San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-10-27
TO CHECK PANICS.
Schemes and Devises With Which
to Stem q Run.

to Stem a Run.
Occasionally one bears references
to the panics i'm the banking days
of 1887, 1857 and 1878, and strange
and amusing tales are narrated of
bank runs and commercial crashes
of those years of horror. A num-
Der of elderly gentlemen We're dis
cussing the problems of the times
in a Houston street saloon the
other day.
81 recall an amusing encounter
one night in the street between
two men, strangers; who ran
against each other full tilt, during
the worst days of 1873" remarked
one of the party. Gone of the men
was a merchant, who had devoted
the entire day in a fruitless at
tempt to renew his paper, which
fell due in large amount the next
day. Nothing but failure stared
him in the face. He walked slow
ly along the street with his hat
pulled down over his eyes and his
hands in his pockets. A big burly
fellow was walking rapidly in the
opposite direction, and the two
collided.
"You idiot, what do you mean
by standing in my way? Stand
aside or I'll knock you into the
middle of next week." said the big
man to the merchant.
"For Heavens sake do came
the astonishing reply. That's
what | want-time, for my paper
comes due tomorrow.
KEPT THE MEN RUNNING.
eve have nothing today, of
course, which compares with the
runs in 1856 and the wild cat bank
ing days." spoke up another.
"There was the added insecur-
ity then of the State bank notes,
and even if a man secured his de-
posit he was never sure of it unless
he got specie.
81 was young man doing bust
ness in Philadelphia during the
panic year of 1851" he continued,
"and l was exceedingly anxious
about very small deposit when
it was reported to me that the
bank in which l carried it was in
trouble.
"Early one morning information
came to me that there was a run
on the bank. | hurried to the
scene and found the report to be
true. l took my place on the long
line and waited. The paying tel
Ter was deliberate in his opera
tions, and it was several hours be-
fore L reached his window.
"When he paid me instead of
giving me the coin l requested he
thrust through at me handful of
bills of a neighboring bank. You
probably remember, some of you,
how we regarded some State bank
bills in those days, and how at one
time a settled conviction got
abroad that the banks ran print
ing establishments in their own
offices to grind out the stuff.
"But never mind that pro-
tested against taking the bills.
The teller only smiled, and the
man behind me forced me aside in
his own eagerness to secure his
deposit. The money l had secured
was on a bank in which l had
even less confidence than in the
one from which / had withdrawn.
81 resolved to have them re-
deemed before it was too late.
fastening down the street l found,
on reaching the other institution,
that it too was undergoing a run
of a sympathetic nature with my
bank. Again / waited on a long
line of anxious depositOrs. When
l reached the paying teller's Win
dow l thrust my bills through and
demanded redemption in United
States specie. A small portion of
the money came that way, but by
far the greater amount was in
bank notes issued by still another
local bank.
BACK TO THE STARTING POINT.
"With grim determination | re-
solved to make day of it and Sc
cure hard money. There was no
run on the third bank, and L fully
expected to get coin at last. L
asked for the redemption of the
bills and showed them through the
pigeon hole. To my disgust the
teller returned me notes in ex-
change issued by the self-same
bank from which | had withdrawn
my deposit early in the day.
"All my efforts were in vain;
the banks would not redeem their
own notes in specie. l learned
afterward, however, that the en-
tire scheme had been arranged by
the three banks. The messengers
had lugged money from one insti-
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