Here's what we wrote the day after Black Monday

• Dow Jones industrial average plunged 508 points, 22.5% drop
• USA's 47 million investors saw stocks' value drop 20% in one day
• Bill Gates, then youngest billionaire, became multimillionaire overnight

Here's one of two stories we published Oct. 20, 1987, the day after Black Monday. The story was written by John Hillkirk, editor of USA TODAY's investigative reporting.

The stock market Monday suffered its biggest crash in 73 years -- a fall worse than 1929.

"It was the worst market I have ever seen in my lifetime or would hope to see again, " said John Phelan, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

--The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 508 points or 22.6%, exceeding Depression-era declines of 12.8% on "Black Monday" (Oct. 28, 1929) and 11.7% on "Black Tuesday" (Oct. 29, 1929). Only one day -- a 24.4% dive Dec. 12, 1914 -- was worse, but the Dow then had only 20 stocks.

The Dow closed at 1,738.74 -- its lowest point since April 1986, and a drop of nearly 1,000 points or 36% since the market peaked on Aug. 25.

--Of 1,600 NYSE stocks, only 52 moved higher, while 1,973 were lower; 1,192 stocks hit 52-week lows.

Huge losers: Digital Equipment fell 42.25 points, or 25%; IBM, 31.25 points or 23%; U.S. Steel-parent USX, 12.25 points or 37%, and Eastman Kodak, 27.25 points, or 30%.

--The value of USA stocks, measured by the Wilshire Index of 5,000 stocks, fell $503 billion to $2.31 trillion - $1 trillion below the record high.

--The USA's 47 million individual investors saw the value of their stocks fall by an average 20% in one day.

--The average stock mutual fund investor lost 16.1%, or $2,112 per fund.

--New York state was scrambling. Capped by Monday's action, the value of New York state's investments has fallen $6.6 billion in recent days, a spokesman for the state comptroller said.

--Some major brokerage firms found themselves denying rumors that they would have to close. "At this time we know of no significant problems," said Phelan.

Among those hit hardest:

-Bill Gates, 31, the founder of Microsoft, was the USA's youngest billionaire last week, with 21 million shares of Microsoft stock. Now, he may be just another multimillionaire. Microsoft fell 19.50 points to $45, dropping his net worth to $945 million.

--Anheuser-Busch Honorary Chairman August Anheuser Busch Jr. was wondering what hit him. The value of his stock in the beer company dropped by $190 million.

--David Packard lost $519 million of his paper fortune as Hewlett-Packard stock plunged 12.13 points to $47.63.