St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-10-05

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3 The Wall Street Panic. 3
8 By Frederick Upham Adams. 8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Frederick Upham adams has given to
the world in his THE Kidnapped Million
BY nt the hef
please and instruct, and yet which sell
dom rise to the point where they are
Is s W street. and
upon the panic Of a few weeks ago. For
characters the author has selected Wall
street millionaires, newspaper editors and
reporters, sailors, and a pretty girl. One
Of the younger generations of millionaires
Is suffering from mild form of dementia,
and while IN this condition entices other
influential fnanciers aboard his yacht and
then carries them captive to a point on
the coast Of Mexico from which they can
not escape; The remainder of the story
newspaper to And these captive millions
aires and their final return. The book is
interesting not SO much because Of the
methods Of Wall street. In this he thor
oughly understands his subject, and
carries with it both interest and instruc-
Ston to the lay reader. We reproduce be-
low. with the permission Of the publish
OF the scenes ON the New York stock ex-
change during the day Of the recent panic
VXTHAT happened on this famous
w Tuesday has been lightly
touched on in the opening chapter of
this history. The morning papers had
devoted considerable space to the
"sbear furry in Wall street. There
were guarded illusions to the coup
performed by Mr.. Kent, who had con-
Quoted his operations with little at
tempt to disguise his attitude. His
profits were variously estimated at
from $75O,OO0 to 100000, and it was
strongly intimated that he would live
to regret the unwarranted scare he
had precipitated. The Record had
an illustration proving that if Mr..
Kent's winnings were in 81 bills they
would make package three times
the height of the Eiffel tower, and
that it would take two express cars to
hold them.
This pleased the public, and recon-
ciled them to the losses which had
been sustained by the small speculat-
Ors.
On the preceding evening the ex-
citement on the Stock exchange had
been transferred to the big hotels and
fashionable cafes uptown. The more
important spectators made the cir
cult of the hotels and clubs in search
of the financial giants of Wall street.
Such as were interviewed professed
utter ignorance of the cause of the
decline. Mr.. Kent was not to be
found at any of the places he was wont
to frequent and several anxious fol-
lowers called up his residence by tel
ephone, but were told that he had not
vet arrived. Mr.. Morton did not make
his usual appearance at his favorite
club. The morrow was anticipated
with dread by those who had trailed
In on the much-heralded boom.
On the following Tuesday morning
London ignored the New York break
in prices and opened strong. Chicago
and the speculative west looked on
its splendid crops and telegraphed
buying orders in generous volume.
The galleries around the trading floor
of th.. exchange were crowded with
the sight-seers who are always IN
force when the market is excited. The
hand on the big clock slowly APP
Droached the hour of ten. The thou
sand or more brokers gravitated to-
wards the various standards which
bore the names of the important trad
ing stocks.
Did you ever make the experiment
with iron filings and magnet? Place
such filings on sheet of paper and
mass magnet under the paper. The
tinv bits of metal will mass themselves
in peculiar and irregular figures. AS
the magnet moves, Kaleidoscope
changes will be effected. Individual
filings will detach themselves from
one mass and fly to another.
Such was the scene on the Eoor OF
the New York Stock exchange. The
great gong sounded. The murmur be-
came as the roar of freight tram
rs it dashes past the echoing walls OF
Q station. At the signal Of the gong
a thousand well-dressed men became
maniacs. Their faces grew purple.
Madness glared from their eyes. They
assault one another. In their demonia-
cal fury coats were ripped from shoul-
ders, hats crushed, and scarfs torn
into shreds. With waving arms and
extended fingers, with voices rasping
shrill, vibrant, hoarse. thunderous,
menacing, incoherent-it was the in
carnation of riot, the sublimated es-
eence of disorder. AT times man
eould be seen fighting his way out OF