The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-05-07
THE DEACON S FAILURE.
Mr.. White Denies the Latest
Rumors In the Matter.
GREAT WALL STREET EXCITEMENT.

Worst Said to BE Over-The General
Tendency of Prices of Commodities In
All Lines Continues Downward.
NEW YORK, May 6.-The announcement
is made in connection with the White fail
ure that Havemeyer, the sugar refiner,
will take up all the deacon's paper, thus
permitting the latter to resume business
on Monday.
Deacon White was interviewed concern
ing the rumor and said: "They say l was
offered Sl,000,000 by the Havemeycrs to
help me out of the trouble. 1t is not
so. If l had been offered 100000
at any time 1 would have grabbed it
in moment, and with it in my hand 1
would have taken hold of certain bears in
Wall street, choked the life out of them,
skinned them, and then nailed their hides
to the fence in my back yard.''
The downfall of Mr.. White recalls the
fact that he was practically ruined about
two years ago in an attempt to corner the
corn market.
He eventually made a settlement with
his creditors and resumed business at the
Stock Exchange. He made considerable
money in the ''industrials," but, like a
great many others, overstayed his market.
The late Jay Gould once said in an inter
view that the only real leader in Wall
street was Deacon White.
A Day of Great Activity.
The day was one of exceptional activity
and intense excitement at the Stock Elk
change. The great slump in prices was
explained by the failures of S. " White,
Ferris d Kimball and w. j.. Patton &, Co.
Large amounts of stocks were sold out for
the account of these houses, and the ava
lanche of offerings created the more pan
oh <,f Ra:.
experienced since the time or the Barring
panic. According to those who passed
through the Black Friday troubles and all
the financial upheavals since then, there
never has been time when Stock En-
change houses were SO completely demon
allied. The situation resolved itself into
matter of selling for practically any
price obtainable. The enormous shrink
age shows plainly how acute the panic had
become. Had the pressure to sell contin-
ued short time longer there is little
doubt that other houses would have been
forced to the wall. Investors who have
not put in an appearance III Wall street
for years back took round amounts of both
the railroad and industrial stocks The
buying power thus exhibited turned the
tide. The activity in the money market
accelerated the selling movement, but
| later funds became decidedly easier. the
foreign exchanges declined sharply, thus
removing the possibility of gold exports,
and firms which had been reported to he
in difficulty pulled through safely All
this combined to create Il much better
feeling, and the recovery was even more
rapid than the previous decline.
The Worst Said to he Past.
One Of the governors of the exchange,
and member Of one of the most conserva-
tive banking houses, said concerning
nAannn- Whites fnilura: II do not care to
have my name used, but you may say for
me that / think the worst is over now
When Mr.. White failed the last bubble
was punctured and we have reached bot
tom. We have already had pretty sharp
rally, and we shall probably have Others
with some slow liquidation do not look
for any more failures. There may of
course be some, but they will be of the
small fry order and will have no appreci-
able effect on the market There has been
great deal of money lost, of course, in
this decline, but good deal of it has been
in margins which will not show on the
exchange. Many members of the ex-
change have no doubt sustained losses, but
they will be able to stand them. In my
opinion the stock exchange is now bar
gain counter. II this is not bargain day
then there never was one on the exchange -
Bradstreet's says: 'There is relative
improvement i'll general trade in that large
jobbers and wholesalers have revised the
list of credits they are willing to grant,
and in other ways prepared for squalls.
The general tendency of prices of COM
modities in all lines continues downward.
On Friday loans were called right and left
and lenders of money became nervous and
more gloomy as to the prospect, but prices
advanced later The situation in Wall
street Friday was felt to he more severe in
its effects here than the Barring panic of
1890, because of the lack of buying in
terest, due to the general fear as to the
Sherman law.