Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-02-03
CHAPTER V.
THE WALL STREET PANIC.

What happened on this famous
Tuesday has been lightly touched on
in the opening chapter of this his
tory. The morning papers had de-
voted considerable space to the ''benr
furry" in Wall street. There were
guarded illusions to the coup per-
formed 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,ooo to $3,Ooo,ooO, and it was
strongly intimated that he would live
to regret the unwarranted scare he
had precipitated.
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 the Exchange were crowded with
the sight-seers who are always in
force when the market is excited.
The hand of the big clock slowly APP
preached the hour of ten. The thou
sand or more brokers gravitated to-
wards the various standards which
bore the names of the important
trading stocks.
The market opened strong and at
q slight advance in spite of large
offerings of stock by Kent brokers
and from Street & Rogers-acting
for their unknown principals-the
market held it's own the first half
hour. 1t was at this time that
vague and portentious rumors were
circulated on the floor, and whis-
pered over telephones. These ru-
mors were greeted with general in
credulity, but the effect on the mar
ket was apparent from the time the
first suspicion was breathed. London,
Chicago and other speculative centers
continued buying and selling, uncon-
scious of the shadow which was now
darkening the street.
The storm broke at IL o'clock.
The yellow slips distributed by
news agency contained the following
paragraph in double-leaded type:
'11:O5 a. m. Andrus Carmody, Pal
mer j. Morton, r. j. Kent and Simon
Pence cannot be found. They were
last seen in Mr.. Mortons offices about
four o'clock yesterday afternoon.
Their relatives know nothing of
their whereabouts. The police and
detective force have been notified
A message of similar purport was
recorded on the tape.
Any description of the scenes
which followed on the floor of the
Stock Exchange would be deemed
exaggeration by those who never
have seen speculative panic sweep
all before it. The tempest was
loosed. Before it's fury the sturdy
financial oaks bent in the blast The
puny speculative saplings were up
rooted and borne away on the wings
of the cyclone. Staid old men who
had not been seen on the floor of the
exchange for months, rushed hatless
through the streets and hurled them
selves into the crazy mob.
The 60 acres of the financial dis
trict was a Bedlam. Men tore pa
pers from the hands of newsboys
and rushed away without paying
for them. The widest rumors, if
of evil purport, became certainties.
The word went down the street that
a great bank had closed it's doors.
There was no fragment of truth
in the statement, but it was accept
ed as an unquestioned fact. 1t was
charged that the great enterprises in
which Cafmody, Pence and Morton
were concerned were insolyent, and
that these men were in secret con-
ference, endeavoring to arrange "a
compromise with creditors. Mr..
Kent was regarded as the Spectator
who had been intrusted with this
news, and commissioned to use it to
recoup some of the losses.
The evening papers were flooding
the city with extras. The news was
SO stupendous as to confound the
genius of the designers of headlines.
There was neither space nor type
sufficient to depict their emotions.