The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-10-01
Excitement in the Gold Market.

Excitement in the Gold Market.
We give below, as extracted from thu
Baltimore Sun of Monday last, some &C
count of the scenes and incidents in the golo
market at New York, on Thursday of last
week:
THE GOLD ROOM.
Imagine little fountain in the centre of q
hippotheron; in the centre of the fountain
is a bronze cupid, with dolphin in its
arms from the head of cupid arises tiny
silver stream which falls in jest into the ba-
sin below. Fancy an iron railing ninety feet
in circumference about this basin; then O
space of some twenty feet between the walls
and the fountain, and you have rough
idea of the gold room. On one side there
are two galleries, the lower for the Grand
boys and the upper for the spectators
We stood in the lower gallery, beyond the
fountain. With his back toward New
street stood the secretary, recording the
scales, which he caught by his ear Near
him is the telegraph operator. Wires run
from his machine to nearly five hundred
brokers offices, who are thus instantly in
formed of the state of the market, and are
enabled to make their bids undisturbed by
the furious excitem emit which rules in the
gold room on momentous occasions. We
have described this gold room. At 10 A.
M, the board opened, and the vice-presi-
dent in the chair. Usually the heavy gold
operators remain in their Offices and base
their bids, which they send by messen-
gers, upon reports received by their Office
telegraphs. But the magnitude of to-day s
fight drew most of the moguls into the
amphitheatre, and they entered upon the
combat with the ferocity of gladiators.
Among the prominent operators in the
arena were Albert Speyer, Henry Clews,
Horace Waldo and his brother, Mr.. Col
gate, of the firm of Trevor 6 Colgate,
Messrs. Kemble & Heiser, and fifty others.
THE FIGHT. Co.,
1t was not until II o'clock that the COM
parative monotony was broken; 1903 was
bid. The bears began to vince.
"Hell's to pay now!" shrieked gray
haired man, apparently burning over with
agony. A hundred fists were shaken at
each other over the little fountain, and an
internal series of yells filled the room. To
an outsider it was impossible to distin-
guish either bid or an offer. The bulls
had now begun their grand charge. They
swept the bears before them like smoke.
From 1903 the metal suddenly jumped to
1861. This was unprecedented. Men began
torave and shrek like mad dogs. They
rushed about the little fountain in par
oxysms of fury. The special wonder was
that in the anxiety of the bears to sell and
the bulls to buy, so little regard was paid to
the last reported quotation. Price on both
sides seemed "no object" Men within o
few feet of one another differed widely in
prices, and there were a dozen different
quotations for the metal in as many parts
of the room. The bears gathered in q
group, and snapped and snarled in turn
The bulls shouted with joy. Within fifteen
minutes the premium was forced up to 1924.
The bears sold very readily to their own
clique, at 1856, when the market rate was
100. They refused to sell to bulls at any
price. Much of this traffic among the
bears might have been Washes OF fcti-
tious Sales reported at figures below the
market, and to keep down the price, and
much also of smaller lots than the big spec
ulative blocks which the bulls were after.
DARING BULL MOVEMENT.
Thus stood matters when Albert Speyer,
a leader among the bulls, threw among the
raving mob the tempting offer of 100.
Such marvellous bid, coming from deal
er known to be responsible, startled the
whole room; and for few moments no re-
spouse was made; but before the thun-
derstruck auditors could regain their equi-
poise, James Brown, an equally we'll
known broker and agent, offered to supply
Mr. Speyer's wants with one, two, three,
four and up to five millions. The prompt
acceptance of this bid, while the bears
were selling to their own crowd at 1876,
gave the bulls renewed confidence. Du-
ring the two minutes preceding this bid
the market price had stood at 1924, 1872,
161, and 1909. This wavering is easily ex-
planned. A prominent bull, while within
his Office watching the kilograms from the
gold room, received a private dispatch
from Washington, informing him that
Boutwell, would positively sell $4,O00,OOO
to-day. This instantly paralyzed the bulls
to such an extent that the price fell to 1876
and then 140. Then dismay seized the
the members present, for the decline meant
nothing less than the ruin of all concerned
in the ring.
The bulls had gone into the fight fully
prepared to take from $4,000, 900 to $780,
100000. So asserts one of their clique.
They had not taken 100000 when they
heard OF Secretary Boutwell's action. The
rapidity Of the movements and the mag
netic influence of the gold room was too
much for then. Their heads became gid
dy, and in twinkling they lost control OF
the market. The 100000 threat OF
Boutwell's was but tlea-bite, but they
were fearful that his movement was pre-
concerted one, and that $50, 100000 would
be thrown upon them, if necessary, to crush
the market. 1t was not until the rate
grounded at 140 that they rallied. 1t was
nearly noon. Gold again began to mount
the stairs 1t sprang from 140 to 100 at a
single jump. The bears acted as if flash
of lightning had passed through the room.
Bedlam again broke loose. The room was
filled with shrieks and curses. In another
jump the metal struck 100. At this point
Duncan, Sherman &c Co. let the bulls have a
large amount, and they took it in seeming
confidence.
DESPERATION AND MADNESS.
Again came the Washington rumor and
this time, it was said, direct from the spe-
'cial treasury agent in this city. 1t was as
serted that Grant had ordered Boutwell, to
sell the gold and that he would order him
to sell $50,000,000 is necessary. Away
went the market in another grand crash
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