Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-06-16
THELOAD TOO HEAVY
Letters Big Wheat Corner Coos
to Pieces.
HE LOSES FIVE MILLION DOLLARS.
The Great wheat King nc Last Dee
thrOncd He Closes out All
OF Ills Deals AT n
lAA- Ebig Loss, ~.

q day Of excitement and wild rumorf
In the Chicago wheat pit, A reverse
that looks like Waterloo has come 10
the young Napoleon of finance"
Joseph Letter,
AT first there was wild tumble OF
prices on the board, July wheat sell
ing lilo from Saturdays close, while
September lest 49Sc and December
3Ac, but all made 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
az II was by food of rumors con-
corning the stability OF the big bull
movement which for months has been
the important factor In board OF
trade dealings. One OF these rumors
was that Letter had been deserted by
some OF his associates In the cam
paign.
In the meantime, Letters wheat was
being tumbled overheard and prices
had become demoralized, Later In
the day Letter made no attempt to
conceal the fact that he had sold out
all his holdings In futures-probably
100000 or 100000 bushels here. IL
came out that he had transferred
most Of his trades In futures to other
well known houses, and that they
were pretty well protected by mar
gins, so that whatever losses there
were would fall upon Letter. His
cash wheat, one report said, was
transferred to Armour, but later
story was that II would be trusteed"
and handled in such 0 way as to pre-
vent the slump which would be ln-
evitable II 1t were all thrown on the
market at once.
The first indication OF approaching
dissolution in the Letter regime came
in the morning, when the announce
ment was made that all his cash and
June wheat had been transferred by
Allen, Grier d Sellar, Letters brokers,
TO Philip d. Armour, and that the
September option, of which Letter
was a heavy holder, had been trans
ferred to Lampson Bros. These re-
ported transactions gave rise to con-
lectures that soon developed into n
panic. AT the outset, il was rumored
that Letter was trying to get out of
the market, but the fact that Allen,
Grier d. Sellar had transferred their
trades to Lamson Bros. instead OF
selling out directly, aroused the sus-
picion that Letter was hard pressed,
and was endeavoring to dispose OF his
immense holdings without disclosing
the causes Of his sudden withdrawal
from the pit.
Shortly before the opening OF the
board OF trade brokers, supposed to
be acting for Letter, were ready sell
ers. The put" price was speedily
reached and Letter, II the Damsons
were acting for him, was enabled to
dispose OF millions OF wheat on the
sale of puts" whereas II the actual
wheat had been sold in the market,
there would have been even 4 more
severe break. Had Allen. Grier q
Sellar made the sales the street would
nave suspected ruse, but, coming
from Lamson Bros, there was no
special indication as to the identity
of the sellers.
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 September, July
and June wheat, stored In Minneapo-
lis, ST. Paul, Duluth and Chicago. IL
was said on the floor that the bankers
of the Northwest who have been car
rying the Northwestern bull clique,
refused to carry their burden Tor
longer time and the calls had been
made by Northwestern dealers, par
ticularly the Minneapolis interests,
for margins down to 80 cents. These,
1t is said. were followed by calls upon
Letter here to Margin his wheat hold
ings down to 80 cents. Mr.. Letter
had about 100000 bushels Of wheat
on hand, much OF which he Is said to
have disposed Of at Loss, Later II
was reported that L. y. Letter, when
asked by his son for more money had
REFUSED to be drawn further into the
wheat deal and thus compelled the
latter to let go large line OF his
holdings in order to satisfy his ware
house creditors and marginal de-
mands.
Representatives of the Northwestern
interests appear to have precipitated
the crisis by coming to Chicago Sat-
urday and learning that L. u. Letter
would not advance any more money
on his sons account.
Mr. Letters friends insist that he
has not made an assignment, but 1t
Is admitted that the Letter interests
had been "trusteed."
Joseph Letter entered the market
April 3. 1897, and Immediately after
ward the pressure Of a tremendous
power was felt, but no man knew
whose was the hand Letters hrst
order was negotiated by Broker
Ceor0e H. French, Ii was for 100000