Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1898-07-06
FAMOUS WHEAT CORNERS.
History Only Repeated Itself In
Letters Case.

Inc rOcket-llke hight ana StlcK-1lk'
descent of Mr.. Joseph Letter has re
called the five famous wheat corners
of the past score of years. In June
1879, pool organized by James Il
Keene started in with a flourish Of
trumpets and collapsed on May 30 Of
the following year The stocks pur.
chased are estimated at about 15y0OO,-
600 bushels, and the price in New
York was forced from 81 to S1.60 and
$1.65. The pool took the grain as it
was delivered and locked up for the
purpose of starving the market of
supplies. The result was that hun
dreds of vessels were tied up in New
York and sailors were starving. His
tory tells of one transaction in which
one million bushels of wheat were
shipped to Liverpool as ballast, the
owner of the vessel even paying a
small premium for the privilege of
getting the grain for this purpose.
Although this corner had it's head
quarters in New York, several firms in
Chicago had charge of the operations,
among whom were J. K. Fisher &
Co., and w. S. Baker Il Co. The out
come of the deal was an enormous
loss, amounting to $5,00OOOO or 49,
100000 1t is said that about the
middle of December, 1879, Liver
pool syndicate offered Keene $3.50 a
bushel for four million bushels of
white and four million bushels of his
red wheat. This he would have &C
copied, clearing a fortune, had it not
been for Jesse Hoyt, who advised
holding off for a higher price. The
collapse of Keene was due to an I'M
expected large European crop.
In 1882 the veteran Armour made
fairly successful attempt to corner the
wheat mar et, but broke about even.
The effort was made to put the price
up to $l.30, but, as usual, the unex-
pected happened.
In 1888 "Old Hutch" succeeded in
creating what has been termed a
corner. The northwest crop
was in bad shape and the reserves
were low. In September the price
went to So on the last day of the
month, with less than 1000 bushels
Of cash wheat in New York. "Old
Hutch" made millions but he went to
pieces shortly after
The New York Tribune relates in
5erestingly the fate of H, E. Harper,
who in 1887 attempted corner in
June wheat, wrecked one of the best
known banking institutions in the
state of Ohio and brought about his
own incarceration in a penitentiary
.or term of fourteen years, Harper
ived in Cincinnati, where he was a
grain dealer of some prominence. He
owned small elevator and had a
interest in the Fidelity
0ank of that city. The speculative
pee began buzzing in his bonnet, and
le started out and bought up seven
cen million bushels of the June OPP
ion. When he had laid in the supply
10 figured that he had control of
pretty nearly all the supplies in the
and. in fact, he exhausted the
,rop. It is a peculiar feature of all
corners that crops prove exceedingly
deceptive. This was especially true
n Harpers case, for June wheat kept
pouring into Chicago from all sources
md when the bottom fell out of his
leal it was estimated that there were
bout nineteen million bushels of
ash wheat at that center.
In trying to stem the tide turning
gainst him Harper obtained large !
ums from the bank on fctitions +
James. When the crash came the
'ank went under inside Of forty-eight
lours. 1t was nearly year afterward
'Ofore the principal figure in the dra-
ma was brought to justice, While
here may be those who looked upon
Iarper's effort as corner pure and
nipple, the fact remains that he forced
prices no higher than 81 cents bush
j. When his end came the brokers
brew all the wheat on the market and
prices dropped about 30 cents in two
lays. "Old Hutch" took all the cash
wheat, thus practically saving many
firm from abject ruin. AS it was,
here we're more failures on the Chica-
20 board of trade than in any other
siveu corner in history.
Of recent years the deal engineered