Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-08-05


of panic tod.y, during which the
pork corner Went to pieces, the price
dropped from SO per barred to 50.
When the smoke cleared away il
was found that six leading firms had
failed the North American Provision
company, John Cudahy, the millionaire
pork packer ana daring operator;
Wright 4 Humphrey, heavy receivers
and shippers of grain, and j. c. Sueyer
u Co, Il. w Baily X Co and a. c..
Humphrey, the Jhree houses through
which Cuduhy and the clique dealt in
manipulating the pork corner. The
failures viii run well up in the mil
lions.
For the past two weeks the provision
pit on the board of trade has been eX-
uemely dull, especially in the mess
pork division. Some days last week
there was not Il single transaction in
that article for hours There was a
shadow over the market and every
body was afraid to touch it.
Last March the trade became aware
OF the fact that someone was "bulling'
the market, and after a time ii be-
came matter Of general belief that
the deal was being run 10y single
heavy operator who did not appear in
it in person, but who worked through
the wcll-known provision brokerage
houses Of j. &, Steevcr 4 Co, f. w.
Bailey & Co, and A c. Helmholz.
AS the weeks passed it became neces.
sary for the operator to buy a large
amount OF pork at high prices, Then
came the monetary stringency, and,
as its grip tightencd those who had
been bulls on pork, and the list Of
"taleIS' who always follow the lead
OF any daring Spectator, began to
foreSee the inevitable and to stand
from under. 1hs added to the strain
on the manipulation on the deal and
made the outcome more certain.
The explosion came AT the opening
this morning when the secretary an
nounced from the balcony of the trad
ing-rOom that the three firms above
mentioned were unable 10 meet their
contracts and advising those having
trades with them to close them out
under tine rules.
The sound of Secretary stones voice
had not ceased 10 reverberate in the
lofty room when Bedlam broke loose
in the provision pit The other pits
were deserted; the complained-of dull
ness in pork vanished as a roar went
up from the wildly excited crowd.
September pork, which closed at SO
per barrel yesterday, was first offered
at S1S75, then $1S, then $1I75, $3.50,
SIT. SIG and so on down by quarters,
halves and dollars, till the price touched
$40. a sheer descent of 50 within a
a little over half an hour.
Brokers shouted themselves hoarse
and red in the face in their frantic eff
forts to protect themselves. and fairly
tumbled over each other in the strug-
gle to let a bidder have mess pork Mt
his own price in quantities to suit. At
the bottom the deals seemed to be
about all settled and the market for
the first time showed any signs OF
strength
Operators began to see that pork at
SO per barrel, with hogs at the ruling
price, was cheap, and they began TO
buy The price began gradually to
crawl up touching $11, then S12 and
at II O'Clock the pit was again quiet
and the market steady at S1l75,
There is no means of knowing just
how much is involved in the deal but
the trade estimates that the Spectator
referred 10 was long on pork to the
amount Of from $4,000 to 10000 bar
rels which, with a loss Of 50 per bar
ren, would be about $4,000 to $780,
600.
Much sympathy is expressed on the
board for the failed firms who were
very popular in the trade and who
were forced to the wall through no
fault Of their own, but by the failure
Of their principal who does not openly
appear in the transactions to keep his
engagements with them.
Lard and ribs, while weak in sym
patty with pork, We're comparatively
steady The former especially was
strongly held and at 11:30 O'Clock Sep
tember was only - cents below he
closing price yesterday. Kids sou OIL
TO $50 II against 1872 II at the close
yesterday, and recovered only 21-2
up to 11:30 O'Clock.
Cudahy was largely interested in the
North American Provision company,
and when it's failure was announced.
that Of Cudahy was looked for and il
soon came. After that the failure Of
Wright & Haughey was NOT unexpect-
ed as the0 were interested with Cuda
by in his deals.
Cudahy has been carrying a large
amount Of lard and IN addition, has
dealt rather heavily ia ribs. The sud
den slump In pork caught his unpre
pared to meet the declines in lard and
ribs which accompanied it, and he
was forced to the wall. 1t is impossible
ut this time TO estimate the amounts
inyilyed but they are believed to be
very large The North American Pro-
vision company alone is capitalized at
$3.50. 600.
The John Cudahy Packing company