The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-17

ious however, and his death came
rather suddenly. Last Monday he en-
tertained as his guests 1875 young ladies
attending the school and their friends.
On that occasion he appeared to be in
good spirits and was the last to leave
the reception room.
Mr.. Cookies family relatives and
friends were notified of his illness early
and many of them, including Mrs. But
Ter, Mrs. Barney and Jay Cooke, Jr., his
children, were present when he died.
Few except his closest neighbors knew
that he was i'll.
To the present generation the name
of Jay Cooke is unknown Yet in his
time it was as well known and as fire.
quently in the mouths of the American
people as that of J. Pierpont Morgan or
John d. Rockefeller is today. His rep
utation as a financier was made during
the civil war and in the years immed-
lately following that stormy period,
when, by the magnitude and daring
brilliancy of his operations, he easily
acquired the first place in the ranks of
the nations noneyed rnagnates.
When, on the 18th of September, 1873,
the runor went broadcast throughout
the country, as fast as the telegraph
could carry it, that the banking house
of Jay Cooke & Co. had failed, men
looked at one another incredulously. 1t
could not be true! Jay Cooke & Co, a
firm with ramihcations all over the
United States. whose name was guar
antee of millions at any time, a firm
which maintained establishments in
Philadelphia, New York, Washington
and London-Jay Cooke & Co. insolvent!
There must be some error in the news.
There was not, however. Jay Cooke
& Co. had failed, and the shock to pub
lie confidence was so acute that a wave
of distrust at once swept over the en-
tire country. Pandemonium reigned on
the stock exchanges of New York, Phil
adeIphia and Boston when the news
was confirmed. Those were the days
before the United States government
had resumed gold payments, and gold
was as much a commodity for specula-
ton on the New York Stock Exchange
as any railway stock on the list All
securities Immediately began to fall in
value. Money was scarce and the
frenzied efforts of brokers to get money
to margin their depreciating stocks
drove the price of gold up by bounds at
every quotation. The banks kept call
ing for more margins under the rapidly
decreasing values and where brokers
were unable to respond, threw their col
lateral on the market, thus further de-
pressing values. One and per cent a
day for the use of money was eagerly
paid by those who could get the accom-
mediation.
Beggared in an Hour.
One hour after it's exchanges opened
men who counted themselves million
aires when they got up in the morning
found themselves beggars. In that
brief period stocks of the most approved
value good dividend-payers, kept fall
ing, falling, owing to the inability OF
their holders to get cash accommoda-
ton Right in the midst of this fnan-
ciaI cataclysm came the additional
news that the banking house of E. w.
Clarke & Co of Philadelphia, a house
which for years had peen considered
veritable Gibraltar in its resources, and
a pillar of conservatism, had closed its
doors. Then, swift on the heels of this
ominouS news, came the announcement
that the First National bank of Wash
ington. the leading fiscal institution of
the capital, and one which sustained
the most intimate relations with the
United States treasury, had gone I'M
der.
An additional impetus was given by
these reports to the downward tenden-
cy of the market. To further heighten
the feeling of insecurity and panic it
became rumored on potn the New OK
and Philadelphia exchanges that
number of banks and brokerage houses
were in distress. 1t was even SAID that
the Pennsylvania, railroad was IN SUCH
difficulties that it was about to go INTO
the hands of a. receiver. Under the eff
feet of all these reports, which swept
away mems faith in every security ana
concern values kept on dropping lower
and lower, until, when the time Tor the
closing of the exchange arrived, stocks
were off from $40 to $50 a snare. AT
the close of the days business 1t was
announced that the houses OF Robinson
& Suydarn and Richard Schell, two in
fuential concerns on the New York ex-
change. had succumbed-
When the Philadelphia markets OPP
ened the next day, the 18th OF Septem-
Der, conditions we're even worse AS
soon as the gong had sounded for the
beginning of trading it was announced
that the banking and brokerage houses
of DeHaven & Brother and Girbough,
Bond &. Co, together with eight other
smaller Philadelphia firms had gone
under.
Run ON Banks Begins
In New York the distress was ac-
centuated by the statement that the old
house of Fisk & Hatch was unable to