St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-12-25
ALMOST A PANIC.

which the Bulls Get Badly Fioored-onc
! Prominent Firm Gives Way to the Pres
sure-Harious Opinions and Comments.
| New YORK Dec 16-Wall street barely
! escaped a general financial panic yester-
| day 1t was day Of unusual excitement,
| which, in the morning hours, threatened
| to end in the collapse Of many banking
| firms and banks. RumOrs Of disaster fol
! lowed close on one another, and the days
of the memorable panic of May. 1883, when
Grant q Ward, the Marine Bank and other
supposed solid firms and banks went under
in the general failure, were recalled
| There was, in fact, but one complete IAN
ure on the floor of the Stock Exchange.
and that was of firm, which for nearly
twenty years has stood the brunt OF every
financial crisis. When this suspension
was announced in the stock board, it
was quickly followed By reports OF
other like brushes. and 1t
is difficult to describe the scene
witnessed from the spectators gallery
of brokers nearly frantic from the
increased excitement and strain. Nc
more failures came, however, although
there were several individuals and firms
which barely saved themselves. At ter
o'clock the floor of the Stock Exchange
the rush of business that brokers were
unable to attend TO the wants Of their Gus
toners. and the official reporters of the
exchange found it extremely difficult to
record the quotations as they were made.
There was no reaction from the depres
sion Of the previous day, but The market
prices were taken exactly whore they had
been left, and We're pounded steadily.
1t was q few minutes after eleven
O'Clock when the announcement was made
that l.. Marx q Co, 81 Exchange place
We're unable to meet their liabilities. Lud-
wig Marx is the sole member Of the firm.
and has been doing business under the
above title for years. His firm has always
done Il safe business, and has been known
as one Of the most reliable houses in the
street. His liabilities aggregate in the
neighborhood OF 100000. He settled his
liabilities in the Exchange, and his pres
emf indebtedness is TO outsiders
The announcement Of the failures, added
to the excitement, and rumCrS Of other
suspensions were numerous. Il was said.
indeed, that prominent ha1I was in
volved, and was likely to break at any
moment. This rumOr was denied at the
Clearing nouse later IN the afternoon. 1t
was said there that the half-Dast one
o'clock settlement of the banks showed no
indication Of weakness in q single one.
and that all the bank balances were salts
factory. Even those institutions which
were essentially brokers' banks, and
would be most likely to succurb in a fnan-
cial crisis, We're sound beyond a doubt.
The next incident of the day, which
served to increase the excitement, was the
sale under the rule OF 900 shares of stock
to the account Of Broker J. Rhinelander
Dillon. Mr.. Dillon is the representative
Of the Boston house of Clark, Ward & Co,
at No 50 Broadway. Mr.. Dillon said that
the sale Of the 900 shares. which included
100 shares of Reading and 200 Of Louisville
& Nashville, was due TO q mistake. He
said that he had bought the above shares
from Boston parties and that as he was
not on hand at 2:l0 p. III. to accept the de-
livery of them, the Boston people became
frightened and sold him out. He settled
his Indebtedness satisfactorily and avoided
suspension.
Between the hours of two and three
O'Clock the transactions amounted to 49,
coo shares. showing a total of the days
business of 1,106,0O0 shares, by far tha
largest amount Of business ever done in
the history Of the exchange. The largest
coo shares.
There were two theories expressed
among Wall street men as to the cause Of
the recent break in the stock market. One
was that there had been SO much wildcat
speculation that prices had been put up
to an unhealthy figure, and that this break
was the natural reaction The other
theory advanced was that it was the direct
result of an onslaught of bears, headed
by Gould and Addison Cammack
In speaking of the matter to-day Henry
Clews says: "The seL-i-panic was caused
by the stringent state of the money mar
llet, and by Jay Gould. 1t has been no
surprise to me, as I forcsaw the state of
affairs some days since.n
Mr. Jesse Seligman said: 1t has been
brought about by a general want of conf
dence, which has resulted from the enor-
nous recent speculation in wildcat
securities. The banks had become eau
tious in making loans on doubtful securi-
ties, and caused the feeling evinced to-
day, it was in reality a measure of safety.
and to my mind has been the means of
avcrting a still more disastrous state Of
affairs.n
Another Woll-knoWn operator said: The
general opinion is that the Gould and the
Vanderbilt brokers had distributed buy
ing orders, and that they proposed to hold |
the market at any cost, The difficulty was
that there had been too much buying, and
that every one was loaded with stock after |
the late unprecedented bull campaign"
The committee clique denied that they |
mad been instrumental in bringing about |
the financial crisis. They said the trouble !
was due to the unhealthful state of the |
market in the unnatural initiation of cheap |
stocks.
Mr.. Gould denied that he was in the
market, and said that he had not sold a
share of stock for over year
No one could venture an opinion as to
the state Of affairs to-day. 1t was, how