The sun., 1907-03-07
READING MADE THE BEARS run
NtNY CREDIT FRTCK WITH HALT
ING THE MARKET BREAK.
Lightning Change From Full speed Down
IJnl to Fun speed Up. with Dealings or
Wore Than :. 900. 900 shares Contra
dictory and COntradlcted Explanations.


rerCay was active and feverish. Many
.hares showed an advance. many others
Cd .ecline. With transactions OF nearly
10000 shares in the first hour there was
..ght rally, and then in the late forenoon
and the noon hour an exertion OF selling
rressure that cast the market into a con-
hion, in the parlance Of the Street, bor-
derng between utter Generalization and
panic. But at the worst OF il brilliantly
executed movement in Reading led the
way to an unprecedented reversal Of form.
At the close the average net gain had all
but compensated for the average net loss
Of the preceding day.
IN averaging wide ranges OF prices the
quotations OF but few days can compare
with yesterdays. The volume Of business,
357 .O5O shares has been exceeded on but
three occasions. And in all the wild market
career Of Reading only once before when
on February 20. 1893. the road went into the
hands Of a receiver-have as many shares OF
it, stock changed hands
The story as tol d by the figures is that
Reading opened yesterday at li51S as COM
pared with llisi, Tuesdays closing quota
tion From this price it receded in the first
half hour to llAI1. the low point OF the
day. There was then a gradual recovery
to / o'clock, whereupon. in the course of
tremendous activity. this stock advanced
sharply to I25i.. gain Of points was
made in little more than fifteen minutes,
and in this period there was hardly a
transaction Of less than 900 shares, many
Of 1000 and 5000 and one at least OF 5000
shares. Frequently the stock jumped full
points between sales, and because the
ticker could not keep pace with the rapidity
Of the dealings it showed on the tape
changes Of two points between certain
transactions. During the rest Of the
market day there were brisk rallies and
sharp reactions. This was the net result:
Closing price, I24'5; gain for the day, lOH
points; total transactions, 300 shares.
Just who it was that executed the coup
the sheets Of the clearing house Of the
Stock Exchange might tell but won't.
In default Of this precise information the
consensus, as shown in bankers state
ments, credited il to Henry C. Friok. Mr..
Frick, as Is we'll known, has long been the
largest individual holder Of Reading, and
the opportunity to increase his holdings
at a moderate expenditure and at the same
time drive the bears to cover may have
appealed TO him irresistibly. Mr.. Frick re-
turned to tow n Monday night after a three
weeks vacation in Florida, and, it was
pointed out, had had whole day TO ex-
anime the situation at first hand. When
asked last night IL it was he who had caused
a. H.. sIv.rk all
Not in many months had the Street been
flooded with so many reports concerning
property. Philadelphia started 1t on by
sending a despatch to one Of the news
agencies.
Hartman interests have acquired con-
troll Of the Reading the despatch read.
The Lake Shore holdings and those of the
old Wassermsn pool are said 70 have been
formally taken over last night. These
holdings, together with those Of the Balti-
more and Ohio. now under Hartman domi-
nance, are understood to give the Hartman
interests absolute control OF the Reading
property
When this report failed OF confirmation it
appeared that Mr.. Frick had sold his hold
ings TO Mr.. Hartman at a price between
lis and 124. A little while later Mr.. Frick
had formed a partnership with the First
National Bank interests and got the road,
and then. the First National denying the
formation Of any new partnership. II APP
peared that Mr.. Frick had quietly picked
I'D 2OO, 900 ehares and had the road himself.
Seldom has there been such variety OF
published statements regarding any prop
srty
Whether the Street was Influenced by
these statements concerning the road or
Il was the money buying stock in the market
that did the talking, there was a tremendous
scurry to cover on the part OF bear specula-
tors in the shares. IL was as decidedly
bear panic as was the covering in Union
and Southern Pacific last August The
reports indicated that something was up.
snd the buying hinted that those who did
not cover might be squeezed for twenty.
thirty or forty points.
In the last three months there had been
q decline OF more than forty points in the
stock and bear operations had been 50
successful that the short interest has been
growing constantly greater. The trans
actions have uniformly been very heavy.
Il was computed after the close that since
the first week in December the dealings
have been large enough 20 turn over the
entire capitalization OF the road, sl4o.-
100000, twenty-one times. In the last week
they have been great enough TO turn over
tbs capital stock four or hve times. On
Monday there were dealings, according
n the Stock Exchange method Of tabula-
ton. in sAS,sOo shares, and on Tuesday in
Soi 900 shares. The total for tho three
days Of this week 10 l, ,tOe. 100 shares. but II
must be borne in mind that the par value
o. the stock is $50 a share and that dealings
On the exchange are on the basis Of 500
rsr value.
several years ago when the men domi-
nant in the trunk lines were perfecting
the community Of interest plan the Penn
'ylvania purchased approximately SSO.-
a'c go Of Reading stock and the New York
Central about an equal amount The
P.nnsylvsnia subsequently, turned over itf
holdings TO the Baltimore and Ohio, then
subsidiary Of the road. and the New York
C'rtral put It's holdings in the treasury