The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-16
SURPRISE IN SELMA.
Waller and Company, One of the Larg-
 est Concern In the state.

est C0UeGfm the States
 Selma, Jan. 15.--(Special. )--Perhaps the most dfsastrious financial disaster which has occurred in Selma or Central Alabalna since the failure of the Com- mercia1 Bank in December 1Ss6s was announced this morning. The firm of ! N. Waller and Company, commission merchants and insurance agents, was thrown in voluntary bankruptcy upon e petition of three of its creditors.
 The firm was one of the oldest estab- Iishfnents in the city, 1t did tremend- ous volume of business and had a large number of customers upon its books.
 For two months the firm has been in financial distress but until few days ago it managed to meet all of It's de- mands, the climax came yesterday morning when 1t became known that 1t would be only naotter of hours before Waller and Company would have to suspend business
 Loan Company Not Affected.
 With the opening of business yes- terday morning rumors were prevail ent that the firm had failed. As the day progressed these rumors prove5 untrue for the offices of the concern remained open and all business was transacted as usual. With the spread 5 fog of .the rsanaers Of ths failure of the came feeling ok uneasinesa among hundreds of citizens. This uneasiness was most pronounced amcng several hundred stockholders in the Central City Building and Loan Association of which MT. Waller was the. secretary. This uneasiness was allayed when 1t was learned that fnuds of the build ing and loan company were not in- volved by the company of which Mr. Waller was the manager.
 During the early morning hours Mfr Waller gave up all hope of tiding the firm over the financial difficulties and L. E.. Jeffries. his attorney, was called in for consultation. Later during the day the consent of Benish 6 Meyer, the Schwarz Commission Company and Mrs. Carrie Hull. three small creditors was gained to sign petition to throw the firm into involuntary bankruptcy.
 The necessary papers were prepared and ar 4:25 o'clock yesterday after noon Hon. H. S. D. Mallory. Irepre- senting the creditors of the firm, left for Mobile to file the petition in the United States Court. The program was for the petition to have been filed in Mobile last night and for the order of bankruptcy to be issued at once but some delay caused a change in the program and MT. Mallory did not fiie the petition in the United States Court until this morning. sf
 About 10 o'clock this morning Mir. Mabry received a telegram from Mo- D1lo fnIOrnlnE nlfn LHaL u0 HaQ DGeU appointed receiver for N. Waller & Co. He immediately took charge of the of fees and closed the doors. MT. Mabry this morning stated that 1t would be several days before the exact standing of the firm could be determined.
 Attorneys for the insolvent firm stat ed that they could give no approximate idea of the standing of the firm. It is generally believed that. the bankrupt cy of the firm will be far reaching.
 Assets and Liabilities.
 It has been estimated by conserva- tive business men that the liabilities of the firm will reach between $300.000 and s5OO,000. On account of the large advancing business which the company engaged in the latter figures, 1t is be- lieved will not prove far wrong. The assets of the firm are mostly in col- lateral scattered throughout the State. This collateral is of various kinds and some of 1t will be hard to realize upon.
 The distress of the firm is due prin- cipally to poor collections. The recent panic made collections slow and heavy demands were made by the creditors of Waller & Co. Farmers who owed the firm money would. in many in- stances not consent to their cotton be- ing sold as they wanted to wait until the price of the staple advanced. The poor collections. together with the steady demand upon the firm left no other recourse but for the firm to De thrown into bankruptcy.
 The news of the insolvency of the firm spread rapidly throughout Central Alabama yesterday and each train last night and yesterday afternoon brought to the city numbers of the customers. The trains this morning also brought a number of their customers to the city as well as lawyers who came to look ont for the interest of clients. Soon after the affairs of the firm mad been taken charge of by Receiver Mabry many of these crowded the sidewalk In front of the offices. Many of these were later let into the office where they conferred with MT. Mabry.
 N Waller and Company have been engaged in business in Selma for many wears. The firm was established In iS73 by the late N. Waller, who died here several years ago. The manage mont of the firm was then taken charge of bv George L. Waller, who died about a year ago. since then the firm has been managed by his son, Nat Wal Ter The principal line of business of the firm was that 0f advancing and 1t handled two-thirds of the advancing business of Central Alabama. An aver- age of 40,0 900 bales of cotton was handled hY the firm each year.
 Large Advancing Business.
 It was estimated today that the com pany had on its books not less than four hundred. directly and indirectly, to whom f4 advanced. Some of these