Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-07-10
RIOT AND PANIC.
Fifteen Minutes Personal Experience
in the Hob of 'es.
Jim Fisk in Wall street During the
Celebrated ssBIack Friday''-
The Calm Behind the
Scenes.
foe Howard in Boston Herald. !

l. fJoe Howard in Boston Herald.
recall three times Of popular excitement
in this city, yes, four. The panic Of 1857,
when all the banks suspended, Black Friday,
when Jay Gould and Jim Fisk and the
Grants and the Corbins were, what is
vaguely called sin trouble" the riots of 1868
and this latest rumpus. In 1851 l wasn't
IS competent to judge as l am now,
but l recall very wildly the merchants
rushing to and fro, the barrica1i ling Of the
banks. and the paie-visaged men who beat
vainly against the iron shutters. think it
was about that time that Nathaniel p
Banks, in many respects the best out-of-
door spesker l ever listened to, addressed
merchants from the steps OF what is now the
the custom house, then called Che merchants
exchange He made great impression upon
me at the time, and thought he certainly
was TO be one OF the great men Of the nation.
l don't exactly know why he isn't.
THE RIOTS OF 1863.
But to return TO the popular demonstra-
tions. The riots of 1868 naturally made a
great impression upon my mind, because l
was a sufferer at the hands Of a mob aud l
recall with absolute vividness at this time
now 81 years later-tbe expressions upon
their countcnances what they said how they
acted, the way was first attacked how
felt while being beaten, and now / acted
wh.n came to, covered with blood, hat
gone, watch, chain, pocketbook and breast
pin stolen. l was left for dead upon the
street, where had been pulled and pushed
and kicked and beaten for ten or fifteen min
utes and where doubtless, the cheerful work
Of death would have been accomplished had
not some friendly sons Of st. Patrick set fire
to a brownstone house block or two away,
whittier the Infatuated crowd rushed
with the same zeal as they had rushed at me,
because had innocently stepped between
crowd OF roughs and an inoffensve old man,
who WIS powerless to help himself You
see, the men ! saw on the street in 81 were
merchants clerks, brokers, men Of affairs.
well dressed, but pale and intensely eager in
their curiosity and in their desire to partici-
pate in whatever was going on. This crowd
in '63 was the lowest Of the low, poor, un-
kempt, dirty, pipe smoking, with soiled gar
ments, and dirty hands, and filthy Language,
and violent actions; in other words, great.
coarse brutes, intent upon pillage and disaS-
ter. Whewl / never shall forget them;
they looked like SO many wolves, each eager
for something to satisfy his appetite, what
ever that particular app elite might he for
the moment E2
jim FISK ON BLACK FRIDAY.
The crowds in Wall street aud in its
vicinity, on the celebrated Black Friday,
when Jim Fisk rode down town in his high
falutin coach, with women by his side, and
four horses dragging him in triumph through
the Streets were very large. There We're not
only the bankers and brokers and merchants
and men of affairs but there were also men
who had made up their minds that this thing
had gone far enough, and that something
must be done and should be done There
were not alone the spectators who make
Wall street their home, and the respectable
merchants who deal in that vicinity, but
there were men who had been iured there by
promises OF "big interests on small invest
nients," men who had seen their little
all expand and expand AMI expand,
until they had begun 'to believe in the
golden yields of the bubble, when
suddenly it burst. These men were there for
revenge, and they meant I, have it, and it
would have been very cold day if, after
once reaching Wall street, Fisk had made
his appearance in public. This crowd on
"Wednesday was a curious crowd. | re-
MA Ike ! to friend who walked with me-
~Why, this crowd doesn't look rs though it
cared for panic. doh't see person here
who looks as though he had 81 10 his name
let alone a bank account of any amount"
went into the Adams Express company,
where found Mr. Dinsmore, the president
Mr.. John Hoey, Mr.. Clarence Seward, and
several other gentlemen chatting pleasantly
about the opera, the coming races and some
big sales Of real estate that had been made.
Now and then boy would come in and re-
port another bank gone, another firm failed,
but beyond the exclamation OF "too bad, Il
am sorry" 81 feared that something of that
sort would happen" no special attention was
paid.
on THE STREET.
went into n number of banking houses
and found them all cool, collected AMI calm,
a little worried about this customer or that
perhaps, but conscious of recttude, they
pressed the nose OF curiosity upon the pane Of
observation and took the whole scene in.
Who. then, you say, were these people upon
the street, Well, l declare don't know In
the first place, believe every thief in town
was there; certainly, all the detectives l
know of were on guard. There were an i'm
mense number Of half-grown boys, smoking
their filthy cigarettes, expectorating their
almost as filthy tobacco juice, great many
women, any number OF country looking
people Every bulletin board was surrounded,
and people would stand with mouths open
for hours looking at the closed shutters
of bank, Of whose very existence the day be-
fore they were entirely ignorant Messenger
boys. peddlers, lads selling extras, yelling
their very heads Off with vociferations, peo-
pie who looked like drivers-so strange and
odd indeed were the crowds, that people who
were in the habit Of going up and down Wall
street looked at them with apprehension, and
wondered what they wanted; they had no
interest, obviously, in the banks certainly
no money in them, and they presented a
curious phase of New York society For
tunes were made, fortunes were lost that
day but have come t. the conclusion that
fortunes made with the turn OF the hands
upon n clock, in an hours time, are much
more likely TO be dissipated or frittered away
or lost than those which have more toll
some coming together. Each crowd has it,
individual aspect, and is unique and pc
culiar rs the entities Of which it is composed
Queer, isn't it, We had tough time but it
might have been worse!