The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-01-13
A THUNDERBOLT.
Failure of the John w. Lowell
Company. .
ASSIGNMENT TOISAAC L. LYON,
The Assets Claimed to, be Eighty
Thousand DolIa-s In Excess or
the Liabilities. ~.

The John w. Lowell Company, one
OF the oldest and heaviest houses deal
ing i'll agricultural implements in1Utah
made an assignment on Saturday after
noon last, transferring everything to
Isaac L. Lyon for the benefit of its
creditors. The public announcement
was not made and the placing on record
OF the deed of assignment was not done
until yesterday afternoon, so that the
event was known to but few up to last
evening; the feeling nearly everywhere
was one OF the most ACCOMPLISHMENTS
and regret; the Lowell company had
been long looked upon as one of the
commercial fixtures of the community.
and there had never been the slightest
whisper OF doubt as toits entire solYency.
A reporter of THE HELALD at once
called at the establishment of the Lowell
company, where he was received bv
MIR. Lowell himself. Mr.. Farmer, and
Mr.. Lyon, the assignee. Mr.. Lowell was
quite calm but his face told plainly OF
the struggle he had undergone in bring
ing himself to the present step. From
him and Mr.. Farmer the following par.
,ticulars were gained:
w AJOh Gil ~ w.,
business thirteen years ago. 1t was
only in the past two years, however,
that the business was incorporated and
the present title-the John W. Lowell
Company-adopted The members of
the firm are JOHNNY. Lowell and John
Farmer. Salt Lake; J. E. Morse. Dillon,
NJ. T.: G. D. Joslyn, Deer Lodge, MT. !;
and NJ. Q. Johnson, Ogden. Branches
of the main house in Salt Lake were
formed at these three points, and the,
gentlemen named were superin-
tendents of the business in their
respective cities. An inventory of the
assets had not yet been taken, but as.
nearly as could be estimated thew am,
ounted to 1855 900, made up as. follows.
Bills receivable, -. .,............. sl25, 600
Merchandise at all points $4,000
Book accounts, real estate. r.. &. 100
The liabilities. etc, as shown by the
ed of assignment on record at the
County Court House; amount to
$l85,000, or $4,000 less than the est,
mated assets. In the amount of the liza
bilities, Mr. Lowell stated, the only
preferences made were those from
whom money had been borrowed to
keep the business going. Air. Lyon, the
assignee and the heaviest creditor, and
Wells, Fargo Il Co., the company's
bankers. are the leading creditors pre-
ferred. What the amount due Mr..
Lyon is, was not learned. The amount
due the bank is $4,000, ALI of
which is secured by collateral,
SO Mr.. Lowell informed our reporter.
The banks at other points where the
house did business are also in the list
of preferred creditors. The heayies |
unpreferred creditors are firms in
Racine, Chicago and st. Louis. Mr..
Lowell also made a personal assignment
to Mr.. Lyon at the same time the COM
pany assigned, conveying his home
stead, real estate. shares in the COM
pany, debt due him from the company,
etc, ETC.. this assignment he states was
caused solely by the fact that he had
Endorsed individually the company's
paper, not that he had any private debts
of his own. His real estate and personal
property he valnes at SIS 900. His stock
III the company figured at par amounts
to- $50, 900. and the company stands in
debted to him $4,000, making $4,000.
as the sum turned over by him per-
sonally TO Mr.. Lyon.
In his conversation with our reporter
last evening, Mr.. Lowell stated that
the trouble was caused solely by an in
ability to make collection of the amount
outstanding in the country. "The
$l25 900 or $4,000 ne have in bills re-
ceiyable." said he lis all due from far
mers. The season has been one of I'M
.paralleled dullness in agriculture, and
the farmer has been unable to meet his
debts. With wheat at so cents per
bushel he could not realize; and, sof
course could notmeet his engagements.
Mr.. Lyon is a personal friend of Iiiile,
from Detroit, Michigan. He has been
advancing us money togo on with for
some time now, and for that reason he
is preferred. l went away some time
Since to take a brief season of rest, and
during my absence l had thought we
were running all right. An inspection
of affairs on myreturn,h showed
that we had not made one-half of.
the collections expected during the
season, and l wrote to Mr..
Lyon asking him to come out,
make a personal inspection, and to
determine for himself whether he
thought it worth while to advance us
any more money or not. He and went
carefully through the books, and came
TO the conclusion thatit would be better
to close up now than to prolong it.. 1t
Is easily 10 DE seen from the Statement
that all we need tG enable us to emerge
from our difficulties is time; with some
patience on the part OF theereditors to
enable the assignee to realize on what's
in his hands, believe there is yet hope
for the firm.
Mr.. Lyon, an elderly gentleman, OF
apparently shrewd business abilities,
said he had confidence that the large
amount in bills receivable would be col
lected. at is almost entirely due from
the farmers of Utah, y he said, "a class
of men who, while they may be slow,
are regarded in the business world as
pretty reasonably sure. A little time,
| think, is all that is needed, to ma
teriaily reduce the amount outstand-
ing"
The business will be conducted regul-
arly by Mr.. Lyon without closing; the
building occupied by the firm in this
city are its own property; the ground is
only held on ten years lease from
Bishop Atwood; the following notice
has been issued by the assignee:
Assignee's Notice.