The times., 1901-05-10

Paper Profits of the Boom Wiped Out
i'm "a Few Minutes and Bnnk Ac-
counts With Them - Government
Clerks Among the Many Victims.
Washington's Street world was as
badly demoralized yesterday as it has
ever been in the history of the city, not
even excepting the panic times of
eight years ago, when several of the
financial institutions were threatened.
This city has been as wild over the re
cent tremendous boom in prices in the
stock market as the remainder of the
country. Many fortunes have been
made, on paper, during the past eix
months, and they have been doubled in
the last two or three weeks in the sky
rocketinE of prices. People in all
grades Of society have been stricken
with the fever to make money easily
and quickly. Tales of immense win
nings have filtered out of F Street to
every art of the city. and drawn thou
sands Of inexperienced people into the
net Yesterdays crash wiped out the
greater part of all these paper profits,
and in addition it took from many bank
accounts the savings of years Last
night in the streets and hotel lobbies
little was discussed except the stock
market. and the many stories Of finan-
.cial reverses.
The losses sustained were in some
cases very heavy. Several men are
known to have sold out stocks on which
the losses were from $4,000 TO $4,000.
The lesser reverses. ranging from a few
hundreds to $4,000. probably mounted
into the hundreds, Every broker in the
city Yesterday sent over to New York
many thousands of dollars OF margins
in addition to selling out thousands Of
shares of stock, representing heavy
losses. More margins were called for
at the close last night, and more viii
be called for this morning.
II is as yet impossible TO form any
definite idea as TO the total amount Of
the losses sustained, owing to the fact
that many accounts were protected for
customers yesterday by the brokers,
during the slump. and have not yet
been sold out These accounts viii be
closed later, perhaps today, if the mar
ket RECEIVERS. On the other hand, they
viii be closed out at still lower figures if
there is a further break today.
This leniency ON the part Of the
brokers was in some cases due to be
lief that the market would recover as
It did in the afternoon, and to unwil-
lingness to sacrifice customers money
in the reckless throwing over Of stock
at the worst moment Of the day. In
general. however, the brokers sought to
protect themselves simply, and did not
sell at the bottom, because sufficient
margins were not up to cover losses.
The break came in such an avalanche
between the hours Of II and y o'clock
that brokers did not have time to call
their customers before margins were
all wiped out. and there were immense
losses in addition shown. Many Of
these accounts must be sacrificed as
soon as the market RECEIVERS to the point
where the broker is saved. It is esti-
mated by one conservative broker that
the total losses viii be at least S500000
One Of the most sensational losses OF
the day was made curiousIy enough on
the short side Of the market in North
ern Pacific. A speculator went short Of
the stock a few days ago. around 150. il
is understood. Like many others he
knew that the price of the stock was
too high intrinsicaIly, and ne did not
believe the stories Of a corner in the
stock He failed to cover on Wednes-
day, believing that the corner would be
broken. After the close of the market
and during the evening Wednesday he
offered for the loan Of stock over night,
and he became aware that yesterday
might see the price put TO almost any
height. He attempted TO buy his 100
shares in at 200, it is said, but failed.
Yesterday morning Northern Pacific
opened at 10. and went Up by leaps and
bounds in a minute or two to 800. Later
il advanced 70 500 a share. and one lot
of stock was bought for cash at 81, 600
share The local speculator a promi-
nent lawyer, bought at 800. it is said. He
lost all the money he had in the world
in the deal It is not known that there
was q share OF long Northern Pacific
stock held in this city after Wednesday.
One prominent business man ac-
knowledged last night that his losses
were about S4s 200. They represented
all that he has in the world outside Of
his business. Another speculator had
several hundred shares Of Peoples Gas
and otker lots Of stock in various parts
of the list. He was forced TO sell out
everything near the bottom, and his
losses were well up in the tens of
thousands.
Immense losses were sustained by
Washingtonians on the steel securities.
It hGs been the general opinion that
these stocks were sure to have a fine
advance, owing to the glowing accounts
of the big business done by the new
trust, and the expectation that the
common stock viii be put on a dividend
basis. The purchases Of both the pre-
ferred and the common have been
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