Year: 1872

EXCITEMENT IN WALL STREET.
| SulsIcnncss or the Eisc-A Hundred Per
Cent Advance i'm Thrcc-quartcrs OF an
HOur-Thc Scene at the Stock Ex-
change and I'm the Brokers' Offices.


The story OF the last great in the street is
SO far, by no means so dramatic and exciting as
might be guessed from the extraordinary advance
in the price Of the stock involved. This was how
ever, mainly owing to the extreme suddenness
with which the curtain rose on
IT'S ELIMINATING TABLEAU.


Startling as was the rise, 1t s all the more won
derful when one remembers that 1t was the work
OF three-quarters OF an hour. For more than Ave
out OF the six business hours OF the day the stock
MEANDERED ALONG


with comparatively trining fluctuations, between
96 and par. Then suddenly came the news Of the
arrest OF Gould, and almost simultaneously the
stock tape began to tick ominOusly forth the evil
dences of mischief The truth about Gould's ar
rest, however, arrived in
SOMEWHAT DISTORTED SHAPE,
and it was not generally known even at the close
Of business that he had successfully been rescued
from the tolls of his foes. That he was charged
with the embezzlement Of ten millions was
the current report, but this, authentic
so far. was coupled with the yet more





amount OF bail, and was in this respect more sub
timely unfortunate Than any American Of whom we
have historical record This, however, was near
enough to give the men Of the street
SUFFICIENT DATA


upon which to found theory Of the sudden furry in
Northwest which seemed to meet with general
ere dit This that in this stock the corner had
been so carefully and neatly and artlsticay built
up that the victims must either gracefully consent
to have their


FINANCIAL THROATS
cut or make one desperate stroke for compromise
or revenge. And as Henry N. Smith was one Of the
nj Ost deeply involved among these Victims and as,
further In his capacity Of former partner of Gould
at the time OF his presidency Of Erie
nothing could be more natural than that he
should still possess proofs that would hand over
that gentleman to the tender mercies of the pres
ent virtuous rulers Of Erie, nothing again could
be more natural than that he should have done so.
That was the universal verdict. From early in the
day, however, the


FINANCIAL SKY
In the priva tie parlOrs OF the more prominent
operators there were signs of trouble. Even at
100 the losses involved in the corner would have
been sufficiently severe. But when the indicators
began to show the


FINAL COUP D'ErAT,
upon which Mr.. Gould and his friends and asso-
ciates had at last felt themselves strong enough to
venture, there was the most intense excitement,
though, as before stated the rise was too sudden
to have Its full effect for 1t too late in the day
for settlements to be made, 1t being already con-
siderably


PAST BANKING HOURS,
SO that checks "for differences" could not be cer-
titled. Thus. even II man had failed it would have
been impossible to discover it, and his verbal faith
was as good as his formal check without tho mana,
guarantee. 1t can easily be seen, therefore, that
at any rate the interest OF the occasion lacked the
usual ex citing incidents of


FAILURE AND SUSPENSION,
though there were pale faces and hustle and con.
fusion enough to confirm to some extent the pre-
dictions Of the croakers to the evil that was to
be consummated on the morrow. The whole thing
was, indeed, SO sudden as to take away ones
breath. and men stood bewildcred and mentally
paralyzed in the midst OF a storm such as, in
the same limited area Wall street had only seen
very few times before. In tie bankers Offices the
brokers stared at the tell tale figures the tape
in mute asonshment; 12O, 25, 80, 40, so and so on
up to 1s0 seemed to be simply Incredible and even If
he did not say so, man could not resist suspicion
that for brief season, the operator at the Stock
Exchange had been seized with
A FIT OF INSANITY,
and was writing simultaneously on thousands OF
tapes the wild suggestions OF u disordered imagin
ation


| But in the Exchange Itself the excitement seemed
| to approach almost tragic significance. We all
know what the


FLOOR LOOKS LIKE
| in ordinary seasons-thc noisy, shabby. lookinp
| crowd below, all In ancient hats, and equipped
with pencils and notebooks, broken up into Knots
| OF varying strength as the interest OF the fght
changes about from this to the other speciaity
But yesterday afternoon, for the last half hour OF
| business, there was but
ONE SINGLE CROWD;
| there were but operations in single stock and
not very many In that Every man on the floor
| gathered around the Northwest caue brokers'
/ who stand usually near the Wall street door, and
LOOKED on AGHAsT
at the terrible throes OF the financial earthouake
| that had overtaken them And now 1t was clearly
to be seen that the interest the short side OF the
stock was far greater than had been generally sup.
| posed. Hitherto the struggle had looked to be
| mainly


| MERE DUEL
| between a half o dozen OF great operstors The
| smaller fry, who were a hundred or two shares
short, had looked on the contest If not with pleas
nre, at any rate without any very violent alarm.
! Soon, they thought, the excitement would
| be over, the battle would be won by one party or
the other, and the shares would drop down to their
normal price, and then they could cover at a profit
| No doubt it was disagreeable TO have to Keen on
| plankiDg up additional margins but the end must
come
| SOONER OR LATER,
and this was only one Of the little inconyenlcnccs
| OF .'selling what you haven't gotu and making
money without having anything to make It on ex,
| cept sum OF the most slender and modest dmen-
sions. But this class OF operators now discovered
| that the danger was very greatly more serious
| than they had apprehended An ADVANCE OF 1fty
| or even


rRrrLE OF THOUSAND
al.a