Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-22
Speculating in Oil.
The Ups and Downs of Life in oil City BrOkers'VVives in the Exchange
 EFrom the Philadelnhia Tinaas

The Ups nd Downs of Life in oil City
 Brokers'Wives in the Exchange.
 [From the Philadelphia Timesl
 Speculation on the price of oil finds prom were erected in Oil City, Titusville and Bradford. Here speculation is indulged 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 City Two brothers by the name of Goettie in 1S66-7 were bootblacks around the streets of the oil towns They made a good deal of money for boys and saved it. When they had few hundreds saved they took flyer on the market. They were successful and double success still followed them, and to-day they are among the wealthiest and most suc- cessful spectators in the region. The mag nifcent generosity of oil men is we'll known poor and needy woman has often had thousands of dollars raised for her among a crowd of oil men, and in few minutes she was raised from poverty to opulence. They spend money like water, and no towns in the country will show better dressed men and women than these They all almost universally wear diamonds upon their shirt bosoms, which in many cases they are forced to pawn for necessities before they have become even accustomed to them. Spec ulation is the life blood of Oil City. When the market is dull, inactive for a few days, it is noticeable in every place. Business stag
 
 dull indeed But let the market be variable, fortunes are being made and lost, men are ex- cited, the streets are alive with oil brokers rushing back and forth between banks and exchange with certificates, drafts, checks, and even money in their hands. The wives of the brokers crowd to the exchange, and, fill ing the visitors gallery, watch the operations of their husbands.
 Some time ago, in one of these exchanges the gallery was filled to overhowing. 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 his fortune like mist at the rate of $25, 1000 an hour. For six hours this continued, and he was forced to ''lay down. as it is called to be announced 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 dry goods store took of her sealskin sacque, and sold it. From that place she went to the jewellers and disposed of her diamonds and all her silver. When her husband returned home, and downcast, she met him at the door dressed in a neat calico wrapper. He had been clerk before fortune smiled upon him, and she modest school teacher. She informed him that she had discharged all the servants, and that they would live as for merly she doing the work. She handed him S5, 800 as the result of selling 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 to the business In one month he had regained his former position, had redeemed everything his wife had pledged and was living as formerly. Three times within six years was this man saved in this manner by his wife To-day he is one of the most daring and successful of our specu- latorS.