Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-28
ODD zNCTHENTs IN AMERzcAS
 HISTORY
OUR TWO BLACK FRIDAYs.

Black Friday" is the name applied to two disastrous days in the financial his tory of the United Gtates. The morh inn portant of these e ne panic caused on Wall street, New .,l, by the efforts of Fisk and Gould to corner the gold mar ket, gold rising to 163 1-3 on Sept. 24
 1869. The other Black Friday occurred on Sept. 19, 1878. in the New York stock exchange which was followed by the widespread panic of 1878, A leading newspaper or the country, on the day following the Black Friday of Wall street, said: Mot even in the wild est days of the war excitement did gold, the barometer of tho market. rise and plunge and fall as yesterday. The full list Of the dead and wounded, the broken and the lau1ed we shaH probably not have conpieted until this evening. Mean while the forbearauce on the part of creditors is not only charity but a duty" The panic of gold had been coming on for several days, but no one had antiei- patad such 2 condition as actually befell 1 the market on that eventful Friday. Gold had been gradually pushed up, and every l one was wondering what would be the outcome of tho day At a. m. the bid- ding began. On the street gold was of fered at 1&5 and was instantly snapped 1 up. An excited condition was at once in evidence, and men grew nervous. up- ward t began soaring. It remained 1 standing at 150 for considerable time. It was net until Ii o'clock that the 1 fnonotpny was broken-I60 1-a was bid. A hundred fists were shaken at each
 ether over the little fountain and an in l formal serieA of yells filled the room l To an outS-4er-i it was impossible to dis l tirgufsh a bid or an offer. The ''bulls'' I had now begun their grand charge. They swept the bears before them like chaff. l From t56 38 the metal suddenly jumped l to 155 1-4, and this was unprecedented i Men began to rave and shriek like mad 1 dogs. They rushed about the little foun- 1 tain in paTuxysms of fury. Within 15 1 minutes the premium was forced up to l 162 1-2, and still going higher. Event uaily selling began and the crash came 1 Then the rzfnor reached the street that President Grant had ordered Boutwell, the secretary of the treasury, to sell the l ge4d-fffty miHions-if necessary. Away went the market in another grand crash
 and never recovered until it touched 1sS l The bulls were ruined men and we're
 nladdened. Albert Speyer, one of their
 leaders, grew crazy. His eyes seemed fixed in despair. He spoke to his friends | in, a husky vofcs and rushed about thf
 little fouHtain as if in terror At length he raised his hand and shouted hoarse1y
 to the heated, struggling mass before him.
 Il This extraordinary spectacle nearly
 sileneed the operators. In a few words speyer accused some unknown person oi
 attempting to- assassinate him. He is
 after me now with a knffe,' shrieked speyer. Look! Look ,'' hes exclaimed
 Don't yoil-se the kntfe?h As it wal
 evident he was crazy. he was placed in
 carriage and sent home by his friends MT! Sbeyer was not the only one rrzdT
 crazy. snaomentarily. upon that eyenfYTi
 BIack Friday. Several of the rnembers
 ef the beard afterwafd confessed t1ai
 under the undue excitement they fesi
 tlieirr minds giving way.
 Stille further down went the marke,
 unta finally tie stock exchange was de.