Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-02-21
THE READING CRISIS
Wall Street Turned Upside
 Down Over It.
THE COMBINE DID NOT LIVE YEAR

Receivers Take Charge With the Stock
 Down to 2S-The First Blow Came When
 New Jersey Attacked It and Compelled
 the Central Road to Pull Outline Story
 of the Day in the Stock Exchange-The
 Effect in London.
 NEW YORK, Feb. 2l.-The credit and power of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad which went into the hands of receivers yesterday, as far as the financial world is concerned, are gone, and the ownership of it's panic blown, widely scattered stock Is unknown. The rise and fall of one of the most ex- tensive and ambitious railroad combina- tions ever attempted are embraced in the comparatively brief period of one year and a fortnight It was just year ago this | month that the formation of the great Reading-Jersey Central-Lehigh Valley | alliance was publicly announced. To-day | the president of the Lehigh Valley and the president of the Reading are two of the receivers of the broken corporation. The dissolution of the combination, | which eliminated yesterday, was begun | by the opposition of the New Jersey au l | coal trust.
 | Although Mr. Mcleod and his associ- | ates pooh poohed that opposition for a while, they finally had to give way to it, | and complete severence of the relations between the Reading and the Jersey Gen. | tral was announced.
 | The facts relating to the Readings in | cursion into New England, the series of | brilliant moves which apparently placed the new Poughkeepsie bridge, the Boston | & Maine railroad, the New York 6 New | England railroad, and the Connecticut | River railroad in the hands of the great | combination are still familiar events in the public mind.
 The invasion of the territory of the l Consolidated system has been the direct cause of the present ruin of the Reading l combine.
 The corporation is now practically 1 where it was year and a half ago. | The scene in the Stock Exchange was one never to be forgotten.
 Tens and twenties of thousands shares l of the stock were thrown upon the mar ket by demoralized holders, and the sellers seemed indifferent as to what they got for the stock as long as some one else l would pay them something for it.
 For minutes the tape was given up to
 Reading quotations. When not used for Reading, Northern Pacific quotations
 were sent out, for Northern Pacific shared
 the panic with Reading and broke almost
 us badly.
 l In the Stock Exchange the groups
 which trade in Reading and Northern l Pacific adjoin each other. Long before
 the opening the brokers began to gather
 in these groups and discuss the situation.
 Away over in another part of the room
 was smaller knot of men.
 | This was the New England crowd, fol
 it was understood that these three stocks | would, to a large extent mOnopolize the l trading and the excitement.
 When business finally opened one-half | of the crowd of brokers in the Exchange
 was in these three crowds. While wait ]: ing for the drop of the Chairman's gave
 the brokers stood almost quivering witt excitement.
 The enormous shrinkage in Reading se
 curities, coupled with the unparalleled | selling of the stock, brought about
 panicky feeling. No thorough explana
 tion of the difficulty had been made, but
 every one felt that one of the greatest oi
 American corporations was in danger The ominous silence on the part of the company's managers added to the mys tery and increased the panic. ! The opening quotation for Reading was 36. Rather that was the first re corded quotation, for the bowling, crazeG l crowd of men dealing in the stock mad
 it impossible to say what the first sal
 was made at. Reading quickly retired to go 1-2, against 36 5-S on Saturday, am New England to 34 1-4, against Al Is
 The antagonisms brought out by the stock
 holders report brought serious declin
 in Northern Pacific perfered; that stocl
 was quickly depressed to 34 1-4 agains AS 3-S on Saturday.
 f PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 20.-The excite Q ment at the opening of the Stock Ex
 change yesterday was intense an' : almost panic prevailed. i, The first sale of Reading was at 15, q loss of 8 3-9 over the closing quotatio 2 Saturday.
 Following this drop the stock steadil
 declined any was soon quoted at IA.
 Then a rumor became current thf
 Reading would go into receiver a hands.
 7 The stocks of the roads allied to tt , | Reading were also hammered down, Ne l England showing a loss of Is cent c the opening sale at 40, while it 500 h dropped to 34 5-9. Lehigh Valley opene d at 5, a loss of 1-2 cent, and dropped r l {uSt to Al l.