Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-09-09
The " Run" on the Bank of California,

1t was not until one p. m. that the
officials Of the institution became much
alarmed. About that hour several checks
for 100000 or 100000, or similar
amounts, came to be cashed from deposi-
tors not usually disturbed by rumOrs of
financial trouble. All these were paid
without murmur, but they kept on in
creasing. The scattering drops became a
quiet patter, and the patter became heavy
shower. By two o'clock the steady with
drawal of funds had quickened into a
run" which attracted attention and drew
a crowd Of spectators about the doors. The
news ran along the street like a prairie
IRE, causing the greatest cOmmOtion
among brokers and operators, who rushed
toward the center Of interest, some with
bank-books in their hands, others simply
inspired with desire to join in the ex-
element. As the news spread to the
adjoining streets, and into the quarter of
the city devoted to heavy business,
it aroused everywhere the same attention.
Stores and workshops were emptied
of their occupants, either to see the excite
ment or to enable a withdrawal of deposits
before the hour for closing the bank,
which was now at hand. The people thus
led by curiosity or interest streamed from
all quarters toward the corner of California
and Sansome Streets filling the space in
that locality for square in every direc-
ton. At half-past two the excitement cul-
minated in a scene OF extraordinary inter
est, which could be taken in at glance
from an elevated position The streets
were thronged as far as the eve could
reach, the crowd being quiet in certain
places, in others alive with motion The
steps of all banks and offices were packed
with spectators. A pale face was seen at
every pane of every window. Wild men
were rushing in all directions, papers fiut-
tering in their hands, and among them the
inevitable bank-boo Pale women, with
disordered hair and dresses began to ap-
pear, giving the scene a little variety of
color, and striving vainly to reach the mar
row entrance at the door of the Bank Of
California, besieged with crowding, strug-
Cling, obstreperous, white-f faced men.
The scene at the bank-door was so wild,
eager, confused and tumultuous that it
can be but imperfectly described. Po-
licemen, in uniforms and without, were
scattered about in all available places to
keep the crowd in the best order possible
under the circumstances. The great iron
door was closed, and through the little
narrow door IN the center, like the en-
trance to prison cell, the panic-stricken
deposltors crowded, pressing their way
between serried ranks of ragged, moneyless
spectators, to whom the failure of all the
banks in the world would not have been a
matter Of the slightest consequence An
effort was made to keep out those having
no business inside, but it was only par
TALLY successful. Those who came for
deposits were largely brokers' clerks and
the representatives Of business men in the
lower part of the city.
The scene inside the bank was even
more intensely exciting than that outside.
A crowd lined the counters from end to
end, nervously showing checks under the
noses OF tellers, who glanced at them and
as their only answer, showed over to the
excited men who brought them little piles
Of gold or great piles and boxes of silver
Every teller had white, scared look, and
the book-keepers and the faces Of clerks,
seen at the distant desks, looked ghastly as
snow-drifts in the moonlight. Now and
then bank trustee was seen fitting about
i'll 4 CHASTITY way, disappearing IN the di
rectiOn of the rooms belonging to the
officers. The Old Chinese clerk, who
must have been contemporary with Con-
fucius, sat on q high stool, gazing wisely
through his spectacles, which are large
as watch-crystals, at the halfcrazed crowd
pressing forward for their money
Great piles of gold and silver coin
glisten6d on shelves just beyond the reach
of those so vOciferously demanding it. The
clink Of coin fairly drowned the din that
came from the thronged street through the
narrow entrance. The crowd increased
rapidly from two o'clock until ha1f-past
two, when there was scarcely room for
them at the counters. Then the manage
ment decided to stop payment, and so tel
egraphed to their Eastern correspondents
At 2 :35 the little door swung to in the
faces of several anxious depositors. An
effort was made from without to push it
open, but the policemen with strong arms
showed it to and drew the heavy iron bolts,
forbidding further ingress. Then the
crowd began beating a fierce tattoo, to
which the tellers and clerks who stood still
in their places listened with faint smile
of satisfaction and deep-drawn sigh OF
relief. But the mission of the great Bank
of California was ended.
+ After the bank had closed its doors a
woman, having evidently crossed the Ru-
bicon, but CHASTITY with paint and rouge,
vainly endeayored to climb into the bank
through a closed window, declaring she
would have her money, every cent Of it,
CALLS, in Amador, he'd see that her hard
earned savings wasn't stolen, you betyOur
life he would. Only desisting after find
ing that entrance was entirely out OF the
question, the frantic woman departed,
wringing her hands and protesting amid
torrents of tears that never again, no,
never! would she put ermoneyin strange
folks hands to keep for her as long as
there was spade to dig hole in the
ground with to bury it. There! And so
,he perturbed female departed and was
lost to view from California street.
While the run was at its height an old
Californian, having the highest faith III
the Bank Of California, struggled vainly
for entrance, declaring that he had $4,000
which he would deposit if the crowd
would open its ranks and allow him ad-
mission. But the throng, drunk with eX-
citement and alarm, paid no attention to
tue protesting individual, who struggled
and shouted until he was exhausted ana
specifies, when he strobe away breathing
husky anathemas upon the "plaguy cow
ards who thought the bank was go ing to
bust!''-San Francisco Chronicle, aug. q.