equally. After learning the plan went 10
MIR. HARDWOOD and told him it would not work
that he was standing on volcano and every
thing would go TO pieces. He said he
HAD HIS PLAN ALL ARRANGED,
that he couldu i ask an extension of time of
his New York creditors, as they would then
come down on him all at once. On the
Wednesday after the failure ! told him if
he did not change his plans | should leave
him, and then did so. He plead with and i'm
plorcd of me to stand by him, and aftcrward
Offered me my old position in case he should be
able to resume business. | told him was not
going to stand by and
SEE THE CREDITORS SwINDI.ED
in that manner. proposed to stand by them.
After the failure, a certain party in the house,
whose name refuse to give, demanded that
the buyers share in the responsibility of the
ncaVy purchases, i'll order to shield Mr. Har-
wood. In conclusion Mr. Morse stated that
he had good reasons for not being ut all sur
priscd at Mr.. Harwood's sudden departure
from the city on Friday night and believed
that he might not return.
Hdr,cOOd's MoreBteHtS.
The HARDWOOD mystery is still unSolvcd