The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-21
YEsTERDAf5S sIOCA MARK EI'.
Enormous Liquidntion-PEices Crum-
 hie-CloRe WeRE.

be-SsOBo etSHEs
 New York, May 20.--Liquidation be-
 came urgent and precipitate in the
 stock market to-day and gathered force
 progressively up to the very close,
 which was furiously active and weak
 at about the lowest. No such scale of
 activity has been witnessed in the stock
 market since the trading following the Northern Securities decision. Wide in-
 roads were made upon values and the very general effect of the selling for
 bids the supposition that it was due en- tirely to attack by the bear party. It was not clear, in fact, what was the | cause of the markets weakness. The decline has been so long sustained that conviction has gained force that a very large short interest had accumu- lated in the market. It was believed l also that prices had got down to a level that would prove attractive to a large waiting investment demand when once some assurance could be had that the decline had run it's course.
 The announcement of an engagement of S1,30C,0 900 of gold for export and the news that E. H. Hartman had under gone a surgical operation met the mar ket at the opening and initiated the de- clining tendency. The enormous liqui- dation which soon developed in Atchi- ! son was a marked influence upon sen- ] timant and continued to dominate the ] market for the rest of the day, the in- | fluence spreading in an increasing de- gree up to the close. Rumors were cir
 culated of a coming bond issue by the Atchison, but no official confirmation
 could be had on this subject. The opin- ion gained ground that 8 large specu- | lative interest in the stock was in a
 vulnerable position and was being made
 a target for attack. It will be remem- bered that at various times the secur-
 ing of a control of Atchison by Rock 1 Island was discussed as an alternative
 proposition to the taking over of the St. | Louis and San Francisco. It is proba- ble that this talk caused a considerable
 speculative accumulation in Atchison.
 The extreme decline in the stock reach
 ed SA, which was equalled by St. Paul.
 Losses of to points were fairly gen.
 eral among stocks and considerably ex-
 ceeded that in cases where dormant
 stocks were forced to sah. A notable
 example of this was 2S-point drop in l Michigan Central. This stock was sub- sequently bid up again IS points before
 an offering was encountered and a sale
 made.
 1 Bear tactics were perceptible in the precipitate decline at the last, notably I in the circulation of rumors that $5,000,-
 coo to $7,000,00 in gold would go out on Saturday to Europe. The situation in l the exchange market, however, was a strong factor in the weakness of stocks.
 Exchange holds firm in the face of the shipments, and there is knowledge of
 the early maturity of some large Ger
 man loans in this market, which give ground for the expectation that consid- | erable gold exports to Berlin may have | to be made. A speculative upset in Botton precipitated some selling in this market to-day and shorts in the cotton
 market were said to be selling stocks to
 cover losses in cotton.
 United States Steel fives continued
 conspicuous in the bond market. Prices
 were weak in sympathy with stocks, | The total sales, par value, aggregated
 8, AT ,000.
 l United States bonds were unchanged
 on the last cali.