Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-03-22
TRAGEDY In Cotton.

There was a wild break In contract
cotton last Friday, May declining from
1925 to 1887. nearly 200 points. in less
than one hour, and throwing all the
leading exchanges into uncomfortable
panic.
The cause of the initial decline
seems to have been the successful is
sue of bear campaign against Daniel
]. Sully s; Co., and the panic was the
result of an announcement that Sully
& Co.. were unable to meet their obi-
CATIONS. This is the story in nut
shell. according to one view: but it
must be admitted that there are other
views that put a different light on the
situation. The real facts are Il matter
of guess work.
The fact that cotton started upward
last fall and continued upward until
it reached a price not attained before
since the war, has been deeply i'm
pressed OIL the public mind. The cause
of the rise involves conflicting testi-
mony. Up north. they say Daniel ].
Sully did it, and down south it is gen.
orally claimed that to Brown e. Hayne
of New Orleans. belongs the credit.
Wherever the credit for the advance
may belong, it is n fact that there was
violent shake-up about the first OF
February. as the result of which the
price of cotton went down more than
a cent. The decline is generally at
tributable to the action of Mr.. Sully in
going in for profits and there has been
talk that would not quiet to the effect
that this profit taking involved the be-
trayal Of the New Orleans crowd,
Brown & Hayne. with whom Sully was
avowedly operating.
Mr.. SulIy gave it out on the occa-
sion referred to that he intended to go
to Florida: but for some reason he
changed his mind and went back into
the market. loading himself heavily
with May contracts. Really il looked
very much like he had lost his head
to the extent that he began to believe
he could safely treat his New Orleans
colleagues with contempt.
While there are those who claim 9TH
erwise. there is ground to believe that
since the February incident, Messrs.
Brown & Hayne have been laying for
Mr.. Sully, and the fact that Brown
& Hayne have managed to weather the
storm that carried Mr. Sully under
seems significant.
\ New Orleans dispatch of Friday
afternoon describes the situation on
the exchange there on the announce
ment of D. J. Sully & Co.'S failure.
1t seems that Mr.. Frank b. Hayne had
been buying personally all day. and
when the bottom fell out he continued
TO buy i'm 5000 bale lots. In fact while
he was making bid for 5000 bales. G.
l.. Ellis. another well known broker,
rushed over to him, Il telegram in
hand and said: For Gods sake,
Hayne. stop bidding: Sully has failed"
The excited announcement cf Mr..
Ellis is taken by some to indicate that
Mr.. Hayne was engaged in Il most
strenuous effort to hold the market up
for Mr.. Sully. and that he deSiSted only
when advised that further effort WAS
manifcstly unnecessary. But the wiles
of the professional specul;ttor are too
we'll known to give this view unqueS-
toned cre;lcnce. 1t is easily possible
that where MIR. Hayne was personally
buying lots of 5000 bales. representa-
tiNeS on the same floor were selling for
him lots of 10000 bales. and the Sienih-
canoe of the advice ami news given
by Mr.. Ellis was to the effect that our
"object has been accomplished and
there is no need to take amy more
losses"