The herald., 1893-05-05
EXCITEMENT IN WALL STREET,
The Bears Make a Terrible Raid
on Stocks.
Industrials the Principal Point of
Attack.
Three Heavy brokerage Firma Forced TO
Assign-Regular Panic Among
the stock Board OPP
eratorss
By the Associated Press.

tue inHuence OF rumOrh ABOUT lurLuer
failures. The credit of three leading
banks was attacked, but in every case it
was known that no truth was in the
reports.
The feature at the opening was a
further break in National Cordsge. The
stock commencing closed at 81 yeater-
day; this morning it opened at 81, but
almost instantly fell to 2S. Preferred
which closed yesterday at 78 bid, opened
at 78 and broke to 70.
There were further liquidationa in
Sugar, General Electric, Cotton Oil and
Atchison. At l0:l5 the market was
very ragged.
Shortly after opening the market was
thrown into a panic by the announce
ment of the failure OF Henry Allen &
Co. and B. J.. Smyth Il Co. Liquida-
tions were enormous, especially in such
stocks as the firms were supposed to be
interested in. Great excitement pre-
vailed as block after block came upon
the market.
Compared with the final quotations
yesterday National Cordage, preferred,
broke l8 points to 65; Common, II TO
26; American Sugar, preferred, 5 to 8758 T;
Cotton Oil, preferred, 2s4 to 70; Whisky,
% to 2l16 General Electric, 2 to 81 ;
Rubber, AZ to As. After this enormous
ehrinkage sufficient buying orders ap-
peared to rally prices considerably.
National Cordage, preferred, rose 5 to
70; others improved | to points. At
IL O'Clock the market WAS still feverish.
There was good deal of suppressed
axNttQmQnt QftQr I'll a n NJ
tinued rumors affecting certain Wall
etreet firms. The market continued
feverish with ftful fluctuations in the
leading shares. Some stocks were COM
paratively steady while others sustained
further sharp declines. General Electric
broke So TO 85M Manhattan, SO to
1861. A sharp rally followed. Ameri-
can Sugar jumped suddenly from 81 to
,914; Manhattan, from 12615 to 1870 ;
General Electric, from S5Sz to 8724. At
noon the market was hrmer and more
confident feeling prevailed.
There did not seem to be any bottom
for prices. Early liquidations were largely
in Sugar, General Electric and National
Cordage. Afternoon liquidations broke
out in new places, more especially in
railroad stocks. AS for industrial stocks
the more they declined the greater
seemed TO be the inclination to sell.
Cordage common, after the Walden fail
ure, dropped to %, General Electric to
S5, Cotton Oil to 3S1s, Burlington to S5,
st. Paul to 71s4, st. Paul preferred to
115, Rock Island TO 1914, the losses rang
ing from to per cent.
just before the close call loans jumped
to 20 per cent, adding to the general de-
,moralization. The scene on the ex-
change was very wild. Crowds gathered
around the trading poatH of active stocks,
swung their arms and yelled themselves
hoarse in attempts to sell. Going and
coming, brokers and messengers ran as
ii Satan were after them. Nobody
thought of walking and the gravity Of
the situation was accented by the pale,
anxious faces Of struggling brokers.
Three small failures were announced
on the consolidated stock and petroleum
exchange: F. Beardsley, I. Bradford
and G. r. Wilson.
The condition of affairs was sggra-
waited during the last two hours by the
calling OF loans by the leading trust
companies. The shifting of loans Incl
dental to the tremendous shrinkage il
values forced these institutions to adop'
extreme measures. At the Office of thl
National Cordage company, Appleton
Sturgis, counsel of the company, saiS
the raid OF the bear element on th,
Cordage stock was not warranted by th
condition of the company. He said thu
company has on hand earned cash suffi
cient to pay the dividends for the mex
year, and that the dividends would b
paid. He said there WAS absolutely n
truth in the rumors on the street affect
ing the financial responsibility of Water
bury, president of the company. HI
also said 30 far as he knows none Of tn
principal stockholders in the compsn
are spectators, whose failure to put u
margins caused the suspension OF til
brokerage houses which failed today.
The selling movement in stocks broR
out afresh after the delivery hour an
the lowest prices of the day were touehe
in numerous instances. General Ele,
trio, National Cordsge and New Englan
were the greatest sufferers and decline
to 79ls, 1874 and 2711a respectively. Th
market closed feveriEh and unsettled.
Money was irregular after noon, ran
ing from to 20 per cent; closed at
per cent.
On behalf OF the firm of Henry ALLIE
4 Co., the failed brokers, it was state
this afternoon that the firm had nj
Deeu bpeculdbluk Dub uOluk bbilCb
commission business. Yesterday in Il
elump in values number of rich GU
TONERS failed to put up margins and Il
firm pat up 100000 to protect ther
This was to be made good this mornin
but was not, and the firm had to assig
A schedule OF the assets and liabilitiI
of the firm is being prepared.
Late today Norton, of the firm, sa
they hoped to be able to resume bus
ness in day or two. He thought Il
firm had resources that would put
upon its feet soon. He said every 9
count ON the books had trustwortl
customer behind it. The extent of t
failure is variouely estimated at fro
$80O,000 to $1,000 900, but as the etai
ment of accounts are not complete
these estimates are not altogether tru
worthy.
The hegeneral opinion among the broke
is that the failure of Smyth & Co. "
not be an extensive one, and that th
will be able to resume again.
Schuyler Walden said his failure W
due to the drop in cordage and the fa
ure Of customers to respond to calls
margins.
A. H. King & Co., a firm which unC
various names hiss been in business
years, failed yesterday. The liabilit
amount to $3.50, 900. Arrangements
being made by which the firm expe
to resume business with liquidation.
Henry Clews voiced the feelings OF