My paper analyses the use of telegraphy during the 1873 financial panic and gauges its significance in comparison to other, more traditional forms of communication. When the New York bank Jay Cooke & Co. announced that it was suspending its operations, the news quickly spread around the globe. American wire reports were anxiously awaited in Europe and parsed for indications of the true extent of the panic. Sensing the danger of contagion, newspapers in some instances delayed the publication of certain telegrams and pointed out that some of them contained erroneous information and should not be taken at face value. At the same time, traditional communication by letter still played an important role, especially at the local/national level. When George Opdyke of New York City found himself confronted with rumours that his bank had suspended payments, he began writing letters to his correspondents in New York and beyond, informing them that his bank was sound and was meeting all its obligations. Such assurances, penned in ink, proved effective in re-establishing his credentials and, I argue, probably carried greater weight than sparsely worded, impersonal telegrams would have done.