Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1909-04-23
ILL NEWS FAvoRs BEARS
Heavy Foreign Shipments and Good
Crop Prospects Cause Selling.
MANY TRADERS BANKRUPTEI
Followers of Big Bull See Their
Fortunes Wiped Out.
PATTEN TAKES TO THE WOODS
Rumors that Tie Hes UnIoRded
Cannot Re Veriaed--His PART
ners Say Real situation
IL Unchanged.


CHICAGO. April 22.-That James
Patten, hailed throughout the country as
the wheat king" has withdrawn from the
market after dsposing of his heavy hold
ings Of May and July wheat. was asserted
in many quarters here today. To this as
sertion was added the fact that prices have
tumbled over cents during the last week.
and that Patten has sought rest in New
Mexica.
Whether he has eliminated himself from
the so-called deal" and II so, whether he
came out with profit or loss, are questions
which can be answered only by Mr.. Pat
ten himself
Those who read the dispatches from Col
orado anent the discouraging reception met
| by a reporter who tried to interview the
! big speculator at Trinidad between trains,
! expressed the opinion that this answer
seemed unlikely TO be forthcoming.
The session of the Board of Trade was
sensational today. Bulls had expected that
| after the 6 cent decline OF. the two pre-
! yious sessions a recovery would ensue.
Taking the Patten view OF big crop
| shortage as correct and wheat intrinsically
worth all that has been paid for It, IN a
purely speculative way the reaction was
| due.
Heavy Selling Breaks Prices.
But the first quotations were startling
disappointment to the bulls. From nearly
| every point came reports of normal or
| evtn better, crop prospects. Liverpool prices
were down and the shipments from Argen-
| tina, Australia and other foreign coun-
tries were said TO be greater than usual
| at this tife of the year.
| t,l he txh1 .if Il.
mass, and like an eruptive volcano. poured
forth a swollen stream of wheat. Longs
liquidated all along the line. and the sxecu-
ton of stop loss orders added to the con-
| fusion.
! Frequently It was impossible TO make q
sale within three-duarters of cent of the
price designated by the customer to the
broker.
The Pstten vortex OF other and more bull
ish days, into which the cereal might be
poured seemingly without affecting its
appetite. was not In evidence. 1t was a
tremendous iquidating market and Patten
might have been buying secretly through
others than his own house. From him
there has come no word that he has
changed his views as TO the value OF wheat.
He called May wheat cheap at 81. %. and
IL he still thinks so, 1t is pointed out that
the same option at $l.H today was an
excellent investment. The same was said
of July at slOs%. These prices were
approximately cents under the high price
of last Friday.
Small Spectators Bankrupted.
While Mr.. Patten, quoted as saying he
was fleeing from reporters. was making
for the ranch of his friend and partner
w II. Bartlett, just over the Colorado line
I'm New Mexico, detection was pictured on
the face Of many a small speculator haunt
ing the ticker in various brokerage houses
Many a fortune has Deen wiped out by
the decline this week. and many a man
who had handsome profit on paper, but
still hung for more now confronts a
, deficit. There are many such. The wide
! publicity given the market brought into
IL many a man who ordinarily walked in
quieter paths. Even the regulars for the
most part followed the bull leader with un-
usual enthusiasm, and until today saw
nothing further In the declines than q
2 furry. Mr. Patten so characterized II. and
, his word was accepted. They held to the
! limit of their resources and today were
wiped off the speculative slate when their
margins became exhausted, and there was
no longer a reserve to draw on.
Runs Away from Newspapers.
They would have liked very much tc
know whether Mr.. Patten had left orders
Aecretely to make further purchases at tht
concession I'm prices. In the absence OF suct
! Information, however Mr.. Patterns absenc'
in a section OF the country where he vii
not he much troubled by either reporters
or questions, and the utter weakness indi
Gated by today's decline, gave rise "a
e gloomy hints that "Patten was we'll out Of
It," They went far as TO declare tina
c the present slump in prices was due Z
t the Patten liquidation OF the Patten line o.
: wheat, rather than to improved crop con
O ditions.
o 1t is admitted that this supposition ma!
be absolutely wrong Mr.. Patten's ir'
s against reporters was largely due TO pub
= lished references to himself as a manipu
} lator of the market, the engineer OF
II great corner OF the worlds stGpa food
y He smarted under such terms TO deRre
s unusual 10 most men. He was lr his offic
e when the decline began 70 tock serious
y but in his conversation he had much les
to say about the market than about In
~ alleged erroneous statements made cen
cerning himself in the newspapers.
Its a fact that he ran away from thI
newspapers" said one OF his friends 10
:" day "He wasn't ruuing corner ant
publwished statements 20 tfe contrar!
= wore him out. lie is looking for re8
~ and he ought to find IT, for Mr. Bart
o. letts ranch comprises some 10000
"a acres and no place on It Is there re
80 porter"
10 HAS he sold his whest?'
= PatteR Expects VIndieatios,
. Il don't know; I doubt 81. He can wei
afford 10 hold his line. for the pine
was not expected until the shortage be
gan really to be felt in June and july
y lie expected a high price then aud ex
ls peeted 10 market his wheat when hi
n position on the crop had been vindlca ted
IL Al uis point i'm the conversation
he third party remsrked that 80 a man u
tree" It began 70 l0O6 Ifhs q ViDdies