Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1869-10-07
tine GOLD EXCITEMENT.
Cul IN In alton OF the Great Bali Move.
me sst. The Rise and Eall Of Thtfty
Per Cent-The Scenes and lRCtdeMts
ln anh Around Wall street.


both of these wers-bore any comparison
to those of yesterday, when operators
seemed to lose their five wits, aud when
tho price of gold shot up aud down ten,
twenty, thirty per cent. in the course Of
few minutes. ~-
Before the opening Of the Board, the
room was packed with members and spec
tators, while the passage-WaNs and stairs
were crowded with men trying to press in,
and New street was blocked mp with mass
es which spread round Wall and Broad
streets, all eagerly excited oven the events
and prospects Of a day which everybody
felt to be big with wrecks as we'll AZ for
tunes.
The skirnlishing and mannuvering be-
fore the regular opening showed that the
strength was still on the side OF the bull
party; and though the bidding was iregu-
lar aud tentative, it indicated decided adj.
vance above the highest figures Of the day
bears were struck with terror by tho move
vance of per cent. above the highest quo
t.tions of the previous day-with reckless
defiance of the adversary that showed
they had the game in their own hands.
Within half an hour the dismay of the
Bears was increased by the rapid and de-
termined pushing up Of the price to 1885,
They repeatedly attempted to make fight
and stand that would save them from
ruin, but their operations were carried GU
ct such disadvantage, not only as regards
forces and resources, but also tactics and
position in tho field, that they could only
try to save themselves from the demorali-
cation which follows disaster. Before IL
O'Clock the price again sprang up five per
cent. further at a single leap, and, in less
than half an hour, amid the hottest excite
ment of the masses that surged to and fro,
inside and outside of the Gold Room, it
leaped up to 100, and then. for few Sec
onds, touched 1Gi. The shouts and cries
of the hundreds Of active operators seemed
here like the outpouring Of maniacs, and
for short time pall0r seemed to over
spread the faces, and tremor to overcome
the persons of the mass. which had been
wrought up to a point beyond human
endurance. The majority felt the
ground breaking Under he% spA they
broken and their hopes blasted, they stood
bewildered and perspiring spectators, in a
room which Is ordinarily the scene Of
friendly rivalry and humorous interchanges.
During this hour or two of uproar and
panic, brokers and operators had been con-
stantly rushing out of the Gold Room and
back again, attending to their margins,
consulting with their partners, and trying
to effect settlements. The bull party. or
clique, had, of course, compelled the other
side to increase their margins indefinitely,
and had forced many Of those whose
means were imite4, Or whose capacity Of
losing was exhausted, OF whos9 'timiditY
had got control Of them. to come to
their terms, with immensely profitable re-
suits to the Hing.
But at last the struggle, brief but intenae,
eliminated. Il was nearly IL o'clock, and
the price Vas OF, or about 100 s., when sud-
denly it was reported that the Treasury had
sent orders for the sale of government gold.
The order was only for a sale of four mil
lions on Saturday, but the rumor immedia.
tely put it at fifteen, to which was added
tho report that thu goyernmentWas actually
in the market as q aeller ut that moment.
Quicker than the price had gone up during
the previous two hours-far quicker than it
had risen at any time during the previous
two days,-it tumbled, five, ten, twenty,
thirty per cent. and by midday the pre-
MUM on gold, which short time before
was 1854, had rushed down to 1872; and fran
tic operators were here and there shouting
that they would sell for 130,-just as short
while before an equally FRANTIC operator had
been offering to buy at LIDO
what he could get for 140 With this
appalling crash-with this utter defeat of
the reckless and desperate bull clique which
had been playing havoc with fortunes and
damaging the public interest for weeks
past, but especially during the last three
days, and still more particularly within the
few hours OF their final supremacy, the
great gold conspiracy eliminated, and the
conspirators lay prone beside their victims,
shattered and demoralized. It was spec
tacle for gods and men-a pitifnl spectacle
for the gods and disgraceful one for hui
man nature. The crowds around brea,hed
freer. Hundreds rushed from the Gold
Room and from the street, Eager to get
away from the heated atmosphere and the
| hot excitement, and anxious to find out
what to do next regarding their losses,
their settlements and their saliva.
ton. "You can have little idea. u
| said keen and apparently imperturbable
operator, show q broker feels in that room
under such circumstances, and how the
whole body OF operators in there felt to-
day. When you consider chat change OF
one per cent. means fortune to him,-an
amount of money of which it is hard to get
an idea-vhen you consider his feelings in
view of this fact and then when you null.
tiply one broker by a hundred or thou.
sand 1.-THE present reporter is not response
bic tor the present phraseology) and con.
slider that this state Of feeling pervades them
all and continues all day. you may form
! some sort Of fancy of the passionate excite.
ment that filed the Gold Room during the
rise and fall, and amid the shouting and
struggling Of such hours as these"
AS We have said, the bull clique were able
TO force many Of the bear party to settle.
ment during the rise. OF the heavy losses
of the clique during the sudden fall, hardly
ANYBODY believed that there would ever be
full payment made. One experienced
broker remarked that .half the street have
failed to. day, and the other half will fail to.
morrow, not" continued he. ''that they
will be announced rs bankrnpts, OF that
their cases will prove total failures, but
they will be forced to make compromises
of some sort, or adjust their losses as best
they can with the other side" - made
$50, 600 on the fall" said q grizzly-faced
to-day rather than run the risks of to.mor.
row." eyes," said very Young bnt very
heavy operator, II made 100000 ia
iifiy, but 1 wonld like to take ten per
cent Of it for my chance OF the whole.
don't suppose will ever get copper OF it,
the parties will turn ont to be all broke. "
my profits were over S76, OOO' said anoth-
or, as he RECALLED himself with oysters,
after the turmoil. ''bnt / have been excited
with fears abont it the last half honr, and
have Just found out that my fears are Ger
tain to be justified" On the other side,
there are parties on the bull side who al
lego that tho leading cliqne operators will
meet their losses, and that their difficulties
Yesterday would disappear, after the ad-
justment at the Gold Clearing House. There
will undoubtedly be thousands Of anxious
brokers and customers in Wall street to day
awaiting the determination and the result
Of the gigantic operations of yesterday. II
Smith, Gould h Marten, Fisk l. Belden,
and other Of the bull concerns settle their
accounts, according to their face, the other
side will escape losses which they have had
reason to fear.
After the break, which occurred about
noon, the price was comparatively steady
for the rest of the day-the range being
1873 81, with but few operators in the room,
the great body OF them having become col.
.lapsed and exhausted, ii not satisfied. with
the operations OF the earlier part Of the
day.
Another reporter says:
In the latter part of the afternoon at the
hour when Wall street is usually given up
| 10 the tender mercies Of janitors and Office
sweepers- the street was crowded, and the
air filed with rumors the like OF which
have not been heard for years past. $50
aud 80 is gone up," ''Did You hear OF
IS failnre?" and other expressions OF
4 o. ,ilor fraotos1 tho oor m, ovnrv,