The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-19
THE BAUM FAILURE
Several Savannah Firms Interested
and " nat They Say.

/ and " nat ley gay
The Macon dispatch 70 the MORNING
| NEWS Of Yesterday, announcing that y. B.
Baum & Co, dealers in general u1erchsn-
/ disc and fertilizers at Toonsboro, Irwin
ton and Dublin. had failed for Slls. 900,
with preferred creditors with claims
amounting To sol 90, was surprise 70 the
Z trade in tEis and other cities where the
( FIRMS Liabilities lie. /. Is understood that
I the bulk Of their debts - due - Savannah,
I Macon, Augusta and Louisville, NY. ner-
chants. and il IS pTohsble that there are
4 also creditors IN the cities Of tic east and
/ at s.. Louis, as inquiries have besn directed
: from those points
Y. b. Baum & Bro. startsd in business in
/ a small WY az Toomsboro in ISIS and
/ gradually enlarged II, locating branch Of
/ their business & few years later az lrwinton
under the firm name If Baum & Co, and
| on Sept l. last, established another branch
! store at Dublin, run under the same firm
rarns as at the parent store at Tcomsboro.
/ TIE firms were composed Of y. 3. Baum
and A ". Baum. brothers, aged -
and " respectively, Who are men of
families and report 70 Be Of
correct habits and energetic. in the prosscu-
ton Of their trad. They carried an average
Parent store. and probably about 81 900 OF
g.. 80 at each Of trsir branches.
IL vas claimed by them in May last that
TIER inventory on Jan. !, showed that their
assets consisted Of:
Nerchaodse. ------..-.....-. .......... 81. 900
Bonds and stocks market value .......... 1900
; otes and accounts due. -.-..--.. .....-. 300
To:2l assets OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. $1,000
They estimated their Liabilities az $3e. 900
and after allowing for shrinkages, bad
1.t-
worth fully 80 90. They claimed that
there were no mortgages or liens On any Of
their real or personal estate that when
they secured loans from banks they de-
posted stocks aud bonds as collateral: that
when t1ey obtained advances from cotton
factors they borrowed only On farmers
notes as collateral, giving no other securi-
ties, and that 70 only one company; that
they did al annual bus oess Of from S15. 600
b. So 900, and that in addition to this thsT
had been handling from 500 10 GO tons If
fertilizers annually which were boug BIT
outright, the firm giving notes payable in
the fall and they claimed tuat they had
cleared $1,000 on guano alone.
Last August, II was rum0red that Baum
& Bro. had lost heavily IN cotton last spring,
and their creditors began 70 make INQUIRIES
about them. The apprehension was allayed
BY a statement from the firm in which they
admitted having lost on cotton, b1. they
said that this was not an unusual thing with
them, that as a matter q fact they had los.
on cotton seven seasons out Of ten and they
explained this BIZ saying that they did a
large advancing business, AID IN order u
make collections paid abvve the market
prlce, but that Their losses had Bos bssn 80
bad as repressltsi: that they could lose a
great deal more and s1lH have plenty lef; 30
pay al tbey oTsd and have good surplus:
tasi they rad colleosei and invested $40 900
70 DoooE NEtca SIN had been made outside
Of fbsar regular Line q business, and When
ever i might beconls Necessary they would
ssl These es031S and ass the mo1ey 10 pay
t1elr 1et<z
Taxing fss5r Nay and August statements.
Z WI be seq tat s5noe Jan. I, II the Ma
OH 19ysres q AZ. 0J9 hs bilities are correct,
tcas fF1l Las increased Its Indebtedness $52-
~. and tazf . las changed it's manner #
onstuass by giving a mortgage In one in
sssncs g. .JJ9 greater liar tie entire lizbii-
taes 81 f,Ds uo8csrn Jan /. while there are
Tlrs1srrTsa 6abis u The szzoaEt 4 &gi 90. u
g. 90 gl.-s5ey than ftse FIRMS INDEBTED eSs
ST Tie osgaanlng q TIE rear. In otEe-
words. Baum d Bro have apparently IN
creased Their Liabilities II ten months and
tz1f nearly 20 as great an amount as the
arzDzsl business transacted by them accord |
Ing " their statement This Is Of course
dspsndept upon the CORRECTNESS Of ne state
msDt that the FIRMS liabilities are ais. O00 |
One Of ths creditors said yesterday that it |
is hard 70 get any insight INTO the affairs Of |
the firm. IL il believed that when all the. |
facts come ont it will he found that quite a |
number Of Savannah merchants will be
sinRed. At present they do not care to
have their claims aired, but they must be
matters Of record In a day or two, as all the
papers will likely 20 into court this week
II. ". Conner Il Co., who are secured by a
mortgage, and Herman Il KAytop are IN
derstOod 10 be among the losers here. The
firm also had dealings with the Baldwin
Fertilizer Company, Meinhard Bros. g. Co.,
and Frank &; Co., but whether these firms
are losers Is not yet known.