The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1907-08-23

New York. Aug. 23.-Mills Brothers &
Co, bankers and brokers of n Wall
street, have made general assignee Mt
for the benefit OF creditors. with liabil-
tiles OF between 100000 and 100000 and a
scat on the New York Stock Exchange
worth about 81. 900 as the principal asset.
The failure was considered OF no Inn
portance In the street from a financial
point OF view. but II was the all-absorb-
Ing subject of conversation there when IL
became known. shortly after the an
OF the Exchange at II O'Clock. tha the
/ reason given for the trouble was tha,
/ Richard A. Garfield of Saratoga and
other places had WEIGHED
Last August Garfield opened an ac,oun,
with the firm. At first nc was On che
behr side and made big profits There
was no trouble between him and his
brokers then. That did not begin to de-
velop until he turned to the bull side early
this year and his profits BEGAN to slip
away In the slump of The stoc< market
which followed
When this was heard of In the
/ brokerage offices the men there seemed
very well satisfied 10 hear that the money
which some of them had invested in Can
6eiu Legitimate business without mLcn
re-urn. except In the form OF expsi1encs
again
CANFIELD's CLAIM.
AS to what happened after the tide
turned with Garfield the stories presented
by his side and by Mills Brothers side
differ very materially. The only punt
/ they agreed on was that the whole mat
ter would be brought TO the law courts
Canfield claims that Mills Brothers. who
are. by the way. the sons o; Cen. Samuel
NJ. Mills. u. s. A., retired. owe him sew
I eral thousand dollars. on TGursday Mills
Brothers offered to pay Garfield the
amount they considered due him, wnicn
ie said TO be $9l, 900. on condition that he
( would agree to give up his other claims.
The offer was refused and Mills Rrothcrs
decided that IL was best to sus spend
Garfield is In Saratoga anc refused 10
discuss the matter. III. S. Marshall OF
Battle & Marshall his counsel, presented
his side of the. case. He sad:
"Mr. Garfield has at all times kept his
/, margin at Mil Brothers intact and has
always responded to notices fru:n them
/ for an increase of funds on 1eposlt. lie
charges that the brokers have made
transactions involving the loss of several
hundred thousand dollars without getting
any authority from him. He has done
no further business with them since early
I'm the year. / don't know the date of hs
last authorized transaction, but Il was
some time prior to March II. .Sinco that
time he has been threatening TO bring
suit for the amount which he claims is
due him. but has obtained no satisfae-
MILLS BROS SIDE.
Frank A. Lord OF Rand Moffat q Webb,
counsel for Mills Brothers q Co.. began
their side OF the case by denying very
emphhtically Canield's charges that the
sales were unauthorized and his state
ment that his margin was alwayse suffi-
cient.
mills Brothers," he said. notified MIR.
Garfield on several occasions that bis
margin was exhausted and when he
failed TO respond they closed out his stock,
as they had a right to do. The courts
have upheld the brokers In this time an !
again. Although his claim Is the pr.ne J.
pal one against the firm II is not the only
cause of the assignment. The inability
To collect accounts payable and the de-
probation of securities are .wo other
factors"
Around the street Canfeld's charges