New-York tribune., 1899-05-14
THE MARKET SOON RALLIES
WALL STREET MUCH PERTURBED BY
THE EX-GOvERNORs DEATH.
FLOWER STOCKS OPEN WIDE" AND THERE
ARE ENORMOUS SALEs-THE Sc
CURITIEs PROTECTED BY
SUPPORTING ORDERS.
SUPPORTING ORDERS.

| SUPPORTING ORDERS.
II was TO be expected that the death Of ex-
! Governor Roswell P. Flower. suddenly cut of In
the midst OF his activities and his combinations.
would have. at least temporarily, disastrous
| effect upon the stock market. especially upon the
| issues popularity known as the Flower STOCKS
and the expected happened yesterday morning.
Not before in years have so many persons gath
| cred early In the morning In the financial dis
| trct as thronged the brokers' offices and crowd
ed the galleries of the Stock Exchange yester-
day long before 10 o'clock. when trading on the
| floor Of the Exchange begins
There was a nervous dread. which proved to
be without foundation, that the ex-Governors
! holdings might be thrown upon the market, and
! everybody felt that in any case there would be
| heavy selling OF the Flower group Of stocks,
for both accounts, because the man whose lead
ership had been powerful a factor In estao-
fishing confidence in those stocks and advancing
! their price was gone. The only question was as
to the extent OF the decline. which 1t was gen
orally believed would be most serious In the
case OF Brooklyn Rapid Transit
! On the floor Of the Stock Exchange there were
few absentees many members realizing that
| their interests could be best preserved by per-
sona attendance. Clustered around the various
trading posts where the Flower specialties were
dealt in, especially the Brooklyn Rapid Transit
post. were throngs OF men thirty deep. awaiting
the drop Of the gavel to begin bidding. When
the signal was given there was an indescrib-
able tumult the hoarse cries and wild gesticula-
tions OF the excited brokers making the scene
the most tumultuous in over twenty years.
WIDE" OPENINGS IN FLOWER STOCKS
The principal Flower stocks had wide" open
ings In Brooklyn Rapid Transit, which closed on
Friday at 11S& a number Of opening sales ag-
gregating 25,000 shares. were made simultane-
ously at prices ranging all the way from 40 to
| 100 The opening of Peoples Gas. which closed
at 119 on Friday was recorded on the ticker at
| 10000 shares at 112 to 101 Federal Steel COM
mon, closing on the previous day at 61H opened
wide" at 56 to 30 on sales aggregating 1000
shares. Rock Island. the last quotation for
| which on Friday was 112h opened at 1OS yes
| terday. International Paper. which closed on
Friday at 49B opened at A. New-York Air
Brake, which was quoted at 1S5 on Friday af-
| ternoon opened yesterday at loo The general
list also suffered to greater or less extent, the
most marked decline being in American Steel
and Wire Air Brake speedily sold down to
| 1875, loss of go points. as compared With Fri
| days last quotation; international Paper. to 90
| and Rock Island to 10712.
The bottom prices were reached in the first
! ten minutes, heavy purchasing on supporting
! orders and extensive covering by shorts to take
/ profits. combining thereafter to cause pro-
! nounced rally. which continued until after the
| appearance of the bank statement at ll:3O
| o'clock The statement was regarded by some
! as less favorable than had been expected. and
! this fact led TO a renewed selling movement
under the influence OF which prices again re-
| ceded although at the close they were well
! above the low level Of the day
The transactions in the first hour reached the
! enormous total OF 53S, 900 shares and the sales
for the two hours OF trading aggregated about
| 735OOO shares. The transactions In Brooklyn
Rapid Transit aggregated nearly 2OOOOO shares
while sales of other Flower stocks brought up
the total for the group to about 100000 shares.
or nearly one-haf the days business
At a little after II o'clock President Keppler
called the Board to order. and formally an
nounced the death of the Ex-Governor In a prier
! address, in which he eulogzed Mr. Flower as
hnancier and political leader Mr.. Flower had
been a member Of the Exchange since February
| T. 1873
THE DECLINE SOON CHECKED.
AS already said the decline which might al
most be called a panic was soon checked by the
execution OF supporting orders for the purchase
| of Flower stocks. Flower & CO. themselves
bought from thirty thousand to fifty thousanu
shares OF Brooklyn Rapid Transit on orders. and
| Standard OIL men were credited with the pur-
chase Of more than hundred thousand shareS
| OF the various Flower stocks.
Anson r. Fowler head Of the firm Of Flower &
Co. made an informal statement yesterday
afternoon in which he said that the firm had
been overwhelmed with offers Of assistance by
some of the largest financial interests NO
names were mentioned, but II is believed that
the Rockefeers and some Of the presidents or
the largest banks and trust companies had or
fered to lend Flower & Co any sums required
The firm declined all these offers, and said 1t did
not need money.
No failures were reported consequence OF
the semi panic but It is said that several wall
Street houses were hit rather hard. The banks
did their part in temperng the severity OF the
crisis. giving their customers all the accommo-
dation possible.
Ar the close OF the market Brooklyn Rapid
Transit was quoted at 1862 a net loss for the
day OF liz per cent Peoples Gas ll2ls. loss
G1b; Federal Steel common 55h loss 6bs; Fed
eral Steel preferred IN. loss Az: international
Paper 46, loss 3ls; New-York Air Brake ION
total sales OF only 1910 shares) 1854, loss q
points; Rock Island 1O9ai. loss 2%.
AT THE OFFICES OF FLOWER co.
A large number of people gathered in the
offices Of Flower g. Co.. at No. 40 Broadway. as
early as $50 o'clock yesterday morning. and by
9:3O o'clock the reception room, the corridor and
the offices were filed Arson r. Flower. the head
Of the firrn reached his Office at 9:45 o'clock. He
edged his way through the crowd TO his private
office. greeting acquaintances here and there
and receiving their hurried condolences.
Among the callers was ex-Leutenant-Gov-
ernor william F. Sheehan. His eyes were red
and his grief at the death OF Governor Flower
was evident Mr.. Sheehan was Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor when Mr.. Flower Governor. and has
been the legal adviser Of the Flower interests
hoca