New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-11
L. & n. STIRS THE MARKET.
SENSATIONAL TRADING AROUSEs FEARS
OF A PANIC.
CORNER BY JOHN ". GATES AND HIS A'
soCATEs-THE STOCK GOES UP TO 40


ern Pacific corner. predicted similar catas-
trophe in Louisville. Throughout the Day uii-
der the influence of this contingency, the gen
eraI list was depressed Louisville and Nash
VILE opened wide" with sales Of 5000 shares
at from II41a to rs. The next sale was OF ~"
shares at 1143s the low figure Of the day linen
I'd advance began. blocks of 1000. looo' -'Voo
and 5000 coming out at frequent intervals III
the first half hour 100 was reached the hishest
price for at least ten years. By II o'clock the
stock had reacted to 116. few minutes later II
was 1173s. and by noon it had gone back 10
l163,. Within the hour it was at 1lot2 from
which point il rallied to lis at the close net
advance for the day of 33s points. The total
sales were pa, $50 shares, out OF an aggregate
days business for the whole list Of Ll'9oio
shares Southern Railway also was again eA-
ceptionaly active. but both the common ana
the preferred closed lower than on Wednesday,
and the report that the Southern Railway was
trying 10 acquire control of the Louisville ana
Nashville found few believers.
George F. Baker. president of the First Ma
tional Bank: Samuel Spencer president OF the
Southern Railway Company. and George W.
Perkins of J. P Morgan & Co, had CONFER
ence Yesterday afternoon at the Morgan office
Mr. Spencer later was asked;
is the Southern Railway Company buying
the Louisville and Nashville?
1T is not" he answered.
rs Louisville and Nashville buying Southern
Railway"
Not to my knowledge.
WAS the subject discussed at the confer
ence?'
no answered Mr.. Spencer
August Belmont. chairman of the board Of the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company. de-
clined yesterday to give any explanation OF the
7en1arka BILE movement of the stock. The pre-
vailing belief. however that the rise In
price represented a cornering movement, ana
that John W. Gates was engineering the opera
ton. Mr. Gates serene but uncoTnmunlca-
tive Il have nothing 10 say concerning Louis
vile and Nashville was his answer TO direct
question. Further asked if he We're directing
the rumored corner. he said not word. but
directed his gaze TO the ceiling of his office
Asked finally if he would not make some sort
of statement about Louisville and Nashville. he
answered Il will not say anything.
The authorized capital stock of the Louisville
and Nashville is Seio0Oo,o0o and the amount
outstanding is S55.oN1OO0 The directors re-
Gently decided to issue the remaining So.eO,oo
of stock and only two or three days ago. 1t is
said. an application for its listing was made TO
the Stock Exchange the syndicate which had
taken this new stock. fifty thousand shares. &C
cording to common report. has sold It, ani
knowledge of this fact having come to Mr..
Gates and his associates, they saw in II the
opportunity for working corner. The com
pany has about three thousand shareholders. it
is said. and a very large part of its stock is
held abroad: so that the floating supply Is
relatively. small. The directors others CON
stituting the syndicate in selling the fifty thou
sand shares about to be listed. are technically
short of It, as this stock is not good de-
livery" the Stock Exchange until it
is listed Usually a period of thirty days
elapses between the time when an application
to list stock is received and the time when II
is granted. and If that rule should be observed
in the present instance the group of men who
sold the fifty thousand new shares would not
be able to deliver them for three weeks to come.
There a persistent rumor late yesterday
afternoon. however that the Stock Exchange
Committee on Stock List considering the
question of expeditng the listing Of the Louis
VILE stock in order to forestal the possibility
Of an experience like that of the memorable
May of last year. President Keppler, when
asked about this report. answered:
81 know of no special meeting having been
held for that any other purpose. I have oo-
served that Louisville and Nashville was up to-
day. II is not however. unusual for stocks to go
up on the Stock Exchange. l do not care to dis
cuss the Louisville and Nashville situation"
One rumor as to Mr.. Gates's intentions was
that he would call in the Louisville and Nash
vile short stock at Another, apparently
a variant of this, was that London short
fifty thousand shares, which Mr.. Gates was
about to call for delivery; and that London would
in retaliation call in all its funds at this centre
thus putting down the New-York market. Money
here ruled most of the day at G per cent, drop
ming to 81 per cent in the late afternoon Sew
eral banks called loans in the course Of the day.
Among the various runors flying around the
Street was one that the Pennsylvania Railroad
Company was buying the Louisville and Nash
Vile and another, that Mr.. Gates and his
friends were trying to obtain control OF the road
Still another report had it that the Rock Island
which is controlled by the Moore interests. with
whom Mr.. Gates is supposed to be more or less
closely allied wanted the Louisville and Nash
Vile one of the Western termini of which is
Memphis the Eastern terminus of the Choctaw
Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, which has just
been bought in the interest of the Rock Island
An interesting feature Of the trading in Louis
VILE and Nashville was that broker who at
the openinC had an order, Buy 300 Louisville
wrong and sold 1900 shares. Almost immedi-
ately the mistake was corrected by order
70 buy 1000 shares at the market The execu-
ton of this order helped TO advance the quota
ton and the same broker got orders TO buy
5000 shares a stop order at 11S and 5000
shares at 119. Thus. this one broker, who
in no way allied with the Gates party. found
himself executing buying orders amounting to
1900 shares and helping along the violent at
tack of stock which was such feature OF the
early trading. The stock loaned fiat" at tho
close
NEW HOLLAND-AMERICA LINE STEAMER.
The general agency of the Holland America Line
IN this city has received word from the head Office