The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-08-02
some BIG F|RNSGODONN
Through the Collapse Of the Chicago
Pork Combination.
VERY WILD SCENES ON CHANGE.
Mess Pork Drops $3.50 Inside Forty
Ave Minutes, but Haiiied to- sl1 10 ut
the Close-Lard Came Tumbiing Down
Also-Cudahy's Downfall due Corner

CHICAGO, Aug. 2.-Yesterday was one Of
the most disastrous in the history OF tbs
board Of trade in this city. Wealthy firms
and individuals were bowled over like
ninepins. and the prices Of hog products
went tumbling like IN 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 S 80 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 ali concerned that those
having trades with the well known pro-
vision brokerage firms Of j. c. Stever &
Co, Il. W. Bailey & Co. and Ahelmho!s
a. Co. should proceed to close them out.
Ths Excitement Begins.
The silence lasted for n second after the
close of the announcement aud then a
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 hullel through these houses and it
coon became noiscd about in the provision
trade that A. VI. Wright was behind the
deal.
A year before he started corner in ribs.
ami with the help Of John Cudahy carried
it through To success, making "A large
amount OF money. Apparently according
TO the general opinion on the board, he
had started to run a similar deal in mess
pork. The collapse has been looked for
for some weeks, and, rs 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
burs,ed the prices were so small that IL
was next to impossible TO find them.
A SoaLcr.
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
n capital Of S2j0,00o, in which Jack Cudahy
was largely Interested; OF Wright &
Haughey, n 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, aud finally of Cudahy
himself, the great packer and daring
operator in provisions, man interested
I'm the packing trade in n half fdozen states,
n man whose wealth had recently been e,-
timated at not less than SlS,0O0,O00. lie
could not raise before he laid down"
But the financial moose was drawn tighter
and tighter; he had n big deal on in lard
and was interested in ribs and the strain
became too great TO bear.
Worse and worsc.
The announcement of his failure had
scarcely died on the secrctary'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 IL in turn mounted the
toboggan and went down as if self.lubri-
Gated.
II 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 "Charlie" Wright declares that
Cudahy and III. II. Fairbank, the lard
king, were interested with him in his deal
and that the trouble came about because
they woald not put up any more margins.
So far ms the trade is concerned, Mr.. Fair
bank is not known in connection with the
deal at all.
New York Not Affected.
New YORK, Aug. 2.-The failures in the
Chicago provision trade, including the
big one of John Cudahy, had but little
effect upon the produce exchange in this
city. There is no trading here in futures
in provigiona