FINANCIAL CRISIS IN AMERICA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1673, 15 December 1873, Page 2

FINANCIAL CRISIS IN AMERICA.

The following extracts from New'Yor'k " papers will be read with interest :— The. Tribune, of the 20th September, says : — - ■•• 'Thursday's panic was followed by" another financial crisis, wh'ch culminated in Wall street yesterday. The first great sensation of the day was the suspeusion. of the well-known banking and exchange firm of Fisk and Hatch. This house hag been parly and honorably identified witH the negotiation of Government sicuritieM and bonds of the Central Pacific Railroact 5 of California, and the Chesapeake arid Ohio Railrdad. Heavy advanced to the last' named road are understood to haye occasioned much embarrassment to the r hdiise.: and the peremptory demands X)f customers hasteued ilie necessity' of sus-

(For continuation of JS&wssee ithpcu/e)

pension. Later came the failure of nineteen brokers' firms of more or less note, some of which are old and heavy houses. These failures are generally owing to the fact that the brokers involved were carrying at high prices large amounts of stocks ■which had been suddenly depressed in value. The suspension of Richard Schell, on Thursday, caused a continued run on the Union Trust Company, of | which institution he is vice-president. The company met all demands up to the .close of business. The Forth National Bank fell under suspicion on account ol its supposed close connection with the firm of George Opdyke and 00. This firm has been involved with the affairs ot the Now York and (tewego Midland Railroad, now in the hands of a receiver. "Morning opened feverishly m Wall street, and men looked at each other with a curious sort of suspicion, as if to say, ' Will you pull through to-day 1 ' General suspicion settled on the street, and the feeling of distrust affected the stock sales before the opening of the Board. Western Union, which had closed at 81 the night before, sold now at 75, and fluctuated between that figure and 77. North Western, which had closed at 50^, sold down as low as 47, but in small lots ; and Rock Island closing at 92f on Thursday, ran up and down in considerable lots between 94 and 97. These figures, which only indicate the general tremor of the street, signified nothing further. When the Board formally opened at half-past ten o'clock, the excitement ran higher. Every door of the Stock Exchange was besieged by an eager and curious crowd ; the galleries were jammed with people, and the main floor of the great room was a turbid whirlpool. It is never quite as orderly as a prayer meeting ; now it was wild Bedlam. The panic spread, and Western Union sank to 7(% 69, GB£. Other stocks followed. Pacific Mail, which had jauntily closed at 31| in the final rally of Thursday night, slid down to 30J. Then it sounded a lower depth, and then it -dropped into 30|. New York Central, which had sold at 94 and 95 before the call, went down to 92, and a few small lots sold at 91. Harlem slid, with extraordinary rapidity, | from 310 to 95, though the transactions in that stock were light. Sales of Lake Shore were heavier, but the prices showed the same downward tendency, opening at 85 and a fraction. It ran clown to 83, but rallied 2 per cent. Wabash alene picked up from its low condition before the fall, aDd vibrated between 40 and 44£. The lame ducks limped about in considerable misery. Hartford and Erin were actually quoted at 2, and some other fancy stocks were offered at prices which only evoked a derisive yell from the mob below. In the midat of all this the president announced the suspension of Fisk and Hatch, bankers and exchange dealers. For a moment there was a pause of silence, then a low wail broke out from the bulls and bears alike. The harsh murmur, which was succeeded by a concatenation of yells and cries indescribable, spread into New Btreet in the rear, and Broad street in front. Fisk and Hatch had opened in the morning with an expectation of going successfully through the day. It was not even suspected that there was any troublo in their house until their suspension was announced. About this time early in the day four or five brokers' firms went down in blocks— White, Defreitas and Rathbone, Beers and Edwards, Eugene J. Jackson, Thomas Reed and Co., and one or two other firms, tumbled in about the same lime. In the Stock Exchange the announcement of these disasters created a ripple of regret, but the interminable ramp and roar went right on, everybody being more concerned with what was happening in the board than what came in from the outside. These failures were followed by numerous others, until by noon a dozen or so of more or less consequence had 'passed in their checks.'"