Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-06-16
LETTER LET'S LOOSE
YOUNG NAPOLEON OF FINANCE
FINALLY WORSTED.
HE'S PROBABLY BIG LOSER
All of His Holdings in Futures Sold
Out to Well known Houses and His
Cash Holdings Trusted" TO Pre-
vent Slump in the Market-Young
Millionaire Punched by Older Heads.

Chicago, June 14.-Monday was a
day of excitement and of wild rumors
in the Chicago wheat pit. A reverse
that looks like a Waterloo has come to
the young Napoleon Of finance" Jo-
seph Letter. At first there was a wild
tumble in prices on the board, July
wheat selling off II cents from Sat
urday's close, while September lost
AS cents and December 37s cents, but
all made little recovery before the
close. 1t was finally given out that
Letter had ordered his deals all closed
and that the selling rush was the re-
suit Of the execution Of this order, &C
cOmpanied as it was by a flood of
rumors concerning the stability of the
big bull movement which for months
has been an important faction in the
board of trade dealings. One Of these
rumors was that Letter had been de-
serted by some of his associates in the
campaign. In the meantime Letter S
wheat was being tumbled overheard
and the prices became demoralized
Later in the day Letter made no at
tempt to conceal the fact that he
| had sold out all of his holdings in
| futures to other well-known houses,
and they were pretty we'll protected
| by margins, SO that whatever losses
there were would fall upon Letter. His
cash wheat, one report said, was trans
| ferred to Armour, but later the story
was that it would be trusted" and
handled in such a way as to prevent
| a slump which would be inevitable il
/ it were all thrown on the market at
once. Before the final close the
panic partially subsidized, and July re-
acted 4 cents, September selling up
IA, and December making a cents
rally, selling a shade above Septem-
Der, where it was l cent under Satur-
day.
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 cal
| be offered at this time is, therefore
| circumstantial and speculative. 1t is
estimated that during the day from
| 100000 to 10000, 900 bushels of Lett
| er wheat, optional and visible, were
| sold on account of the young Napo-
| leon" This is supposed to have con-
| sisted chiefly of options in September
| July and June wheat stored in Min
| neapOlis, st. Paul, Duluth and Chi
cago. 1t was said on the floor that
| the bankers of the northwest, who have
| been carrying the northwestern bull
] clique, refused to carry their burdens
! for a longer time and that calls haG
been made by northwestern dealers
particularly Minneapolis interests, fol-
margins down to 80 cents. These, il
is said, we're followed by calls upor
Letter here TO margin his wheat hold
| ings down to so cents. Letter haC
about 100000 bushels of cash wheat
on hand, much of which he is sale
! to have disposed of at a loss. Later
! it is reported that L. Z. Letter, wher
! asked by his son for more money, had
refused to be drawn farther into the
wheat deal, and thus compelled the
latter to let go large line Of his hold
ings in order to satisfy his warehouse
creditors and marginal demands.