History doesn't always announce itself with cannons or parades. Sometimes it arrives quietly - like a cold wind slipping under a door. In October 1929, the wind carried numbers falling off a board on Wall Street, a sudden drop that felt temporary, almost trivial. But within days, fortunes disappeared. Banks shuttered. Men who had dined in private clubs sold apples on corners. Families who had believed in the permanence of the American Dream found themselves staring at eviction notices.