Article Text
WALL STREET FAILURE. Hatch & Foote, Established Since 1867. Are Forced to Suspend Operations. New York, Sept. 19.-Wall street received a genuine surprise when the anonuncement was made from the rostrum of the stock exchange that the old established firm of Hatch & Foote, bankers and brokers, at 3 Nassau street, had made an assignment to E. Ellery Anderson. Daniel B. Hatch, the grayhaired, senior member of the firm. made a statement which caused even greater surprise. "Our failure is due to the fact that Mr. Foote has been speculating for his own account and lost $200,000 of the firm's money. I may be penniless. "Our liabilities we roughly figure at $2,000,000 and our assets at $2,000,000 at current prices of stocks. "Mr. Foote, my partner, is insane at his country home, Oceanic, N. J.. He has been ill for three weeks. His illness is due undoubtedly to the strain upon him during the four years he was speculating in secret. "From what we can gather now he has been carrying on his speculation for several years. He did it in the name of our customers. As he had full charge of the accounts he could easily do this without being detected. He speculated in a great many stocks, but his favorite was sugar." The assignee, Mr. Anderson, said this afternoon that he believed he could get ready a statement of the firm's condition within a few days and that Its liabilities would hardly exceed $1,800,000 generally secured. The firm in its early years did a large business, but was carried down in the Grant and Ward panic of 1884 and since its resumption has not been in any way prominent in Wall street affairs. Both Mr. Hatch and Mr. Foote were clerks in the old investment house of Fisk & Hatch thirty years ago. In 1867 they formed a partnership, but not until three years later did they become a stock exchange house. Mr. Daniel B. Hatch was the board member. Mr. Foote had charge of the accounts. Like the firm in which they received their early training, they did quite a business. Up to yesterday they had been regarded as one of the substantial houses of the street. Mr. Foote is about 60 years of age. He has an international reputation as a bibliophilist. Only a few years ago a part of his valuable collection of rare books was sold at auction for $15,000. He still has over $20,000 worth of book treasures in his library at his city home, 10 West Fortysixth street. Mrs. Foote is well known in society. She was the daughter of Mr. Thomas D. Hastings. president of the Union Theological Seminary of New York. when he married her years ago, and has held an enviable position in the world of society. They have four children.
