Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-30
FIELDS RECKLESS METHODS
A System Of Financiering That Has Appalled,
Wall Street.

| wall Street.
| The New York World this morning said tina
Edward N. Field, son Of Cyrus W. Field and
senior member Of the firm of Field, Lindley
Wiechers q Co., which failed last week, wal
taken to the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum OF
Saturday. He leaves behind him disaster
confusion. the wreck of q business firm, ruined
| by his misdoings. and blot on the 'scutcheou
| Of IN illustrious family.
The innuendoes and accusations Of Wall
street are justified. The worst suspicious are
mild compared with the black facts. Edward
NJ. Field not only rehypothecated railroad
bonds placed with him as collateral, but he
Incorporated large sums Of money. He
raised loans on worthless securities, deceived
his partners and betrayed their implicit faith
| In him. The desperation which followed his
wild speculations and methods Of conducting
his affairs seems to have Invested Field of the
last shred Of honor. In his efforts to make the
| crooked straight he did not spare any one who
reposed confidence in him. Two thousand dol
lars in pew rents, turned over to him as trustee
OF the Tarrytown Presbyterian Church, are
missing. He was treasurer Of the association
which owns the Washington building, collected
S35, 900 in rents and sunk the money in his
struggle to avert impending doom.
LONG RACE WITH THE FATEs.
Field ran a long race with the fates 1t is no
won der that his intellect could not stand the
strain.
family conference was held Saturday aud
yesterday at the home of Cyrus W. Field. Those
who took part in it we're Cyrus w. Field, his
brothers, David Dudley Field and Justice
Cyrus W. Fields counsel, and.a representative
at Drexel, Morgan d Co. The conference was
held to decide what course should be taken by
Cyrus W. Field regarding Edward NJ. Field
The situation in brief found to be this:
Edward NJ. Fields liabilities arising from the
peculiar conduct of his business, which is such
as TO give rise to intlmations of defalcations
ana forgery, amount to millions. To satisfy
the Claims of his creditors would require
Cyrus w. Fields entire fortune and consider
ably more The question which the conference
had to decide was whether Cyrus W. Field
should sacrifice his entire fortune for this pur-
pose. The family honor was at stake. Family
pride shrank from the prospect of the public
disgrace of field. 1t was urged that an untar-
nished name should be saved frcm Flemish.
The breath of scandal had already touched
Edward NJ. Fields fair name. Could not all
THIS be stopped and the last of a fortune be
pledged for sweet honor sake2
When the desperate situation had been fully
discussed and viewed from all sides it was
finally decided, in view of the fact that even if
Cyrus W. Field should sacrifice his entire for
tune he would not be able to meet the liabili-
ties OF his son, that he should not make the
sacrifice.
SAVED FROM ARREST BY ILLNESS.
From facts ascertained yesterday by the
World it is evident that the failure Of Field,
Lindley, Wiechers & Co. is one of the biggest
financial scandals and tangles and muddies in
the history of Wall street. 1t is considered to
be parallel case to the famous Ives-Stayner
failure. There are many plain evidences of
fraud. So plain are they that only his illness
saved Edward NJ Field from arrest war;
rant, 1t is said, will be issued, and Inspector
Byrnes has had men watching the house, No.
l25 East 21st street.
The World makes public a number of the
transactions OF the firm of Field, Lindley.
Wiechers CO., which show the magnitude of
their questionable dealings. Some of these
transactions are OF recent occurrence and go to
show that the mind of Edward NJ. Field must
have been very clear at that time. .i-'' p.
The failure of Field 4 Co. is directly due to
the delay in the arrival Of an ocean steamer, "A
big private deal, involving consolidation into
one big corporation of all the large sugar plan
tations in Cuba, would have gone through if the
vessel which bore the agen. of the Cuban PLAN T.
ers had arrived on time. Nearly $1,000, 000
OF the securities had been subscribed for and
this would have given the firm plenty of money
to get along on for some time. The amount
| the Cuban plan ters would have realized by the
deal Is a matter of speculation, considering the
| way Field 4 Co. handled all their other trans
actions.
S. V. White and Woershoeffer & Co. we're
hoodwinked by Field to the extent Of :10O, COO
in the corn deal fraught with such disaster to
Mr.. White. The three firms were interested in
the deal aud Field had the brokers who handled
the business for the pool turn over to him all
the proceeds Of the cash corn sold. White
never got any Of this money and Woershoefer
| but little
Another instance Of the methods of Field 4
Co. is the case of Peter Cassidy. well-known
l etc Il
800 shares of North American stock, for
which he paid them $4,000 in cash. Cassidy
| did not take up his stock, but left it with the
firm. They forthwith peddled it out and real
lied $50, 900, which sum they used for their
| own ends.
The Worlds information as to the manner
| In which the firm carried on their business
was obtained from interviews with u clerk who
was In the employ OF the firm up to the last
OF August and from talks with Assignee, Gouid.
The firm was constantly short OF funds.oeo -
MR.. FIELD USED THE FIRMS CASH. rL,,,E
All the ready cash was used by Mr.. Field in
his various enterprises Certain transactions
show that his partners, Wiechers and Lindley,
were perfectly honest in all their dealings and
had no idea of the financial alterations of E.
NJ. Field. On August several friends OF MIR.
Wiechers deposited with the firm amounts az
gregating S5O0, 600 This money was to remain
at interest just as if it was in a savings bank
BY October l the last dollar of it was gone
gobbled up by various wildcat dealings.
One OF MIR. Wiechers friends who had de-
posted $4,000 wished to withdraw his amount
soon after it was deposited. He was in Europe
then and cabled to Mr.. Wiechers for the
mone:. This cable was intercepted as were
several other cables and letters making the
same demand. Finally Wiechers got hold Of q
cable asking for the money and at once sat
down and mailed the man the sight draft for
Gle, 900 a German banking house. After
sending the draft Weichers Informed Field
what he had done and then there was a scram-
Bile. 1t was necessary to keep up appearances
at any cost SO the brokerage firm of knaub.
Nachod & Kupnt were told to take care of this
act. They notified the German bank to honor
the draft. But Knaub, Nachod Il Kupnt
demanded satisfactory collateral in this trans
action, and they wanted it in cash. At this
critical juncture Edward u. Field threw him
self on his fathers mercy, and the latter gave
hin Sl25, 900. 1t is plain from Mr.. Wiechers' ac-
ton in promptly sending his friend q draft for
the full amount Of his deposit us soon az it was
asked Of it that he had no dishonest inten-
tons I...ts
Regarding the transaction between the Union
Pacific people and the firm the latter loaned
the Union Pacific 500, 000 originally, taking as
collateral bonds worth at par value 81 600 OOO
These bonds today are worth about Il, 100 co.,
The Union Pacific people have taken up SO far
500, 600 OF this loan and today owe the firm
some S7GO. 900. Tho bonds are scattered eyery-
where, having been rehypo,hecatsd by the firm
in lots to suit their convenience. The amount
thus disposed Of aggregates 100000. By this