The 1907 U.S. financial panic involving a failed copper speculation was the Panic of 1907.
The episode began after an attempt by F. Augustus Heinze and Charles W. Morse to corner the stock of United Copper Company failed in October 1907. Depositors then rushed to withdraw money from institutions connected to the speculators. The panic spread when trust companies, which were less regulated than banks, faced runs and could not easily obtain cash.
The Knickerbocker Trust Company became a central casualty after its president, Charles T. Barney, was linked to the speculation. The institution suspended operations, intensifying public fear in New York. J. Pierpont Morgan organized private support and persuaded banks to provide emergency liquidity.
The crisis helped convince American leaders that the country needed a formal central bank. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913. The panic is therefore not just a stock-market story; it also connects directly to the institutional history of modern U.S. banking.