Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-09
Silsby d Company Suspend Payments
on Old Accounts.
TEMPORARY EMBARRASSMENT
J. R. Willard & Company Fail for
Million Dollars.
+ A CTS IN BOTH Asses

What is familiariy known as Tho strcet''
| In Washington. which includes under the
generic term all that part Of Washington
Where brokers and spectators in stocks
and grain pursue their iicklish operations.
was agitated by excitement this morning
over the announcement of the assignment
OF j. X. Willard u CO. Of New York. stock
| bond and grain brokers. who had "A branch
| office on the second floor Of No. 1873 T.
| street. this city. and the embarrassment of
| Siishy e. Company incorporated. bankers
| and brokers, with main Offices IN the Ma
.!oial Metropolitan Panll building on 18th
street, opposite the United States treasury
| On the tightly-closed door to the h street
| entrance the following notice was posted:
j. r. Willard * Co. have this day made
a general assignment for the benefit OF
their creditors. under the laws of the state
| of New York
j. l.. STARBrCK. Assignee"
There was also a notice posted up on the
partition dividing the cashiers ana clerks
compartment from the quotation board
room in Slsby d Company's office in the
| n ar of the National MetrupDI Bank.
II was typewriter OF a sheet Of the COM
F&nys paper. ard read as follows:
To patrons: The recent failure of a
well-known house in New York which was
carrying a large liHe.of stocks for us as
many of you well know. has caused us a
II. h.
dent il VIII be short lived
We do not propose closing cur business,
but ask the indulgence of our patrons. on
the cid accoun-s. for a few days
Checks will be given i'm settlement of
same part of which can be used as re-
margins on new accounts.
All new accounts will Toe settled daily
as usual. OLD accounts can be closed when
convenient.
"sILsBY a CoMPANY."
Below this was pasted a typewrtten ieie-
gram from New York, dated today. IL was
addressed 10 George Az. Silsby. and read as
follows:
Sorry you concluded to stop. Come to
New York Immediately ana we can pull
you through. E. q. H.
The initials were SAID by those familiar
with ihe affairs of Silsby a. CO. to he those
OF t. c. Hibbafd of New York
Nothing Definite Ascertnincd.
When The Star reporter who had called
for the purpose Of inqurlng into the en-
barrassment of the firm. called al Silshy
q Co.'S place this morning. there was the
usual crowd of spectators present: tn,
qUotatinns were being chaiked gp. The
tickers clicked energetically and the scene
was the same as II was every other day in
the week.
Inquiry for Mr.. George W. Silsl,y de-
velcped that he had gone to New York.
where he would be located at the Astor
House. The Star reporter then mad. m
quiries of Mr. Bliss. the cashier and Mr.
klausman. who appeared to lie the f-en-
eral manager Of the office. about the COM
rany's embarrassment. Mr.. klausmln
as lrcllned TO look upon the cmbaIrass-
ment as matter of small moment.
The notice speaks for itself and ex-
plains itself. said Mr. klarsman. "Sisby
d Company is Incorporated. The capital
was originally SIa.Ga. and | don't know
whether it has ever been changed"
"N lat are the liabilities" Inquired the
reporter.
..Th,y have NOT leap rnaG,. nm. t,,,,. a,.o
only of minor consideration. however.
Some people owed last night owe us
money this morning."
Mr. klausman said in reply to another
at estion that the well-known house
spoken of in the posted notice printed
above was not the firm of J. X. Willard *
Co., but declined TO indicate which il was
The Embarrassment Expected
Inquiry among brokers and speculai tors
developed that there has been general ,>-
pectation for some days past that the firm
would take some such step as that fol-
lowed today. Persons having accounts
with the firm and who desired to withdraw
all or large portion of the money to their
credit the results of deals i'm stocks.
have been unable 10 do so for several DAYS
One wel-known operator whose account
with the firm was very large and has been
for some months past. and who recently
changed his speculating operations TO an
Other brokers' office i'm this city. has been
unable TO get more than So or 500 AT a time
toward settlement for the past several
days. 1t is generally believed that The
steady bull market, in which an the spec-
lators have been on one side has caused
the embarrassment of the firm.
Failed Twice Eeforc.
Silsby & Company. the firm using that
title, has failed twice before in Washington,
the last time about TWO years ago. At the
last failure they settled their accounts by
allowing their creditors to use the money
owed them in further dealings in stock.
Operations Going ON as Usual.
There was no indication at Ssby & Co.'S
office today that anything out Of the gen.
eral run had happened and there was a
general expression among those involved
by the firms embarrassment of hopeful
ness at the ability of Mr.. Sisby TO meet
the obligations of the firm. Private con-
versat.on with several of these gentlemen,
however, developed that the open express
sion of SO much confidence inspired by
a fear that any other course might jeopar-
die the settlement of their accounts.
The willard Failure
The firm of ]. r. Willard & Co. whose
failure is noted above. was composed of
James r. Willard, Elmer DwicFins and
Jay Dwiggins, with offices in this CITY, New
York. Buffalo, n. Y: Philadelphia and
Montreal. No statement of the condition
of the firm is Yet ob;ainable. but IL is es-
timated that their liabilities viii reach
81, ,00o0o0. Jay Dwiggins is at present
travelling in Europe.
]. r. Willard, senior member of the firm,
has been a member of the consolidated Sx-
change since September %, 1885. lie mad
represented the firm in Chicago and had
branch Office I'm that city up to a few
months ago, when IL closed and The busi-
ness was taken over by John Dickinson sS
Co. Elmer Dwiggins was the working
head of the firm. He made application to
be admitted to membership in the con-
soiidated exchange July 81, but was
not admitted.
Elmer and Jay Dwiggins, who are broth
ers, are nephews of Zimri Dwiggins. who
founded a large system of coGatry banks
in Illinois, Indiana and other western
states. most of which failed in the panic Of
1893.
Cause of Faflure.
''The cause of the failure said Assignee
Starbuck in New York today. lis simply
that the firm has been upon the wrong
side of the market They have been short
on stock and grain
The firm has done a big business on the