St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-28
No Light on the Condition Of
the Firm, but the Assignee
is Hopeful.
The Corn Corner and Losses
in Beapish Assaults Grip
pied Them.

exchange at noon, but the grain market
was only slightly affected. The house
is arnold one, but latterly has been some
what restricted in its dealings. The
failure it attributed to the advance in
corn here and at Chicago. II had been
protecting some large lines of corn from
the S. Y. White deal, and had been on
the short side OF the November market.
and few days ago had to cover 500. 600
bushels. The operations were mainly
in Chicago, but to some extent here.
Other articles have also gone against
them, it is Said, especially coffee. while
they had some dealings as well in Wall
street.
Just how much the firm finds itself
unable to pay is not yet clear. The
head of the firm is a son Of Cyrus w.
Field.
Assignee Gould, when seen at the
firms office this afternoon. said: The
assignment was made for this reason !:
Edward NJ. Field, the senior member OF
the firm. has apparently gone distract
ed. His illness resembles incipient
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 Monday,
and this event seemed to bring to eli
max his mental trouble, which some of
his friends had detected two years ago.
A physician told me few days ago that
Mr.. Field was not in bis right mind.
"Mr. Field having the sole manage
ment of the funds of the firm, 1t at once
became necessary to get from him their
condition. So | went, in company with
NJ nf ba Er7, 10 &c OF
dence and tried to find out how things
stood. We failed, however, TO obtain
from him any light Oh the situation, as
his mind would continually stray away
from the subject. We had undertaken
hopeless task. The assignment then
became Imperative i'll order to protect
the firm and its customers. | cannot say
how the firm stands. l have directed
the clerks to submit to me all balances
as quickly as obtained, but the work is
necessarily slow. / hope that the assets
will exceed the liabilities. but just now
| cannot say. The fact that Mr.. Field
had the sole management Of the fnan-
cial department renders the work neces-
sarily tedious. The other members of
the firm know no more than do at
present, but all hope for the best.
"Much of the firms money has been
OOOO lOl LllS VI al CuDNI PllSC
in which they were interested, and
which promised great results. This
money. am confident, is secured be-
yond peradventure. Many of their Gus
toners also hold the securities of this
enterprise. and they may rest assured
that they are all right. | must decline
to say at present whether this enter
prise is financial or commercial one.
The firm did general banking and
brokerage business, and is represented
Oh the floors of the stock. produce and
coffee exchanges. This assignment is
due wholly TO the causes which | have
designated, and is not in any way the
result of losses caused by speculation.
| am of the opinion that everything will
come out all right in the end"
Before the formal announcement of
the suspension was made, the traders on
the floor of the stock exchange had
warning, and they sold stocks freely Oh
the expectation that the failure of the
firm would be followed by a break in
prices. When the announcement was
| made from the rOStrum decline OF
| about one point occurred, but it was
soon seen that the firm was short of
more stocks than it was long, and large
amounts of stock had to be bought in
| for it under the rule to cover these short
contracts. The firm is generally be-
| lieved to have been hurt by the corner
| in November corn, of which their prin.
cipal customers are said to have been
| short, and what was called the Wash
| linton Building bear clique had its &C
| counts there. This clique was for some
| time active OH the bear side Of the mar
| ket, and is believed to have lost largo
! sums in endeavOring to break Burling
! ton, LackaWanna and other stocks. On
| Aug. the credit OF the firm was rated a
| S750,O00 to S1,000.000. For some tim,
| after the suspension was announced the
| stock market was stagnant. all business
| being practically neglected OF the ioor
| the brokers being too interested in tn,
| closing of the firms contracts to TAX,
any new deals.
Sidney Dillon, president of the Unior
| Pacific Railway company: eX-Judge
| John f. Dillon, counsel of the company
and Gen. q. NJ. Dodge, large stock
| holder. were at he-office of Field, Lind
ley, Weicher & Co. today. waiting TO
some one to show up, and tell the con
dition of certain Union Pacific securi
| ties that are held by the firm for loans
| These gentlemen have no idea as to
what condition the securities are i'll, anC
fear that they have been hypothecated
Judge Dillon spoke freely about the at
fairs of the firm. He said that the cred
itOrS arc numerous and that the firm
discounted paper for houses. and i'll til,
main received securities. The all-im
portant question is as to the condition
of their securities.
AT o'clock neither the assignee no
any of the firm members had Teturnet
to the office. Judge Dillon grew impa
tent and said he did not propose to wal
any longer. I'VE are ready to pay tn
firm" he said. land we want our secuI
tiles. If the securities are not accOunte
for this evening, | shall advertise 70
them tomorrow" 1t is believed tn
paper OF the Union Pacific held by TIL
firm amounts to about 100000. 1t wa
reported later that the Union Pacifi
securities had been sold, and that tn
road would get out an injunction to pre-
vent their delivery. Several Eother
called at the office of the embarrasse
firm during the afternoon looking 70
securities upon which they had obtaine,
loans. They could get no information
whatever regarding them. RumOr say
the firm has been lending money o
securities at 50 to 40 per cent discount
and then selling them at par value.
About o'clock F. B. Thurber cam
putting into the firms office. He was i
search OF some securities belonging to
friend who had negotiated loan wit
Field, Lindley. Wiechers & Co. The
could not be found, nOr could Mr.. Goul
be found. When Mr. Gould left the OF
fee at l o'clock he said he wa
going to lunch and would retur
shortly. But he had not returned at
O'Clock. Mr.. Thurber went to Nj
Gould's Office, at No. 2 Wall street, an
was told he had gone for the day. tn
Office of the assignors was left in tn
hands of the old employees, who wer
J ordered to talk to nobody, and til
called to inquire into the state {
affairs wer turned away no wiser tina
when they came. Several men dis
played checks calling for large amount
of money and wanted, and they carrie