Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-10-02
The Recent Corner In wheat.

This is the way that HutchGaon got the
grip on the Chicago wbea; pit tdst enabled
him to fix the price TO suit himaeii Il btG
been his custom to offer To buy { TO sci! a.!
that anybody and everybody wanted at the
market price, or to sell at ! of cent over
the market aud buy at of cen! under a;
the same time The crowd, tempted by the
premium at which be held September a..d
the belief that by selling it down they cou.d
make him drop his long wheat, have been
cunning" for Hutchinson, who kept on
buying all they would sell, uatil the largest
houses in the trade hava walked into bis
| trap and Kept on selling HutchDson's heat
for him uuti last week, when bg showed
his hand. Besides 100000 bushels !on@
September wheat he had the entire stock of
No. 3 in Chicago, amounting TO cniy $500.
600 bushels, while the wheat arriving did
not grade No 2. He then notified The
shorts that be had them. and lhat ,hay
could cover at the market price, which ~As
then about 95 cents, uu,il last Saturday,
but on thet day he would put it to 81 Sat.
urday came aud with i. he fuli!ment Of
his threat. The shorts, auong whom were
the army OF "straddlers" in all the markets
of the country, wanted nothing hetter than
ceiling September at threo cents 20
FIVE cents premium over other months
in Chicago and ct mere than the
price in Now York. Then came Mon.
day, and with it reaction, and the ahorts
smiled and said, 1--WE told you 90, Hutch is
running;" and they sold sono more be
fore the market got away FROM them" on
the down grade. They sold his September
wheat down one afternoon on the curb from
oslo to 94c But before they got through
Mondays market they found that Hutchin-
son had broken the market himself, and
that his brokers had bought everything that
WAS offered. Before Thursdays sun went
down September wheat sold at 81 %, and
closed there, at which the shorts privately
settled over 100000 bushels sold below 81,
and at this price he offered to settle with
any and all shorts. telling them the price
would be 81 so on Friday. Those who could
margin up laughed and went away without
covering. On Friday morning MIR. Hutch
inson told them he would let them have
all they wanted at $3.50. They re
fused and within an hour it was put
to $1.75, with notice that the price
on Saturday would be 50. Still some
doubted his word, while others were sup
posed TO have formed combination which
will refu5e to settle above fair market
price. On Saturday while Hutchinson was
giving it out that he had no wheat to cell
below 81 there were anxious bidders for it
at SLIGO, and Seymour was indussriously
buying in store lots at $1.60 Few sales OF
September we're made in the pit. COM
mission company paid SLIGO for one small
lot. Orr & Comes sold Hutchinson 5000
bushels at S1.45 at precisely the same time
tha. Seymour was paying SLIGO for it. "Old
Hutch" had one of his cranky spells on Sat
urday morning. From some sources it was
learned that he had no wheat for sale less than
81 per bushel. The official reporters in the
wheat pit were not sending out this quota
tion at the opening, for the reason that there
were no sales at that price made openly in
the pit.