George N. Phillips, the "Corn King," Transfers his Trades

BIG CHICAGO FAILURE.

Phillips, the “Corn King,” Transfers All His Trades to McReynolds & Co.

CHICAGO., Aug. 1.-George N. Phillips, the “corn king,” has transferred all his trades to McReynolds & Co. He closed all his open trades Wednesday and said to a customer that up to yesterday he considered himself worth $500,000, adding “Now I don’t know that I’m worth a cent.”

The Phillips company is credited with having done the largest commission house business on the Chicago board of trade last year. The business is suspended today.

One of Phillips’ bookkeepers cannot be found and it is charged that grave irregularities have been discovered in the books. Phillips gave as a reason for this irregularity that they had been doing an enormous business with an inadequate office force and that their business had gotten clear beyond their ability to handle.

Source: The Weekly Banner, Athens, Georgia, Friday Morning, August 2, 1901; Pg. 1, Column 3