The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-09-30
IA BIG EXCITEMENT in THE GOLD MARKET

|
scenes i'll Wall street that have been seen
| there since the war c.osed A financial storm
| burst which IN violence and destructive effects
| equalled the recent hurricane that swept our
| poverty i'll an hour Old firms, supposed to
be well founded financially, went to wreck
and the principals went mad
The causes and schemes which worked the
hidden machinery Of the panic cannot be laid
open TO the public view, because they are
known to a few shrewd men only. But they
are made up OF stock specuIations. gold ''cor-
ncrs, the desire to be enormously rich, and u
chcrishng Of the sin of covclousness. An
idea of the scenes and excitement may be
gathered from the following extract from the
dispatches OF Friday, Our readers will I'M
dcrstand that in stock transactions Il s'bull'
is one who seeks to raise the prices Of gold on
stocks. while Il '.bcar' cndcavors to pull them
down
The scenes and incidents of the morning
are almost indescribable and must ever re-
main fresh in the minds of those who witness
ed them. The public We're prepared for an
exciting time. At an early hour New street
was completely blocked up with anxious
crowds the windows of buildings opposite the
Gold room were also filled with spectators,
and a casual observer would be led to sup
pose from the general appearance that u pro-
cesslOn was about to pass, or that {; great
performance of some kind was expected.
The room itself and its galleries were crowd
ed, as well as all the passage ways.
The market finally opened and gold sold at
As. This was the first event in the history
Of this remarkable day in Wall street, The
next sale was at A 1-2 then | 45 was again
reached. At this juncture the cxcitment fair
ly commenced and the prices rose to 49,
then to 48, when ii suddenly fell back to
AZ - but in the next instant was up to
80 II. The next step was a decline to 80
where it remained some time. and everybody
stopped to take breath and the crowd Were
amazed. A death-like stiffness pervaded the
rooms and the bears who We're being slaugh-
tered lrightfully in pecuniary point of view,
looked on the scene with pale and anxious
faces. At this crisis Wall and Broad streets pre-
scented Il lively scene with brokers and clerks
running in all directions and cndeavoring to
collect margins to make gold up to market
price.
But to return to the interior of the room
and await the next stepin this great gold spccu-
lation. The crowd did not have long to wait
for in rushed prominent banker and taking
n position in the circle he bid so, and kept
bidding till he reached | 50 but not dollar
could he obtain, There was another panic
and another running for margins. Some few
OF the bears settled with the bulls at this iunc-
ture, at prices ranging from AZ to | -.
But prominent bears generally refused TO set
tie.
As soon rs margins were made up to $50,
and the big bears We're still stubborn, the
screws were put to the market once more.
In rushed a prominent broker and in an n-
slant he bid 100 for any part of five million.
This was followed by the bidding price being
raised to 1862 ID and finally it reached 1874.
Here followed another calm, which was
succeeded. by the appearance in the room of
foreign bankers who threw considerable gold
in the market, causing the price to break
from l64 to 139 49, The excitement at this
juncture was of the widest description, it be-
ing reported that Secretary Boutwell, would
sell four millions gold tomorrow and four
millions next day. This was not of long du-
ration, for the bulls rushed madly to the res
cue and Immediately jumped the price up
again to 100.
At this juncturc the bears returned to the
attack and the contest was very bitter for
short time, but the bull army was forced back
to 1876. The bear fraternity could not be re-
strained. At this point cheer after cheer went
up in the room in New Street. Suddenly the
bull generals rallied their forces and up went
the price, and cheers were soon on the other
side of the house. The excitement was so
high that some Of the bears threatened to
shoot the leading brokers on the bull side.
One of these brokers then stepped forward
and dared any one to shoot him. None of
the bears accepted the invitation however,
and this excitement had scearcely died out
before in rushed the bears once more Anoth-
cr attack was made on the market, and down
went the price to l34.