The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-11-20
j. Fletcher shera, the Only Mem
ber Of the Stock Exchange,
Hopes to Resume Soon.
CASE OF HARRIS & co.
Organized a Year Ago With $780,.
600 Capital Stock, "Paid Up"
They Fail for $4,000 and
Have Only $25,000 Assets.
REPTRI1Ic SPECIAL.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
New York. Nov. 19.-Four separate an
nouncements Of inability to meet obligations
greeted Wall street before the close of the
market to-day. Only one of them came
from a member of the Stock Exchange. J.
Fletcher Shera of the exchange was forced
to suspend. but hopes soon to resume busi-
ness.
There was an interesting assignment in
the case Of Harris G. Co. Of No. 80 Broad
way. The assignee is A. c. McNulty of No.
2a0 Broadway, a lawyer. who had formerly
been retained in some matters by Harris &
Co.. which Is a corporation-not firm. Its
failure was peculiarly interesting because
the concern had no membership connection
with any exchange, although seats on the
Consolidated Exchange are never worth
more than a few hundred dollars.
1t was also noteworthy that the corpora
ton, which had the large capitalization of
$2500O0 advertised on its letterheads to be
full paid'). failed for only about s3o. 600. ac-
cording to the assignee's estimate. Its as
sets. he thinks, will amount to only $4,000
to $4,000.
In view Of the fact that 1t has only been
doing business for a year. some interest at
tacfles to the method by which Its quarter
of a million capital managed to melt away
Mr. Harris It was learned had not
been seen at the Office for several days. and
Mr. Wood, who was there on Saturday.
was said to be I'll. Mr.. McNulty. to whom
inquiries were directed. said that he did
not even know the capitalization of the
company, but this was learned from anoth-
er source.
MIR. McNulty said that Harris & Co. had
| executed orders in both stocks and grain
on the Consolidated Exchange through
some member or members.
Shera's Failure a Surprise.
The suspension OF J. Fletcher Shera. who
| had offices at No. Wall street. was an
nounced in the course Of the day on the
Stock Exchange. He had no contracts out
standing there. and. therefore. no securi-
ties were sold or bought IN under the
rule for him.
MY failure Is not due to anything con-
nected with the market" Mr.. Shera said.
ut comes from an outside cause which l
| don't want to discuss, and not from being
caught short of stocks. My seat should
| be worth $4,000. I think. and my assets
| will pretty nearly equal my liabilities
Mr.. Shera is a fairly well-known member
| Of the exchange. and is credited with hav-
! ing some excellent business connections. AL
| though sudden demands by creditors have
| forced him to the wall. he hopes to be
able to clear himself and resume business
| as a broker.
| Two Other Firms Go Under.
! Alvanc Hooper, a broker. doing business.
at No. 80 Broadway, under the name Of A.
C. Hooper & Co.. made an assignment to-
| day in favor of his creditors, to Francis
Duffy, q lawyer. The attorney for the as
| signee is Charles Fox. who said that Mr..
! Hoopers assignment was attributed to
| his heavy outside speculations. All the
property is in the hands of the assignee.
Mr.. Fox could give no estimate of the
| liabilities.
S. NJ Hibbard & Co. brokers at No. g.
| Broadway. failed to meet their obligations
| to-day in the clearinghouse of the Consol-
| idated Stock Exchange. to which Mr.. Hib-
bard belongs. Mr.. Hibbard has twenty
| four hours in which to raise the necessary
| money, which amounts to only few nun
| dred dollars, and said to-day that he ex-
pected to do It, He added that the 'ab-
sence' of an employe had embarrassed him,
| but declined to say whether or not there
| had been defaication.