The sun., 1901-06-29
MARQUAND & co. GO UNDER!
LIABILITIES SAID TO ne ssOO0.OO0
-s6.OOO.0oO OWING TO BANKS.
The Failure Was Expected and Had Only .
Very slight Effect on the stock Mark.t
Credit Had Been Weak for . Long Time
and Closing of the seventh National. which
Loaned the Firm 81. COO. 900. Was last
straw-Tale Of Q $500. 900 Killed Check.

straw-raie Of q $500, 900 kited Check.
Henry Marquand 4 Co.. bankers and
brokers at 100 Broadway, made general
assignment for the benefit Of creditors
yesterday morning. Frank Sullivan Smith, a
n lawyer at 54 Wall street, was named as
the assignee, and Henry ". Taft of the
firm of Strong & Cadwalader at 40 Wall
street. a son Of Judge Taft Of Ohio, chair
man Of the Philippines Commission, was
chosen as the assignee's attorney. No
definite or official statement as to the assets
| and liabilities Of the firm could be obtained
yesterday Unofficial information was to
the effect that the liabilities will be not
be far from ss.OOo.OC0, Of which amount
| 81. 100000 were said to be due to banks,
trust companies and other creditors and
81, 10000 to Henry q. MarQuand father
Of the senior member Of the firm. Lato
yesterday afternoon the assignee made
the following statement
Il have called upon all the local creditors
with the exception of the National Park
Bank to request them not 10 sell the sec,ri-
ties which they hold as collateral for loans
W 'illStutli W. ~ -" SUI
examination Of these securities shows
them to be git-edged They include stock,
like the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Iron
Mountain Railroad. Consolidated Gas New
York Central and other stocks of the highest
character. | am cratifcd TO be able 10
state that, without exception, our creditors
agreed not 30 throw thDse seCuritieson the
market. As to the ut-of-town creditors
can say nothing, Our accountant. Mr..
Cuthbcrt. is at work on the books with
corps Of assistants. and until his work is at
least partially completed. | can say moth
ing about the out-of-town creditors. l
can give no estimate Of the assets and
liabilities at present ! am. howevc-,
more than pleased with my examination
Of the securities held by the firm and thoss
put out by them as security for loans. IL
these securities are not sacrificed and
do not think they vii! be. there is no reason
to believe that this will be a particularly
disasterous failure"
The statement Of the assignee was sup
plemented by one from the asSignees
attorney. who said
Il cannot say much at present We
have not had time to make anything like
satisfactory examination of the books
81 far as It can be sizcl up at present,
however. | conclude that the condition Of
the firm will depend largely upon the way
It's affairs can be worked out and how ad-
vantageously securities that are held for
loans may be realized on The general view
OF the situation seems TO show a favorable
condition OF affairs, but the exact con-
dition cannot be determined for several
days. | cannot. OF course. say at this time
whether or not the firm will resume
business"
If the liabilities prove to be as great as
the unofficial estimate makes them the
failure will be one Of the largest in Wall
Street during the past four or five years.
The last big failure was that Of Price.
Mccormick h Co, whose liabilities figured
up about sl3.0OO, coo And yet the failure
caused little surprise in Wall Street and
had little effect upon the market. II has
been expected since last Tuesday and after
the Comptroller OF the Currency closed
the Seventh National Bank Wall Street
expected TO hear Of Marquand Co.'S
failure at any hour. Ii came when 1t dill
simply because tho young members OF
the firm. particularly Frank p Poor. the
Junior member. got tired Of sparring with
fortune and concluded to give up the I'M
equal fight.
Ever since last Monday Mr.. Poor had
been standing in his front Office meeting
all callers with a smiling face and pleasant
greeting. and answering all questions
courteousy and as best he might And
between interviews he hustled about the
Street with bundles Of securities In the
hope OF exchanging them for cash Mr..
Marquand. the senior member OF the firm.
may have been Just as busy and may have
been putting up just as hard fight to ward
OF disaster. but he was never in evidence.
1t was said at the Office OF the firm on Tues
day that Mr.. Marquand was out Of town.
so far as anybody has been able to learn
Mr. Marquand has been out Of town ever
since. In the meantime Mr.. Poor remained
at the office and took whatever hard knocks
came his way.
There were several causes for the failure:
could any one OF which have been emoved
the failure might have been averted for
time at least The firm secured a loan
OF sl,6oo,0oo early in the week from the
Seventh National Bank. Had tho bank
been able TO gets it money when the Il an
was called. the bank would probably not
have had TO suspend. Had Marquand
4 Co. been able to answer the call with
cash they might not have failed yester-
day. The condition of the firm was such.
however. that according to bankers and
brokers in Wall Street yesterday the COL
lapse could not have been averted for long
While the firm has had n rating in Brrd-
streets of Al $4,000 10 t5Oo. .Oo0." the
firms credit in the Street had been very
weak for long time.
Responsible brokers, II was said yester-
day, have not cared TO handle the firms
business for several months and for some
time 1t had had great difficulty in negoti-
ating loans In fact-so II was said yester-
day-there was probably not another bank
In New York which would have lent Henry
Marquand & Co, sl.GOO, 900 on the day they
secured that sum from the Seventh National.
How the officers OF tho latter bank hap
pened TO lend 40 large an amount OF money
10 A firm which has been weak i'm its nnan-