The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1906-07-26
ARMSTRONG FAILURE
LARGE BROKERAGE FIRM WAS
FORCED TO SUSPEND-HAD
SOLD SHORT AND UNABLE
TO PROTECT MARGINS.
Mr.. B. c. Goodrich, a Former Column
bian, was a Member of the Firm
Had Offices Here, With Mr.. w.
B. Harris As Manager.

Inc suspension OF Armstrong q
4 Co., which was announced at 10
O'Clock Friday morning, occasioned
no little surprise here. The firm.
whose principal Office was in Mem
various towns and cities throughout
! Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
the local Office being in charge of Nj.
w. B. Harris. Nc one had any idea
that the firm was in a shaky condi-
ton, and the announcement of the
suspension was as much OF a surprise
to Mr.. Harris as it was 10 any of his
/ customers. Mr.. Harris went TO Mem
phis Friday afternoon, and will make
every effort to protect his customers.
| Before leaving he issued a statement
| to the effect that in the event that
Armstrong & Co. failed to reopen
within a few days that he would Sc
cure another wire and resume busi-
ness.
Aside from the fact that the firm
maintained an office here, additional
interest is lent to the failure of Arm
strong & Co. for the reason that Mr..
/ B. c. Goodrich, a former resident of
this city, is member of the firm.
! Mr.. Goodrich is well known here, and
his numerous friends sincerely trust
that the firm will soon be able to
make arrangements to resume bust
ness.
The following additional parties
ulars concerning the failure are taken
from the Memphis News-Scimitar:
Armstrong & Co., brokers, repre-
senting members of the New York
and New Orleans cotton exchanges
/ and the Chicago Board of Trade, at
ness Friday morning.
A member of the firm says the sus-
pension vii be temporary, as there is
ample security to protect it against
| loss, though it was unable to realize
on it in time to meet the calls for
more margin from Freeman & Co,
the New York correspondents.
| The result was the latter firm or
dered all open accounts closed.
| According to a member of the local
firm the amount of cotton carried was
about $4,000 bales, being cotton sold
short at various times within the past
few months, but most Of it around 10
cents. The extent of marginal calls
which would not be met was not as
certained.
B. c, Goodrich, a member of the
firm, stated Friday that the amount
involved would not exceed 100000.
We were carrying heavy margins
and could not meet the demands of
our New York correspondents. We
hold considerable real estate in Mem
phis, worth $4,000 at least, and we
made an effort to mortgage it for
$15 5000. We Were unsuccessful CIV
ing TO the tightness of money, and
accordingly were compelled to TEN
porarily suspend.
We will make good all losses, and
no one viii suffer by the suspension y
Armstrong & Co. have been in bust
ness in Memphis for some time past
bang, Tupe1o, Amory, Winona, Holly
Springs, Starksville, Columbus. Ma
con and Aberdeen, Miss; Knoxville,
Tenn, and Jonesboro, Ark The
members of the firm are W H. Arm
strong, E. " Armstrong, r. j. Strain.
P H Davies and B. c. Goodrich.
The news of the suspension created
much surprise. though for several
days it was rumored that the firm
was having some trouble in meeting
demands on it. The suspension will |
not affect any other firms. as the ac-
counts represented business from |
many people and not enough from |
any one TO cause further trouble
The firm has branch offices at sew
eraI cities in Mississippi and Arkan-
sas, which were also closed.
The firm and most of its customers
have been bearish on the market for
some time. While the changes in the
market have been slight and prices
advance much, most of the contracts
were sold around a lower level.
feature that has caused much
comment is that the market since
Thursday has gone down enough to
have enabled the firm to have met
demands on it, counting from the
high point of that day to the low of Is
Friday. But the tide turned too late
to regulate accounts by the amount
of cash margin actually up. Because !,