Show aap lp A FF ae JJ ys 71 4 4 TC ROOM off BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON 21 24 2 1 is ii the sixtieth anniversary of an event now forgotten which at ille the time almost shook the nation to its foundations for september 21 2 1 1869 has gone down in history as black friday t the he day that the gold market in wall street was cornered bringing a financial crisis which was felt throughout gli the country and slinking shaking the confidence of the american people in some of the highest public in ohp land a day of ruin insanity and despair tile the two outstanding figures in this story are jay could and col james risk fish jr gould could was a strong character even though nol nok an nd admirable mirable one a lone wolf who Is described as gifted for silent intrigue and never to be satisfied except when deceiving every one as to his intentions Althou although gli fish was no less ruthless and daring than gould he was at least a more likable charac character ter A recent blo biography graphy ot of him under the appropriate title of jubilee jim written by robert H fuller and published by the macmillan company shows him film as a picturesque character a moral jackdaw with a continual hunger for the peacock feather of public consideration As n peddler showman civil war profiteer speculator manipulator of railway stocks corrupter of judges anelu nn elusive wit ness at public investigations where his and antics tickled the public fancy mightily disks s life was a 8 Ram flamboyant boyant melodrama of industrial anarchy personal ostentation and private luxury fisk had been bean a partner as nearly a part partner partners as any two men could be ba when one was jay gould with gould in the famous erie railroad manipulations for the undoing of cornelius vanderbilt and in some of the political financial schemes of 1116 E as tweed so gould took him into his scheme to corner till all the gold in the country two problems faced the conspirators one was to buy all the gold tn in sight a comparatively simple matter for there was wa only 1 about of it in n circulation the other oilier and the more risky was to keep the united states treasury which had OCO from selling gold while tile operation was on oil and tho the corner goulds first step yas was to seek the aid of A R corbin a wall street sl speculator peculator abo find married a sister of president grant when grant fi stopped topped in new york in june while on the way to the pence peace jubilee la in boston he visited at the home p of kii his brother in law where gould called upon the president when grant cun ta cn his way to boston it was chii oa aine one of disks fall river steamers as the guest of go lid ild and fisk during in the trip gould led the conversation to the subjects of gold and crops and sought to convince the president that the government go eminent should favor a higher price for gold since it would give alie e farmers a better price for their crops thus making better business for the railroads and the country as a whole believing that he had won grant over to tits ills views gould embarked upon his fits campaign find on september 2 began to buy gold in wall street on that day lie he bought a million and a hair dollars worth for corbin and another million had and a half for general butterfield and gen horace porter both of whom later repudiated the purchase as having been made without their knowledge within two days gold wont went up tip two points and with each point rise corbin made soon afterwards gould invited fisk fask into the scheme assuring him that butterfield in charge of the in new york arid and the president were fixed all right so fisk fask began to buy heavily immediately gold begrin began to climb and by wednesday september 22 it stood at iwa at this point grant becoming disturbed by corbins part in the manipulations on the exchange sent word through tits his sister to close out his speculations as quickly as possible gould could tried to bribe corbin into disregarding the presidents instructions but corbin refused then gould seeing his fits scheme about to collapse determined ter mined to double cross his own associates lie ile gave secret orders to his brokers broker to begin to sell gold fisk kept faith with gould goul and continued to buy when the market closed on thursday september 23 gold had reached the high mark of nut but worse was to come the next day F friday destined to be known as black friday the next morning flak entered the gold room and loudly gave orders to albert tits ills broker to buy all the gold available up to 1 15 next lie he sent orders to put it up to by noon it was up to jo ICO and who had bought GO 00 millions now had in hla fits name for elska account half of all the gold in tile the coji country of what followed fuller writes it seem seems s absurd that the orders given by jim ln in I tenths back room and executed by that jumping jack should have paralyzed bu business as they d dl id fro from boston to san francisco wall wa 11 streets bedlam was only a sample thousands 0 of men in every city were reading the astounding figures that came out ot of the ticker tape figures that told that they were ruined the fluctuations in the price ot of gold were so BO rapid that it waa impossible to keep up with ahem hem no speculator outside tho the grold gold room had L chance to protect himself H 9 bave gave ills his order to buy or sol moll and after that flint he wn was in the lianda of oi blind fortune lie he might nil abt as aa well have gone fishing as aa to have tried to follow what was waa suing going on on in that densely packed buffo eating oom where men were thrusting their coads into the basin of 0 the I 1 little tile fountain to cool them of the fever that prevented reasoning men who owned stocks and bonds had to throw them overboard for what they could get in order to pay their gold losses demoralization was general every fluctuation of a point in tho the price of gold meant gains and ana to losses ses ot of millions and that day under the pressure of the tha tremendous forces that were represented by the bulls and bears the price wavered like a weather vane in an easterly gale who cou could id tell where these feverish pulsations in the price would laadt fisk fask was waa declaring that gold would reach two hundred maybe he was waa right t perhaps the whisperings about a gigantic conspiracy piracy among public officials with president grant at their head to make fortunes by speculating in gold on the bull side were vere true after all only the he united states treasury could smash the clique that was waa boosting gold and the doors of oc the treasury seemed to be fast locked in the meantime telegrams had been pouring in from all parts of the coun try to president grant drant and thi th secretary of the treasury begging them to order a sale of treasury gold to prevent a crash in the business of the country grant decided to sell five millions and authorized the treasury to announce the sale but the break had already come james brown a scotch banker acting for a group of merchants and bankers entered the gold room soon after disks brokers had bid the price up to and amid the din and confusion shouted that they would take any part of the at that quotation sold at said brown quietly A moment later he sold a second milron million at then at then the market broke ten minutes later word crime came from the sub treasury of the orders to sell four millions of treasury gold it la Is believed that brown already knew of president grants order when lie he made his first offer but the main fact Is that his bis action started the break and the announcement no from washington completed the within fifteen minutes the price of gold had fallen as 1 points the corner in gold was ended A mob led by brokers demanding n settlement gathered in front of the brokerage house of gould smith and Il martin lartin howling for gould A similar mob assembled in front of the office of fisk an and beldan shouting for fisk but the two conspirators who had expected some such result us as this had tied fled from froin wall street when the ma market r broke and sought refuge in the erie offices in disks grand opera house inhere they were guarded by their band of hired thugs gould is 13 said to have made eleven millions out of tits his coup despite the fact that he had betrayed fisk the latter forgave him arid and they continued friends As a matter of fact fisk lost nothing for with the aid of boss tweeds corrupt judiciary lie he was wag successful in repudiating tits his millions in dahis when the whole affair was investigated later before the garfield committee tt ft was found that halt of the busI business nOss houses on wall street had find been ruined and it was waa not until the report of their committee became public that public suspicion of grants part in the conspiracy was waa alfa allayed for neither the president dorany nov any of his kin except hla his brother brothe inlaw in law had profited one cent from the tha shame of black friday |