The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-14
Between 100000 and 10000. ZOO
Dumped on the Chicago Market.
A GAMBLERS USUAL FINISH
l.. Y. LETTER REFUSED TO HELP AND
JOSEPH WENT TO THE BOTTOM.
IgnOmfniOus End of the Most Stupen-
dOus Wheat Deal Engineered Since
the Days of "Old Hutch"

of excitement and wild rumors in the Chi
cago wheat pit. A reverse that looks like
Waterloo has come to the young Napoleon
of finance" Joseph Letter At first there
was wild tumble of prices the board.
July wheat selling II cents from Saturdays
close, while September lost AS cents and
December 37s cents, 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,
as it was, by a flood of rumors concerning
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 de-
serted 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 here-probably 100000 or 100000
bushels 1t came out that he had trans
ferred most of his trades in futures to other
well-known houses and that 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 transferred to Armour, but a later
story was that it would be trusted" and
handled in such a way as to prevent the
slump which would be inevitable 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
Ia cents and December making a 2-cent
rally, selling a shade above September,
where it was l cent 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 ex-
PLANTATION that can be offered at this time
Is, therefore, circumstantial and speculative.
The first Indication of approaching dissolu-
ton in the Letter regime came this morn
ing when the announcement was made that
all his cash and June wheat had been trans
ferred by Allen, Grier and Zeller, Letters
brokers, to Philip D. Armour, and that the
September option, of which Letter was a
heavy holder, had been transferred to Lam
son Brothers. These reported trar sactions
gave rise to conjectures that soon developed
into panic. AT the outset it was rumored
that Letter was trying to get out of the
market, but the fact that Allen, Grier and
Zeller had transferred their trades to Lam
son Brothers, instead of selling out directly
aroused the suspicion that Letter was hard
pIeSS6U anu was SHOGdNOTlIlS 10 dispose OF
his immense holdings without disclosing the
causes of his sudden withdrawal from the
pit
After the close of business Saturday mil
lions of bushels of September wheat puts
were sold in the vicinity of 721a cents, Lam
son Brothers, apparently, having large or
ders for this line. Shortly before the open
ing of the Board of Trade to-day brokers,
supposed to be acting for Letter, were ready
sellers. The put price was speedily
reached and Letter, If the LamsonS were
acting for him, was enabled to dispose of
millions of wheat on the sale of puts
whereas, if the actual wheat had been sold
in the market there would have been even
a more severe break. Had Allen, Grier and
Cellar made the sales the street would have
Lamson Brothers, there was no special in
dications as to the identity of the sellers
It is estimated that during the day from
100000 to 100000 bushels of Letter wheat
optional and visible, were sold to the ac-
count of the Young Napoleon This is
supposed 9 to have consisted chiefly of op-
stored in Minneapolis, ST. Paul, Duluth and
Chicago. 1t was said on the floor that the
earryg the I Sl f hfe been re
fused to carry their burden for longer
time. and the calls had been made by North
oils INTEREST," for margins down nf to % cens
These, it is said, were followed by calls on
Letter here to margin his wheat holdings
100000 bushels of cash wheat on hand,
much Of which he is said to have disposed
of at loss
Later it was reported that L. z. Letter.
when asked by his 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 holdings in order to
satisfy his warehouse creditors and mar
ginal demands. Representatives of the
Northwestern interests appear to have pre-
cipitated the crisis by coming to Chicago
Saturday and learning that L. q. Letter
would not advance any more money on his
sons account.
Mr.. Letters friends insist that he has not
made an assignment, but it was admitted
Tonight that the Letter interests had been
"trusteed. Joseph Letter could not be To-
Gated tonight. l.: T. Letter was seen, but
positively declined to say a word.
Joseph Letter entered the market April
2, 1897, and Immediately afterward the
pressure of a tremendous power was felt,
but no man knew whose was the hand.
Letters first order negotiated by
Broker George B. French. 1t was for
100000 bushels of May wheat at 707s cents
bushel. Then his orders came thick and
fast. The cheapest wheat bought by
Letter was 100000 bGshels bought June IS,
1887, for September delivery, at 64s4 cents.
The deal ran fourteen months, during which
time the price of wheat was down to
64s4 cents in June. 1897 and up to $1S5 in
May, 1898. 1t involved at one time an in
o. no1 arO