New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-13
Van SchaiCk & Co. Say DeIln-
quent Customers Are to Blame
for the Suspension.
ONE OF OLDEST IN STREET
Assignee Denies Rumor OF Defal-
cation, and Adds Only $780,
600 of Liabilities Are
Unsecured.

est Stock Exchange firms in the imam
cial district. suspended business yester-
day. The liabilities will amount to about
SO. JOG. 900. with all but about $5OOW
secured, according to Eliot Norton,
lawyer of No. Rector street, to whom
the assignment was made for the benefit
of creditors
AS spokesman for John b. Van
SChaick, senior member of the firm, Mr.
Norton said last night that the principal
cause OF the failure lay in the fact that
the firm had been too easy with its old
customers The firm maintained an OIL
flee in Jersey City and had correspond
ents in Chicago and Baltimore.
Customers owe the firm S600,000,"
said Mr. Norton, and most of the ac-
counts are right here in the city. The
accounts i'm Chicago Baltimore and Jer-
sey City do not amount to much. If We
liquidated to-day we would stand to owe
SJ0oO00 and with the assets Of $500
0O9 in money owed by customers, we
would he 100000 to the good If every
body paid. The firm had about six hun
bred customers. IT bought large blocks
Of securities for customers which can
not be readily negotiated, although the
securities are themselves first class,
such as stock of the Virginia Iron, Coal
and Coke Company, Of which the firm
held 400 shares. Securities to the
amount Of S3.5OO.0OO are held by the
banks for loans of about $500. 600"
Demand for 100000.
The suspension was caused, it was
said, by a customer who made a de-
mand for 100000. the amount of his
account, early last week When told
that he could not get it all at once he
asked to see the books and was allowed
to go over them with a member of the
firm. He was one of the largest indi-
vidual customers Of the firm, it was said,
and did not desire to press his claim.
but it was determined that a suspension
would be the fairest thing for all the
creditors until matters were straight
ened out.
Mr.. Van SChaick is preparing a letter
TO send to customers Mr.. Norton said,
expressing his deep regret for the firms
embarrassment and asking them not to
resort to extreme measures to collect
their claims. He expresses the belief
that the firm will be able TO pay dollar
for dollar if it is not unduly pressed by
it's creditors.
The failure did not cause much Of a
furry in the financial district There
had been rumors for some time that the
firm was embarrassed and its suspension
was not wholly unexpected on that ac-
count. The assignment came rather as
a relief to some of the brokers, IL was
said, who had had a feeling Of uncer-
tainty about its affairs for two or three
weeks
A rumor had obtained in the financial
Van Schaick firm was bound to go to
the wall on account of a defalcation of
several hundred thousand dollars by an
employe OF the firm. This was emphati-
cally denied yesterday by Mr.. Norton
and members Of the firm.
Defaication Rumor Denied.
The report Of any defalcation is pure
ly MYTH" said Mr.. Norton. Every
dollar can be accounted for in one way
or another There is not penny of the
firms money missing"
William II. Jackson, the aged broker
who was killed recently in his apart
ment at the Iroquois Hotel by Paul
Giedel, belboy, was connected win
the Van Schaick firm at the time Of his
death. There was a report current yes
terday that Jacksons speculations
through the firm had been contribu-
tary cause of the failure.
Mr.. Jacksons connection with the
firm had nothing whatever to do with
it's suspension" said Mr.. Norton. AT
the time of his death he owed the firm
about $1,000, part Of which is secured.
AS far as | know the Jackson estate is
in good shape 10 take care of this small
Indebtedness.
The collapse OF the firm has been a
severe blow 10 Mr. Van Schaick, Mr..
Norton said yesterday. The senior mem
Der of the firm had been in the Ca
madam woods for. two months this sum
mer and returned about six weeks ago
to find the firms affairs in bad shape, it
was said Mr.. Van Schaick lives at No
800 Madison avenue and has a summer
home at Huntington, Long Island
Derby Crandall. his partner, lives at the
Hotel Marie Antoinette. Mr.. Van
Schaick was not at his Office yesterday.
He is expected there to-day. Referring
to the firms trouble. Mr.. Crandall said:
IF we could collect the money due US
we could pay in full. The failure is due
TO our inability TO collect that money
and to the drop in the market"
Van Schaick & Co. were among the
firms censured by the special committee
OF the Stock Exchange which made an
Investigation of the causes of the fail
ures of Lathrop. Haskins & Co., J. NJ.
Fiske a. Co. and Roberts, Hall e. Criss.
I'm January, 1910, following the collapse
Of the Columbus and Hooking Coal and
Iron pool.
Censured, Then Exonerated.
a day or two after the giving out Of
that report. however, the stock Ex-