The Cairo bulletin., 1905-01-02


ps. should be written with pen OF
gold dipped in blood. on the second
floor of that grimy,1 gray structure
at che foot Of IaaSs3le street, the
financial destinies of many men are
determined daily.
When the Chicago board of trade
was in its infancy. way back in 1867,
the first corner IN wheat was eEgi-
neered. on Mal1s, 1861 ooterie Of
Eastern brokers, taking advantage OF
the unsettled conditions remaining
afser the war, went in and forced
the price Of wheat to $2.S5 a bushel.
For many days the strain continued
and finally the bears" ruled supreme
and the price fwas forced down to
s216 Large amounts were lost by
traders, but II has never been de.
finitely known how much was lost in
the aggreHae.s
In 1871 some local traders attempt
ed corner in wheat. but were only
abe to force 1t up to S1.30. II took
only day to pound il down again to-
$f.101s. IN 1872 occurred the famous
Lyon-Sturgsss corner. II was one OF
the worst panics that has ever been
known in the pit. Fortunes We're lost,
and men who had been prominent
brokers on the board Disappeared
left their families ana their business
ana never were heard from again.
Whether they sought a new country
to build mp their shattered lives and
fortunes of whether they gave up
lifes struggle in despair, has never
been known. A peculiar feature of
the Lyon-Sturgess corner was that X
broke The Efforts" and longs ].
b. Lyon, one of the chief factors, is
allvo today. but old Captain Sturge5s,
after losing his fortune he had work
ed a life time 20 amass. is, dead. Ii
was in August that the price of wheat
was "bulled" to $1G1, but the crop
was shorter than the traders realized
and there was sudden break to
s119. catching all in its wake.
In 1880 an attempt was made to
corner futures in wheat, but 1t failed
The following year crowd Of Cincin
natl financial men entered the mar
ket and forced op'ions from S1.19 70
s13S. The combination cleared up
several hundred thousand dollars. In
1887 the same combination, led by
the Cincinnati banker John Harper,
came back again and attempted to
repeat the trick. Il was in he month |
OF June, and they succeeded in adj
vanclng prices from $685. cents to
S434 cents, but suddenly there was a
crash and a break and in two days
wheat dropped 90 cents Harper and |
his companions were caught in the
fan and HIarper himceIf lost $1,000
600 Il was later discovered that he
had uged the money of the bank for /
speculation in the corner and he
vas indicted and sentenced to term
in prison for his action.
In 1893 joan Cudahy and N. X. |
Fairbanks engineered a corner in The 7
and provisions. Cudahy /
handled he wheat end and Fairbanks
locfsd after the provision market.
They forced prices IN. but the crash /
came, and boia les. heavily. AS both i
Cedahy and Fairbanks were mutt
they did no. feel the loss
% keenly. However. IL Is said that
Mr.. Fairbanks was forced 10 sell the
Old Central Music hall. corner Of Ran
lolph and State streets. to Marshall
Fields in order 10 pay his debts.
II was in 1896 chat Joseph Letter,
.on OF the muti-millionaire, capitals
md street car owner. made his fir5t
ienture into the pit. Taking adyant
lgc of the unsot cd conditions pre-,
,ailing just before the preaidential
,lecticn Of that year. Letter bought
wheat around 20 cents. Following
he election of William Mckinley 70 (
he presidency new era of prosperity
ct in AMI prices went UP. Letter I'M
oaacd his supply and II Is said pulled
mt 100000 in May. 1897 Think
ng that be might repeat the trick
With more profit he bought up the