The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-08
AFTER CHAOS IN STOCKS
BUYING ENDS BIG SLJMP
Traders Bewildered in Hour of Frenzied Tempest
Bankers Halt Downward Rush-Prices
Regain Much Lost Ground.

One Of the widest hours In the history
NJ the stock Exchange. not equalicd ir
lightning suddenness and staggering SEE
verify since the Northern Pacific panic
nj 1901. not even in the furious days OF
las, July or those of 1907. marked the
trading yesterday when Wall Street first
heard of the torpeioing of the Lusitania.
lust AS suddenly as prices had melted
away in the first forty minutes Of near
manic strain, the decline was halted. The
tide switched about and a concentrated.
confident buying movement started that
o,n,inuel during the remaining twenty
minutes of the session. The day closed
.uh half Of the losses OF the crash made
nm stock Exchange men Of long ex-
p,rience said that the session was one
Of the most spectacular they had ever
seen.
When tho day ended the financial, COM
mutity agreed that the Importance OF
m. sinking u the ship, as far as securi-
,es we're concerned, had been exagge:-
s,ed and that bad handling of the situ1-
ton on the Stock Exchange by number
Of brokers' who apparently lost their
heads in the excitement, had accentua ted
beyond warranted degree the dcpress-
Ing effect OF the event.
see M Menace of Wdr.
The unanimous conclusions Of eight OF
the biggest bankers In Wall street was
tha, the torpedoing OF the Lusitania did
not present "A situation that might lead
10 war between this country and Ger
many.
The bankers also believed that the
eject financially of the sharp decline In
stock values would not change the de-
cidedly improved conditions In the coun-
try. though IL would retard overzealous
incubation. especially In the much over
done war order" stocks. that has marked
the stock trading OF the past month.
For an hour after Wall street re-
c.yed the first indefinite report from the
Cunard Line AZ | :o5 o'clock of uncon-
6rmsd news Of the sinking Of the ship
the financial community refused to be-
lsye II. The stock market. though slug
gish treated the report az "a bear ruse.
Then like fash Of fire just after
Z o'clock, when cables from Lloyd's con-
frned the report. the break came. The
marke, became a tempest. Values that
had appeared fixed and certain sud
denly melted away In AN avalanche OF
selling There was np support. The
prop had suddenly been removed from
beneath the market.
Bethlehem shoots Downward.
Bethlehem steel. the stock whose re-
mdrkable performance Of several weeks
ago In a rising market had aroused the
sreculsiive enthusiasm of the country.
shot downward with speed equal TO it's
ADVANCE. II lost n total of % points
At the. low. Just before o'clock II had
made a new high record OF l59 in the
rrst real activity for nearly two weeks.
~ 2:l5 o'clock IL had reached lio.
In one transaction thereafter II fell 10
49, the next sale being At 1870. the
IA u the day. II was points higher
in fw Transactions later and before
the close had got back half OF its loss
IN the crash.
The war order industrial stocks col
lapsed with Bethlehem and. with them
the whole market OF standard shares
fell away. their losses only differing
In the size.
II was Tot known In the bad fifteen
minutes between 2:l5 and 40 O'Clock