Morning journal and courier., 1891-11-28
BIG NEW YORK FAILURE.

| IT
 Field, LindIey, weichers S Co. Have Been Betting on Corn Too Heavily
 -The Market only Slightly Affected.
 NEW YORK, Nov. 27.-At noon to-day the failure of Field, Lindley, Weichers & , Go. was announced at the produce ex- change. The house had long been estab-
 lished in the grain trade, but of late had
 somewhat restricted its operations. The , firm had been extensively handling corn,
 however, and to the advance of that cereal
 both here and in the west is attributed its
 present difficulties. The firm had been
 protecting some large lines of corn from
 the 8. V. White & Go. deal, and had been
 on the short side of the November deliv-
 cry, with an instance of one line of 500,-
 900 bushels in the connection mentioned
 which it had to buy in. The operations of
 the house were mainly in Chicago, but it
 also carried on business to some extent
 here. It is said that other articles besides
 corn have gone against the firm, especially
 coffee, and that it had some dealings in l Wall stret. Just to what amount the firm
 finds itself unable to pay is not clear as
 yet. The grain markets were only slightly
 affected by the failure. Cyrus w. Field
 retired from the firm last April, and has | no interests there.
 Assignee Gould, when seen at the firms | office this afternoon, said: "The assign l ment was made for this reason: Edward | M. Field, the senior member of the firm, has apparently gone distracted. His ill., 1 ness resembles inoipient paresis and is due to overwork and the great responsibility resting upon him as the manager of the finances of the firm. His mother died last l Monday, and this event seemed to bring to l a climax his mental trouble some of his l friends had detected two years ago. A physician told me a few days ago that Mr. Field was not right in his mind. MT. Field l having the sole management of the funds l of the firm, it at once became necessary | to get from him their condition. So of the firm to his residence and f tried to find out how things stood. We | failed, however, to obtain from him any | light on the situation, as his mind would continually stray away from the subject. We had undertaken a hopeless task and the assignment then became imperative in order to protect the firm and its custom CTS. cannot say how the firm stands, but much of the firms money has been used in the promotion of an enterprise in which it was interested and which prom ised great results. This money, I am confident, is secured beyond peradven- ture. Many of their customers also hold the securities of this enterprise, and | they may rest assured that they are all | right. The firm is represented on the | floors of the stock, produce and coffee ex- changes. I am of the opinion that every | thing will come out all right in the entl." | There were rumors af1oat that a large | amount of securities had been rehypothe- | cated, one statement asserting that this | had been done with over $500, ,000 of se- curities pledged by the Union Pacific com pany. Watson Brothers, who received | SIC, 900 in Denver & Gulf bonds, sold the l securities in the open market after the | failure was announced. It is claimed that | these bonds were among the securi- | ties rehypothecated, and an injunc- | ton will probably be served to prevent | delivery of the bonds. The loan is not yet | due, but Dre1el, Morgan & Co. are under | stood to have offered to take up the bond. | The firm, however, would not turn them Union Pacific railroad, ex-Judge John F. | Dillon. counsel of the company, and Gen 1 eral G. M. Dodge, 8 large stockholder, | went to the office of the failed firm this sf- l ternoon to find some information as to the | U. F. securities held by the firm. They l feared the securities had been hypothe- | cated. l
 Judge Dillon said the firm discounted pa pers for various houses and in the main received securities.
 At 3 p. m. the Union Pacific people were | still waiting for some one to arrive at the | office.
 At the coffee exchange there was some | effect from the failure. It was said the | firm was interested some 5000 bags. Nothing transpired at the cotton ex l change. The firm had very high stand ! ing at the commercial institutions.
 At half past o'clock neither the as- | signee nor any of the firm members had | returned to the office. Judge Dillon grew impatient and said he did not propose to | wait longer. t'We are ready to pay the l firm" he said, "and we want our securi- | ties. In fact we have been trying to pay them for some time, but our securities are | have disposed of them, but they could not | legally do so without the consent of the l company, which was not given. I won't | wait any longer. If the securities are not | accounted for this evening I shall adver- | tise for them tomorrow.
 About o'clock F. B. ThuIber came into | the firms office in search of securities be- l longing to friend, who had negotiated a | loan with Field, Lindley, Wiechers 6 Co. l went to Assignee Gould's office and was told he had gone for the day. The office | of the assignors was left in the hands of | the employees. The many creditors and | borrowers who called to inquire into the ] state of affairs were turned away no wiser | than when they came.
 Several displayed checks calling for | large amounts and wanted to pay their l loans, but money was not wanted and they carried their checks away The rumor l that the firm has been lending money on securities at 30 and 40 per cent. discount 1 and then selling the securities at par value I has not been substantiated. Rumors ahoat placing the firms indebt- | edness all the way from $100,OOO to $1,- 500, ,000, but no correct statement can be secured as yet. Notwithstanding Mir. Gould's statement that Edward Field was at his house under medical treatment the servant at his house insisted this afternoon that he left in the morn ing, saying he was going to the office. One of the firms partners denies that corn had anything special to do with their diff culty. Prominent operators in the corn trade, however, say they know the firm has had hard time getting through it's transactions in the staple. It is also said | that the firm had some losses through bond | operations in the street. It is not possi | ble to trace up much of a loss in grain | here, it occurring more largely on Chicago deals. This afternoon a public call was held at the Produce exchange to give an | opportunity to close out the contracts of l the failed firm.
 The total transactions under the call l were 430, 900 bushels of wheat and 76,O0O | bushels of corn.
 Cyrus w. Field is in very critical con- | dition. The loss of his wife and his sons l failure and lapse of mental faculties has 1 laid him so low that he may not recover. | THE OF AIx,S FINE. l Figaro to be Prosecuted for Raising l the Amount by Subscription.
 l PARIS, Nov. 27.-When the archbishop
 of Aix was convicted of insulting N. Falli-
 eres, minister of justice and public wor-