The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-20


 New York, October l9.-fspeeal.) Fol lowing the example of Frederick Angus tus I1enze the spectacular copper plunger Charles W. Morse. by turns ice. lumber and steamship magnate. has be- come full-hedged member of Wall streets down and out club
 Morse whose career in finance has been meteoric, was forced today to resign from the directorate of two of New Yorlxs big financial institutions Van Norden Trust company and the Fourth Street bank.
 IL was said al the close offathe day that his resignation as director of the Garfield National bank had been tendered and would be accepted Officers of the National Bank of North America. where he is both q director and vice president, and of the New Amsterdam National bank were in session practically all of the day and lt was presumed that they were ar ranging for Morse's withdrawal from those institutions
 Low Figures On Stocks.
 The first lntimation the street had of MT Morsc's desperate financial cosaitiop was when q huge volume of bonds of the Consolidated Steamship company. which controls the coastwise trade of the United States aud which was dominated by Morse, was suddenly thrown on the mar kct and sold down to IT. witch is low record. The steamship company was organized by Morse and has been his pet so much that Wall street is confident that he would not have sacrificed hs holdings except under great financial stress. With the loss of his holdings in tie si<ainship trust SO far as can be learned Morse has sacrificed all of his securities with t1o f,.tt ,.f Ia fI. trust. in which he was al one time tho all-imposing figure Even these securi- ties it is said, are held by the Mer- cantile National bank for loans made tn Morse and hIs associates. and nobody be- lieves that he would be able to redeem the stock of the ice trust, which sold at 9f Il share year ago. broke today and yesterday from 3ia to 20.
 IL Is understood that the impairment of the surplus account of the Mercantile Ma tional bank was due much to loans made on ice stock as collateral IS to uni- ted Copper Western Ice stocks, which is said to be controlled by E. k. Thomas whose resignation q director Of the Mercantile was requested along with that of MT. Morse. also figured in the Wall street gossip about the banking situation.
 Just how many millions Heinze, Morse, Thomas and others of their clique bor- rowed from their own bank on their se- curites, t is not known. But there IS well grounded report in financial circles that more than s3.000.0oQ of the surplus fund of the bank has disappeared Most of this is supposed 10 nave been loaned on Ice. United Copper. Consolidated Steam ship and other securities controlled by the directors. and which have shrunk so enormously in value that they may be reckoned as of little worth as securities.
 Ridgeley Has Cold Feet.
 In spite of the announcement made yes- terday by Mir Morse that William E. Ridgeley, comptroller of the currency, had been offered and had accepted the presidency of the Mercantile National bank, Mir. Ridgeley issued a statement to- day declining the offer. The statement follows
 After consultation with his friends in Washington and the west, Comptroller Ridgeley has decided he does not care to leave the treasury department in Wash ington, and has therefore declined the of fer of the presidency of the Mercantile National bank of New York
 Slxty-five million dollars was the esti- mated loss of the Ilelnze copper interests when the market closed today. United Copper hit the bottom and sold in the street at 7ls. The Heinze Bros. are tlle largest losers 1t is practically certain that the fortunes of Frederick Augustus. Otto C. and Arthur r. Heinze have shrunlS to such an extent that an are today poor men. Thirty million dollars probably rep resents their total loss. and the other $35,O0OO0J was lost by other holders Of copper stocks in which the Helnzes were interested
 So that the Mercantile bank might not be forced to the wall banks in the clear ing house association came to it's aid today and furnished sl, ,137,00. clearing It's debit sheet in the clearing house. Nine banks in the association put up s1. 800 600, or s20O.000 each. to save the bank until it is able to realize on some of the securI- ties it holds, and which at present are not 1,nlIh IlA amount of lnans theA renra sn1at