Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-06-14

Chicago, June 13-This has been a
day Of excitement and wild rumors in
the Chicago wheat pit. A reverse that
looks like Waterloo, has come to
Young Napoleon of Finance Joseph
Letter.
At first there was a wild tumble of
prices on the board, July wheat selling
lie from Saturdays close, while Sep
TENDER lost 45sc and December 37sc, but
all made a little recovery before the
close. 1t was given out that Letter had
ordered his deals all closed and that
the selling rush was the result OF the
execution Of this order, accompanied
as it was by flood of rumors con-
corning the stability of the big bull
movement which for months has been
the import"nt factor in Board of Trade
dealings. One of these rumorS was
that Letter had been deserted by some
of his associates in the campaign. In
the meantime Letters wheat was being
tumbled overheard and prices had be-
come demoralized Later Ill the day
Letter made no attempt to conceal the
fact that he had sold outEll his hold
ings in futures-probably 100000 or
100000 bushels here. 1t came out
that he had transferred most of his
trades in futures to other well-known
houses and that they were Hretty well
protected by margins so that Shatever
losses there were would fall upon
Letter His cash wheat, one report
said, was transferred to Armour, but a
later story was that it would be "trus
teed" and handled in such way as to
prevent the slump which would be in
evitable if it were all thrown on the
market at once. Before the final close
the panic partially subsidized and July
reacted 4c, September selling up lac
and December making &c rally, selling
a shade above September, where it was
1c under Saturday.
None of the principals in the Letter
crisis is willing to discuss the causes
which led to his abdication and the
most plausible explanation that can
be offered at this time is, therefore,
circumstantial and speculative. The
first indication of approaching disso-
luton in the Letter regime came this
morning when the announcement was
made that all cash and June wheat
had been transferred by Allen, Grier
&Zeilar, Letters brokers, to Phil d.
Armor and that the September option,
Of which Letter was a heavy holder,
had been transferred to Lampson Bros.
These reported transactions gave rise
to conjectures that soon developed in
to panic.
1t is estimated that during the day
from 100000 to 100000 bushels OF
Letter wheat, optional and visible,
were sold to the account Of the young
Napoleon" This is supposed to have
consisted chiefly of options in Septem-
Der, July and June wheat stored in
Minneapolis, st. Paul, Duluth and
Chicago. 1t was said on the floor that
the bankers of the northwest who have
been carrying the northwestern bull
clique refused to carry the burden for
longer time and calls had been made
by the northwestern dealers, particu-
larly the Minneapolis interests, for mar
gins down to 80 cents. These, it is
said were followed by calls upon Lei
ter here to margin his wheat hold
ings down to so cents. Mr.. Letter had
about 100000 bushels of cash wheat
on hand, much Of which he is said to
have disposed of at a loss
Later it was reported that l.. 2.
Letter. when asked by his son for
money, had refused to be drawn fur
Their into the wheat deal and thus COM
PEELED the latter to let go large line
of his holdings in order to satisfy his
warehouse creditors and marginal de-
mandS
Mr. Letters friends insist that he
has not made an assignment, but it
was admitted tonight that the Letter
interests had been ''tructaed
Joseph Letter could not be located
tonight. L. z. Letter was seen, but
positively declined to say a word.