Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1901 — MAD ANTICS OF STOCK. [ARTICLE]

MAD ANTICS OF STOCK.

Wall Street Has a Terrible Day with Northern Pacific. , The mad rage tor speculation that holds the country in its clutch had its climax in Wall street Wednesday. Five minutes after the New York Stock Exchange opened millions of dollars were gambled and great fortunes made and lost in one of the most sensational scrambles ever seen in the money center. It centered round the Northern Pacific comer. As soon ns the gong rang for the opening of business there was a roar ns of the fury-lashed ocean and in the din of it all bid* ranging from 150 to 180 were offered simultaneously for the stock of Northern Pacific. Men went frantic with excitement and rushed madly about the floor of the exchange yelling their bids iu the desperation of their greed to buy some of the coveted stock. This lasted for nearly five minutes, the price in the meantime having elimbed by leaps and bounds to 180. Then with equal celerity down it came to 155. Not in years has there been such a scene of excitement on the floor of the exchange. A surging crowd of seemingly frenzied brokers fought for points of vantage to execute orders for their customers whose losses in the big ‘’corner" have run up into millions of dollars. The mad rush when' business began was almost beyond description. All that the brokers knew was that their customers had paid from SSOO to SI,OOO for the use of Northern Pacific stock over night. The “corner” was absolute. The fact was patent that .lames It. Keene had executed one of the greatest coups of his life, and his power in the market wrts held in greater dread by the speculators and their brokers than the combined billions of the brokers. Interests credited with forcing the advance in the stock: E. 11. Harriman; Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and Standard Oil owners of Union Pacific. Interests against whom a retaliatory campaign has been directed: J. J. Hill, J. P. Morgan and other Northern Pacific shareholders, who are thought to have parted with the bulk of their stock at less than prevailing figures. Cause of the fight: Recent attempt to wrest control of .the Union Pacific road from the Harriman syndicate.