Show WITHIN A FRACTION I OF op ABJECT POVERTY I Chicago Inter Ocean I Pretty nearly neatly every business man in I I cosmopolitan cities sa at one time or pr I another taken a flyer on the board of trade with varying results but it fell to the lot of oldest photographer photographer I pher J K Stevens with studios in the I McVicker theatre building to experience experience experience a whisk in the wheat pit which aU aR but wiped him out of financial ex existence existence exIstence It occurred hack back ba k in the Os when conditions and general probabilities j ties unanimously favored a fall in the market and Mr Stevens then in his this prime and the full flush of ambition for I wealth and fame invested a ii good round sum on the short side of the market and with generous margins in the hands of his brokers settled himself as calmly as possible le to await results and the anticipated rapid r ap id accumulation of ofa a fortune Ii Iia Prices dickered about the selling fig I ure 98 cents for a few days and then unexpectedly started on a n skyrocket journey upward Point by point the prices rose and day dRY after day found Mr Stevens digging deeper I into his bunk account to tn cover mar margins margins margins gins until all available cash had been placed and several quick mortgages on city property were negotiated with i the proceeds of f w ch the persistent of the flie market succeeded in hanging on while the prices continued to soar Higher and higher Not a great while after the deal was started came a day dRY when hen Mr Stevens resources of every nature had been exhausted and his last dollar db lIar laced at the margin end of his wheat deal This final payment covered vered the deal up to at which point all cash ash put up would be lost Meantime the distracted plunger many points lower in the deal had mentally and fervently re resolved resolved solved to pull out and quit the game for life If he the ever got even Mr lIr Stevens tells tens a graphic story of that last day the anxious an lous waiting fur news the fearful tearful nervous strain at attendant attendant attendant with the hopeless hunch that every dollar on earth was as good as gone forever for ver Slowly the seemingly in inevitable inevitable inevitable evitable end drew near noes The market mark t I reached rea hed then t en and amI the Stevens stock of mental an anguish anguish guisti was working overtime gloomily clicked the ticker and amY hope sank still lower Another click cIl The market was liB faltering back and forth orth the prices rose roe and fell then and innumerable repeats until at atla last t the toboggan was struck and without a tremor the prices fell feU down down down while the heart heartthrobs he heartthrobs rt throbs of Mr Stevens beat an accompanying accompanying nying quick tattoo Eventually the market struck 98 the figure at which Mr Stevens started his operations arid and urgent instructions flashed into his this brokers office Close CloSe the deal The instructions were obeyed to the letter and Mr Stevens minus mI lUs the slight percentage paid the broker broket quit the board bo rd of trade for tor life It was a refers to as the greatest event of this business career which otherwise has been one of continuous growth and prosperous tendency |