Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-08-02
DEAL FELL THROUGH.
Chicago Firms Suffer by
Collapse Of Pork Corner.
JACK CUDAHY GOES DOWN.
Excited Brokers Create q Great Tu-
multi in the Board Of Trade.

CHICAGO, Aug. 2-Yesterday was one Of
Che most disastrous In the history OF the
board Of trade In this city. Wealthy firms
and individuals were bowled over like
ninepins. and the prices Of hog products
went tumblng like an avalanche. Dealers
on the Chicago board are accustomed to
scenes and changes In value, for this
market seems to be the storm center,
where both the upward and downward
push in the price OF the worlds food pro-
ducts Is most severely felt. But old-timers
stood aghast at the rapidity with which
the price of mess pork went down.
A sheer drop of so per barrel inside of
three quarters of an hour Is enough to
take away the breath of old Stentor.
There was hush, however. near the OPEN
ing In the morning, when Secretary Stone
appeared on the balcony of the trading
room and notified all concerned that those
having trades with the well known pro-
vision brokerage firms of j. G. Stever &
Co., e. w. Bailey & Co. and Ahelmhols
IL Co. should
Proceed to Close Them Out.
The silence lasted for second after the
close Of the announcement and then
mighty roar went up from the provision
pit As early as last March IL became ap-
parent to the trade that mess pork was
being bulled through these houses and 1t
soon became noised about in the provision
trade that A. NJ. Wright was behind the
ieal.
A year before he started corner In ribs.
and with the help of John Cudahy carried
1t through to success, making a large
amount of money. Apparently according
TO the general opinion on the board. he
had started to run similar deal In mess
pork. The collapse has been looked for
for some weeks, and, as the monetary
situation became more and more strained,
and the borrowing Of money to put up in
margins more and more difficult, every
body not interested in the deal drew out,
leaving the market so dull that there was
scarcely enough business to establish
quotations. When the bubble finally
bursted the prices were 30 small that 1t
was
Next to Impossible to Find Them.
Things were moving along smoothly
when another and heavier shock came, in
the announcement by the secretary in
quick succession of the failures Of the
North American Provision company, with
a capital of $3.50, 900. in which Jack Cudahy
was largely Interested; of Wright g.
Haughey, respectable firm, chiefly en-
gagged in the receiving and shipping OF
wheat, but who who were understood to
be interested with Cudahy in his deals In
the provision pits, and finally Of Cndahy
himself, the great packer and daring
operator In provisions, man interested
in the packing trade In a half dozen states,
a man whose wealth had recently been es-
timated at not less than f1S,0O0000 He
could not raise before he ''laid down."
But the financial moose was drawn tighter
and tighter; he had big deal on In lard
and Was interested In ribs and the strain
Became Too Great to Bear.
The announcement of his failure had
scarcely died op the secretary's lips before
the storm broke out again, this time In
the lard crowd. That commodity had
held extremely steady throughout the
slump in pork, but 1t in turn mounted the
toboggan and went down az II self .lubri-
Gated.
It was said by one close to Mr.. Cudahy
that his private affairs were entirely sep
arate from his partnership matters, and
that the various companies which he
controls and In which he is interested
with his two brothers, Mike and Pat. are
not directly affected by the failure.
No one pretends to estimate Cudahy's
loss, and "Charie" Wright declares that
Cudahy and II. II. Fairbank, the lard
king, were interested with him In his deal
and that the trouble came about because
they would not put up any more margins.
So far as the trade Is concerned, Mr.. Fair
bank is not known In connection with the
daal MI all