Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1909-12-27
ROCK ISLAND, UP
!. 81 POINTS, LEADS
TO CORNER RUMOR
Stock Jumps to 81 in Five Min
utes, Then ColIapses to so
on Heavy Sales.

NEW YORK, Dec. GA startling
market movement that has all the
earmarl1s of corner" came today
when the common stock of the Rock
Island Company, within five minutes of
the opening, rose from 50ss to 81, when
it settled back again, after heavy trad
ing, to so.
All this startling protechnic advance
of 81 points and equally surprising pre-
cipitation to the opening sale prace
caused shiver of fear on the stock
exchange, which spread itself across
the continent on the brokers' wires.
that corner" had been effected in
the stock of the Rock Island Company.
A block of $1,000 shares was sold at
81, the top price. Rock Island common
closed at 4e1a last Friday.
Fears of a. corner caused heavy selling
throughout the security list, and there
were numerous declines of one TO three
points.
1T seems as though some one has
been selling something he did not own"
said a director of the Rock Island.
1.-THE controlling interests and officials
of the company have nothing to do with
the spectacular advance, and it looks as
If there was considerable short inter-
est in the stock and this interest was
apparently badly squeezed today"
The opening sale of Rock Island was
500 shares at 50sk. and then the stock
advanced an eighth, quarter three
quarters and then by leaps and bounds
| to q high price Of 81. On the advance
IN Chi oG
| changed hands
| At the top figure enormous supplies
of stock came out and a violent relapse
ensued. The decline, however, was
much steadier than the advance, the
recessions running generally by frac-
t:ons, and from / to 2 points. Within
fifteen minutes the price had fallen back
to 90. Traders generally believe that a
corner had been engineered in the stock
/ and there was general rush to un-
! load securities throughout the specula-
tive list The market became quickly
unsettled through fear of consequences
of bear panic in Rock Island. South
ern Pacific after opening up l point,
ran off points below Friday. Anal
gamated Copper dropped back S3s under
Fridays closing, and there was gen.
|
acute weakness The loss in Pennsyl-
vania reached 21s in the first half hour,
Reading 27s, United States Steel l,
Union Pacific IL and American Smelt-
ing two points.
| The spectacular rise in Rock Island
| common stock was generally credited
to a frightened short interest since il
| was quickly recalled that the control
of the company does not lie with The
common stock, and that therefore any
suggestions that competitive bidding by
interests seeking to control the prop
erty were net to be entertained under
the circumstances.
Trading in Rock Island common
stock in the first twelve minutes ap-
proximated 100000 shares.
Rock Island rallied to 531k but there
was renewed evidence that there were
large supplies of that stock in the mar
ket and the price ran off again. This
served to tranquilize the rest of the
market and prices began to recover.
The market fell into dullness after
Rock Island had ceased its violent
gyrations. that stock settling down in
the neighborhood OF 81. Whenever II
started UP stock was Forthcoming to
give assurance against danger to the
shorts. The panicky feeling among the
bears subsided.
meeting of the board of governors
of the New York Stock Exchange has
been called to be held at $3.50 O'Clock
this afternoon. Tt is reported that the
governors at this meeting will inquire
into the mornings Rock Island episode