Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-09-09
The Closing Day Of the Bank or Cal.
ilOrnia.

alarmed. About that hour several checks
for 100000 or 100000, or similar
amounts, came to be cashed from deposit
tors not usually disturbed by rumors of
financial trouble. All these were paid
without a murmur, but they kept on in
creaslng The scattering drops became d
| quiet palter, 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 prairie
fire, 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 a desire to join in the eX-
citement 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 empticd
OF their occupants, either to see the excite
ment or to enable 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
| "
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 eye 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 tiut-
tering in their hands, and among them the
| inevitable bank book. Pale women, with
disordered hair and dresses, began to ap-
| pear, giving the scene 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 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
depositors 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.
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 CHASTITY as
snOw-drifts in the moonlight. Now and
then a bank trustee was seen fitting about
in CHASTITY way, disappearing IN the di-
rection of the rooms belonging to the
officers The old Chinese clerk whs
must have been contemporary with Con-
fucius, sat on high stool, gazing wisely
through his spectacles, which are large
as watch-crystals, at the half-craZed crowd
pressing forward for their money.
Great piles of gold and silver coin
glistened on shelves Just beyond the reach
of those so vociterovsly demanding it. The
clink of coin fairly drowned the din that
came from the thron red street through the
narrow entrance. The crowd increased
rapidly from two O'Clock until halfpast
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 ? 80 the little door swung to in the
faces of several anxious depositors An
effort was made from without to push 1t
open, but the policemen with strong arms
showed it to and drew the heavy iron bolts,
forbdding further ingress. Then the
crowd began beating fierce tattoo. to
which the telers and clerks who stood still
in their places listened with faint smile
of satisfaction and a 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 endeavored to climb into the bank
through a closed window, declaring she
would have her money, every cent of II,
and ii her John wasn't out 10 Sister Abb
gals, in Amador, he'd see that her hard
earned savings wasn't stolen, you betyOur
life he would. Only deSisting after lind
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,
neverl would she put hermoney in 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
the pe2tmbed female departed and was
lost 10 view from California street
n. IL, 49,, ,,-,- no; crIt old