1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Well, Halloween is days away and there are plenty of 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: stories to scare us to pieces. But aside from the 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: regular stuff like paranormal activities and deranged killers, a lot 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: of us are equally spooked by what is or isn't 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: inside our bank account. Well, it could be worse. Today 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: is the ninety sixth anniversary of the stock market crash 7 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: on Wall Street. There was talk of mass suicide as 8 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: Black Thursday began the decade long Great Depression. I'm Patty Steele. 9 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: What really happened and what world famous politician contributed to 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: the mass suicide story? That's next on the backstory. The 11 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: backstory is back. Got to send a big thank you 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: to backstory listener Chuck Bell for suggesting this episode. Thank you, Chuck. 13 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: It is late October nineteen twenty nine. There have been 14 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: rumblings of financial trouble for the best year or so. 15 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: Prices are down steadily, and since so many people make 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: their livings off of farming in those days, they have 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: no money to spend, so consumer prices and production is 18 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: also falling. Problem is all the masters of the universe 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 1: on Wall Street see this as an opportunity to buy low, 20 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,199 Speaker 1: and eventually they think sell high, so they keep buying 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: stocks which are now artificially inflated, until Black Thursday, that 22 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: is October twenty fourth, nineteen twenty nine. More experienced investors 23 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: had already begun to sell, but now all investors begin 24 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: to panic as they see stocks being sold off, so 25 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: they all start selling and the market goes into free fall. 26 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: There's a run on the banks, which of course increases 27 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: the panic. With the New York Stock Exchange crashing, a 28 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: jittery crowd literally descends on Wall Street because getting real 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: time access to news any other way but in person, 30 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: just wasn't very easy in those days. They'd heard that 31 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: eleven investors had already committed suicide that afternoon. It sounds crazy, 32 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 1: but imagine you've been living not just a comfortable life, 33 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: but an exciting life during the go go Roaring twenties. 34 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: You have the fancy house or city apartment, gorgeous cars, 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: chic flapper era clothes, and for the summer you head 36 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,080 Speaker 1: for the beaches of Long Island, maybe the Adirondecks, or 37 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 1: if you're really loaded, Newport, Rhode Island. But then on 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: bloody Black Thursday, it all disappears. The flood of money 39 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: you've gotten used to to fund that lifestyle trickles to 40 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: nothing overnight. The masters of the universe who thought the 41 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: good times would never end are no longer masters of 42 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: their universe, and that means working class people are equally 43 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: as deprived because industry and thus the job market is collapsing. 44 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: So as folks cluster on Wall Street, they're sure they're 45 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: going to see more bodies drop as they look up 46 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: at the Wall Street high rises searching, Wait, look up, 47 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: is that someone leaning out of the window or over 48 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: the rooftop? Are they getting ready to jump? On Black Thursday, 49 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: false reports are everywhere around Wall Street that panic bankers 50 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: and investors are leaping out of high rise windows and plummeting, 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: much like the stock market itself. The next day, the 52 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: New York Deli News says if half the suicides which 53 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: were reported yesterday were true, Wall Street would be a 54 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: deserted village this morning. Historians say there actually was no 55 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: epidemic of suicides in the immediate wake of the crash, 56 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: although by nineteen thirty two, three years later, suicides in 57 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: the US were up by almost twenty five percent. The 58 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: rate by that year was the highest on record, far 59 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: higher than the rate today. The thing is, it took 60 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: a while for the impact of the crash to sink in. 61 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: A lot of investors thought at first it would come 62 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: around quickly, the stock market would be back, but it wasn't. So. 63 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: Window jumping and other methods of suicide became ingrained in 64 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: the public consciousness for several reasons. In one case, a 65 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: British newspaper reporter who lost a ton of money in 66 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: the crash himself, was in New York City that day 67 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: and said he'd watched the crash from the Stock Exchange 68 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: visitor gallery. He wrote that on that same day he 69 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: looked out of the window of his hotel room at 70 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: the Savoy and watched a body fall not far from him. 71 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: The reporter was Winston Churchill, future British Prime Minister. He wrote, 72 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: under my very window, a gentleman cast himself down fifteen 73 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: stories and was dashed to pieces, causing a wild commotion 74 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,040 Speaker 1: and the arrival of the fire brigade. As it turns out, 75 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: the jumper was actually a German chemist also visiting New 76 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: York City, who had either jumped, fallen accidentally, or been pushed. 77 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: But it happened before the actual Wall Street crash. So 78 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 1: not related. But as the days wore on, there were 79 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: suicides that made the news. The head of a wholesale 80 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:17,000 Speaker 1: produce company lost off fortune, and he jumped from the 81 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: seventh floored ledge outside his lawyer's office and landed on 82 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: a car parked on Wall Street. A man with a 83 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: seat on the New York Stock Exchange drank poison in Chicago. 84 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: A real estate investor turned on the gas in his 85 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: kitchen and put his head in the oven. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, 86 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: a civil engineer doused himself with gasoline and lit himself 87 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: on fire. His wife also died from burns she suffered 88 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,600 Speaker 1: while trying to save her husband. And a twenty six 89 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: year old in Milwaukee, Wisconsin left a suicide note in 90 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: his hotel room with some gallows humor, saying my body 91 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: should go to science, my soul to Secretary of Treasury 92 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: Andrew W. Mellon, and my sympathy to my creditors. On 93 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: top of that, there was plenty of public dark humor 94 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: in the aftermath. Will Rogers was a vaudeville superstar and 95 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: newspaper humorist. The day after Black Thursday, in his newspaper column, 96 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: he said, when Wall Street took that tailspan you had 97 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: to stand in line to get a window to jump 98 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: out of. Speculators were selling spaces for bodies in the 99 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: East River Yikes, maybe a little too soon, right and 100 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:34,679 Speaker 1: Vaudeville comedian, singer and movie producer Eddie Canter lost most 101 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: of his money in the crash thanks to his business 102 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: sense in his resilience. He did make most of his 103 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: fortune back by investing in publishing, radio and movies, but 104 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: at the time of the crash, humor was all he had. 105 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: He joked that when he asked for a nineteenth floor 106 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: room at a New York City hotel, the clerk asked him, 107 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:01,239 Speaker 1: what will this be for sleeping or jumping? Can you imagine? Again? 108 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: Big thanks to backstory listener Chuck Bell for turning me 109 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: on to this story. Hope you like the backstory with 110 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Please leave a review. I'd love it if 111 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: you would subscribe or follow for free to get new 112 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: episodes delivered automatically. Also feel free to DM me if, 113 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: like Chuck, you have a story you'd like me to cover. 114 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. 115 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, 116 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer 117 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new 118 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out 119 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram 120 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. 121 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the 122 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.