Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-02-17

was apparent long before the Stock
Exchange opened Wednesday morn
ing. The governors met and solemn
" discussed the advisability of clos
ing the Stock Exchange until some
| light was thrown on the mystery.
! They dreaded to take this step, but
the situation was unprecedented. In
ordinary emergencies the banks,
trust companies, life insurance COM
panies and other representatives of
capital had been able to meet and
adopt a plan to protect the market
| and thus avert a panic disastrous to
| all interests. But the great heads of
| the money power had vanished. The
smaller lights who remained were
in state of physical as well as fnan-
cial panic. Each imagined himself
the next victim. Special policemen
| guarded all the Offices, and every Wis
| itor was scrutinized as possible kid
napper. Hundreds of extra police Off
GERS were thrown into the financial
district. All suspicious characters
were arrested. Crowds were not per-
mitted to assemble. and condition
approaching marital law prevailed.
The governors Of the Stock Ex-
change finally decided to open the
session as usual, reserving the power
| to suspend business if conditions
| warranted such procedure. The
market opened from two to five
points below the close of the previ-
| Gus day. Several failures were an
nounced. Street & Rogers bought
first hour and then stopped. With
their support withdrawn the panic
! increased. There were rumors that
Street & Rogers were heavily 1ong'
and on the point of suspending. This
the firm emphatically denied, and
stated that they could stand a fur
Their drop of 25 points. On call for
margins they promptly furnished
them.
With the panic at it's height the
/ governors met to take action. a mo-
| ton was made to suspend business
| on the exchange. AS member arose
to discuss this proposition, a messen-
ger entered and handed the president
a letter. It read as follows:
| M. L. new 1Ork city:
Dear Sir: This is to inform you that
| 1 am alive and well. I shall be obliged
to remain away from the city for a short
time, possibly several weeks. You and
| my relatives and friends need not have
| the slightest fear for the safe return OF
myself and the gentlemen who are keep
| ing me company. I remain, very truly
yours. PALMER J. MORTON.
May 2.
The letter was in Mr.. Morton's
handwriting and had been positively
identified as genuine by his private
secretary and by the oldest clerks in
his office. These facts were hurried
ly explained to the president of the
board of governors, who adjourned
the meeting and sounded the gong
tor attention on the floor Of the eX-
change. At that moment pandemo-
mum reigned. A score of trading
houses had failed, and others were
on the point of suspension. Banks
were calling loans. Money was
quoted at 200 per cent. on call loans
with gilt-edged stock as security
Sugar was lowering around par, a
drop of more than 60 points in less
than 4S hours. The nerve-racke6
brokers expected the announcement
of yet more disastrous news, and lis
tened stolidly as the chairman waved
his hand for quiet, cleared his voice
and began his reading. No one heard
more than the close of the first sen
; tence: 81 am alive and WELL" The
joyous voice of the graybearded ole
; chairman told them that the mes
sage was from Palmer j. Morton
What shout went up! 1t was re
echoed by the vast mob which defiec
the police and swarmed into Broad
: and Wall streets. The enthusiastic
clerks and customers cheered from
: every window.
The panic was ended. Prices
: moved violently upward. In half al
hour the face of the market wa!
changed. In the whirl of speculativ.
joy some stocks passed the higl
figures which had been reached a
l the opening on Monday morning Blu
while the agony of suspense wa.
passed, and it was known that tn,
missing men were safe, the case wa.
: yet shrouded in a mystery deep a.
4 ever. At the close of the day tn,
market stood on plane which aver
aged about ten points below the leve
s established before the leaders O.
: finance and speculation had vanished
d 1t was noticed that Street & Roger
i were persistent buyers from the mo
e ment the first news of the Morton
d letter was made public. Their sale
e were SO small as to show that the,
+ represented but DrOfit taking fo