The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-03-26

Scenes NJ the New York ssech Exchs o nse.
The New York correspondent of the Chicaet
Press and New York Tribune thus daguerreo.
| types the "outside room'' of the Brokers
Board: sr
"The New York Stock Exchange 10 famous
enough; but very little has been said of th.
most curious aspect there presented, viz tina,
Of the 'onter room'--so called because IL IL the
| lobby Of the Board-r room proper. To reach the
nall of Brokers. one goes down passage lead.
Ing from William street, AM feet to court.
yard In the rear. Here turn an abrupt corner
lnI0 oark and narrow passase, abovs whose
doorway should be inscribed the famous line.
which Dante placed above the arch Of the en-.
trance OF the world of woe:
'All hope abandon. 70 who enter here"
| .FAse along for q tortuous score Of yards, and
you VII come to two doors; the one on the
| !lgnt leads {. the B0ard-room, where the i56
nrokers, from 1GX a. m, till noon. and from 2 4
tui3 p. m, trassxct the business reported ia the
| daily papers. The scene within the Board
room mas been often described. But. instead
OF turning to your right enter the door in front,
ana you are in the lobby room. cheap,
| small. dirty den it is It's uucarpeted floor
oeep with nut-shells and foul with tobacco
| Juice, and its atmosphere dense with smoke
Here, in a space scarcely large enough for a
| oackWood's schOOl-rOOm, are crowded over If
" men OF all ages and nations. These COM
pose the street operators or 'curb-stone bro
kers Some Of them have Offices. more have
none They are made up Of several classes.
lst- The broken brokers who Iaavesioss their
feaas h a1hAInre on cen tracts and here linger
| IN limbo, striving to make enough to pay their
debts and get back to their former paradise I'd.
operators, men OF means, who sit silently lis
tenlng to the reports, which are shouted
tnrongn spsaking-tube commu nicating with
, ne lnn er ioom' and every now and then send
Ing In written orders to their brokers. 3d.
Operators, men of straw, who deal almost ex.
clusively in that great staple, New York Cen
trai, among each other or with whatever bro
0nl h fnrC
take their contracts. In this room the bust
ness done is sheer gambling. What tremen-
dous excitement! What eager listening to
every quotation clammared through the pipe
oy btnn Geo. H. and shouted to the ut~d-
ers ny rubtcuud Richard D., Familiarity known
as Dick Swiveii-r 10 every man in the street! !!
What Jostling and crowding to the windows
overlooking the passage to the Board-ruom,
whose Geographic dispatches are every in.
stant coming from Philadelphia, Bos ton, Gin
clnnaii-aye. and not few from your own
speculative townsmen! What jokes and
laughter, rOwdyism and bu flOOnery, smashing
OF hats, ]ostling strangers, throwing snow
balls, offers 10 sell and buy, angry words,
crowding around a stray member from inside
eating peanuts, smoking, swearing, shouting,
slngiug-such scene can be witnessed no.
where else in the Uni ed States! Tits Bedlam
in riot-it is a Bacchanal without wine
between the sessions of the Board, the reg
ular brokers mlngle with these men on the
sidewalk. and heavier ope~at are oftener
transacted at this time than at the Board it.
self. One would think, on first entering the
outer room, and hearing all abo"t him such
cries as.'lll give II. buyer ~, for Il hundred
Cen,ral?-' Sold "-'Ill sell five hundred at
7US, seller 3 3"-I'il sell fifty regular way p
Who wants $50 Galena !-hearing all this
noise Of business, one would suppose himself
surrounded with miliionaires, by each of
whom thousand shares of Panama would
be easily carried. Bat when the scales drop
from his eyes, he learns that half of these men
haven't hundred dollars in the world; that
their credit depends, like thatof gambler, on
the last lucky hit they may have made; that
difference Of 800 sometimes breaks them;
that they are merely engaged In buying one
moment and selling the next, or rice erso, for
the turn of the market, and think them
selves lucky if they make i per ce1t. on u
hundred shares (Sl2.5O;) that they get along
very we'll in stagnant times, but in the great
Spring and Fall movements when stocks vary
several per cent. per diem, they are scattered |
and overthrown like chaff before the whirl- |
wind
Yet these are the haIituss of the street
while others come, make and lose, leaving
room for the next wave Of Adventures, these |
keep their places, greet each other daily, los
ing few of their number, except by death
gaining few, except those who go through
with kind Of moral and pecuniary death,
that renders them unfit for any other pursuit
than the sad, boisterous, feyersh life OF the
street.
these men have a kindly fellow feeling
for each other-some such emotion as may ex-
1st between prisoners Ill one cell, starvelings
in the same famine, slaves in the same galley. |
II one Of their number is entirely Cleaned
out though no may have failed on them Sc |
verally,they are nick to help him to a few dol
lars, and to take his contracts for fresh start
AS their dealings are based on honor, a certain |
chivalrous regard for ones word is to be found
among them. Lastly, observe that the row.
dyism continually going on in their room is
rather OF a mir'htui than an ugly nature, and
seems to act as a kind of safety-yalve for the
tremendous excitement and suspense under
which the market is at all times laboring."