The floor of the New York Stock Exchange yesterday from 10 o'clock in the morning until 3 o'clock in the afternoon as viewed from the Produce Exchange Gallery resembled more than anything else a football field, with 600 determined players striving for the goal.

The opening was not disorderly and the "rush" did not come until every man present realized that those who had manipulated the Northern Pacific "corner" were determined to exact every  farthing that was coming to them, no matter what the consequences, and regardless of any rumors to the effect that private terms might be made.
 
 The expectant and anxious crowd had not long to wait. And when they came to understand their position fully pandemonium reigned. The floor was in a panic, and the corridors outside caught up the spirit of the occasion.
 
 But it was on the floor that scenes almost without precedent were enacted, and incidents that at other times would have called for the expulsion of members occurred without the slightest protest. As one broker put it to a reporter for The New York Times: "The thing was so sudden that conservative men lost their heads, and language was heard from reputable church going members of society that would not bear repetition under ordinary circumstances in a barroom of even the second class.
 
 Men climbed over each other to buy and to sell. They fought desperately, and at 3 o'clock, when the day was done, they relaxed only because of sheer exhaustion.
 
 For the first time in the history of the Stock Exchange the galleries were closed to visitors, even the reporters being shut out after 2 o'clock in the afternoon. This was a necessity. It seemed for a time as if a large part of the population of Manhattan Island had flocked to lower Broadway for the purpose of witnessing the commercial combat between two factions, each of which was determined to secure control of Northern Pacific, and neither of which was willing to throw a single share into the market that the general public might be relieved.
 
 The Stock Exchange, as is known, has temporary quarters in the Produce Exchange Building, and it was on this account that the galleries were closed. Tenants began to complain as early as soon that they found ingress and egress difficult. The order had already gone forth that none but members or their clerks should be admitted to the anteroom which is simply outside the railing of the floor of the Stock Exchange. This naturally caused a congestion in the gallery of the Produce Exchange, and the elevators are said to have carried as many passengers between 11 and 11 o'clock as they usually carry during an entire day. The order to close the galleries caused a block which could hardly be broken in the corridors, and finally these had to be cleared.
 
 Young Men's Panic
 
 Meantime there was no surcease of excitement on the floor of the Exchange, Young brokers, flushed with the excitement kindled by their first battle royal, led the van, and it was stated at the close that had they not lost their heads values would not have fallen as rapidly as they did. The representative of one of the largest Stock Exchange houses in the city, an old stager, declared, after what he confessed was the hardest day's work he ever experienced, that he knew of instances where securities sold for less than the amount offered for them, simply because before a bid could be accepted some callow youth would rush in and throw them on the market at a lower price.
 
 Bargain hunters were everywhere, and they were about the noisiest coterie of a deafening crew. Their brokers could easily be spotted. They were on the lookout for securities which were going at a sacrifice, and they were undoubtedly able to clean up hundreds of thousands of dollars by reason of the distress of their fellows.
 
 In the thick of the fight was to be seen Louis Wormser. Not interested to any large extent. If at all, in Northern Pacific, he was there for the purpose of covering as much of his short interests as he could at good profits, and the story goes that he succeeded. At a time like this stocks wholly unconnected with the principal stake that is being played for are thrown on the market by their owners, who must have money to make good contracts, and naturally a panic is the harvest time of the bargain hunter, who is able to pay spot cash.
 
 Sam Walsh was another who took advantage of a situation in the manipulation of which he probably had no part. Mr. Walsh was a ready and at times an excited buyer of stocks, and the story goes that he covered securities in which his firm had probably been short for a long time. Mr. Wormser and Mr. Walsh are only types. They did not stand out pre-eminently in the day's doings. Nobody did. It was not a time of ceremony and while the younger element was quicker to buy and sell, many of the old hands lost their heads and were overborne in the general scramble. Others with unlimited resources operated through brokers or Exchange members on a large scale. But dignity was thrown to the winds. There was no more of it on the floor than Justice Jerome and his associates find in a down town poolroom raided by the Committee of Fifteen.
 
 Among the large houses whose representatives were to be seen, flushed and excited, but buying as conservatively as the exigency of the hour would permit, were H. B. Hollins & Co., T.J. Taylor & Co., Moore & Schley, A.A. Housman & Co. These firms naturally took advantage of the situation, and as a member of one of them who had spent the day on the floor said, "While it was a hard trial, there was money in it for the rich." According to this same authority, the general public will bear the brunt of the loss.
 
 It was evident from the beginning of the session that the commercial world had felt the pulse of the situation and realized that there would be a good deal doing between the rap of the gavel and the ring of the gong. Not within the memory of the corporation have so many senior members of firms been seen upon the floor, and silver hairs did not aid them in efforts to conceal the excitement under which they were laboring. As the day wore on some of these disappeared, to be replaced by juniors more active and, perhaps, less cautious. But by noon caution had been abandoned, anyway, by old and young alike.
 
 All Order Abandoned
 
 Every railroad post seemed to be lodestone, and around it humanity whirled and seethed and fought for place. Many fortunes went into the vortex thus formed, and were sucked out of sight in a twinkling. One of the quietest moments followed the announcement that Northern Pacific had passed 200. It was the calm before the storm, for when the full import of such a quotation was realized a roar akin to the approach of a hurricane arose, and all effort to preserve anything like order was abandoned.
 
 The early gallery crowd was not typical. It is generally made up of persons drawn thither by idle curiosity. Not so yesterday. Many of the persons who looked down upon the struggling mass had more than a passing interest in the struggle. Some knew that their all was staked upon the game that was being played, and though the odds were tremendously against them they were held to the spot as if fascinated, and long after the quotations told a spectator that he had been "wiped out," he would cling to the railing, unable to take his eyes from the scene.
 
 And when the time came to clear the galleries there were those in the crowd who refused to budge. One white-haired man in particular would argue the point, and he undertook to cite precedent to show that "Investors," as he called them, had a sort of prescriptive right to stay in the gallery. He was reminded that he was not in the Stock Exchange, but in the Produce Exchange gallery, and that the Stock-Exchange itself had only temporary quarters in the building, and finally, he reluctantly left the gallery, going into the corridor, from which he was soon hurried into the street.
 
 That the Exchange members kept in close touch with their firms was plainly shown by the stream of messenger boys which poured in and out of the Exchange. They seemed to average at least one a second, and having caught the spirit of the occasion, they moved in lively fashion for at least one day of their lives.
 
 One of the most exciting incidents of the day was the appearance of A. A. Housman on the floor. About noon he was called up by a member and asked if it were true, as reported, that "he had dropped dead." Mr. Housman's reply was to go at once to the Exchange and offer for loan $1,000,000, all of which was taken. This was one of the things which helped to steady the market toward the close.  Among those early on hand was Controller Coler, who has been a member of the Stock Exchange for years. But he did not mingle with the "wild" ones, although he did pick up some bargains along conservative lines.
 
 As the gong sounded for the close the excitement among the brokers seemed to relax, and it was evident that the close of a day so full of financial and commercial history was warmly welcomed by those who had made that history. Congratulations were general that not a single failure of a Stock Exchange firm had been announced from the rostrum.
 
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