Banks of New York (collective)

Bank Information

Episode Type: Run Only
Bank Type: state
Start Date: October 13, 1857
Location: New York, New York (40.714, -74.006)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 19d36cce

Response Measures

Public signal of financial health

Description

Article (Worcester Daily Spy, 1857-10-16) describes depositors withdrawing funds from New York banks after the banks' proclamations, causing a rapid collapse of confidence. No explicit mention of a formal suspension or receivership for these banks in the text, so classified as a run only on the collective New York banks.

Events (1)

1. October 13, 1857 Run

Cause: Rumor Or Misinformation
Cause Details: Rapid loss of depositor confidence after banks' proclamations and boasting led merchants to withdraw deposits; generalized panic rather than specific insolvency cited.
Newspaper Excerpt: the merchants, having made up their minds that the managers were either mules or asses, swept up their deposits, and in twenty-four hours the whole batch collapsed like a punctured bladder.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. October 16, 1857 Worcester Daily Spy Worcester, MA

Article from Worcester Daily Spy, October 16, 1857

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Article Text

THE MAJESTY OF NEW York.-There is something to laugh about, even in a time of panic. The managers of the New York banks have arrogated to themselves a degree of importance lately that has greatly irritated our sensitive Athenian friends, and the dig. nity of State street was really very seriously disturbed. The New York men seemed to forget that they were wholly in the hands of their depositors, and imagined that they owned the whole concern. So, on Tuesday they met and passed a string of " whereases" and resolutions" as long as one's arm, declaring that their institutions were growing stronger and stronger every day, that they must and should grow stronger, and that under no circumstances would they suspend specie payments. Hem ! Mr. John A. Stephens, president of the Bank of Commerce in New York, writes a letter to Boston, boasting of what the banks of New York were doing and were going to do, and really pitching into the Boston banks about their way of doing business. But the merchants, having made up their minds that the managers were either mules or asses, swept up their deposits, and in twenty-four hours the whole batch collapsed like a punctured bladder. Therat a long chuckle ran along State street. It was wicked, but it could not be helped.-Springfield Republican.