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Despite the rapid Thursday afternoon recovery, the low point of the swinging pendulum cut off many a speculative head. Roaring was the business done by down, town speakeasies. Wild were the rumors of ruin and suicide. In Manhattan, one Abraham Germansky, realtor, was last seen tearing ticker tape. In Seattle, one Arthur Bathstein, finance company secretary, shot himself. Estimates of the number of margineers closed out varies from 20% to 70%. During the first three hours of Thursday stock valuations shrank about $11,250,000,000, recovered all but $3,000,000,000 before trading closed. Brokers met at Hornblower & Weeks, counseled against witless selling, thought the decline had spent itself in a day's volume of trading far exceeding anything ever known. On the Stock Exchange 12,894,650 shares changed hands, besides almost as many more on the curb, "over the counter" and other exchanges in the U. S.
Soundly anti-climactic was the remainder of the trading week. The recovery of Thursday afternoon had brought most of the list back to within a few points of its Thursday opening. In the two final days an unofficial but obviously potent banking pool stood ready to prevent a retreat from becoming a rout, a recession from developing into a panic. In addition to the banks already mentioned, the banking pool was described as including George F. Baker's First National, thus renewing the old Morgan-Baker alliance which once caused J. P. Morgan to remark that the friendship of George F. Baker was the most valuable asset that he or his father had ever known. Mr. Baker, fast approaching his goth birthday, had known Panic before Morgan Partner Lament was born. Compared to Morgan-Baker efforts of the past, however, the 1929 crisis was notable through the presence of a non-Morgan bank—National City, by far the largest in the U. S.—in a position of vital importance.
Undaunted by pooling bankers, the big and now successful Bears made Monday, Oct. 28, a day of fresh disaster. Over the weekend many an investor had fully realized the necessity for an immediate exit from the market. Thus the session, opening with an accumulation of selling orders, both amateur and professional, was hopeless from the start. By noon more than 3,500,000 shares had been sold in what was obviously a panic-situation. Again bankers met, but issued no statement, hardly retarded the decline. Again Broker Whitney haunted Post No. 2, but at this time U. S. Steel broke through 200, reeled down to a closing figure of 186. All the blue chips of the late bull market were hammered and sliced—the better the stock, the bigger the break. On this day A. T. & T. fell 24 points; Columbia Carbon, 61; Consolidated Gas, 20; Electric Power & Light, 13; General Electric, 47; Eastman Kodak, 41; Otis Elevator, 60; New York Central, 22; Montgomery Ward, 15; U. S. Industrial Alcohol, 39; Standard Gas & Electric, 40, etc. etc. etc. ... In Rio de Janeiro the coffee market already frightened (TIME, Oct. 21), closed altogether. But in Chicago a bushel of wheat was worth 3 cents more.