The plunge in the stock prices of the two railroad companies, along with Carlisle's speech, caused a ripple effect on Wall Street.

Investors' long-standing worries have finally come out of control like a flood that has burst its banks.

They also began to sell their stocks.

For a while, there was a lot of noise in the sky over Wall Street.

Secretary of State W. Grley Hill (W.) saw the news in the newspaper and immediately made a rare scolding.

He hurriedly broke into the finance minister's office and accused the colleague of not talking more than a brain, his mouth like a leaky pot, and telling the public all the information that should not be disclosed without consultation, which is really not like the work of a mature politician.

However, the Minister of Finance immediately retorted, saying that he was not a politician in the first place, and that he was ashamed to be compared to some well-dressed beasts, and that the people had a right to know, especially when their property was in danger.

The two old men refused to give in to each other, and eventually got into trouble with President Cleveland together.

Cleveland leaned back in his chair, holding his forehead and watching the two old men who were fighting hard arguing, physically and mentally exhausted.

A split in the Democratic Party seems inevitable.

Eventually, Treasury Secretary Carlisle walked away.

"What a stubborn idiot!" Graysan looked at Carlisle's back and muttered in private.

He then turned to the president and said with a little anxiety:

"Cleveland, you have to do something! Otherwise, we're doomed! ”

Cleveland looked at his partner with a tired face.

He didn't know that.

The finance minister who was chosen by himself had to take care of the trouble that broke out.

Two days later, the president addressed a crowd of reporters on Capitol Hill:

I have solemnly refuted these rumours from time to time that the Ministry of Finance and the government have been considering the intention of deposing gold and finding another way to exchange paper money. Now it seems that the rumors are not superfluous, because the public is too easy to believe the media"

Cleveland's original intention was to appease the people.

However, his speech and wording were as euphemistic and obscure as ever, and did not have much effect.

The disaster on the New York Stock Exchange continues.

First the railroad industry, then the rest of the manufacturing industry, and the market was in a panic.

Two weeks after the president's speech, the stock market crashed.

The first unlucky guy to go bankrupt also appeared.

As one of the leading stocks of the rope industry on the New York Stock Exchange, the bankruptcy of the National Rope Company has nothing to do with the stock market crash in the strict sense.

It collapsed mainly because it had expanded too fast and was unable to repay its debts after a sharp change in market supply.

The company now has no ambitions to dominate the country, and in the end it has only ended up shutting down.

But its collapse also sounded the clarion call for the closure of many enterprises.

The bears rushed to tell each other and celebrated with their crowns.

They have encountered a good day that they haven't seen in years, and it's time to make up for it and make a windfall for the U.S. government.

However, Chen Jianqiu, who had already stayed out of the matter at this time, was relaxed.

He has divested the highest-risk railway industry in his hands, and whether it is Sanjiang Bank or the arms industry, it is a big business, low-risk operation, and is ready to face the next shock.

Chen Jianqiu told Silas, Dylan, and Okafor:

Death from starvation is not instantaneous, they will first become yellow-skinned, malnourished, and then gradually reach a critical point towards death.

So, let the bullets fly for a while.

He now has something to do on another battlefield.

Edison is now also a head of the bag.

Morgan had already given him an ultimatum, if he couldn't make his direct current beat alternating current, then the investors would give up direct current altogether, and Edison himself would have to obediently get out of the newly established General Electric Army.

Edison thought about it and decided to return to what he did best.

And today, is the day of his performance.

One or two hundred people were invited to the plaza in front of the New York State Penitentiary to watch the execution of a death row inmate named Francis Keller.

Among these people, there are journalists, lawyers, dignitaries, and of course, ordinary citizens.

I don't know if it was Edison's intention or the negligence of his assistants, Chen Jianqiu was also invited.

When the crowd arrived in the square one after another, they found that the gallows had not appeared, and instead was replaced by a chair with a rather strange shape.

The chairs are covered with exposed electric wires, and the backs and handles are fitted with belts to secure the prisoners' hands and necks.

There were three joysticks at the back of the chair, and a thick wire led out from under the chair to a transformer and generator not far away.

Chen Jianqiu looked at the generator set and felt familiar.

It's a product of their Roswell Electric Company, and I don't know why it ended up in Edison's hands.

He invented an electric chair that used alternating current, and then paid a judge in New York for some money to change the hapless murderer's execution from hanging to electrocution.

He intends to use this to demonstrate the dangers of alternating current, preferably to cast a psychological shadow on the citizens.

After a while, the guards escorted Kelham out of the prison gate and secured him to an electric chair.

Edison did not intervene himself this time, but asked one of his more perverted engineers, Harold Brown, to carry out the smear work for him.

At this time, he was already standing at the switch, eager to try.

The guards shut Kelham's mouth, said that an iron ring-like object was attached to his head, and then put the sack on it.

When everything was ready, Brown pulled the switch.

The current of 300V is passed through the wire and flows to the electric chair.

Kelham began to tremble, and his movements were so great that he almost fell to the ground with his chair.

The shock lasted more than ten seconds.

The condemned prisoner didn't seem to be moving.

Brown walked from the switch to the side of the electric chair.

He shouted to the people below: "This electric chair uses alternating current, as you can see, alternating current is very dangerous, and can even kill people in just ten seconds. ”

His next sentence was originally "Direct current is much safer than alternating current." ”

But before Brown could say anything, he was interrupted.

A man below pointed to the "corpse" of Kylum in the electric chair and exclaimed:

"He's not dead yet!"

Brown looked at Kellum, who was not far from him.

This guy's body is still moving, and it's not a convulsion after the power is on.

"Damn it, get started with the motor!" One of the guards whispered to Brown, "We're going to have to electrocute him right now!" ”

Brown quickly ran to the switch and pulled it down.

Kelham began to twitch again.

This time, though, his exposed skin began to turn red, and smoke began to come out of his body.

An extremely pungent burnt smell wafted from the electric chair.

The onlookers standing in the front row covered their noses, turned their heads and ran; Some people even started vomiting.

The second time the motor lasted for dozens of seconds.

Kelham was dead, he was completely electrocuted.

"As you can see, alternating current is extremely dangerous, it"

He didn't finish his sentence when he was interrupted again.

However, the focus is not on the AC ears, but on Brown himself:

"O my God! What have you all done, it's so cruel! ”

"You are simply the devil, how could you study such a cruel thing! This is against humanity! ”

The gentlemen under the stage frowned and began to accuse Brown on the stage.

In their opinion, this is nothing short of an abuse! In such civilized America, there should be no such thing!

Chen Jianqiu did not join the ranks of scolding.

His eyes were fixed on the electric chair.

"It may be that the voltage is low, and there is no fatal blow." He thought of the fat man who had hung on the barbed wire in Oklahoma earlier, and muttered to himself.

"If you have the chance, you can build one and send it to Elizabeth Mental Hospital."

(End of chapter)