The Red Cloud chief., 1881-06-30
The Ups and Downs Of Oh Spectators.

The Philadelphia Times publishes m
interesting letter from Bradford. Pa.
on the yicissitudes of oil operators and
the mania for speculation Ii reads
like q page from the history of Cailfor-
MIA in the pa'my days Of placer mining;
Speculation in the price Of oil Wa the
next craze. and one that finds proml-
hence TO-DAY. Magnificent oil eN-
changes were erected in Oil City. Titus.
vile and Bradford. Here speculation Is.
INDUCED in the price Of oil. the oil GER
| t~ificates being the basis. One instance
of how men become rich in this way
occurred in Oil CITY. Two brothers by
the name OF Goethe. in 1867. were
bootblacks around the streets OF the OF.
towns. They made n good deal oil
money for boys. and saved IL When
they had q few hundreds saved they
took \ flyer on the market. They were
! successful, aud doubled. Success stu
followed them. and to-day they are
among the wealthiest and most uccess
full SPECTATORS in the REGION. The
magnificent generosity oil the oil men
is well known A poor and needy
woman has often hal thousands of do
lars raised for her among a crowd o! oil
men. and in n few minutes she was
raised from poverty to opu!encc. They
spend money ike water, and no town
in the country will show bctter-dreSsed
men and women than these. They all.
almost universally. wear diamonds upon
their shirt bo-oms, which in many cases
they are forced TO pawn for necessities
- -, L.,-. h..anun .rap asst.-
toned TO them.
When the market is dull and inactive
for a few days IL is noticeable every
place.
Speculation is the life-blood Of Oil
CITY. business stagnatcs, men get the
blues, and the town is dull, indeed.
But let the market be variable. fortunes
are made and lost. men are excited, the
streets are alive with oil brokers rush
inc back and forth between banks and
exchanges with certificates. drafts.
checks. and ever money inthclr hands
The wives Of the brokers crowd 10 the
exchanges. and file in the visitors
gallery, watching the operations Of
their husbands. Some time ago. in u
Of these exchanges, the gallery was
filed To o~ycrlowing. The market was
leaping up at the rate Of ten cents an
hour. One of the heaviest BUYERS wa
on the wrong side. He saw his fortune
disappearing like n mist, NJ the rate OF
$4,000 an hour. For six hours this
continued. and he wa forced TO LAY
down." a il is called-to bee announced
a bankrupt, in other words. His wife
was a witness of the whole scene. An
hour before the worst came she left the
exchange. walked into a dry-gools
store, took off her sealskin sacque, and
sold it. From that place she went TO
the jewelers. and disposed of her dia-
monds and all her silver. When her
husband returned home diScOnsolate
and downcast, she met him 1t the door
dressed in a neat calico wrapper. lie
had been Il clerk be ore fortune smiled
upon him. and she a modest school
teacher. She informed him hat she
had discharged all the servants,
and they would live rs former
", she doing the work. She
handed him $500 as the result OF sell
ing her jewelry. and told him To use it.
JOY and hope beamed in his eyes and
found place in his heart again. He
went AGAIN. 10 Di'sllceS- HI Out ioiItu
he had regained his former position.
had redeemed everything his wife had
pledged, and was living rs formerly.
Three times within six years Wa this
man saved in this manner by his wife.
TODAY he is one of the most daring and
successful of our spectators. This Is
one story. Here il another: A young
man in Franklin wished TO marry. He
was well-to-do, hal a snug little sum in
the bank. but the speculation mania
caught him. He invested il all in oil.
The market that had been going up for
four DAYS turned the very day he
bought, and in two short hours he saw
the savings of wears disappear. Ii
maddened him. He took to drink, be-
came unfit for business, lost his posi-
ton. the love and respect Of his wife.
for he had married. and gradually
sank. step by step. until he is to-day a
maudlin bar-room Grunkard. Homes
have been ruined, hearts broken, lives
DESTROYED. men crazed by this exciting.
insane passion that never quits them
until they have lost all they possess,
except in n yery few cases where they
had the hardihood to fly while their
pockets were full.
This happens about as often as it does
in the lives of gamblers. These men,
rs n rule. live fast lives, and it is very
seldom that one with gray hairs is found
.n,Anr ti,p,n