New-York tribune., 1903-07-25
j. r. KEENE'S LOSS.
1t Amounts to about 81 800, 900, but
Fortune Is Not I'm paired, He Says.

Fortune Is Not impaired, tie OdyS.
Two faiures-those of Talbot ]. Taylor & Co.
and w. L. Stow & Co-were announced from
the rostrum of the Stock Exchange in the last
hour yesterday afternoon, the first suspensions
which have occurred in the many weeks dur
ing which the market has been continuously de-
Clining. Both of these houses had been general
ly known to be in difficulties. and on the formal
announcement that they had succumbed prices
on the Stock Exchange. which had in many in
stances declined earlier in the day to new low
levels, rallied sharply. recovering in the few
minutes before 3 O'Clock considerable part of
their losses
James r Keene father-in-law of T. J. Taylor,
at the Waldorf-Astoria last night made the
following statement relative to the failure of
Talbot ]. Taylor & Co. and concerning his own
financial condition about which the Street was
full Of all sorts of rumors during the afternoon;
I am annoyed. not embarrassed. at this thing.
My own fortune is not impaired I not in
volved, except that I did business with the firm
and the largest creditor. guess | shall lose
81 500 600 in this smash. l am ANNOYED at the
thing because 1 think they have allowed them
selves to be stuck by certain people and have
been improvident
I would have seen them through this thing,
but the market looked so gloomy and discour-
aging, with not a bright outlook anywhere that
l began to think OF myself and decided ed IT WAS was
best not to put up any more money for them.
thought was in for enough in view OF the
state of the market.
l do not yet know the figure of the liabilities;
indeed, I do not know any of the details yet.
All I know is that / the largest creditor.
The principal cause of the smash that they
had a large amount of investment securities
that they could not get rid Of will not say
what these
It shows pretty plainly what sort of market
IL is when you hold investment securities and
can't even sell them. never saw such hope
less market When you get United States Steel
preferred at 6S is there any wonder that l re-
fuse to help my son-in-law out any longer
BANKS WILL LOSE NOTHING.
Outside Of myself the principal creditors are
banks and these banks will lose absolutely moth
ing because thev had no loan that they didn't
have 20 per cent margin on Some Of these
banks even wanted more margin recently.
My personal fortune. as I said before, is not
embarrassed. The losses are not great outside
of my own debt, but the crisis came when they
couldn't get rid of their heaviest holdings. l
don't care to say anything about what class of
securities and investments they had, except that
they acted mprudentiy and got themselves into
a hole they ought not to have, and let certain
parties stick them.
No. I don't care to say who these parties
I just say they let themselves be stuck
by some people.
In reply to a question to whether he had
settled $5.0O0.O00 each of his three children
recently, Mr.. Keene declined to make any state
ment beyond reiterating that his personal
fortune was not impaired. He also ignored
| leading question to whether he intended help
ing his son-n-law to resume business, and once
more plunged into a discussion of the gloomy
outlook of the market at present. Despite his
| apparent cheerfulness of manner. Mr.. Keene
was clearly much disturbed and worried by the
failure. He spent the whole evening in consul
tation with various persons. only pausing for
brief discussion with his favortte trainer.
WITHIN TEN MINUTES CAME SECOND.
The Stow failure was announced at about 2:30
o'clock, and ten minutes later came the news of
| the suspension of Talbot ]. Taylor & Co. The
| latter announcement caused the greater interest
and excitement, from the fact that the senior
member of the firm is the son-in-law of James
| r. Keene, and has been closely associated with
| him in his market operations. The trouble in
| which Talbot ]. Taylor & Co. are involved was
generally believed to have been primarily due
| to their connection with the Inflated Southern
| Pacific pool while the principal weight which
| carried down W. L. Stow & Co. probably
Mexican Central No estimate of the liabilities
| or assets of either firm could be had yesterday,
but the liabilities in each case, it is believed.
will be found to be smaller than placed by
| rumor yesterday
p J. BRITT ASSIGNEE.
No statement of any sort could be obtained in
the course of the afternoon at the office Of Tai
! bot ]. Taylor & Co, where Mr.. Keene and Mr..
| Taylor were in conference for several hours.
Early in the evening the following statement
was issued:
Talbot J. Taylor & Co. have this day executed
| a general assignment for the benefit Of creditors
| to Philip ]. Britt and he has accepted the as
| siEnment, and has taken charge of the property
! and assets of the firm.
The assignment of the firm iE due to its in
| ability 70 liquidate the stocks which the banks
! held for its account. All banks having loans
! with it are well protected. but the inability 20
| liouidate the stocks so held caused the suspen-
| sion which. il is hoped, will be temporary, II
| the banks take the reasonable view that by
/ waiting q gradual liquidation can be erected
| without disturbance to the stock market
| The largest unsecured creditor of the nrm is
! James r Keene.
The assignee is a prominent Tammany poll