Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-12-10
SPECULATION
A messenger BOY makes $4,000 In
OH.

A Messenger Boy AeAes VaosooO
on.
The Standard Oil Company, the only
concern in the world that Is powerful
enough to compel the combined trunk
line railroads to do its building, de-
handing and receiving from them
rates which made opposition lmpossl-
bic and crushing ont every rival, mas
lately been beaten by messenger ooy.
In the history of the Standard this Is
the only time it has ever been outwitted;
Tom Scott, when alive and President OF
the Pennsylyania Railroad, was out.
general by the Standard Vanderoilt
and his allies were not match for
Rockefeller, and they were compene9
to allow him rebates whicn enaoleu
him TO build up the greatest monop-
DIV the world has ever known: Wnen
he got ready he laid pipe Line OF ms
own from the oil regions TO Cieveianu
in one direction, and then told the
trunk line managers who had enriched
him that they could go to that place
where the worm dieth not and the
fire Is not auenched. But this man
with his millions has been outwitted py
Mike Heating, sixteen years old,
messenger boy of the Western Union
Telegraph Company at Oil City. Mike
has been in the employ of the
Telegraph Company since he
was old enough. to carry. dis
patches, and nearly all of this
time he has been in the Oil Exchange
at Oil City, carrying messages TO ana
from the brokers. The large operators
in petroleum send their dispatches
in cipher. The boy had carried SO
many messages sent by the Standard
from its headquarters at cleveland
that he had unraveled the mystic char
acters, and could read them like
printed page. Just prior to the recent
extraordinary advance in the petroleum
market, when the price jumped In q
few days from fifty cents to II 81, heat-
ing carried q number OF kilograms 70
the Standards brokers ordering them
TO buy large blocks Of oil. The mo-
nopoly had laid its plans to boom the
market and its Oil City brokers were
ordered to buy everything. "Buy half
a million barrels, !" "buy million bar
rels," "buy two million barrels" was
the way these orders came IN. Iney
were riddles to all but the brokers who
received them, and Mike Heating, the
messenger boy who delivered them.
Heating, although mere boy, knew
something extraordinary was soon TO
happen. The market, which had been
like a stagnant pool for a year, was
already creeping up the scale. Order,
ers for immense blocks Of oil We're still
coming from the Standards head-quar-
tiers. There was no time to loose. But
what could a boy do without
a dollar in his pocket? Heating
went to one of the largest operators
on the floor If the Exchange, outside OF
the Standards agents, and told him he
had "pointer." The broker laughed
at him. The boys earnestness finally
commanded attention, and the broker
agreed to his proposition, which was
that the broker should furnish money
for Ideal" if he was satisfied with the
information. and divide the protlts
equally. Tken the messenger told the
broker what he had, and of the tele-
grams he had been carrying from the
Standards Cleveland office. The next
message that fell into the boys hands
was carried secretly to the broker and
translated. 1t was an order to buy
every thing that was offered. The
broker probably swallowed to keep his
heart down; any way, he went back to
the Exchange and began to buy. He
saw the Standard agent buying right
and left, and was satisfied big deal
was in progress. He took every thing
he could get until he had a round mill
lion barrels. The market was already
jumping fast, and his million barrels
had been secured at an average cost OF
seventy-two cents. He WAS loaded to the
guards. Orders to buy and orders Osell
were pouring in from every quarter,
and the excitement was becoming in
tense. The market was still bounding
upward, with the usual fluctuations.
Every time the price advanced a cent
or declined a cent the broker saw
profit or a loss of $4,000. He kept his
head, however, and when the market
scored above eighty cents he began to
unload. The Standard men were on
hand to take everything and he got rid
of all his oil at an average price OF
eighty cents barrel. He bad bought
at seventy-two cents, and his protts
were $50, 900 in all. He divided equally
With hihe hSdIiISi IhS hlSSoCh5CL IVY
who had unraveled the Standards
cipher, according to agreement. 1t is
well enough to remember that oil
touched Sl.35 during this ten days
squirt, and if the broker held on until
the top was reached the profits of the
two would have been $500, 900.
1t goes without saying that the Stand
ard Oil Company has a new cipher, and
one messenger-boy is out of a job.