The herald., 1896-07-26

cNeHlS Only SWelleQ the power which was
now advancing with giant strides.
1t was the night of the 9th of May. 1884
The Exchange had closed at o'clock as
was the custom, but the restless excit-
ed, but half-awed crowds surged around
the principal hotels, carrying with them
the worry and tumult of the day on
cnange. There was subdued excitement
IN the speech, manner and faces of the
Vultures; for mo man knew what the
morrow might bring forth" The black
clouds had lowered closer and closer
ana that afternoon had touched the
street; the habitues of the place had
prayed for the striking of the gong sus-
pending business for the day, yet they
dreaded it-not knowing whether old
trinity the next morning would ring in
sunshine once again or ruin and misery
upon themselves and those dependent
upon them; for these fellows, these har-
pies, while unmindful of the misery they
might heap upon others innocent of the
dark ways Of the street. yet We're human
In the instinct which extends protection
to those bound to them by the ties of
love and relationship. Dense masses Of
men congregated on the corners; then,
as some apt remark, perchance, was
MADE, they separated, with transitory
CLEAN of hope in their breasts and wan
dered away to gloat over 1t alone; or as
some weather beaten veteran in the
strife slowly shook his head, and the
prophecy in his features was hopeless
ness, they huddled together in the in
stinct which brings men into close COM
munion in the face of danger. Yet, each
man regarded his neighbor with sus-
picion; a trifling act, and frightful
stampede would follow on the morning
OF the coming day. After midnight the
crowds began to disperse, but not to
sleep; some stayed all night in the ro-
tundAS cnnUprCinU n tho artn
always apparent on the eve of a great
crisis; others walked on floors and un-
der roofs. which, in many cases, before
another night came would no longer be
theirs. The reckoning was at hand and
Wall streets judgment day was to fol-
low.
The next morning, hours befor5 the
opening, crowds surged through the
narrow, dark street; the passion
swayed. nervous multitude, extending
from Broadway to Nassau street, had
eyes only for one object-the Exchange.
They were hollow eyes, eyes which for
twenty-four hours had not relaxed their
vigils. The approaching hour of opening
was awaited with dread, and the crowd
glanced nervously at the hands of old
Trinity at the head of the street; they
would soon know 1t all; the tension was
unendurable as the moments fed, and
human nature could not much longer
stand it.
One. two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine--feW in that spot ever heard
the last note, the mornful tone which
tolled out the happiness and all that was
worth living for, of so many people; for
as the last note did boom forth, the load
of terror which the year 1884 carried
under its wing was dropped upon the
world, and the work of destruction COM
menced. The bowling mob which took
the place of what, few seconds before
bore the semblance of order, could hard
ly be called human. Men fought like
starving wolves, in the endeavor to rea-
lie something from the securities which
week before were almost unassaila BILE:
all rules of the exchange were COM
pletely forgotten or ignored; values
melted like the thin snow upon a hill
side before the hot rays of the sun. Ger.
tlncateS and scrip representing millions
OF dollars, which had reposed upon the
high shelf of popular esteem through
years of trial, were thrown down and
1uthlessly trodden under foot in the
panic of values; the demon of destruc-
ton was in the saddle, and pandemon-
ium was let loose. Nothing on earth
could stop it now;the people, the coun-
try, the masses which constitute the
strength, the sinew, the Drawn of the
nation-the middle classes-had risen
in the might of terror and despair and
swept down in an avalanche upon the
cancerouS growth which had sapped
away their hold upon home and fireside,
and they had their revenge.
soon the houses commenced to fall
The cry of help arose from an old, firmly
established institution whose birth was
contemporary with the first symptom Of
American influence in the wealth of ma
tions. The call was heard, but it elected
no response; the strong old landmark
trembled. reeled. and with a crash not
hn IL
a mass of ruin; in five minutes another
signal of distress went up another an
cient corner stone in the temple of f.
nance, founded deep and solidly in the
respect of the commercial world, stag
gered, tottered on the edge of the preci-
Plce moment and went over and down;
another great, historic old house gone.
Others followed in rapid succession be-
1ore the awful, destructive force of the
tempest. Nothing was inviolate from
the devouring element. Among the in
stitutions which went down during the
holocaust was one at whose head man
VINO had done more than one mans
share in bringing the nation through the
dark and troubled times of fratricidal
war, and who was twice honored by the
highest token in the power of the nation
TO confer. But the title availed nothing
IN this KIND of warfare; the destructive
forces neither saw nor heard. and re-
spected nothing savoring of speculation
and chance. The old Shylock of Wall
street, Russell Sage, lost IS, OO0 900 on this
day. -'S
Up narrow stairway, off from dim
corridor, was an office facing New
street; a pale-faced man entered, passed
through between row of clerks. and
entered the other room; in five minutes
a pistol shot was heard from behind the
closed doors; the hyhite-yaced, fright
ened clerks glanced significantly at each
other, forced the door. and a PROSTATE
form and open book told that tale-sui-
oided in moment of insanity because
of the panic of 1884; and in this case and
several others similar thereto, Sremark-
able fact appeared later on; investiga-
tion showed that the written characters
appearing upon the books were traced
in human blood. The panic had not
only ruined the dead broker, but several
others whose names appeared on his
books.
But all things must have an end. The
hour of closing rolled around and the
ancient Mentor, in whose damp recesses
rested the mortal remains of many illus
trious personages of a by-gone genera
tion. and founders of a certain western
world aristocracy, pealed forth again,
as on more commonplace occasions, the
hour of closing.
1T was like the evening on battle
field; just as many tragedies, only of
less sudden happening; just as many
tears shed, only they lacked the unison
brought on by the carnage of the real
battlefield of common conception; the
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