New-York tribune., 1905-02-19

in the mad speculation there, and he
the crest of the
One night at the evening Exchange Morse bid
for ten thousand shares of Erie stock, and
Daniel Drew sold them. Then he bid the
price for twenty thousand more, and Drew sold them
A day or two later, Drew covered at a heavy loss
When Morse took hold of Ohio & Mississippi he
jumped it from 40 to 90 in a couple of days
Money cheap and abundant, owing to the
rency initiation, and speculation active that many
stock houses kept relay of clerks for night work
Meanwhile speculation in gold rampant in
stocks and hundreds of mining and petroleum
companies launched, and the stocks of these
were actively traded in high and rapidly rising
prices, while old and worthless stocks, like Bucks
Country Lead resuSCitated and doomed with the
rest.
Clergymen and drawn into this hrl-
pool of speculation and stock with Gold in its
went off like hot cakes. One stock
sidered about as good another to buy, all
going up. Morse led the crazy multitude in every
thing, and among his other achievements he put up
Rock Island from 100 to I49, and in doing SO bought
the whole capital stock which then only ffty-six
thousand shares.
Morses doom was sealed by Salmon P Chase who
Secretary of the Treasury sought to stop the wild
initiation, and particularly the tremendous bull specu-
laton in gold by selling gold for currency and locking
up the currency in the Subtreasury, to make
a tight money market. This had the desired effect,
for it made money scarce and dear that it forced
the large speculative holders of stock to SELL through
the banks calling In their loans, and brought on
panic Just at the time when Morse more heavily
loaded with stocks than he had been
before
Broken in health, and appearing weary and haggard,
he tried to SELL and this of his followers
selling like flock of sheep and prices tumbed from
bad to under the general rush to realize. Fort
Wayne fell at the morning session of the Board on
that fatal Monday of the Morse panic April IS, 1904
from So IIo. Then Morse left the room for the
last time and going his office said to his partner
The game is up!' Reading also had fallen that
morning nineteen per cent; Pittsburg, seventeen;
Hudson River, twenty-three; and all other active
stocks about much.
This monetary tornado, that found Morse
loaded with stocks, there and then swept him out of
the Stock Exchange for, knowing that he was hope
lessly ruined, he wrote announcement of the
pension of Morse & Company and sent it the Board
few minutes after he had left it The failure proved to
be bad one, and the firm unable to settle
resume. Morse longer the leader of Wall Street
and many of his customers semi-frantic condition.
rushed in upon him and denounced him bitterly
The King had been dethroned, never to regain his
crown, to get fresh start
and at the evening Exchange up town at night Specu
laton had been widespread and Morse had been SO
implicitly trusted leader, that the collapse ruined
thousands, including many women and a raVing,
cursng mob crowded into the evening Exchange. and
overfiowed into the Fifth Avenue Hotel. There
a night of in hundreds of homes. Morse up
braided and cursed to his face and than of his