The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-06-26
BLACK WEDNESDAY.
TIE CROCK IsL4ND'' PANIC IN
WALL STREET.
Details ofthe Smash Up-Almost Another
"Black Frfday'-Losses Confined to
Professional Observation-Disclosures
IF the VictIms-Details Of the Crash,
Ec

eQu0lleu lnaC OF the celeDraGeQ 'BlaCk friday
IN which Messrs. Fisk and Gould figured with
such unpleasing prominence. One Of The most
gigantic speculations which has been entered
into for some time, burst like a sky-rocket,. and
was the more disastrous in its results that It's
break up was looked for in an entirely .oppe site
direction. u One feature of the crash Is the lin
itation Of the disaster to. the cllques and their
tools. The game was all thears, and 80 are its
losses. Seldom, indeed, have the confding
public been so little involved in o Wall street
smashHp. Usually they are the victims-the
sheep shorn by the spectators shears. But
the professional thimble-riggers OF the stock
market have in this instance been caught in
their own wiles. The following is a sketch of
the a%nteeedent history of the speculation and
the details of the explosion, from the Tribune /:
About Inc LIST of April a combination was
formed to force up the price Of Rock Island
stock and get a corner on the bears. The.
principal men in the clique were VIM. s.
Woodward and John F. Tracey, the president
ofthe railroad. Starting from the price of
III, they gradually bought up Rock Island
stock, till yesterday morning it sold at 100.
The capital stock of the company amounts to
ST., 900, 600, In 10000 shares of 500 each. On
Tuesday afternoon Mr.. Woodward had all his
arrangements completed for making an enor-
nous sum of money. he and his clique had
actually bougbt,273 600 ~shares-l03 more than
have ever beef Issued. Had all gone right,
the dealers who have sold ''shortn would have
been at their mercy, and would have been
compelled to submit to any terms they chose
to offer. But there is ''many a slip tween the
cup and the lip" as Mr Woodward dound.to.
his cost. All day Tuesday he had taken every
share that was offered, and toward the after
noon he became a little suspicious OF the sci.
lers. He was under engagement to put up q
large amour Of margin the following Thurs
day morning. The clique were to furnish
Tuesday evenin. n company with his broker,
Scott & Strong, {. Broad street, he visited
some Of the leaders of the clique, when he
found, to his horror and amazement, thet the
$l,000,000 would not be forthcoming In the
morning. There was no help for It; the bub-
BILE must burst.
So little was this result anticipated, that at
the. opening of the exchange Wednesday;
m0Ening Rock Island stock was quoted 1904.
As soon as. the trouble was known a scene of
indescribable confusion ensued. Inevitable
ruin stared dozens Of men IN the face, many
others had to- contemplate heavy losses and to
get out of the mess as best they could. The
shouting, yelling and rushing about was more
characteristic of lunatics than of staid business
men. One man alone seemed cool and collect
ed-Mr. WheelOck, the vice-president OF the.
stock exchange. Pressed as he was on all.
sldes-men calling and shouting to him, mes
sengers bringing him notes and kilograms
every minute-he never for an instant lost his
nerve. His self:control and behavior through
out the trying scene were the general theme
OF commentator. Soon afterrthe board was
called, several members officially informed.the
yice-president that they must fail, and desired
that their stock might be. sold outrunder the
sale Iko,t 60 mn nm nf ct0nt- pC0o c01h nOf
In this way, lowering the market price rom
1904 to@H0fn1eSs IMAM Two hours.
None of the dealers, exclusive OF Mr..
Woodward, were publicly announced as failed,
and even he, 1t Is claimed, has virtually failed,
tor one of the firms, already declared failed,
informed the vice-presldent: that they were
unable to fulfil their engagements IN conse-
quence Of this default. The failures already.
officially made public include Robert Waller,
Henry A.. Dennison, James Austin, Dater d
Timpson, J.. W. Gillespie, Earle d SalstoustaL,
W. A. Bowron, W. E. Tunis & Co. and A. &.
Wood. More failures are anticipated to-day.
Scott l. Strong, Mr.. Woodward's brokers, are,
fortunately, not affected by the catastrophe.
Much sympathy Is expressed for MIR. Wood
ward, who, It is asserted, was thrown overly
one or more of his associates, who were to
have advanced him the ST. 900 yesterday
morning. It Is even boldly asserted that they
had privately sold short large Q OF
LuS Y6Iy BLUM WuiCa' uC odPHSoSt ~ "eo
buying on their Joint account.
Me general market was not 30 much affect
ed by the collapse in the Rock Island pool as
might have been expected. With the eXcep-
ton Of Northwestern Common, which TELL hVe
per cent. on the report that some OF the failed
firms were interested init, the average lallan
stocks did not exceed .la per cent: Thereswas
much anxiety as to the probable course OF
events to-day, some of the prominent dealers
expressing great distrust as to the reality -ofi
the strength OF the market, and asserting that
the mischief waS far from over This is not,
the first occasion on which Mr.. Woodward has
been in trouble, but he paid all his debts with,
him popular among his fellow-brokers.
The areas OF the ~Filh-Avenue Hotel, the ia
yorite evening resort; of many brokers, were
thronged early Wednesday night. On every
side were groups of brokers theorizlng as to
the causes of the break In the Rock Island
corner" and reciting circumstances which
had come within the observation OF each In
connection with the whole affair. Among
them were many veterans of Wall street whose
faces are rarely seen at this resort. There was
q marked contrast between the expressions OF
these foxy elders and those Of the glib and ex-
cited younger brokers. The latter dlsconrseo
of Woodward's bold attempt as something
nearly accomplished. and, with evident admi-
ration, seemed to Wish that 1t had succeeded.
The others, however, shook their heads, de-
scantedi on the folies OF such reckless specula
ton, and curbed the more sangutne theorists
who dwelt with interest on what might have
been done by the ''pool," if-and II: 1t was
said by some that the true secret OF failure was
that Woodward had .Iost his head' at the criti-
cal moment, Just as he had on Q similar pre-
yious occasion. Others said, sThis Is the re-
yenge of Gould and Fiek-Woodward went back
on them IN the Black Friday business. Will
lard, Bach & Martin are successors OF the Old
f1n of Smith, Gould & Martin. with William
NJ. Tweed, Jay Gould and Henry NJ. Smith as
specIal partners. When Woodward faltered,
yesterday morning, this firm rushed IN and
glutted itself with revenge, depressing the
stock until he was ruined" 1t happens that
the brokers who are now crushed IN wood
wards overthrow are, almost without excep-
ton, those who failed under his lead on black
Friday. They managed to recover their places
by paving 10 to 80 per cent. on their obliga
tions, and, 1t Is understood, will now repeat
the operation. Woodward, Is Ia said, stopped
PAYMENT, az q matter of course, long before
he had seriously impaired his capital, which
has been known to be large, and Will Without
much delay effect a settlement with his credit
ors, and be prepare again for large specuia-
tons. The victims who really suffer most oy
the transaction appear to be the outsiders
who rashly ventnred among unknown ocRs
and onicksands. ~ j-. -
IJninnmerous cases men who had, as they
believed, won fortunes by selling Rock Island
- IN