Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-05-10
MEN RICH N MORNING
RUINED BY night.
Continued from First Page.

fore. The extent of the decline during
the half hour was as great in some
cases as has taken weeks to attain on
the advance. The figures alone suffice
to indicate the proportions of the drop.
In Delaware & Hudson the extreme de-
cline was 80 points, Manhattan 1873,
Rock Island 351a, Union Pacific 3S,
Atchison 3411, Atchison preferred 2S12,
St Paul 3012. Missouri Pacific 32h,
Southern Pacific 29s4, United States
Steel preferred 261a. while range of
to 80 points would cover the collapse
in nearly every active stock in the ex-
change. In the outside market, the
stress of the demand for funds was
shown by the perpendicular drop in the
price of Standard Oil ofl171 points over
night The stock sold at $50, compared
with 81 last night The same urgent
need was reflected in the bond market,
where all grades of bonds were offered
on a declining scale.
1t was very notable fact that
through the most acute period OF to-
days disturbance there was nothing
heard to indicate doubt of the sound
y
and business at large in the country.
The stock market collapse was at
tributed exclusively to over-speculation
and an over-extension Of credits used
in holding stocks which it was not de-
signed to keep, but to sell at a higher
price. The decline. once in force,
Gained Cumulative Strength.
Spectators margins were wiped out
and brokers had to sell the securities
placed with them as collateral to save
themselves from loss, thus adding to
the weight of the selling.
The Importance attached to the
Northern Pacific episode was made
clear by the eagerness Of all classes to
learn all developments concerning it
and the immediate effect of any an
nouncement regarding it upon the stock
market The upward shoot to 81 900 a
share was the effective cause of the
greatest decentralization in the market
The announcement later in the day of
the measures for relief of shortages and
the relapse in the price of the stock to
$50 allayed the decentralization almost
Immediately. Announcements by ]. P.
who respectively represent the two con-
testing parties in Northern Pacific, that
they would not require deliveries OF
the stock to-day, meant respite of one
day at least from ruin for the shorts
in the stock. Later in the day Street
& Norton announced also that they
also would not require deliveries of the
stock This firm has been credited
with acting for James r. Keene and
bought 900 shares o. Northern Pa
cif1c on Monday last, loaning 100000
shares that night and calling in the
greater part of it next day, thus dis
closing
The Corner in the Stock.
The theory that Mr.. Keene's campaign
has been directed towards a squeeze Of
the shorts was somewhat shaken by this
leniency toward his victims. The sur
mise seems warranted from this unwill-
ingness of either party to let any of
their stock get out of their hands even
to relieve the shorts. that there was
continued doubt in the minds of both
as to where the actual control of the
property lies. Representative of both
parties made emphatic claims to-day,
the one that they had maintained the
control and the other that they had Sc
cured it.
The hope of relief from the conditions
prevailing on the stock exchange to-
day centered in the possibility of a set
Element or a compromise between the
contending interests as to sharing the
benefits of the Burlington deal which
is expected to be in the form which the
compromise will take.
The strong rally in the stock during
the latter part of the day did not serve
to entirely alleviate the nervous fears
prevalent in the Wall street district
Rumors were very persistent that many
prominent houses had been compromis-
ed seriously by the violent slump in
prices. All of these specific rumors
were emphatically denied on the direct
authority of the parties affected.
The Northern Pacific Corner.
Night closed upon the eventful trying
day without definite settlement as to
the Northern Pacific, the central figure
in the fierce struggle.
1t was anticipated that there would
be an agreement for settlement with
the shorts, but it was evidently not
finally concluded. Shortly after the
market closed it was semi-officially an
nounced that a basis of settlement had
been practically agreed upon and that
it would be clinched before nightfall.
In addition to an arrangement with the
shorts, it is believed a settlement of
the fight will also involve the future
relations of the Union Pacific, Northern
Pacific, Great Northern and Burlington.
Men close to the Harriman-Kuhn, Loeb
& Co. group insisted that the deal for
the sale of the Burlington to the Great
Northern would be carried through.
Granting that Hartman, Kuhn, Loeb
& Company and their associates
are dominant in Northern Pacific, it is
assumed that they will claim and win
voice in Burlingtons future. 1t is be-
lieved that the settlement with the
shorts in Northern Pacific will be made
at 200 or under.
The struggle of financial giants which
broke the most remarkable movement
that American stocks has ever had dates
back but fortnight. Either Hartman
and his associates. so they relate the
story in the street, discovered that
brokers representing J. P. Morgan &
Co. were buying Union Pacific. Harri-
man at once began increasing his own
holdings buying on a market that rap