New-York tribune., 1883-06-17
PETER McGEOCH'S CAREER.
A SENSATION CAUSED IN MILWAUKEE By hn
FAILURE.

PETER McGEOCH'S CAREER.
A SENSATION CAUSED IN MILWAUKEE BY HIS
FAILURE.
10y TELEGRAPH TO TIKI TRIBUSE.l
MuwAIyKEY, june I6.-rhe failure of Peter
McGeoeh created a profound sensation here. Mr..
McGeoch has lived here for Twenty-Five OF twenty
s,x wears. and has always been known as daring
s,eeula,or. He was born 10 Dumfriesshre, Scotland
and few weeks ago he celebrated the fftieth au-
;vcrsarv of his BIRTH He began life in this conn
fry as dealer in gram aud afterward went into the
,ork-paeking business. About year ago lie so.d
ont 10 flankinton & Armour. In 1876 be was
interested on the wrong side in the noteo
"Ijndbiom deal" IN wheat and was
heavy loser Two years later be
managed the famous July corner" in which ne
realized IN enormous profit. 1t was UNDERSTOOD
that he was backed i'll that transaction oy Alex
ander Mitchell Daring the last four or five years
he has been engaged in several ideals OF greater
or less ma agnitude in which he has been successful
Rv the enormous corner in lard which he has been
handling for some months past he attracted the at
tentjon of all produce dealers of the country. Ths
pnprecefented drop in the price of lard yesterday
and to-day created the most intense excitemsnt
in commission circles. and when tho lowest hguteS
go O5. were reached this morning. the bellel
BECAME general that the heavy lard at chicago, Ill
which McGeoch aud Daniel Wells 81 Co. were large
ly interested had failed completely. buryins them
under the great crash.
The news spread like wilatire, and formed tue
,r,ncinal tonic OF conversation on 'Ghange 10 the
almost total suspension OF business Rumors new
thick and fast some to the effect that the bottom
had dropped ont Of the McGeoch lard corner, which
meant loss OF abont $500 900, and Others 10 the
effect that the SO drop ia lard had caused the failure
of Peter McCeoch & Co. TO largeamount. estimated
all tbe wav fro N SO 900, 900 TO $I0,00),00O The
repor,s. however found disbelieyers among large
number Of McGeoch's supportersw who expressed the
utmost confidence i'll his ability to withstand the
shock. Telegram after telegram was sent
10 Chicago in the forenoon By anxious parties
in an endeavor to definitely ascertain tho truth OF
the matter Answers were invariably returned
stating that it was reported shat McCeoch had
failed. bat nothing Trustworthy coald be learned
unt,i ~ o'clock Information at that hour sub
gantaliy corroboratel the reports, and tho excite
ment~ became intense. While IN times past
McGeoch has dealt many hard knocks
TO "the boys" on the Board, ard bas In
sore cases made sore places, which VIII
be entirely healed there rs nevertheless much
sympathy expressed TOR him in his cnbarrass-
meuts. Many of bis friends bad OF late
been conuseling him to retire from speculation. and
n is said upon nigh authority that he had resolved
to draw out entirely from risky ventures at the
conclusion of the deal which has resulted in the
present disaster
Alexander Mitchell was engrossed in business at
his bank when your correspondent called upon him
to ascertain his views OF the faiiare " 90, don't
know he said when the subject was brDached
g / don't know much about 1t; you nave to ask
somebody else" ,,.,..,sr
None at all: it won,r affect anybody here"
John Johnston, tho well known cashier
OF the Mitchell Bank when rossIfd ssIed Tnss ,dad
in Milwaukee. said: Il don't know
that it will have any decided effect 50 far as Mil
wankee is concerned but Ir McGeOch has been
good man Ter the city, spending his money, when he
had it literally IN ways OF beneht TO the puplic and
OF course therefore such disaster to hun is dis
"You don't think any Milwaukee
failures Will be precipitated by i then
"No Mcf,eoch hasn't been dealing here much"
"As TO the effect OF the failure IN Chicago 40
not know" said William Pl9nkin'on, when asked s
co te think pI9DaSo the amount w reaeS neaT
ly three millions; between two million dollars aud
three million dollars ut least"
A great Dany MilwaukeeaDs are naturally al
fected by a failure so extensive as that OF Nc
Geochs II Will TO greater or less extent affect
the whole business of the eiiy. However III ten
days McCsaoch may be forgotten, lost from mein-
ory aud only remembered as some one inquiries ior
him No one could be found at MeGeochs once
EXPECTS ON THE NEW YORK MARKET.
THE HEAVIEST DECLINE IN LARD EVER KNOWN
COMMENTS ON NGEocHs FAILURE.
For an hour after the opening of the
Produce Exchange yesterday there great excite
the lard men. The market had closed IN
feyersh condition the Gay before at $1 17l9 aud ON
the sold down $40 90 1t opened yesterday
at $40 65 ran down 20 80 05 and finally rallied 10
S1015. at time within eight minutes, the price
fell cent IN three quotations. unprecedented iuc-
tuasion In lard in the merket These prices were ali
Chicago rates July lard. Indeed 1t was on
Chicago prices that al the transactions based The
excitement in the market due the reports Of Me-
Geochs condition, aud the intensity OF this was in
creased when began to be oirculaed that the
Lard King Of Chicago" had failed The report was
generally believed by nooa. BY that time
bottom had been reached and reaction had sot in and
when the Exchange closed al 2:30 m.
ter feeling although much uncertainty existed. There
no failures reported yet many dealers could not
tell their OWE status, until. they said, they could
"hgure uD" The eject OF yesterdays viii be better
made known tomorrow. Wheat fell cents but sub
sequently sprang back; corn went down cent.
WA. Cole, speaking Of the causes OF McGeoch's fall
ure sad McGecch has been buying up all tho lard he
could lay hands on. for long time He made the mis-
take however OF letting the eecre aud 80 every
body bought, thus making prices high Chicago which
accordingly became tie objeetiye point Of all
the hogs Of the country Hogs abundant yet they
were shipped even from CinciDuati. 10 supply tic
Chicago demand Hogs became more
than shorts. The foreiga demand for lard small
aud was fully met oy tho supply OF city lard. As q