The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-05-09
CRASH COMES IN WALL STREET
AND VALUES SHRINK Mill LIONS.
Page One
ly. but one broker stated that he had paic
So per cent for the stock for use.
CRASH CARRIED RUIN
TO INkNOMN HlfHlHEDS

~. Dut one DrOKer stated tilit6 lie Hau faio
50 per cent for the stock for use.
CRASH CARRIED RUIN
TO UNKNOWN HUNDREDS.
With crash that carried ruin to an un-
known horde of sarguine SPECTATORS. the
great stock boom of the country came to
disastrous end In Wall street to-day. An
unparalleled upward rush that left train
OF broken records and had in two weeks
well-nigh revolutionized mems views of
stock gambling. in this city. terminated in
a day of panic and distress. which stands
unique In the history Of transactions in
business securities.
1t was precipitated by the giants and ~
means death to the figures. The colossal in
terests on either side of the great contest
that now engages followers Of the stock
market throughout the world clinched in a
relentless battle over the common and pre-
ferred shares of the Northern Pacific Rail-
way. A victory to them meant a gain OF
millions. and feather to wear proudly and
perpetually in their caps. Defeat meant loss
and rebuke. But to the squirming unfortu-
mates on whom these Titanic wrestlers
planted their feet defeat meant ruin. And
the number Of defeated is not small.
NORTHERN PACIF1C'S
DIG NET GAIN.
This net gain OF Northern Pacific common
was 161a points. 1t having closed at 100 after
fuctuating between 1s0 and las and jump
ing each way with points in the time 1t
takes to strike match. 1t was the only
strong leslie on the iist-and a woeful
case of artificial strength 1t was-and to
this strong stock was due the general
weakness which precipitated a stock panic
and caused such losses as 15ls n st. Paul.
57s points in New York Central and 9E
points in Union Pacific. In three days the
Northern Pacific corner has forced the
.ryo< ..P ,N,,-, Int
inal enhancement of $40.0o0,000 In the prop
erty's value. -.-.'f. =
The corner In these shares. which, be-
cause of the Importance of the road in
volved and the magnitude of the interests
at war. as well as the frightful strain to
which the unlucky shorts are subjected. is
the most remarkable In Wall streets his
tory. Yet though the thumbscrews were
put on in fearful fashion to-day, not a sin
gle Stock Exchange house announced its
suspension. Many Of the brokers are. of
course. caught in personal speculatiOns. and
many will find their customers losses fall
ing on. them because Of margins absurdly
insufficient. But the real crisis will not
come till 10 o'clock tomorrow morning and
no one dares prophesy the result.
PRINCIPALS RECEIVE
BUT SLIGHT WOUNDS.
In all this rage of battle the principals
received hut comparatively trifling wounds.
for the loss OF few millions to multi
millionaire is trihing beside an everyday
mans loss Of his all. The market itself
has suffered severely from the corner.
When one sees a stock jump in few
minutes the length Of 35 points, enough to
wipe out three and a half times an average
margin, his zeal for speculation Is apt to
be somewhat dampened. 1t Is the public's
zeal that has made this market and the
o11a1N xx.ftI tab
time to mediate.
On the side of the so-called Union Pacific
interests who are credited with inaugurating
the huge buying movement to punish the
men who tried recently to deprive them Of
their control of the Union Pacific, are Ed
ward II. Hartman, Kuhn. Loeb & Co.. Stan
dard OIL interests and George j. Gould. who.
1t is thought, may have pressed Washington
F.. Connors' services as a broker into use.
Their opponents are James ]. Hill. the j
Pierpont Morgan interests-including doubt
less such members Of Mr. Morgan's firm as
Robert Bacon and G. W. Perkfns-and ac-
cording to popular report, H. Nick.
Twombley and Oliver II. Payne.
PURCHASING POWER
PRACTICALLY UNLIMITED.
The former party having instituted
through Mr.. Keene purchasing movement
that was virtually unlimited. the control Of
lne TOau was threatened. dIu Will tnc loSs
of the reads control Mr.. Hill would per-
haps have failed to carry through his Bur-
l!ngton deal. The Hili-Morgan party was
forced to begin competitive buying. and be-
tween these purchasing attacks the price
was jumped to high levels on Monday and
higher levels on Tuesday, which tempted
the shorts TO increase their short accounts.
HOW THE CORNER
WAS ENGINEERED.
The situation had so developed on Tues
day that the entire floating supply was cor
nered and the Observation-Disclosures inter-
ests on the one side and the Hill-Morgan
iterests on the other. had bought a great
deal more stock than could possible he de-
Ivered to them. This means that Of all
the men who had sold Northern Pacific
common stock. depending on chance to
borrow 1t. and thus deliver the certificates.
only a certain proportion could do so. and
the rest had to buy the needed stock cash
in this mornings market-that Is to say.
buy It for immediate delivery to them, 80
that in return they could deliver 1t to those
to whom they had sold It. To do this they
had. of course. 10 pay higher than the regu-
lar price.
The situation was intensified to-day di-
rectly as a result Of the Jealousy of the
two great combating interests. Each Of
these might have been willing to loan out
ofocL 70 fha h,,pOry ShOrfa had II nOt