Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-05-16
THE GRANT FAILURE.
The Failure More Serious
than Was Supposed.
1t Sweeps Away His Property
and That of His Sons.
The Worst Financial Wreck Yet.
A S1o,coo,ooo Failure.

NEW YORK, May 9-The suspicion
grows that Grant & Wards failure is
much more than was at first suspect
ed. A well-known member of the
stock exchange today said: -Four
or five months have heard rumors of
the queer transactions of Grant &
Ward. ] don't think IS. 600, 900 is by
any means an extravagant estimate
of the liabilities of the firm. In my
opinion they exceed $40, 600, 600
When the failure was announced
I said it would be the
largest Wall street ever saw.
and am more firmly convinced than
ever of the truth of the estimates.
What the assets can be no one knows,
but are probably very small and the
disparity in figures will undoubtedly
cause surprise"
The clerks of Grant & Ward say:
''The amount of liabilities will un-
doubtedly be very large. They say
they are discovering new business
every day. They know the names of
some persons caught, but cannot give
them. Some gentlemen are in
for $500,0O0, and others for
still larger sums" William G.
Smith, a stock exchange member
of the firm said II do not think a
statement of the assignee will be ready
until the latter part of next week. |
do not think the amount of the liabil
tiles will reach $S,000,000, although
that is matter of which | have no
knowledge. The figures are all gossip
and are, think, extraordinarily large.
The railroad companies which re
ceived loans on securities which have
been transferred to other persons, are
amply protected and lose nothing.
the losses will fall chiefly upon indi
viduals who have invested their money
with the firm. This business was con-
Quoted by Ward. Of course General
Grant and son have known of these
transactions, but l do not think they
were fully aware of the large amount
involved. They have bcen led on by
Ward and will of course lose very
heavily. Fred Grant was intel viewed.
He said he was looking for employ
ment as he had nothing to do now.
1t would depend on whether anything
was saved from the wreck whether he
went into business for himself. The
Marine bank has begun suit against
Ferdinand Ward to recover 500, 600
the amount overdrawn and paid to
the bank on Wards accounts. At
tachments were granted against the
house and personal property of Ward
in Brooklyn and the sheriff is in pos
session.
NEW YORK, May 9.-The furniture
and all the effects of the residence of
Ferdinand Ward of the wrecked firm
of Grant & Ward have been attached.
The Brooklyn Eagle says: Persons
passing along Pierrepont street this
morning were startled to see two well
dressed men grasp the head of the
horse attached to a coupe and order
the driver to stop. Many thought they
were to witness highway rob-
berry, but they were mistaken.
The men were detectives and
the inmates of the coupe was
Ferdinand Ward. The detectives
produced papers from their pockets
and evidently could not find the one
they were in search Of One of the
men said: Mr.. Ward, you are our
prisoner" and it was when Ward
asked for proof of authority, search
for the warrant was begun. A
troubled look overspread the counte
nances of both men and the pockets of
each were turned inside cut and the
bundle of papers they carried was
examined about seventeen times to no
avail They gazed disconsolately after
the coupe as Ward was rapidly driven
toward the New York ferry. Ward
had not been out of the house more
than half an hour when the deputy
sheriff arrived with the writ of at
tachment for the furniture and other
effects. AS Ward could not be served
with the papers it was nailed on the
front door and excited curiosity. A
deputy made an inventory of the ar
ticles in she house, while the family
commenced preparations to depart.
The house is expensively and
elaborately furnished. The Wards
have lived in the house about
five years, and four weeks
ago their only child was born. He
was christened Ferdinand Grant
Ward, after General Grant. The
refuge of the Ward family will be the
home of Mrs. Wards mother, Mrs.
Green, 81 Monroe Place, and thither
the dispossessed ones journeyed. Mrs.
Green is a widow of a former cashier
of the Marine bank
Suit on which the attachment is
issued is brought by the Marine bank
against the firm of Grant & Ward,
and General Grant is made co-defend-
ant The suit is for 100000.
Geo. Jones. of the New York Times
says: Gen. Grants fund of $3.50, 900
is absolutely safe. Hitherto we have
paid interest annually on the first OF
May. Each year has found the gen
eral in possession of SIS, 140 in full on
the investment. Hereafter we shall
pay him quarterly not only be-
cause he needs the money,
but because we do not mean
any one else to lay hands on it. l was
with Gen. Grant Sunday last and he
was in complete ignorance of the i'm
pending disaster Other than this
fund he does not possess dollar, and
more than that he is deeply and al
most irretrievably in debt. What he
did in Wall street he did for his sons,
and it seems too sad that this man
who has done so much for his coun
try. should be left in his old age de-
pendant on the nation he helped to
save.
A meeting of the cammittee ap-
pointed by the clearing house associa-
ton to report such amendments to the
constitution and bylaws as will pre-
vent a recurrence of the case of the
Marine and First National banks, was
held yesterday. The committee con-
sists of Frederick D. Tappen, chair
man, Jacob d. Vermilye, George S.
Coe, G. G.. Williams and James d.
Woodward.
President George F. Barker of the
First National bank appeared with
counsel. He protested against the
First National bank being held re
sponsible for $215, 900 of worthless
checks drawn on it by Grant &
Ward, which came through the Ma
rine bank. Ferdinand Ward had
only 81, 200 to credit In the bank. 1t
was agreed that this course placed
the First National bank at
great disadvantage. In fact if