Omaha daily bee., 1907-03-07
MOVE CAUSES RISE IN ENTIRE Ls1

NEW YORK March 6-Sensational bury
ing OF the shares Of the Reading company
today gave Wall street its most exciting
experience since the Northern Pacific con-
test OF six years ago. Reading had been
strong In the face Of a generally weak
market all through the morning session Of
the Stock exchange. when. shortly after l
o'clock. there developed an enormous buy
ing movement in the shares. which carried
the price up more than eight points in half
an hour.
Up TO the close OF the market there was
nothing official 10 show the source Of the
purchasing orders, but a persistent rumor
was in circulation that e. II. Hartman
was buying the stock with the object Of ac-
qulring control of the property and that
Mr.. Hartman was taking all that was Of
fered in the open market, in addition to the
holdings OF II. c. Frick, which he was said
to have purchased privately.
1t was said also that the Reading stock
held by the Lake Shore had been turned
over to Mr.. Hartman so that he would
have absolute control. 1t was pointed out
that Mr.. Frick. having become a director
of the Pennsylvania Railroad company
would desire TO dispose of his Reading
stock and that as he is friendly with the
Hartman interests he would be likely TO
sell to them If they cared to buy.
Morgan Rumor An0at.
The reports as TO Hartman buying were
circulated generally throughout the fnaa-
cial district and were given credence in
spite of the lack OF anything official to
confirm them, but there were other rumors.
One Of these was that ]. p. Morgan & Co.,
which formerly dominated Reading. was
buying TO resume It's former position in the
property another was that the New York
ruh tlo Talra
adding to the Lake Shores holdings OF
Reading. and a third attributed the buying
20 the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western.
Still another rtirnor was that Mr. Frick was
buying back stock that he sold some time
ago at higher pricesl
All the time that the stock was going
up efforts were made without success TO
4iscover the source-of the buying ana 20
81 obtain either denial or confirmation OF the
rVvarious reports in circulation. AT the Of
fees OF the banking houses associated with
the different interests mentioned in the
rutnors all knowledge of the movement was
denied, but at the same time It was said
that independent action to secure the prop
erty might have been undertaken without
the knowledge OF the firms interviewed
Mr.. Hartman. who Is In Washington was
informed OF the use OF his name in con-
nection with the Reading transactions and
he then made statement through his sec
retary to the effect that he was not Inter
ested in Wall street and did not care to
be denying all the rumors originating
trere" Further than this nothing Official
VS. obtainable The brokerage houses
handling the buying orders were numerous
and their Identity gave no indication what
ever to the persons for whom they were
acting
Enormous Trading in Reading.
The trading In Reading reached. the e1-
tremely large total OF 736.500 shares, or
about one-third OF all the transactions on
the stock exchange for the day The mag
nitude of the sales seemed to preclude the
idea that an ordinary manipulation maneu-
yer for higher prices was being executed
The blocks traded in were large, ranging
up 20 1000 and 5000 share lots with one
block OF 1000 changing hands at i25
Tho strength in Reading attracted atten-
tion early In the day. owing to its being in
sharp contrast to the weakness in the list
generally. The market opened with a rally
from yesterdays decline. but before noon
the better tone gave way to a renewed
-. bearish sentiment and the decline became
violent.
The feeling on the exchange bordered on
Decentralization. with extremely heavy liqui.
dation and declines for many issues 10 the
lowest point of the year. The Hartman
shares and the stocks in what is called
the Standard OIL group were notably sen.
sitive TO pressure and this fact emp,ha.
bized the strength OF Reading and tn,
relative frTnness OF the Morgan and Hi
stocks.
This condition OF the market held until
shortly after 1 o'clock, when the sensa
tional buying OF ReOdins began. At tina
time the stock was selling at Ii64 Sud
AoQpa s,saN thak ~ -
offered was being taken on an ascendin,
scale OF prices. Lots Of from 1000 10 900
shares were traded IN rapidly and Tn
price rose In about half an hour to isS.
Entire List strengthened.
This sudden turn after the recent weak
ness in the market served to strengthen tn
entire list ana a general rally was sooi
in progress which continued to the close
which was strong and active. with quota
tions In the main at the best OF the day
Prominent In the recovery were Grea
Northern preferred, which closed at l5sil
an advance Of ~; Southern Pacihc. whicl
closed at 80 rise Of 2 and Northern
Paciic, which improved 2t to 1894
In connection with the ReaatnS v,,,,o,
interest attached to the fact that the RaI,,
who're 4 Ohio, In which Hartman ~
terests have very large holdings. owns
total OF taoSS2.ooo OF Reading, divided N.
tween common. frst preferred ana seoon
preferred Lake Shore holds. or did bola
an equal amount
The Reading company owns the entir
capital stock OF the Philadelphia q Raad
ing Railway company. the Philadelphia !
Reading Coal and Iron company ana IN
Reading Iron company slA.booOo0 OF the Out
standing t1,G2,Soo capital stock OF IA
Ceatral Railroad Of New Jersey. ana
o0akroning interest In the capital stock
0f various other companies operated by q
Aailiatsd with the PhiIaaelphia a Readin
company.
ne capital stock Of the Reading compan
authorized and issued 10 naO.Ooo. 900. OF whic
tsAeoa.ooo is per cent Eoneumulative Or.
ferred tf2ooooo second 4 per cent nor
cumulative preferred and t7ooOo.OOo oommo
stock.