The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-16
GEN. GRANT A BANKRUPT.
Losing Everything by the Failure
of Grant e. Ward.
Total Liabilities of the Wrecked
Firm Over $l0,000,000,


ures of the Marine bank OF New York, and of
the firm of Grant g. Ward was renewed by
the announcement that General Grant, Pre'i
dent James d. Fish, Grant 81 Ward and
the firm members individually, Colonel
Frederick Grant and Mr. jesse Grant, lad
made ASSIGNMENTS in favor of their creditors,
thereby indicating that the failures have
swept away the fol tunes of every memb of
the family of General Grant. All that the lat
ter posse sed, outside of the income from the
Grant fund, was in the firm which has been
wrec ed by the operations of its partner,
Ferdinand ID. Ward. That Colonel
Grant and Jesse Grant should have been
obliged to rake assignments of their prop
erty oct asion,d general surprise, as tLey w re
not partners in the firm, and were supposed
to be in exc llont Circum> tan res, Jesse for
tune being estimated at S4W,OOO.
Much Sympathy was expr sgd in New y ork
business cirCl and by citizens generally
with Gene al Grant 1t was well known that
he had rot been a tv to any of the n1egu
larities chsr.ed against tie firm, the active
bus ness of the concern having Len in the
hands of Mr.. Ward. 1t was also understood
that when the generals affairs became dis
entangled from tn SO Of the firm that sub
stantial assistance would BE- rem Tered to him
1t was stated in New Cr6 that ten days be!ore
the failure Genera Grant called on Mr. VIII
liam II. Vanderbilt and r,Quested a loan of
$l!6,000 to tide over the Affairs of the bank
and that Mr.. Vanderbilt drew his check for
Sl50,0)O. Mrs. Grant j. said to have guaran-
teed the payment of this check This and the
other money. it was said, had heen lost The
disappearance of millions of dollars in the
bin pool established by Grant q Ward was
the Startling development in this ex-
traordinary case. Lured by the promise to
make large profits, IN ny retired merchants
AMI rroie :sional and busin S. men invested
heavily in the firms hemes to make money
surely, quickly and i'll large amounts When
the crash cane many of these investors 10 t
heavily. The liabilities of Grant & Ward, it
is thought, will reach the enormous sum of
Sl0.00j000
Further developments in the matters OF the
firm of Grant q Ward and of the Mar ne
national bank plainly indicated that the worst
was not yet known regarding them. That no
end of complications had arisen was clear from
two suits that were begun, one by the bank and
the other by John II. Morris. the asst 5nee of
President James d. Fish Both actions were
brought by Bangs q Stetson. VINO are als) the
attorneys in the suit O. tn New No"k,
Chicago and st Louis Railr jad company
against Grant q Ward to recover It's 81 .405
90 of SO cond mortgage bonds, pie lged by
the roal with the firm
The Marine bank sues t. re over S10O,COO,
the amount of the overlratt o. Grant "
Ward, which recipitlted the suspension Of
III bank. In this SUIT Judge Donohue grant d
an attachment again t tn proper ty OF James
d. Fish AMI Ferdin md Ward
General Grant, has transferred his pro
perty to William H. Vanderbilt to protect
him on the worthless check of S150,C0) ac
ceptei by him in return for his own The
generals transfer inclu 'es two houses in
Washington, a house in Ihila elphia and a
farm of considerable size in the Suburbs o. ; t
Louis Mrs Grant is also said to have trans
IGrred her pro- erty to Mr.
Nande bilt. 1t includes the cottage az
Long Branch AMI her house in New York
In its account of the failures the New York
Tribune says: Instances multiply of the de-
cepton practi ed in the name of the firm to
carry on the wild ,heme in which interest
on profits were pail to those who invested
in them out of the PRINCIPAL they put in. Mr..
Chaffees deposit of seculiti to the amount
of at least 100000 was secured from
him within a recent date, Mr.. Ward
firm. J. H. Work, who i, secretary
of the Mexican southern railroad ard II
nephew of Frank Work, the Wall street
operator, is said on good au hcrity to be a
creditor of Grant q Ward to the extent of
Sl,000,0o0 and his friends are also victim
lied to the extent of about 81 0O0.O00. 1t is
asserted by General Grants friends that
h supposed up to the time of the collapse that
he had 10 his credit in the firm profits of So,
1000 The co-rartnership agreement t a
each partner should Lave the profits on tie
firms speculltions, in excess of $1,000
month, in the firm as wor ling clp,tal evil
IDENTIFY was not carr ed out by Mr.. Ward. Tor
lie NV gu III u Suy q IHat WOul 1eQulrt lar5er
income t IAN ? 5000 year t. maintain. A
person who ought to know aid that Mr.. Fish
insist on receiving his profits, and drew
out OF the firm $500, coo i'll 1888 and 500, %
this year.
"There were three ac cunts kept in the
Marine bank for Grant q Ward-a general
firm account, spe i'll acc cunt, and another
whose nature is not known Mr. Ward also
had an indivi lual account. On Tuesday
morning the three accounts, of the firm APP
peared, it is said, on the books of the bank to
have credit of S6jO, 0)O. By the books of
the firm they appeared to have SO 200 to
their credit. On Monday Mr.. Ward, the
story goes, tore out three checks from the
firms handbook, leaving 70 memoranda ON
the stubs. One check wa drawn TO the order
of the Buffalo New York ard Philadelphia
Railroad fer 100000 for the loan ad-
vanced on 5000. 1000 of the companys general
mortgage bonds. This check went through
the clearing house on Tuesday and was paid,
otherwl e the company would have been loft
without money after it had surrendered its
collateral. The second check was for Slt0,-
00) to the order of Mr.. Vanderbilt and its fate
is known The other chez k has not been ira cd y
After thetailure W arb was put under Continual
dete ;tiye sur ei.lan e. I he failure Of Grant
d Ward appeared worse and worse the NOR
it was investigated. 1t is one of the most
complete and disastrous in the history of
Wall street
In response to request for staten Mt
ClyooeS p pIaLl' JT., sal 10 u HeIutu re-
porter; "1he Grant family has lost is IN
tire fortune; the ruin is complete. Not only
have and my father and w o Others put
every cent We posses ed into the lirm, bit we
invested large sums which we boz row from
our frien Is, surprising that eve; ything
was going along spiendid!y and that we were
amass ng great fortune. fir p t the #l7-
800 yoary income n my wifes fcr une into
the conce. n and thu PIT the principal in
with il. My fGther-in-law % IS 500 900
which ! borrowed IRON i'm.
Il knew We y little about the affair OF the
establi'hm mt. In fact, the articles of agree
ment of the firm p,ovidel that MIR " ard
should draw al the cheeks and transact all
the business. Mr. Ward insisted that tn /.
business management sLoull be left solely
t. him.
81 did not, nor did my ia her or brothers
have the faint st ID a that anyth ng was
wrong. Up to the Ii ne O. the failure le-
lieved that was worth II 100000, ] he'd the
banks Totes for upwa of S1,0UO,0O0. Why,
! have TO my friends of our fortune with
in few days, lite dreaming of the real
state of affairs. Then cure TIN crash NV
father came down 10 tie Office on the day Of
the failure, and as he walked acro.s In, floor
fOVar1 | said. Eatbgr /;