Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-03-25
SPECULATION IN OIL.
The Ups and Downs Of Lille In OIL
City-BrOkers' Wives ia
the Exchange.
philadelphia Times

Philadelphia Times.l
Speculation on the price Of oil finds
prominence to-day. Magnificent oil
exchanges we're erected in Oil City,
T~itusviIle, and Bradford. Here spec.
ulation is INDUCED in on the price Of
oil, the oil certificates being the basis,
One instance of how men become rich
in. this speculation occurred in Oil
Oty. Two brothers by the name Of
Goethe, in 1867, were bootblacks
around the streets of the oil towns.
They made a good deal of money for
boys and saved it. When they had a
few hundreds saved they took a floor
on the market. They were successful
and doubled success still followed
them, and to-day they are among the
wealthiest and most successful specn-
lators in the region. The magnificent
generosity of oil men is well known.
A poor and needy woman has often
had thousands of dollars raised for
her among a crowd of oil men, and in
a few minutes she was raised from
poverty to cpulence. They spend
money like water, and no town in the
country will show better dressed men
and women than these. They almost
universally wear diamonds upon their
shirt bosoms, which in many cases
they have even become accustomed to
them. Speculation is the life-blood Of
Oil City. When the market is dull,
inactive for a few days, it is noticeable
in every place. Business stagnates,
men get the "blues," and the town is
dull indeed. But let the market be
variable, fortunes are being made and
lost, men are excited, the streets are
alive with oil brokers rushing back
and forth between the banks and ex-
change with certificates, drafts, checks,
and even money in their hands. The
wives of the brokers crowd to the ex-
change, and, filing the visitors gal
lery, watch the operations Of their
husbands.
Sometime ago, in one Of these ex-
changes, the gallery was filled to over
flowing. The market was leaping up
at the rate of ten cents an hour. One
of the heaviest buyers was on the
wrong side. He saw lis fortune dis
appearing like mist at the rate Of S25,
900 an hour. For six hours this was
continued, and he was forced to "lay
down." as it is called; to be 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 goods
store, took of her seal skin sacque and
sold it. From that place she went ia
the jewelers. and disposed of all her
diamonds and all her silver. When
her husband returned home, disconsO-
late and downcast, she met him at the
door dressed in a neat calico wrapper.
He had been a clerk before fortune
smiled upon him, and she a modest
school teacher. She informed him
that she had discharged all the SER
wants, and that they would live as for
merly, she doing the work. She hand
ed him $4,000 as the result of selling
her jewelry, and told him to use it.
Joy and hope beamed in his eyes, and
found a place in his heart again. He
went again to the business. In one
month he had regained his former po-
sition, had redeemed everything his
wife had pledged, and was living as
formerly. Three times, within six
years was this man saved in this man
ner by his wife. To-day he is one Of
the most daring and successful of our
speculators.