The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-12-27

New York, Dec. 27-A startling
market movement that had all the
earmark5 Of corner. came today
whom the common stock OF tho Rock
Island company. within five minutes
Of the opening. rose from 50 5-S to
81 when It settled back again. after
heavy trading, to 90.
All this startling pyrotechnic ad-
vance of 81 points and the early sur
prising precipitation to the opening
sale price caused a shiyer of fear on
the stock exchange which spread H.
self across the continent on brokers'
wires that corner" had been ef.
fected on the stock Of the Rock is
land company. A block of 1900
shares was sold at 81. the top price.
Rock Island common closed at 80 IL
last Friday.
Fears Of a corner caused heavy
selling throughout the securities list
and there were numerous declines OF
l To 5 points.
1T seems as though some one has
been selling that which he did not
own" said director of tho Rock Is
land. 'The management and officials
OF the company have had nothing 10
do with the spectacular advance and
II looks as If there was considerable
short interest In the stock and this
interest was apparently badly squeez,
cd today"
The opening sale of Rock Island
was 600 shares at so 5.S and then the
stock advanced an eighth, a quarter.
three. quarters and then leaps and
bounds 10 the high price to 81. on
the advance blocks of stock from 100
TO 10000 shares changed bands
At tho top figure enormous sup
plies Of stock came out and a violent
relapse cnsued. The decline, how
ever, was much steadier than the ad
vance. the receSsions running gener.
ally by fractions and from l TO 2
points. Within fifteen minutes the
price had fallen back to 30.
Traders generally believe that n
corner had been engineered in the
stock and there was a general rush
TO unload securities throughout the
speculative list, The market became
Quic5ly unsettled through fears of
consequences of a bear panic in Rock
Island. Southern Pacific, after open
ing up l point. ran off below Fri
day. Amalgamatcd Copper dropped
back 3-S under Fridays closing and
there was a general unloading of Sc
curitieS, causing acute weakness. The
loss in Pennsylvania reached . IL in
the first half hour; Reading . 3-S,
United States Steel l, Union Pacific
preferred l IL and American Smelte
ing ,
The spectacular in Rock Island COM
mon stock was generally credited TO
frightened short interest, since 1t was
recalled that the. control of the com
pany does not lie with the common
stock and. therefore, any suggestions
that competitive bidding by interests
seeking TO control the property were
not TO be entertained under the cir
cumstances.
One Of the directors of the Rock
Island. and also connected with the
banking interests of the road. said
There Is nothing in the affairs of
the company to account for the ad-
vance in the price of the stock in such
a violent manner. 1t appears to be a
squeeze of the shorts
This same Rock Island official said
that to the best OF his knowledge
neither w. H. Moore, who is now in
Chicago. nor Daniel G. Reid was in
any way connected with today's move
ment
Trading in Rock Island common
stock in the first twelve minutes ap.
proXima5ed 100000 shares.
Rock Island rallied to 53 IL. but
there was renewed evidence that
there were large supplies of that stock
in the market and the price ran of
again This served to tranquilizc the
rest of the market and prices began
TO recover Amalgamated Copper rose
to IS 1-2; Southern Pacific, 113 IL;
Pennsylvania 10 187 rs and other
stocks 10 less degree.
The market was quicter before the
first hour was over and prices had
ceased to fluctuate as wildly as at
first.
The Rock Island episode was tho
one subject OF discussion in the fjpan-
an investigation probably would be
made into the matter by the COVER
nors of the stock exchange The re-
port current on the floor of the stock
exchange was that q clerk. in handling
an order of 1000 shares, made an er-
ror and made 1t read 10000 shares.
The best opinion obtainable in all
financial and brokerage circles was
that short interest had been caught
i'm carefully laid trap. tho springing
OF which was only possible because of
tho absence OF several of the larger
operators The Rock Island bonds,
which werc concerned in last wcoks
speculative movement in tho Rock Is
land deal. moved fcvcrishly,
Rock Island collateral is sold at
S5. a block of 100000. and then
TO So. The Wabash refund
ing is sold at rs l2 and then ran of
to II Ia Wabash preferred dropped
5 under Fridays close.
One hundred and fifty-6vc thousand
shares Of Rock Island common were
traded in during the first hour