Tuesday, October 21, 2014

"This Week in History: The Panic of 1907"

We'll be back with our favorite Fed paper on aught-seven, for now Crossing Wall Street:
Today marks the 107th anniversary of the start of the Panic of 1907. Gary Alexander of Navellier Marketmail describes the tumultuous week:
This Week in History: The Panic of 1907
Here’s a day-by-day rundown of the week that made Mark Twain’s “October” prediction come true:
On Monday, October 21, 1907, depositors staged a run on Knickerbocker Trust Company, the third-largest mega-bank in New York City. John Steele Gordon wrote (in “The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street”), “Bedlam reigned as depositors fought to get to a teller and withdraw their assets from the bank’s imposing new headquarters on Fifth Avenue.” No luck. “The bank closed the next day after an auditor found that its funds were depleted beyond hope. The bank’s president, Charles Barney, shot himself several weeks later, prompting some of the bank’s outstanding depositors to commit suicide.”

On Tuesday, October 22, the president of Knickerbocker Trust Company bravely opened the doors of his troubled bank, but that was not a wise move. Within hours, depositors had withdrawn $8 million. By afternoon, Knickerbocker Trust Company announced its insolvency and closed its doors for good.
On October 23, lower Manhattan streets were choked with anxious bank depositors lined up in front of even the soundest of banks. On this day, the Trust Company of America looked suspect. By 1:00 p.m., they had only $1.2 million in cash on hand. By 1:20, it was down to $800,000. By 1:45, they had $500,000 and at 2:15 they were down to $180,000. About then, bank president Oakleigh Thorne (what a great name!) rushed over to J.P. Morgan’s office for help. When Morgan was convinced that the Trust Company was otherwise sound, he said, “Then this is the place to stop the trouble,” and he transferred enough cash to tide the bank over for the rest of the day. Morgan deposited roughly $30 million in major New York banks and told those banks to lend the money out to instill confidence among depositors....MORE