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Show C.uYt'i' if a Speeulaloi'. A very p..iuful iei:ure in the felock czi-h-. -v:v Ji'ni.d is. h lull, ihiu old gtntlT.iar w!i .'r--s km! hkih'hI aup-MM,. o ii.Jii.'e ; L.verty, imd who.G ciiniitenance hs lhat ivallfi-e exprei;i(;n which marks the t-picu-lator. I I'avii known this man for luiiny yciir.-, and may give his history as follows: Uo wa3 once a lawyer, ai.d had tuUiciimt practice to maure him a supp;t, enpecially in he h;id a sn:;i!l p.ilrimony. Ilia uttenlion. howiivt-r. was turned lo Wall street, and he becaiuo a speculator. For tiiiio his succcis was remarkable, am1 Was nfti-n ii-finlinnprl mp m mi nr- cption to my general rule. My reply re-ply waa: "His time is yet to come." Aud so it proved. This man became wurUi 100,000. hut he could not stop, though be then had an income of iS,000 a year, lie had lost all will powtr,-aud powtr,-aud musl continue, whatever might ba the result. Hu then laid plans that 1,;, ;n; To do this he bought Central Hudson at 95 with tho expectation that i( would go up to 120. His $100,000 was iove&Ud iu what are called "margins," "mar-gins," and he controlled an immense amount of tU)k which was pledged at the iMnkti as cullateral. Such was tins man's condition when tho panic of IS3 so; iu. In three days the slock ic.l K'neatii tne margins and the banks no'.ititd him that it his eecurity were not increased his slock would be I sold. As this v as impossible the col-I col-I laterals were slaughtered and his $100,000 was nunk iu leas than a week. The uufortuna'.e man then reached a point which I h:id expected for 1 havo never seen the rule fail. He dragged down a farmer who had caught from him the speculator1 fever and also several others. Among tbeae waj a Bister whose patrimony was in his hands and whom he reduced to poverty. He afterwards succeeded iu getting a berth in a large buBinees concern as "legal adviser," hia duty being to answer questions of legal character and to overlook tbe general law business. His salary was just enough to give bis family a close living, hut it was liberal for the times. A veiir afterwards. hnwnvpr I learned that he had been dismissed. The statement made to me was that that his mind waa so devoured hy the speculative frenzy that he could pay no attention to business restrictions. He was continually poring over stock quotations and dodging into Wall street on all possible occasiona, and if be got $o0 it was Bure to go into a "put" or a "call." Hence he was discharged, and now he is hanging around the exchange, living on the petty reward of that dirty work which such men are glad to do. Tuere is nothing in the above sketch that would sound strange to a Wail sirual man, for a brief experience experi-ence here reveals even Btranger episodes. epi-sodes. Ihe last victim was Pfdrick, wots3 frenzy fur speculation leads him to forgery, with a prospect of state prison. It is euspactcd that Wheaily, who recently disappeared, is oue ol the same class. Aq estate had been entrusted to his care, and it is prubable tbal that it has, to a largo degree, been sunk in the vortex of speculation. Jay Gould will yet take his place in the same coterie of misfortune. He if biiil a man of large wealth, and if it were asked why does not he avoid the place of danger, the.same reply must be made he cannot stop. Gould will be an attache' of the stock exchange as long as health and money may be left. He seems to anticipate the future, for he holds no property that cannot be shifted on short notice. His house stands in his wife's name, and and he is in a condition to dodge his creditors, whenever it may be policy. If Buch be the condition of a Wall-street king, what must be that ot his eiiMis. n Tnrt r; xtocoester Lenocrat. |