Show 2 an incident of the street lot wa on the morning of the day of august 1898 there was great excitement in the pit of the mining exchange of one of the our western cities Hot stuff one of the substantial stocks of the board which had held its own with slight fluctuations during the unprecedented boom of the winter months when cheap stocks and wildcats had the preference and stood as a rock and even made steady advance during the succeeding months of de depression and inaction which followed suddenly went to pieces and declined under the unloading of thousands of shares from the opening sale at to Hot stuff was a regular dividend payer and belonged principally to smith and raymond solid substantial business men well worthy of the confidence reposed in them by the numerous small holders of the stock it had been their desire to make Hot stuff one of the staple investment stocks of the board and as the merits of the proposition were unquestionable and the affairs of the mine were conducted in an able conservative manner they had had little trouble in accomplishing their purpose it was a stock in which the working people the school teachers ministers and professional men generally invested their surplus funds on account of the good rate of interest derived and the reputation the mine sustained and among the brokers were many who carried good oo sized blocks as an anchor to windward in case disaster overtook them in investments of a more speculative nature consequently when the slump came the panic which resulted spread quickly from the pit to the street and from thence to every nook and corner of the town an hour before call an interesting conference was held in the office of black johnson one of the leading brokerage firms of the street shrewd operators who had repeatedly peat edly manipulated the market greatly to their own profit closeted Clo sited with the firm was billy chalcea Ch alcer who held shares of hot stuff chalcea was a mining operator and a hustler the week prior after examination he had decided to develop a copper property in one of the new camps of idaho and he found it necessary to dispose of some of his holdings in order to make the initial payment Hot stuff was selling at something like a fair figure while most of his other securities were quoted at not more than half half their value therefore Hot stuff was decided on as the stock to be sold and black johnson the firm to sell it chal placed it with them without a limit but with instructions to get the best sible aible after chalcea left the office black johnson put their heads together they decided that in view of the generally weak condition of the market chalmers Chal cers stock was about all it if not more than it would stand at the then selling price they reasoned that after selling his block they could by selling a few thousand short break the market precipitate a panic and cover at a much lower price thereby reaping a large benefit for the firm the market that morning was sluggish and the brokers lolled around in the pit in a listless manner Hot stuff however opened strong with a bid of which brought out a few hundred shares gray one of the oldest brokers on the street bid for a thousand shares and somewhat to his surprise was immediately accommodated by black johnson gray had a long line of customers both at home and in the east and when money was placed in his hands for investment he had been in the habit of putting it in Hot stuff this morning he happened to have an eastern order for 2000 shares he was pleased with his purchase and immediately bid for a thousand more sold said black who was representing his firm on the floor this rather staggered gray he knew there were few large blocks that could come on the market it set him to guessing who was letting go but gray was the hero of many encounters in the pit and did not lack sand 1 I think I 1 will take a little of that on my own account he thought and his bid of for 2000 shares was scarcely made before he be was accommodated by black lippincott acknowledged to be the most successful scalper in the pit had been silent until now but observing that gray seemed to have an unlimited order and thinking that blacks block must be nearly exhausted here took up the running with a bid of 1181 for 1000 or 2000 shares and was also accommodated by black the air of lethargy which had pervaded the pit was gone the brokers were in the qui vive who could guess the market many sized up the situation as but a temporary weakness and became buyers A much larger number became uneasy concerning their investment and in their attempt to realize for themselves and their customers flooded the market with more stock than it could take care of ugly rumors flew around the pit and thence to the street the mine was flooded the big was played out A great cave had occurred in the lower levels dividends were to be discontinued at once etc the lobby filled up with excited people from the street lip seeing that he had guessed the market wrong added to the panic by throwing his 2000 shares just purchased on the market at a loss of 5 cents a share the confusion grew momentarily the callers voice was drowned in the uproar men screamed at the top of their voices office boys and messengers flew hither and thither and the rail was crowded with frantic investors ve each seeking to attract the attention of his broker in order that he might unload down and still down went the stock first by fractions then as the panic grew by cents until was reached through it all gray stood alert but giving no sign of the dismay that filled his heart as he thought of the hundreds eds whom he had induced to buy the stock of tho the scores who would lose who could ill afford to lose it would be a blow to his customers and to his business from which neither would recover in many a long day unless something could be done and that speedily to rout the bears disaster to many and ruin to some would result at the height of the panic he slipped out of the pit and ran to his office near by where he called up the office of the Hot stuff company luckily smith was in and it took few words to acquaint him with the situation now hot stuff was smiths hobby it might almost be said his religion he surely had no other to judge by his muttered oaths as he stood with the receiver screwed to his ear listening to grays graphic tale of disaster you go back and buy all that is in sight up to he said and get that damned black as short as you can gray flew away leaving the receiver dangling by its cord in the pit pandemonium reigned the bears were exultant black flushed and smiling was offering shares of the stock at he was mentally counting his probable profits three thousand at he reiterated again and again anybody want it take it said gray who had returned to the pit without his absence being noted W that said black inclined to believe that he had not heard aright ill take it said gray again sell you more shouted black the smile had left his face and there was in his eye a steedly glitter he had nerve and now was the time to use it ill take that also returned gray and give you for more or any part of it well it was no use and black saw it the reaction set in those who had bad been throwing the stock overboard at any price brice were now clamoring to get it back at any price black stood back from the rail trying to force a smile he had been there before and knew that misfortune must be faced boldly but how hot the room seemed all at once he wished that some one would open some more of the windows and let in a little more fresh air but how the stock did climb up and up it went until was reached and passed by several notches the stress had vanished the men in the lobby laughed to themselves and each other those whom the panic had caught felt that they wanted to be alone and vanished from sight crowds on the street discussed the event in excited manner black johnson arranged to borrow the amount of stock of which they were short some shares from their connections at a good rate of interest until they could cover no dividend was declared by the firm for august in the back room of his office gray shook hands with himself and decided to make his wife a nice little present as some men do when luck favors for the incident was closed and his customers and business had not suffered C G C HIGGINS |