It's the morning of October 29, 1929, on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan.

Reporter Jonathan Leonard makes his way along the crowded sidewalks outside the New York Stock Exchange.

He's been covering

the stock market long enough to see its mood swing from exuberance to anxiety, but he's rarely

witnessed anything like what he saw yesterday. On October 28th, the stock market took a dive,

with panic selling dominating the trading floor. Over 9 million shares changed hands as major stocks plunged

in value. Now Jonathan wants to see if the crisis is passing or getting worse. Clutching his

notebook, Jonathan pushes open the doors to the exchange, and immediately a wall of sound hits it.

Traders yelling, papers flying, and the endless metallic jangle of the stock picker machines.

On the floor, men shoved their way through the crowd desperate to reach the trading posts.

Some are red-faced with anger, others are white with fear.

One man is just slumped on the ground in despair.

Jonathan approaches the traders with questions, but none of them give him the second look.

None have the time.

The numbers are collapsing faster than anyone can comprehend.

Messenger boys race past with fistfuls of paper.

There are no buyers, just crowds of desperate men pressing forward, shouting, pleading to sell anything at any price.

This is not just another bad day.

This is something else entirely.

This is a collapse.

Over the course of the day, over 16 million shares will be sold and around $14 billion in market value will be lost.

This crash will come to be known as Black Tuesday and will shatter public confidence in the U.S. economy and mark the beginning of the Great Depression.

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