o that which could not be measured. The legal-tender
notes, when "stocked" preparatory to their equal division, amounted to
a fraction less than ten per cent. of the deposits.

The pressure of sales of stock was almost entirely for cash. No money
could be borrowed, either at the banks or elsewhere, on securities of
any kind, and loans--which the borrowers were unable to pay off--were
being called in in all directions. As compared with the quotations
current on the eve of Kenyon Cox & Co.'s failure, the stock-list
showed a decline of from twelve to thirty per cent.

At noon the distraction was so great, and the sacrifices being made
were so enormous, that universal ruin appeared to be impending; and
the seeming impossibility of doing business any longer in such a
condition of affairs without bringing about a state of chaos, and
involving the banks in the general destruction, made itself manifest
to the president and governing committee of the Stock Exchange,
who yielded to the solicitations of the banks and closed the Stock
Exchange at half-past twelve until further notice.

The reeling crowd paused to take breath, and felt a sense of relief in
this sudden stoppage of the course of business, although accomplished
by a proceeding so unexpected and revolutionary. The usual Saturday
bank statement was omitted, and men left Wall street that evening only
to gather in a dense crowd at the Fifth Avenue Hotel to discuss the
situation.

Meanwhile, the failure of Jay Cooke & Co. in Philadelphia was quickly
followed there by the suspension of several prominent private banking
and stock firms and some small ones, a panic in stocks, and a run upon
the banks, involving the failure of two of their number--the Citizens'
and the Union Banking Company. Advices of a few suspensions of banks
and banking-houses in different parts of the country had also been
received, none of much importance, but all serving to deepen the
prevailing gloom, and make men fear that the worst was still to come.
Representative bankers and merchants had been telegraphing to the
government at Washington for some measure of relief from the moment
of Jay Cooke & Co.'s suspension, but none had as yet been extended,
except in the shape of an order, on Saturday, to buy ten millions
of United States bonds, of which the assistant treasurer was, in
consequence of the excitement, only able to buy less than two millions
and a half at the equivalent of par in gold, the pr