St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-29
Wild Scenes in the Wheat Pit
at Chica 20 Yester-
day.
Cudahy Has "a Bad Cold"
and Causes a Wild
Stampede.
Wheat Went Up and Down as
the Crowd Bought and
Sold. (
May Pork Reaches the Sensa-
tional Price OF 500 a
Barrel.

CHICAGO, Jan. 2S.-"Is it shakeout
or sell out'' was the burning ques-
ton today on the board of trade. The
wheat market at the start was excited
and wild on rumOrs that the big Cudahy
clique was about to dump its big hold
ings. This rumor had its origin in the
story that Cudady brokers had bought
from 100000 to 100000 puts on the
curb last night, and the conclusion was
jumped at that the clique wheat deal
would be for sale today and that the
puts were to limit the losses. Every
body seemed to have wheat for sale at
the tap of the bell; longs made haste
to unload before the bottom went
out, ami short sellers were frantic
to get out line before the great
break was on. In the excitement the
market went off 2c from the close last
night, when the liquidation having been
very thorough there was halt and the
painting traders stopped to take breath
and the sellers were congratulating one
another on having got rid of their wheat,
but their self-complacency got sudden
shock when nearly dozen well-known
brokers of the clique jumped into the
pit and began to take all the wheat that
was offered. The revulsion III senti-
ment was instantaneous. Men looked
at each other in beWilderment and
shouting '.tricked again" rushed to buy
back what they had so recklessly
sold bat a few minutes before. There
was another scene of wild confusion and
rally Of l4c. The tumult continued
throughout the day. Sentiment tluc-
tuating with each new rumor, and at
the close the crowd was still in doubt
whether it had been the victim of a
''selI out" or ''Shake out" Some de-
clare that it was scurvy trick on the
part of the clique to create panic and
to enable it to buy another big line of
cheap wheat, as it had sold out the large
part of its holdings Oh yesterdays
bulge. A financial story was current
purporting to explain the whole secret.
Cudahy got back from Cincinnati yester-
day with a very bad cold. according to
this tale. He was fearful Of pneumonia,
and having a large amount of wheat he
protected it by puts. Today he felt bet
ter, and his bull instincts are now up
permost. In the last hour of trading,
Partridge took the lead in the trading
and offered wheat in such enormous
quantities that the spirit of the crowd
was again broken. The market ruled
feversh and irregular towards
the close, leaving off &c from
bottom, or 13lc under the price
it closed at yesterday. Corn and oats
averaged strong but quiet within mar
row range, and wound up sc under
their respective closing values
Friday. Provisions. after an early de-
cline, started up and closed strong; May
pork reached the sensational price of
$40 a barrel. That May pork would
touch the record-breaking $50 figure
was not unexpected at the close yester-
day, but the general trade got thrown
off the track by an easier market this
morning. Although hogs at the yards fell
short of 10000 for the day, prices for
some reason were not marked up at the
yards. This started great many longs
to taking profits. An equal amount of
selling was done by those who were
willing to go short for reaction. The
result was that pork sold 17Hc Off to
$19.4O, and made only moderate rally
to $3.50 before midday.
The leading futures ranged as follows: