The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-24
They Are Seriously En-
barrassed by Losses
inCotton SWindle.
SOLD ON BASIS OF
FORGED PAPERS
New York Brokers Checking Up
Accounts to Find How Heavily
They Have Been Hit-Talk
of Settlement of May Con-
tracts-Cotton Almost
Cornered.
Lspeclal 10 The rlmes-pispateh.l J


New York. April oS--Interest In the
cotton situation was divided to-day
between rumors of negotiations be-
tween the warning bulls and bears and
the losses sustained by New York cot
ton brokerage houses as result OF
the failure of Knight, Yancey & Co.,
which are estimated at s696,o00. Ac-
cording to dispatches from Huntsville,
Ala. the following New York firms ap-
peared in the list OF creditors OF the
bankrupt concern: Henry Hentz e Co..
s1a200O; Hubbard Brothers G. Co..
$4,000. both amply secured: Dick Bro
thers G. Co, s266Ooo: Miller e. Co.
$4,000; Springs & Co, s22s.oOJ, all
unsecured
Liverpool has been hit much harder
than this city. The aggregate losses
VIII be not less than 5000 900, and II
is likely TO be s5.oO0,0O0.
Checking Up Holdings.
President Brennecke. of the New
York Cotton Exchange. said to-day that
he had no idea what the local issue
would be. Members of the exchange
were busy to-day checking UP their
holdings and communicating with their
agents all over the country. trying to
learn IL they actually had the cotton
for which their bills of iading called
Some OF the smaller English houses are
in serious predicanent, as they have
made sales on the basis OF supposed
shipments
So far as can be learned none OF
the local banks has been victimized.
but Southern banks are reported to
have advanced large sums on bills Of
lading which bore q facsimile OF the
steamship agents These bills, at
tached to drafts, were sent to Liver
pool banks. and in almost all in
stances were honored They were
filled out before delivering the staple
70 the carriers, but in many instances
the cotton was never turned over to
the steamship company.
n other instances Southern shippers
obtained money on these bills of
lading from Southern banks without
waiting for the cotton TO be checked
UP and certified to by the represen
tatives of the transportation lines.
When the cotton arrived in Liverpool
1T would be found to be short few
bales.
Ordinarily such discrepancy would
be adjusted in due course of time and
the missing bales replaced. This year.
however. the losses have been serious.
q nd charges are made that ships sup
posed to be taking out from 5000 to
10000 bales tof cotton on which South
ern banks had made advances on the
strength of the bills of lading and
the drafts attached thereto. actually
carried not an ounce of cotton. 1t is
also Charged that the signatures OF
masters of vessels and of railroad
agents were forged to these fraudulent
bills OF lading.
Warfare In background
The Southern disclosures temporar-
lily placed in the background the bit
ter warfare between the cotton bears.
led by David II. Miller, McFadden
Brothers and Others, on the one side.
and the bull clique In which James A.
Patten. Eugene Scales Frank B. Hayne
and William p. Brown figure. on the
other side. but Wall Street heard that
negotiations had been begun looking
to a private settlement of May cotton
contracts at a price close to current
quotations.
If Patten and his associates have not
actually cornered May cotton, they are
securing the South for stray bales with
which to make deliveries and have i'm
ported from England during the pres
ent month approximately 10000 bales
of American cotton.
Estimates of the bear shortages vary !:
100000 bales Is considered a conserva-
tive figure while some brokers insist
1t amounts to much more.
James A. Patten, who has the cot
ton, has said he would be satisfie
with "a reasonable profit" but his
idea of a reasonable profit and that
entertained by the bears differ mate
rally. The Federal inquiry has not
helped the bears.
Patten is now in Chicago, serene in
the belief that he has control of more
cotton than any other person, and.
therefore, in a short crop year, when
the 3spinners of this country and Eng
land are clamoring for the commodity.
he Is master of the situation
No one knows how many bales Pat
t,l., pinf yt>n1 Nut !,
lowest figure Is $4,000 bales, and it
may be much greater His profit on
the transaction would be in the neigh
borhood of s1,750,00o on a basis OF
SIS bale. May cotton is worth about
$72 a bale. If Patten disposed of
$4,000 bales at current prices, plus
his profit he would turn over S26,-
100000, on which his profits would be
enormous.
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