The Topeka state journal., 1902-04-16
RAILROAD NEWS.
Southern Railway Not in the L.
& n. Deal.
A Tremendous Speculation in
Stock of the Southern.
864,5OO SHARES SOLD.
WhoWilI Finally Get the L. & N.
Roads
Now in Control of ]. Pierpont
Morgan & Co.
$4,000 SHARES SOLD.

New York, April 16.-President Spen-
Ger Of the Southern railway was asked
this question:
win the Southern railway. control
the Louisville & Nashvile?'
He replied: 1T will not. The South
ern railway had no interest in the pur-
chase and it viii have no interest in it
at any time in the future. Louisville &
Nashville win not pass to the Southern
railway"
Neither directly nor indirectly?"
No; neither directly nor indirectly,
in any shape, manner or form, will the
Southern railway have anything to do
with L. & N"
Yesterday afternoon the Gates inter
ests issued the following statement
We have bought a large amount of
stock of the Louisville & Nashville road.
We did not buy it for speculation but
for investment believing absolutely in
the present and future value of the pro-
perty. There Will not be any corner in
the stock We have placed the entire
matter in the hands of J. 2. Morgan &
Co., and requested them to act as ar
biters in the situation, because of the
prominence of the property and the de-
sire not to disturb in any way the gen
eral market condition and because we
know that they have no interest what
ever in the property or in recent pur-
chases.
Harris, Gates & Co. We're at J. P. Nor
gan & Co.'S office for upwards of half
an hour. Another visitor was Edwin
Hawley, who said that he was not as
sociated with Mr.. Gates in the Louis
Vile & Nashville road, but that he had
a large block of the stock on his own
account
Later Mr. Harris paid another visit to
Morgan & Co. s Office and had another
talk with Mr.. Perkins. He was asked
whether he had anything to add to the
formal statement put out by his firm
just before noon. Mr.. Harris took out
pencil and changed the original state
n ent so that it read, I'VE have bought
control instead of We have bought a
large block of stock"
The dealings in Southern railway
common on the stock exchange during
the first hour amounted to about $780,
COO shares and for the two hours up to
noon to upwards Of half a million
shares. This breaks all records for dea-
hngs in q single stock for one hour an1
for two hours on the New York stock
exchange During the exciting trading
in Southern railway one block Of 0,000
shares changed hands at 1912.
Through the day operations in South
ern railway shares continued in an
enormous scale The demand was ex-
traordinary almost from the outset.
The common stock advanced 35s and
the preferred 312 points. Blocks of s.
600 and 10000 shares were common, and
and another of 81 GOO while the trading
was at its height Much of the early
buying was attributed to Morgan in
fuence. but it soon became clear that
the Gates clique as well as room traders
generally We're taking a hand in the
game
In the first half hour fully 100000
shares of Southern railway common
changed hands. BY the end of the first
hour transactions in this stock alone
reached a total Of over 350.00O shares.
BY noon more than half a million shares
had changed hands.
Dealings fell off after that to some ex-
tent, but the records for the number of
shares Of q single stock sold in one
hour, in two hours and in one days
trading We're all shattered as a result
OF Southern railways performance to-
day The total sales for the day reached
a total ef S64,500 shares. The total out
standing stock Of the company is 1-200-
600 shares. On April "a, 1901. there We're
500 shares of Union Pacific sold on
the stock exchange during the struggle
( between Morgan and Hartman interests,
which eliminated in the May panic.
/ That record was broken today There
were complaints that no order for less
| than a thousand shares could be exc
cuteG. The stock sold after the open
ing at 341z compared with Ban last
Oighf