Connecticut western news., 1884-05-21
NEW YORK IN A PANIC.
TWO BANKS AND SEVEN BROKERS
 FIRMS BREAK.
Other Banks Come to the Rescue nnd the
 Panic Ceuses.

The steady liquidation in corporate securi- ties that has been going on during the last three years became so forced Wednesday as to throw Walt street into panic The events of the day aroused the liveliest interest Ill every transaction in the stock market. and in the welfare of every financial institution and every firm and individual of prominence en- gagged ill monetary transactions.
 Wall street entered upon it's business in the morning with a cloud hanging over it. It was known that the President of the Second Ma tioual Bank, man whose connections at least entitled him to a certain degree of confidence, had appropriated to his own uses several mil lions of the funds entrusted to his care. This development following closely upon the col- lapse of the Marine Bank and the exposure of the methods of Grant X Ward and the far reaching consequences of both, exercised most depressing influence.
 The street had but fairly got to work under these unfortunate circumstances when storm nearly equal in outward violence to that of 1873 broke upon 1t. A few minutes after 10 o'clock the first signal of impending trouble was heraded in the Stock Exchange by the sharp stroke of the Chairman's gavel. Above the half-suppressed din alert ears caught the announcement of the suspension of Nelson Robinson & Co.
 The firm has always been identified with the President of the Metropolitan National Bank, Mr. George l. Seney, the partners being his son-in-law and two of his sons. In an instant the street appreciated the magnitude of the failure and it meant more than the embarrass- ment of the firm.
 The market. which had opened feverish and dropping, now became dcmoralized. Stocks were offered regardless of price. Before the shock of the failure of Robinson & Co had been spent the sound of the Chairman's gavel again echoed ominously over the heads of the brokers. He announced that o. M. Bogart X Company had closed their doors. stampede followed.
 Then through the street like fire over dry prairie shot the news that the Metropolitan Bank had closed its doors. In quick success sion followed the failure of Goffe < Raudle, who were dragged down by John c. Eno's | speculations; Hatch & Foote, large Government l bond and stock brokers, and J. c. Williams. All this happened within an hour and half, | and all that a man could do was to see values l melt before him as he struggled to add mo- | mentum to the current or pick up some drift | from it's surface. Prices dropped with marvel | ous rapidity, and Wall street and it's vicinity could only be compared to the notable Black | Friday. In the afternoon the other city banks | came to the assistance of the Metropolitan, and | the panic ill measure ceased.
 The agreement of banks to stand by eacl other and the absence of any failures of conse quence stiffened Stock Exchange prices Thurs | day. The improvement was general (varyiuG | from to per cent ) and was pretty well sus | tained. despite the blow which 1t got during | the last half hour from the failure of two prom | inent brokers. There was considerable buying for investment account, both at home and iron abroad, and final figures, though irregular an. | feverish, were somewhat better than could bC | expected.
 | The effect upon the European markets of tn, | panic in Wall street was not by any means SC rious. In London American securities were ! bought up largely. Altogether the feeling II England and Germany seems to be that thu worst has passed and that better news may bC i hoped for from America.
 | Early in the morning of Thursday the failure | of A. W. Dimock & Co.,. brokers, wa announced but it had little effect upon the general temper of the financial community. At half-past two | o'clock Fisk X Hatch, the we'll known banker, | and dealers ill government bonds, announced | that they were unable to meet their contracts | The house was regarded as one of the stanches and most conservative ill the city, and the new of it's suspension produced terrible shock. lr an instant the panicky feeling of "Wednesday | was revived, and at tue close Of business there ] was an uneasy feeling.
 | Friday morning opened bright and cheerful | and Wall street, even as late as eight o'clock | had a deserted appearance. At the entranc ! of the Stock Exchange after the opening hou | there was but little excitement. When the an | nouncement was made that Fl. c. Hardy | Son had failed, the excitement became great | Then came the news of the failure of the New | ark Savings Institution, and that receiver haC | been appOlnteQ. The Dank lOSes heaVlly Dy tn | failure of Fisk & Hatch. The liabilities of thu bank are large. The bank was chartered il | 1s47. The president is Daniel Dodd; A. Bishop Ba dwin is vice president, and William D Carter. secretary and treasurer At last re ports the number of depositors was Is, 183 anC the sum deposited S5, ,967, 900.
 On Friday evening there were marked ad
 vances in nearly all the important classes o | s cuIities and the day closed with feeling ot | confidence at the banks, in the streets anC | among business men generally.
 Ferdinand Ward, of the banking house oi | Ward & Grant, testified before Referee Col,
 that none of those who invested i'll his 'certi | ficates" ever bothered themselves about thu
 nature of the government contracts" that ht
 was supposed to, but did not, have. Severa | of his letters showed that even to the last ht
 was, as he expressed 1t, trying to ''borroW
 from Peter to pay Paul"
 The petroleum market was on the verge of
 panic, and that it was saved from genera
 smash is attributed by prominent oil men tC
 the action of the Standard Oil Company anC ! the American Loan and Trust Company iI
 coming to the rescue with all the money de | sired.
 The run on Russell Sage, the famous put aut
 calls man, almost amounted to riot, and very
 large sums of money We're paid out by him.