The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-09-27
A BLOW TO MAINE TOWNS.
The Failure Of Henry Poor & Son,
the Boston Tanners.
THEIR TROUBLES DUE TO THE
LOSS OF THE WINN TANNERY.

/ LOSS OF THE WINN TANNERY.
That Burned in August and the Conse-
quent stoppage of Operations Rendered
the Firm Unable to Meet Its Obliga-
tions-The Concern Has Tanneries in
Other Maine Towns-It Is Expected to
Come Out All Right and Receives
Public Sympathy.
Especial to the Press.l
BANGOR, September 26.-Boston des-
patches bring news of the failure of
Henry Poor & Son, the prominent tan
ners and leather dealers, who have plants
in several Maine towns. The failure
creates much interest in this city where
the firm has had business dealings. Those
best posted estimate the amount of the
liabilities as 100000. A bank Off
cial said today that he thought
that the Poors had accounts
with four or more of the gro
Gerry concerns of the city and some of the
hardware houses, but thought they had
been buying very little of dry goods
houses. They have done their local bank
ing with the Kenduskeag National.
Cashier Lawrence of that bank said he
thought the Poors would be all right had
they not been obliged to tie up so much
of their stock on account of the fire at
VIM. While the firms notes have been
falling due all along, it has been unable
10. III OH Nv n
reported the company's Winn agent as
saying that if an extension is granted
their affairs will eventually come out all
right, which seems to be the opinion held
in Boston. He further said that the
Poors were an old established concern
and had always attended to their legiti-
mate business, giving affairs less serious
aspect than they would otherwise have.
Their tanneries are at Lincoln, Medway
and Lowell. with the one just burned at
Winn and which they had made prepara-
tions Immediately to rebuild. This as
signment will of course badly delay mat
ters and this is to be regretted not only
on account of the firm, but the people of
Winn, who depend so much on this en-
terprise. Mr.. E. HI. Dunn, to whom the
assignment has been made, is assignee
also of Mcconnell g. Shaw and other
firms in whose affairs local business men
have been interested. Bangor business
men have been badly involved in these
tannery failures.
THE NEWS IN BOSTON.
Poor g. Sons Troubles Regarded as Only
Temporary.
Boston, September 26.-Henry Poor &
Son, leather merchants, for several gen
erations under the same firm name at 60
South street. have assigned to Edward
II. Dunn, of Dunn, Green l6 Co. The
immediate cause of the assignment was
the burning of the tannery OF the firm at
Winn, Maine, the latter part of August,
which delayed their delivery of leather
and made it difficult to borrow money to
meet maturing obligations. The liabili-
ties amount to about S2S5, 200, assets to
nearly $500,000, consisting largely of
property in and about the tanneries of
the firm in Penobscot county, Maine.
The feeling of the larger creditors toward
the firm is very friendly and 1t is expected
that an arrangement will be made by
which the firm will soon resume business
During the war the firm made large
money, and in 1854 or 1865 established
tanneries in Maine, building the first tan
neries in the immense hemlock regions
of northeastern Maine.
The firm went safely through the pan
les of 1887 and 1857 At the time of the
Boston fire of 1872, the firm, then on
Pearl street, sustained very heavy loss.
1t was at this time that one of Brad
streets men waited upon Mr.. Poor to as.
certain his loss, and whether he could
bear up his business under it. Mr. Poor
is reported as looking up from his desk at
the man and saying decidedly: st will
take more than the loss of $500, 900 to
fail Henry Poor"
After the fire the firm moved, as did
many others, to South street.
Henry Poor and his eldest son, Eben
S. Poor, are neither of them living, the
latter having been dead some fifteen
years. Eben S. Poor was at one time
member of the Governors Council. Mr..
Poor always lived in South Danvers, now
Peabody. The present proprietors of
the business are John O.. and Charles c.,
sons of Henry Poor.
After establishing their Name tanne-
ries, the entire energies of the firm were
concentrated in the sole leather tanning
business.
At the time of the burning of the tan
merry at Winn, Me-, in August last, the
firm was believed to be fully insured, ac-
cording to the statement of a man hav-
ing had business Citations with them, al
though he now thinks that the insurance
did not cover the loss. One loss was
$4,000 worth of hemlock bark at Winn.
No other tannery was near, and the cost
of transportation would be as much as
the bark was worth, so it was practically
a dead loss.