The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-04-12


needless to remark that the day was one
of wild excitement The telegraph in
dicator which is used in the larger Offices
to record, instantaneously, the fuctuat-
tions in the Gold Room, ceased to be Of
any use. 1t worked fraction at time,
and took so long to indicate an advance
Of one per cent, that, though it was in
cessanty in motion, il was never right
Gold was jumping about two or three per
cent, minute. The Gold Room was
thronged. Every importing merchant
was vitally interested in the movement !;
no one could sit still in his counting house
Each entrance to the gold room was
blocked with masses Of excited angry
men it needed some perseverance and
some muscle to work ones way through
the press. On the brokers faces every
variety of expression was depicted. Here
was jubilant group, evidently people
who had expected to be ruined by the ad-
vance of gold, and who were now saved
by its precipitate fall; and here were
knights Of rueful countenancc, people
who had been frightened and had bought
at the rise. Among the older and more
experienced brokers grave apprehensions
for the future were mingled with indigna-
ton at the infamous conspiracy 1t was
already evident that the crisis must lead
to numerous failures, and for very large
amounts no one could tell, in fact,
where the catastrophe would end
Some of the incidents of the day were
dramatic 4 keen Scotchman, who had
not the reputation Of being much of n
speculator, sold, for himself or some one
else, seven millions of gold at 100 to
Speyers. When Smith, Gould, Martin,
and Co.'S brokers began to sell at 140,
this Scotchman thought he would realize
the profits He began 10 buy, and
boug ght all the way down from l4O to
1876, completing his purchase of seven
millions at the latter figure. He had
thus made, OH paper, about two million
dollars profit on his operation in the course
of an hour Just as he bought in his
last million il seems TO have occurred to
him that there might be some hitch about
his sales. He hastencd to Speyers, and
demanded that n deposit be made in the
Trust Company, TO insure the fulillment
of his bargain. Speyers introduced him
to his principals, Fisk and Gould, who
merely laughed at him. They never in
tended to take his gold. And the poor
man, who had fancied he saw profit of
two millions on the operations of the
morning, was utterly ruined by the pur.
chases he had made between 1876 and
140, and was promptly ruled ont Of the
Gold Room.
1t has been said that the government
broke the corner by selling five millions
of gold. Nothing of the kind in the case.
The corner collapsed Of necessity from
the instant the shorts went - in n rush "
to Smith, Could and Martins office to
settle 1t is quite likely that the gov.
ernmcnt sale induced Smith to reduce his
limits on his own guild. But If the gov.
crnmcnt had not sold dollar the result
would have been the same.
1t was between twelve and one that a
lively demand for margins precipitatcd
the final collapse Speyers and Baden
were called upon by the parties who had
sold them gold for very large amounts of
money to insure the ful6llment of their
contracts. Belden hastend to confer
with Fisk and Gould at Heath's Office
A person who was with him tells the story
rather picturesquely.
- waited outside while Mr.. Belden
went in. walked up and down the al
ley-way, waiting for him to come out
Deputy sheriffs, or men appearing to be
such, began to arrive and to mount guard
at lleath's Office to keep out visitors
After waiting prodigious long time, as
it seemed to me, Jay Gould came creep
ing out of the back.door, and looking
round sharply to see if he were watched
skunk off through private rear passage
behind the buildings. Presently out came
Fisk, steaming hot, and shouting. lie
took the wrong direction at first, and
nearly ran into Bond Street, but saw his
error, and followed Gould through the
rear passage. Then came Belden. with
hair disordered and red eyes, as if he had
been crying he called, Which way have
they gone" and upon my pointing the
direction, he ran after them. The rear
passage led into Wall Street. At its exit
the conspirators jumped into carriage,
and fed the street.
In the meantime all Was confusion at
the Gold Exchange Bank This institu-
|, ton is the clearinghouse lor the gold
brokers. 1t was established some two or
three years ago, in order to avoid the risk
Of transporting coin or coin notes through
the street from Office 10 office. Every
broker makes statement of his ,ransac-
tions to the bank; and if Le has bought
more gold than he has sold, furnishes the
bank with the currency to pay for it; if
ho has sold more than he has bought, he
furnishes the gold. The system works
perfectly 50 long a- every dealer is able
to fulfill his contracts But large fail
ure disturbs everything; the statement
of every one who has dealt with the par.
ty who fails is necessarily thrown out and
these again affect the statements ofothers
On this Friday ten large dealers were
known to have failed, and consequently
there was hardly statement that did not
require alteration After struggling with
chaos for some time the bank directors
gave it up, and declared that they could
not OBJECT clearance.-JoHN BoNsER, in
Harper's Magazine for April
VERMoNr HIsToRIcAL SocIEry.--Ai
the annual meeting of the Vermont His.
: torical Society held in October last, al
Montpelier, ii was voted to publish, within
the present year,a volume of the Society 4
proceedings and papers with complete
list of its members. For this purpose
,, the Society is in need of all arrears due
from its members and will be glad tC
receive the amount at once. Ii is gener.
ously proposed to furnish the forthcoming
volume gratis 10 all members who are