Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-23
Question to Be Debated.
BROKER GOES TO WALL.
James w. Henning Lost Millions Since
April Last

A dispatch from New York says: James
W. Hennng, who came to this city from
Louisville a dozen years ago with a small
fortune inherited from his father and
bought a seat on the stock exchange, went
to the wall yesterday. On change he was
famous plunger and as one of the ex-
pert traders employed by the Standard Oil
crowd.
No statement of his assets or liabilities
was issued yesterday, as is customary
after failure, one of the reasons being
that practically the only one hurt was
Henning himself. Last night it was an
nounced that friends We're coming to his
assistance and that he would probably be
able to resume business in few days. The
friends supposed to be Standard Oil
men.
Hennng the sole member of the firm
of ]. w. Heuning & Co. of No. Ill Broad
way Formerly his brother. Samuel C.
Henning. was a member of the firm, but
the speculative pace set by James w. was
so swift that Samuel c. withdrew and, hay
ing a seat the stock exchange of his
own, opened offices at No. 46 Wall street
Was Worth Millions.
Up to few months ago James Henning
had n fortune of between $3.O90,O0O and
100000. Some of 1t he invested In real
estate, but most of it he kept in quick as
sets ready for immediate use in his deals
When he thought he was right on a certain
stock there was practically no limit to his
daring. He frequently sold short or went
long of single stock up to $1,000 shares
and at times high 5000 shares In
these latter deals a fluctuation of a single
point meant a profit or loss of $4,000, and
ten points meant $4,000.
Last April Mr.. Henning was long of a
huge block of ST. Paul stock, said to be
between 10000 and $1,000 shares. The San
Francisco earthquake, which shook the life
out of the stock market piled up losses
against him which required more than
Sl,OOO,OVO to settle.
That was his first Gripping blow. and he
met a succession of them through the sum-
mer and fall. He was long of the market
last week when the Bank of England
boosted its discount rate to per cent, and
in the big slump of Friday and Saturday
. morning he suffered heavily. One of the
stocks he was long of was Reading, which
slumped more severely than any of the
others in the bear drive. Just before the
close Saturday he turned bear and in an
effort TO recoup, sold short, expecting the
decline TO continue Monday. Instead an up
ward reaction set in and he whip
sawed"
Two years ago, when Mr. Henning was
sailing smoothly along on the top wave of
prosperity, he bought a racing stable, pay
ing fancy prices for several horses. His
stable was small, but select and was sup
posed to contain nothing but winners.
The racing regulars welcomed the Stand
ard OH broker. He was dubbed boob,
which is a synonym for CANCEL but Is
conferred only upon Wall street men who
become afflicted with the racing craze and
are willing to spend huge sums to crafty
II. Henning's horses developed peculiar
tricks. Whenever he bet large amounts on
them to win they would run second. When
he thought they were ripe for the place they
finished third. When he was morally GER
tain they would show" they finished
fourth. Once in long time they would
win, but usually he would Just come within
inches of iniicting killing upon the bet
ting ring.
His Social Aspirations.
Henning bought fine place at Tuxedo
and entertained extensively there His
next-door neighbor was Howard Page, gen.
eral traffic manager of the Standard Oil
Company. Henn!ng married Miss Susie
Merriweather of Shelbyville, KY, a famous
beauty of the Blue Grass state.
Ii was declared yesterday that had Mr..
Henning been able to use his real estate
holdings his failure would have been avert
ed. He owns property in East and West
3Tth streets, in 51st street between 9Th and
Madison avenues and on Broadway.
His lawyers, Nicoll. Anable & Lindsay,
issued a brief statement, which said:
"A number of Mr.. Hennings stock ex-
change friends have offered to come to his
assistance, and negotiations are pending
which he expects will enable him to resume
shortly"