Connecticut western news., 1873-10-10
Wall Street in a Panic.
The Excitement Over the Suspension of
 Jay Cooke x&5 Go.

The Excitement Over the Suspension of
 Jay Cooke & Go.
 Not since Black Friday has there been so great an excitement in Wall street, as on the announcement of the suspen- sion of Jay Cooke & Go. The IGnoes says:
 It was wild day in Wall street. The announcements in the morning pre- pared the public in certain degree for
 the trouble which was to ensue, and many parties were enabled to go in the market early in the morning and pro- tect themselves from loss. While many did this, and so saved themselves from ruin, there were others, and by far the majority, who thought that the trouble was solely brought about by machina- tlons of the bears, and that there would only be 8 small sized panic, which
 would result in @ sudden rebound in prices. Those who took this view of the situation held on to their invest ments as long as possible, and, so soon as their margins gave out, were com pelled to go under. Of course, there were many who, by superior strength, were enabled to hold on to their pur- chases, and so escaped being sold out, at least for the time.
 The first intimation which came into the Stock Exchange of any change. in the programme was contained in brief notice, which said authoritatively that Jay Cooke & Go. had suspended pay ment. To say that the street became excited would only give feeble view of the expressions of feeling. The brokers stood perfectly thunderstruck for mo- ment, and then there was general run to notify the different houses in Wall street of the failure.
 The brokers surged out of the Ex- change, tumbling pell-men over each other in the general confusion, and reached their respective offices in race horse time. The members of firms who were surprised by this announcement had no time to deliberate. The bear clique was already selling the market down in the Exchange, and prices were declining frightfully.
 Ot course every one gave orders to sell out holdings as quick as possible, in order to obtain the best prices. and in this way when the brokers returned to the Long Room fresh impulse was given to the decline, which brought about fearful panic. There was no one on hand with nerve and money to arrest it either, and so the bear clique. taking advantage of the general demor- alization, made confusion worse con- founded.
 The news of the panic spread in every direction downtown, and hundreds of people who had been carrying stock in expectation of rise, rushed into the offices of their brokers and left orders that their holdings should be immedi- ately sold out. In this way prices fell off so rapidly that even Vanderbilt could not have stemmed the tide.
 The stock exchange has been the arena of many desperate conflicts between bulls and bears, and it is hard to dis criminate as to the violence of the re- spective melees, but it was said by old frequenters of Wall street that no panic so frightful had ensued since the failure of the Ohio Trust Company in 1857 as that witnessed.
 The sellers and purchasers in the Ex- change seemed to have lost their reason in many instances, and shouted out one offer Tn one minute, and then, either completely demoralized or oroversanguine. put the price up or down one or two per cent. At one time there seemed to be no bottom to the market, and if the bears had pressed their advantage, it is likely that stocks would have declined | much lower than was the case.
 Everything went down, and although | It times desperate resistance was offer | ed by the Vanderbilt brokers, no sub- 'tancial check was given to the decline, md the bears had everything their own way. Jay Gould's representatives in 5he Stock Board pressed sales in the most persistent manner, and so soon as | here was any cessation in the excite nent, or the slightest reaction in the market, they were ready to sell large blocks of stocks and to put up the ne | ,essary margins.
 Vanderbilt had immense quantities of | stocks; Gould had millions of ready cash. Greenbacks told, and the Van | 1erbilt clique was pressed to the wall. Men went about the street with blanch- ed faces, and requested piteously of their brokers that their stocks should not be sold out as more margin would be obtained in the morning; but self preservation seemed to be the,frst law of | nature with every one, so the accounts of the customers were closed out, and 5he losses became fixed fact.
 Some of the men who were ruined 'wore, some of them wept, some went put of the street without saying a word; others talked of the trouble in 8 ioyial way, and went about trying to borrow money from friends to get on the short ack with.