New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-10
q. F. Stringer, Jr., Shoots
Himself as Suspension
Is Announced.
HIS FRIENDS MONEY
LOST WITH HIS OWN
Grain Speculation Ruins
Him and Father-LeaveS
Wife and Child.

ENCnange clanEed 20 permit tnc IN ]
rouncement that the firm Of Strnger /
& Co. had failed. Ten minutes later, |
after the ticker had ceased purring out /.
the announcement. William Porter, =
clerk in the Offices of the Guanaiuato |
Development Company, q William St, |
heard noise as Of board falling in /
a private Office Investigating he /
found that G.. Franklin Stringer. ir., /
had killed himself.
SpeculatinC in wheat in an endeavor .
10 keep the firm afOat during the dead I
lays of the exchange had wrecked the .
firm and wiped out all OF the yourg
mans assets except life insurance pol I
icy for $4,000. payable TO his wife. Be- /,
fore killing himself he examined the T.
policy to make sure that she would get /
the money. And when the police went
to his private Office they found il oper
on his desk with a pencil mark around
the suicide clause which made Cne pol
icy incontestabe for any cause after
one year from date Of issue. The seal
Of the company showed it was issued /
nearly two years ago.
On the desk also was an open face
watch, on the dial of which was the /
photograph Of an infant. This the /
bows father. who is the senior member /
Of the firm. later identified as the pict- /
ure Of the dead mans two-months-old .
baby.
Feared to Face Friends.
"He simply lacked nerve to face those /
friends who stand 10 lose by the fail
ure." was the explanation given soon /
after by {. A. Decker, the personal I
friend of the Stringer family and itr
counsel. There's nothing criminal in .
the failure.
Neither is it big failure. Tic /
firm owes about $4,000, and. feurinr I
the Stock EXchai kevt at $4,000, /
it has about Sloc.v0o to pay with.
"The business done was small-there I
are only thirty or forty creditors-and /
there were no pups, no cats and dogs /
wall Street for wildcat stocks in the
Office.
"The 5000 shares of Reading bought
in for the firm after the failure was
on account Of customers. The firm is
not short of stocks.
4 ,f
had a line of 100000 bushels out, and
Fridays jump in Chicago simply broke
its back Then there was nothing
for honorable men to do but suspend.
They did it. But the boy couldn't
stand the Gaff."
From Mr.. Decker aad other associ-
ates of the Stringers it became clear
that the firm had made hard fight
against going under. Organized three
wears ego to take over the business Of
the older firm of Jewell e. Stringer. il
started at time when the best Of the
Wall Street houses that depend upon
their brokerage business were having
trouble making much more than ex
penses. The elder Stringer had been
in the Street for years, first as an Of
fcor of the American Bridge Company
and later with various Mexican promo
tions and the firm Of jewell & Stringer.
The Younger man, who was twenty
seven years old. naturally gravitated
10 the Street when he left the CONNER
cial High School in Brooklyn, and set
out TO learn the brokerage business in
the office of William c. Van Antwerp,
a governor Of the Stock Exchange
Stringer was an apt pupil, and when
the old finn went out of business his
father sought membership for him on
the board. The membership commit
tee. however, thought him too young,
and the seat was bought in the name
OF the older man.
Most Of the affairs Of the firm, how
ever were left TO the young man. He
was well liked IN the Street and had
many friends in Brooklyn. particularly
in the Crescent Athletic Club set, and
these gave him what business they had.
II was not Dig business, as business
used 10 20 in Wall Street. but there
was enough of il 10 pay expenses and
TO Justify Stringer in marrying Miss
Eloise Wilson TAFT, the daughter Of
Edward Wilson TAFT, Bridgeport,
Conn, manufacturer, on February II,
1918.
Mexico Began Trouble.
This brought new friends and new
business TO the firm. and everything
went swimmingly until the affairs OF
Mexico became acute. This required
the placing Of additional capital in en-
terprises in hat country and tended
20 cramp the firm generally. Il
weathered these. however. and contin-
ued 10 live upon the eighths of | per
cent commissions customers paid for
executing orders. Then the closing
of the stock Exchange on July 80 shut
off the flow of "eighths,' and it became
a question whether the firm would sus-
pend. eat into whatever capital il had
while waiting for business TO resume
or fird other means Of income.
This other means OF income 70 q
broker so situated must ordinarily
come from one Of two sources. He can ,
bucket" customers orders or speculate
for himself. The Stringers. according
20 their friends, were not the kind ,
bucket orders If there were any TO
bucket, and they turned to the wheat
market as the place to work in.
Neither father nor son was an eX
pert in grain. but, like hordes of other
Wall Street men, they turned to IT as
the one thing left. That was early IN
August, when the wheat pit Of the
Continued on page 4. column