The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-14

cracks later on: and the wise people in
the settlement are saying that they pre-
uicted It from the first. None the less, As
| an earthquake it deserves recording.
IL was very rainy afternoon: all the
| streets were full of cruelty mud and all
| the business men were at work III their
/ Offices when it began. A Knot of China
men We're studying closed door from
whose further side came most unpleasant
sound OF boiling and locking up. The
notice ON the door was interesting. With
deep regret did the manager of the New
Oriental Banking Corporation. Limi-
ted, (most decidedly limited) an
nounce that by telegraphic orders from
home he had suspended payment. Said
one Chinaman to another, in pidgin
Japanese, "Zt is shut" and went away.
The noise of barring up continued, the
ram fell, and the notice stared down the
wet street. That was ALL There must
have been two or three men passing by to
whom the announcement meant the loss
OF every penny of their savings-comfort-
ing knowledge to digest after tiffin. In
London, of course the failure would not
mean so much; there are many banks in
the city, and people would have had warn
ing. Here banks are few, people are de-
pendent on them. and this news came out
of the sea unheralded-an evil born with
all it's teeth.
After the crash of Q bursting shell every
one who can pick himself up. brushes the
dirt Off his uniform and tries to make q
joke of it. Then some one whips hand
kerchief around his hand, splinter has
torn 1t, and another finds warm streaks
running down his forehead. Then q man,
overlooked till now and past help. groans
"a
start that this is no time for laughter,
and the dead and wounded are attended to.
Even so at the Overseas Club when
the men got out of office. The brokers
had told them the news. In filed the
English and Americans and Germans and
said one and all. Many of them were hit,
but like good men, they did not say how
severely.
.Ah!" said little P. and O. official,
wagging his head sagaciously Che had lost
$1,000 since noonl. Its all right now.
They're trying to make the best of it. In
three or four days we shall hear more
about it. meant to draw my money just
before l went down coast, but"
CuTiously enough. it was the same story
throughout the club. Everybody had in
tended to withdraw. and nearly every body
had--not done SO. The manager of a bank
which had not failed was explaining how,
in his opinion the crash had come about.
This also was very human. 1t helped
none. Entered lean American, throw
ing back his waterproof all dripping with
the rain; his face was calm and peaceful.
"Boy, whisky and soda" he said.
"How much hat you losd2 Z" said the
Teuton. bluntly.
"Eighty-fifty," replied the son of George
Washington. sweetly. Don't see how
that prevents me having a drink. My
rvIaoS ua continued an nj cd
whistling of ~ Owe Ten Dollars to
O'Grady" (which he very probably did,,
and his countenance departed from its
serenity.
If there is anything that one loves an
American for it is the way in which he
stands certain kinds of punishment. An
Englishman of many dollars and heavy
loser was being chaffed by Scotchman
whose account at the Japan end of the
line had been a trifle overdrawn. True,
he would lose in England. but the thought
of the few dollars saved here cheered him.
More men entered. sat down by tables.
stood in groups, or remained apart by
themselves thinking with knit brows.
One must think quickly when bills are
falling due. The murmur of voices thick
ened, and there was no rumbling in the
skittle alley to interrupt it. Everybody
knows everybody else at the Overseas
Club. and everybody sympathizes. A man
passed stih1y, and some one OF group
turned to ask lightly, Hit, old mann"
biting his unlit cigar. Another
man was telling, slowly and some
what bitterly, how he had expected one of
his children to join him out here, and
how the passage had just been paid with
a draft on the o. b. c. But now
There, ladies and gentlemen. is where
it hurts. this little suspension out
Il n
hoped for and prayed over. may
be for years; it knocks pleasant domestic
arrangements galley west over and above
all the mere ruin that it causes. The
curious thing in the talk was that there
was no abuse of the bank. The men
were in the Eastern trade themselves
and they knew. 1t was the Yoko-
of employment Connection with broken
bank, by the way. goes far to ruin young
mans prospects) for whom they were
sorry. ''We're doing ourselves well this
year." said wit grimly. "One free
shooting case, one laundering libel case,
and bank smash. Showing OF pretty
before the globe trotters, aren't WEI"
"Gad, think of the chaps at sea now
with letters of credit. Eth? They'll land
and get the best rooms at the hotels and
find they're penniless," said another.
Never mind the globe trotters," said
third. Look nearer home. inns does tor
so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so, all
old men; and every penny Of theirs goes.
Poor devilsp'
THAT reminds me of some one else"
said vet another voice. ''His wife's at
home, too. Whew!" and he whistled
drearily. So did the tide of voices run on
till men got to talking over the chances of
a dividend. "Thev went to the Bank of
England" drawled an American, land
the Bank of England let them down; said
their securities weren't good enough"
"Great Scott!' A hand came down on
table to emphasize the remark. II sailed
half way up the Mediterranean once with
a Bank of England director. Wish I'd
tipped him over the rail and lowered him
boat on his own securlty--if 1t was good
enough"
Earrings goes. The o. B. c. DON'T"
replied the American, blowing smoke
through his nose. This business looks
decidedly prob-le-mat-i-cals Wha-at Pr
"Oh, they'll pay the depositors in full,
don't you fret" said little man who had
lost nothing and was anxious to console.
.I'm shareholder" said the American,
and smoked on.
The rain continued to fall, and the UNI
breIlas dripped in the racks, and the wet
men came and went. circling around the
central fact that it was bad business, UNI
til the day, as was most tit, shut down In
drilling darkness. There was refresh
ing sense of brotherhood IN misfortune IN
the little community that had just been
electrocuted and did not want any more
shocks. All the pain that in Eli gland would
alone was here bulked, as it we're. and
faoaJ in linn IF commands Surely the