The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-09-30
WILD PANIC IN COTTON
New Orleans Exchange Compelled TO
Suspend Business.
TERRIFIC JUMP IN PRICE
BELIEVED TO BE GIGANTIC CON-
sPIRAcY TO swINDLE.
Indescribable Scene On she Floor
When the Crash CAMEO Directors
Upon Legal Advice Declare Null
and Void all Future Transactions
Ct the Day

tSs-4u uS1u XII GtuTS TRANSACTIONS
of the Day.
New Orleans, Sept. 2sThe widest
panic ever witnessed on the floor OF the
New Orleans cotton exchange occurred
today shortly after business opened
and caused. in the mids Il of the excite
ment, the complete suspension of flu
ture business pending the Investigation
of what at the moment IS assumed
to be conspiracy to sWindle the cot
ton exchanges Of the country.
y The panic vas due to an apparent
terrific Jump Tin$ the price Of cotton
based on alleged liverpool advicess and
i it was roughly estimated that $4,000
had been lost on the local transactions
as a result Later In the day the ex-
change after receiving legal advice
/ declared null and void all future trans
actions of the day. This action how
ever. promises to be Bitterly contested
and litigation is likely to be the final
outcome Future business here viii
not be resumed until Monday.
The market at Liverpool opened
1920 lower on spots and 4-6fd lower
/ on deliveries as. compared with yester-
days values and continued without
I material change for some Time. Then
/ the wires became llo- with reports
| rapidly adva Teing5 prices. They started
UP one7half of al sixty-fogrth at a tine
at first and thea jumped 1854, 4a-1-64:
2-64 and 81 81 in quick order until. the
net advance up to 9:45 local time,
showed 4 lid.
In the4meantinle New Orleans which
had opened under the influence Of the
Liverpool market advanced II to Ia
points higher than last evenings close, !
and quickly climbed 30 ponies addi-
tional,
Then the Explosion.
Then the explosion came. With an
unaccountable advance 1f 54 points
facing them. operators began to re-
eeive cablegra,ns from Liverpool ask
ing the reason for the heavy gain in
prices in this market. and stating that
prices in the English market Still stood
ait about the opening figures. THESE
cable advces, in the face of from 49,
coo to $4,000 bales sold and purchased,
threw the operators into a frenzy Of
excitement and they sursed, shouting,
yelling and gesticulating about the
ring as President Parker rushed TO his
desk and summoned without the usual
formalities a. meeting of the exchange.
Amid tumultous scenes a motion to |
suspend business was gasped out by a
MllQAy~ 0fSS1led1 DtQfSi, siIlb Aitlis IL u
mendousF shout, it was unanimously
carried.
The news of the excitement Of the
floor in the meantime had spread like
wild fire through the business dis |
triets and Carondolet street, in the
vicinity of the exchange and the bucket |
shops were soon thronged with excited /
men. Manager West, of the Western
Union company. as soon as he got wind
of the sensational advance set his |
wires to work with messages of in
qliiry to New York Replies came
promptly directing that all specials in
reference to liverpool fluctuations be
suspended until they could be. con-
firfned by the p. m. report.
asT Decided to Suspend.
In the face of these reports and the
advices from Liverpool, President
Parker convened the directors early in
the afternoon and it was then con-
Guided to close the future market until
Monday, in order to permit the brokers
to recover from their shock and en-
able an Investigation to be concluded
fixing the blame for the remarkable
or the responsibility for the
conspiracy. At the same meeting the
board summoned its counsel, E. d.
Saunders, and asked an opinion from
him as to the legality of the contracts
that had been made under the misap-
pcehension. r
ssFIaying been informed that all con-
tracts made'thi day said Mr.. Saund-
srs, were based on false reports from
liverpool as to price, / advise you that I
the consent essential to a valid con-
tract was wanting, and the contracts
therefore are void"
Upon the basis of this opinion the
contracts We're declared off The curb
1c+c
protested against the action of the
BOARD in declaring contracts void and
claimed that they were not governed I
~ the exchange. Other brokers We're
ikewise of the opinion that the ex-
,hange had exceeded it's authority, and
hreats were freely made during the
afternoon Of a resort to litigation to |
determine whether the contracts should
stand or fall.
i .s Action Was Justified.
I. Today is the first time in its history
4 thirty. years that the New Orleans
lotion exchange has been compelled to
suspend business. During the panic of |
1893, a similar attempt to suspend was
made, but failed. The exchange took
he ground then that suspension would
njure 1T in the markets of the world.
Ehe directors feel that 5today's sus-
pension was unavoidable and excus-s
lble. ss
a statement IN reiadion to today's
1anic was given out by officials of the
cotton exchange late this afternoon.
Referring to- the false quotations the
statement says. I
Of the Liverpool dispatches
quoted came through the regular chan .
lei, the Commercial News bureau, of
he Western Union Telegraph COM
ANY, which has been the news con- ,
Iuctor for the various southern ex- .
hanges for more than a quarter of a
entury past. The explanation of the
is that the changes reported
we're to be construed as against theE /
losing price of yesterday, bur as the !
custom heretofore has been
Q give all changes in the Liverpool
market compared with the dispatch
preceding, the explanation
) not only unsatisfactory but indi-
ates negligence somewhere little short
criminal. 4