Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-09-30
TIN. Gold Excitement.

ne readers VI AohbuAuoy . AAhAsAADt "~-~
examined the telegraphic columns saw that
great excitement prevailed in Wall street
the day before and the "Bull clique
boosted of having made $11, OOO,OOO by
the operation.
It NAV not be amiss to explain briefly
the meaning of the terms bulls and
"Bears," names applied to the two classes
of men who operate in Wall street, and
by their operations more or less affect
the price of gold and stocks.
The ..bulls" are men who hold gold OF
stocks and want to "toss up" the price
The "bears" wish to purchase and do ali
they can to "draw down" the price: or, thu
bulls are men who have bonght gold OF
stocks with the contract that they are te
be delivered at a future time; for instance
when a man buys gold at 1876 to be de.
livered in ten days, and in the mean time
tries to raise the price by offering more and
establishes the price at 14O he is sue
cessful "bull."
But, should the man who sold .gold al
1875, with others reduce the premium to
100 he would be successful "bear," and
the "bull" who bought would be unsuc.
cessful. And the same is true of stocks
There is continued struggle going on be
tween "bulls" and "bears" The man tina,
is a "bear" to-day and buys stocks will b.
"bulr tomorrow, and remain 80 till hi
stocks are sold, unless he should want t
make other purchases of the same stocks
in which case he will try for time t.
reduce the market value of his own stocks
1t is in this way that Vanderbilt, Fisk
Gould, and others have operated anc
made their money.
On Friday, the contest between tn
"bears" and "bulls" was fierce, and tn,
rise and fall of gold and stocks wer,
greater than has been witnessed since the
"bulls" on gold were victorious. Colo
went up from 1872 at o'clock to $50 al
10 o'clock At II o'clock it was quoted
at 1861 and ten minutes later it was re.
corded at 1921. The greatest excitemen,
prevailed, and many made bids at two
three and five per cent. higher than the
same was being sold for at the time of the
bide.
About this time a rumor reached the
Board that Secretary Boutwell, had order
ed the sale of $15,000O0 of gold. Their
suddenly there came a change over the
spirit OF their dreams; up to this time
the bulls were triutn plant; and had the
government finances been crippled as they
were during the war, it is probable tina;
gold wouldshave run as high as 1.75 OF
900
Ranors of war with Spain, and other
equally groundess ones, were put in cir
culation to help along the upward move
ment of,gold.
But with the. speed Of lightning tie
bears sent word to the Secretary Of
the Treasury the condition of things in
Wall St, and the return message brought
AN order for the Assistant Treasurer But
tcrfeld to sell $4006,000 in gold. This
Sour millions WAS magnifed by rumor in.
to fifteen millions, greater pile than the
combined clique of bulis il New York
could carry, and in less time than 1t had
been rising, it FIJI from 1921 down to
i.35. Great Efforts were made to keep up
the price, and it is said that when the
quotation was l.35. actually, although re-
corded at IS, prominent operator bid
LOO for 81, 900, 000. and bought it. From
the hoursnt which gold reached 1.35 it
maintained comparative steadiuess, rising
first to ,36. aud gain falling IF to 1873,
which was the quotation at y p NJ.
In the latter part of the atternoon-at
the hour when Wall street is usually
given mp to The tender mcrcies of janitors
and office pers--tlre street was crowd
ed, and the air filled with rumors the like
of which have not been heard for ye-rs
past. $50 and so Is gone up" did you
hear of -, failure = and other express
sions of similar import greeted the ear on
every sile. The door of Messrs. Smith,
Could, NJ rtin & Co WIS besieged by
lr-e crS09 quiet and orderly, but yet
ripe for almost anything. Murmurs of
disron'ent were loud and deep. Owing
80 some difficulty with the Gold Exchange
Blnll, where the firm was represented to
have some Sl5,000000, it was said it
would be unable t. meet the demands
upon il, but this idea WAS secuted by
mauy,who plainly Unlimited that the firm
would never pay.
II was feared by many that the excite
ment would eliminate III riot, and it is
said that the A1jutant General of the
State ordered that two Brooklyn regi-
monts be kept in readiness to move on
Wall street in case they were needed.
The bidders were greatly excited, and
from the n. Y. Times we learn that one
of the the great brokers, Mr.. Albert Spey-
err lost control of himself, and appeared
like a crazy man
AT the regular Stock Board he rose in his place
and said, 81 understand threats have been made
OF shooting me. L am ready to be shot," This
was at a time OF considerable excitement in
stocks, and the old gentleman was Kissed until he
retired from the Board During the morning he
entered the Gold Room, and at once commenced
to bid wildly forlarge amounts at rates greatly in
advance of the market Finally when the down.
ward course of the market was assured, he inter-
posed his feeble weight to stem the tide, bidding
l6O tor god whenit could have been had for 1856.
Later in the day he announced that he would not
be able to keep his contracts, his customers for
whom he had bought withouta margin, trusting
that they would make him good, had refused to
their losses, and he was therefore forced to
Tepudiute his bargains. These customers, he
said, were James Fisk, jr., and William P. Bel
den. This announcement created much surprise
and no little Indignation.
At the Stock Board the bears were in
the ascendency. Stocks dropped as rapid
ly as gold had risen. Railroad stocks
were the most easily affected, and of these
the New YORK. Central took tho Load bav-