The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-07
SENSATIONAL BUYING
 OF READING SHARES
MOST EXCITING EXPERIENCE SINCE THE NORTHERN PA
 CIFTC CONTEST.

specuIatOrs Guessing-AI the Time
 the Stock Was Going Up Efforts
 Were Made Without Success to Dis
 cover the Source of the Buying
 Banking Houses Mum-BeIieved to
 be an Independent Movement to Se-
 cure Control.
 New York. March 6. - Sensational buying of the shares of the Reading company to-day gave Wall street it's most exciting experience since the Northern Pacific contest 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 1 o'clock there developed an enormous buying movement in the shares which carried the price up more than 8 points in half an hour. Up to the close of the market there was nothing official to show the source of the purchasing or ders but a persistent rumor was in circulation that E. H. Hartman was buying the stock with the object of acquiring control of the property and that Mir Hartman was taking all that was offered in the open market, in ad- dltion to the holdings of H. c, Brick, which he was said to have purchased privately. It was said also that the Reading stock held by the Lake Shore had been turned over to Mir Hartman, so that he would have absolute control. It was pointed out that MT. Prick, having become a director of the Penn sylvania Railroad company would de- sire to dispose of his Reading stock and that as he is friendly with the Har- riman interests. he would be likely to sell to them, fthey cared to buy, The reports as to Hartman buying were circulated generally throughout the f. nancial district and were given ere dence in spite of the lack of anything official to confirm them but there were other rumors. One of these was that J. F. Morgan company, who formerly dominated Reading, were buying to re- sume their former position in the property, and was that the New York Central, which owns the Lake Shore, was adding to the Lake Shores hold ings of Reading, and a third attributed the buying to the Delaware, Lacka- wanna and western. Still another ru- more was that MT. Prick was buying back stock that he sold some time ago at higher prices,
 All the time that the stock was going alp efforts were made without success to discover the source of the buying and to obtain either denial or contir- mation of the various reports In circu- lation. At the offices of the banking houses associated with the dicerent in- terests mentioned in the rumors all knowledge of the movement was denied but at the same time 1t was said that independent action to secure the prop erty might have been undertaken With hut the knowledge of the firms inter -,,iewed. MT Hartman, who is in Washington, was informed of the use of his name in connection with the Reading transaction, and he then made statement through his secretary to the effect that he was not interested in wall street and did not care to be denying all the rumors originating there" Further than this nothing of- fcial was obtainable. The brokerage houses handling the buying orders were numerous and their identity gave no indication whatever as to the persons for whom they were acting.
 The tracing in Reading reached the total of 796,5O0 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 manipulat- i've maneuver for higher prices was be- ing executeA The blocks traded in were extremely large, ranging up to 4.00O and 5000 share lots, with one block of 10000 changing hands at l25. The strength in Reading attracted at tention early in the day, owing to its being in sharap contrast to the weak nes in the list generally. The market opened with rally from yesterdays decline, but before noon the better tone gave way to a renewed bearish senti- ment. and the decline became violent. The feeling on the exchange bordered on demoralization with extremely heavy liquidation and declines for many issues to the lowest point of the wear. The Hartman shares and the stocks in what is called the Standard oil group were notably sensitive to pressure and this fact emphasized the strength of Reading and the relative firmness of the Morgan and Hill stocks. The condition of the market held until shortly after 1 o'clock when the sensational buying of Reading be- gan At that time tn estock was sell ing at 116 1-S. Suddenly it developed that all of the stock offered was be- ing taken on an ascending scale of prices. I.otos of from 1000 to 5000 shares were traded in rapidly and the nrice rose in about half an hour to 125 This udden turn after the recent weakness in the market served to strengthen the entire list, and general rally was soon in progres which con- tinued up to the close, which was strong and active, with quotations in the main at the best of the day. Prom inent in the recovery were Great Northern preferred, which closed at 156 1-2 an advance of 3-8, Southern Pa cific, which closed at S6, a rise of ?, and Northern Pacific, which improed ? 7-S to 139 1-2
 In connection with the Reading ru- mors interest attaches to the fact that the Baltimore & Ohio, in which Harri- man interests have large holdings, owns a total of S30. .332 BOO of Reading.