The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-09
Decline Almost Unprc-
 ccdcntcd.
STOCK HAD NO DEMAND
Greatest Since the Northern
 Pacific Panic.
At 0ne Tine, stssk CssI1 Nst ne spse st Any Priee, bst tAs lGasrst
 FinsIly named.

New York. Dec. s.--Amid scenes ox uncontrolled excitement and ffeuute1' haste to sell securities the New xtr11 stock exchange today witnessed the most sensational decline in prices Shat it has known since the historic North ern Pacific panic of May g, 1901.
 Warned by signs of the cornin0 storm made visible yesterday in tho preponderance of orders kto sell over those to buy. the traders were early op the floor of the exchange. When the gong sounded for the opening of buei- ness there came from the struggling groups of brokers on the crowded noox' a roar of human voices 70 loud that it startled and thrilled all who heard tt. At first 1t seemed that all were sellern shrieking men surged around the trad- fng posts the bull arguments on which advances were based. were all forgot- ten and brokers sought only to get rld of the stocks they held. The scene was observed by a throng of visitors In. the gallery. First to give way in tho huriy-burly was Amalgamated Copper. against which . campaign by a news paper advertisement has recently been conducted Dropping sometimes point at time. 1t fell until 1t sold at 58 1-z- q decline of 10 points since last nights close and 2z points from the highest of Tuesday.
 The 2s point recession represented decrease in the market value of the company's total capital stock of more than SS0 1000. 900.
 Next to Amalgamated Copper the leader in the excitement was United States Steel Corporation stock, the common falling to 2s 1-2 and the pre- kr fahk .& n r points and 2 7-s points respectively. and declines of 1-4 points for the common and 10 7-S points for the pre- ferred from Tuesdays highest. The shrinkage in quoted values from Tues day represented over $45, ,000. .00o on the common and sss,oo0.ooo on the prefer red.
 Other sensational declines were $ I-l in Union Pacific, Is in Sodthern Pa- cifc; 6 5-8 in American Sugar, 5 1-z In American Tobacco. preferred; 3-4 in Brooklyn Rapid Transit; . 7-s in St. Paul, Il s-4 in Colorado fuel; II in Michigan Central. s t-2 in Missouri Pa cific and 3 1-4 in Tennessee Coal and Iron. Values throughout the entire list were cut down with great rapidity- weakly margined accounts were wiped out and for nearly two hours the de- moraiization was complete. During tnlo peftoQ tH0 tfdn9ActlOuS tmOuultQ to about 900.000 shares.
 Checked About Neon.
 The frightened throwing over oS stocks almost without regard to price was checked about noon and there foi- lowed a period of irregularity. Heavy buying orders appeared, auotarions started upward and before o'clock many of the active stocks had resained considerable of their losses. The tone of the trading ruled feverish. but the rally was we'll held and the close was. comparatively speaking, severely quiet. The total sales of all stocks today were 2.905,400 shares.
 Many causes for the days selling were suggested. but the general opin- ion seemed to be that the bull market had brought in many buyers on small margins and when the signs of an im- pending break were seen yesterday, these holders were forced to sell out their speculative purchases at what ever prices were obtainable.
 The violent squall. which swept over the stock market today which wrought havoc while 1t lasted but which was dissipated almost as quickly as 1t came. Compared with the stormy scenes of. the day, the final market was as placid az a summer lake, and the buying of stocks was going on as systematically as though no disturbance had occurred. A review of the days net changes re- veais not few gains and even the worst of the losses are confined to mod- crate proportions.
 Worst of the losses are confined to moderate proportions. Unfortunately for those who sold their stocks either from fright at the crumbling tendency of prices. or from necessity to repay borrowed money, the final prices of tho day by no means represented the prices at which the largest part of the days sales were made. There was time during the market when there was no apparent demand for stocks at any price. Orders to sell a few hundreds of shares could only be executed at concessions of l to points from the preceding sale. Such haste and confu- sion characterized the selling that the same stock hold simultaneously only few feet apart at variations of $2 to s a share. There were no such fractic fluctuations as that in Northern Paci- flo on May g. 1901. owing to the corner which existed in that stock. but other wise the movements in the market re- sembled those on that day and the days total sales of 2,905.4O0 shares compar- ed with 3.os1,701 on May g. 1901,
 Dealers Lost Nerve.
 The day undoubtedly will go down in the history of the Stock Exchange as one of those in which the assurance which usually sustains men fin action on preconceived determinations deserts them and they do things under the in- fiuence of unreasoning panic list of some of the days extreme declines is the best evidence of this fact. taken in connection with the subsequent all most complete recoveries. when reason had reasserted It's control. Colorado Fuel fell an extreme Il s-4; Amaiga- mated Copper. 10; Tennessee Coal. 1-4; Lake Erie and Western, 1-4; st. Paul. ! 7-s; Brooklyn Transit. s-4: United States Steel preferred, 3-s; St Louis Southwestern. q; Sugar. S-s; United States Steel. Is: Union Pacific. l-4; Missouri Pacific. Ia; Metropolitan Street Railway. 3-4; Metropolitan ss- curities, s; Consolidated Gas. s Is; L. and N, 7-s; and many other lesser amounts. These low prices represent ed a drop from the high level of this week on Monday of such figures as 14 for Amalgamated Copper; 21 for Colo rado Fuel, IS Is for Tennessee Coal. II 1-2 for United States steel preferFeds J, 11 o For ETnion Paoidc IA IA fnr Qti9