The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-16
BULLS AND BEARS AT WAR;
Wall Street Has Very Narrow Escape
from General Financial Panic.
A Day Of Unusual Excitement and Enormous
Transactions on the Stock Exchange-0nlY
One Complete Failure Among Brokers.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal

NEW YORK. Dec. 15.-Wan street barely es-I
capped another financial panic to-day. It was al
day of unusual excitement, which, in the morn
ing hours threatened to end in the collapse OF
many banking firms and banks. Rumors of dis
aster followed close upon one another and theI
days of the memorable panic of May, 1874. when
Grant & Ward, the Marine Bank, and other sup
posed solid firms and banks went under in the
general failure, were recalled There was, in
fact, but one complete failure on the floor Of the
Stock Exchange and that was of q firm which
for nearly twenty years has stood this
brunt or every financial crisis. When
this suspension was announced in the
stock board, it was quickly followed by reports
of other like crashes, and 1t is difficult to de.
scribe the scene witnessed from the operators
gallery The brokers were nearly frantic from
the increased excitement and strain No moro
failures came. however, although there were
several individuals and firms which barely saved
themselves.
AT 10 o'clock the floor of the Stock Exchange
was crowded with brokers So great was the
rush of business that brokers were unable to
attend to the wants of their customers and the
official reporters of the Exchange found it ex.
tremely difficult to record the quotations as they
were made.
There was no reaction from the depression Of
the previous day, but the market prices vera
taken exactly where they had been left, and
were pounded steadily downward. It was q few
minutes after IL o'clock when the announce
ment made that L. Marx & Co.. of 81 Ex-
change Place, were unable to meet their liabili.
ties. Ludwig Marx is the sole member of the
firm, ana has been doing business under the
above title for years. His Arm has always done
safe business, and has been known one OF
the most reliable houses in the street His
liabilities aggregate in the neighborhood OF
500, 900. He settled his liabilities in the ex.
change, and his present Indebtedness is to
outside parties The announcement OF the
failure added to the excitement. and rumorG
of other suspensions were numerous 1t was
said, indeed. thata prominent bank was involved
and was likely to break at any moment. This
rumor was denied q. the Clearinghouse later in
the afternoon. 1t was said there that the 1:30
o'clock settlement of the banks showed no indi-
cation OF weakness In single one, and that all
the bank balances were satisfactory Even
those institutions which were essentially brokers'
banks. and would be most likely to succumb
in financial crisis, were sound beyond doubt
The next incident of the the day which served
to increase the excitement, was the sale, under
broker j. Philander Dillon. MIR. Dillon is the
representative of the Boston house of Clark,
Ward e. Co., at No. so Broadway. Mr.. Dillon
said that the sale of the 900 shares, which in
cluded 700 shares of Reading and 200 shares OF
Louisville & Nashville, was due to mistake.
He said that he had bought the above shares
from Boston parties, and that as he was not on
hand at 2:15 to accept the delivery OF them, the
Boston people became frightened and sold him
out He settled his Indebtedness satisfactorily
and avoided suspension.
Between the hours Of 2 and O'Clock tina
transactions amounted to 1S2. 900 shares, show
ing a total OF the days business of l,1060 600
shares, by far the largest amount of business
ever done in the history of the Exchange. The
largest previous transactions in any one day
were 900, 000
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 80 much wildcat speculation that
prices had been put up to an unhealthy figure,
and that the break was the natural reaction.
The other theory advanced was that 1t was the
direct result of an onslaught of ''bears," headed
by Gould and Addison Cammack. In speaking
of the matter to-day Henry Clews said 1.-THE
semi panic was caused by the stringent state Of
the money market and by Jay Gould. 1t has
been no surprise to me, as foresaw the state Of
affairs some days ago"
Mr.. Jesse Seligman said ut has been brought
about by general want of confidence which has
resulted from the enormous recent speculation In
wildcat securities. The banks had become eau
tious in making loans on doubtful securities. and
caused the feeling evinced to-day; 1t was, in re-
atty measure of safety, and, to my mind, has
been the means of averting a still more disas-
trous state of affairs"
Another well-known operator said: sThe gem
eral opinion is that the Gould and the Wander
bilt brokers had distributed buying 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 Cammack clique denied that they had
been instrumental in bringing about the financial
crisis They said the trouble was due to the I'M .
healthy state Of the market in the unnatural In
fston of cheap stocks.
Mr.. Gould denied that he was in the market,
and said that he had not sold share Of stock fol-
over year.
No one would venture an opinion as to the
state of affairs tomorrow 1t was. however. the
universal belief that the worst had already
passed and that feeling of confidence would be
shown to morrow.
The highest rate at which any loans were
made was per cent. per day with interest.
which is equivalent to 186 per cent a year Jay
Gould expressed this opinion in the afternoon to
a Tribune reporter, who asked his views about
financial affairs:
sit seems to me-" he said promptly, in
in reply. that the interstate commerce
bill is the chief of the high rates
VI ulOuoy IL HAS dTOus0u u ROOu OeAA
of distrust everywhere. for, certainly lenders
would hardly know where they stood if the bill
should become law There seems to be a great
danger that 1t will be passed. if we can beliovo
what people say about it. The West is full OF
the matter, and / told that many Western
men believe that the bill will succeed 1t would
result, think, in sending through traffic down
the Mississippi and from the Northwest to the
Canadian roads. 1t would be severe blow to
the Western and trunk line railroads, while il
would build up the lines in Canada at their OK
pense."