The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-19
THE GREAT SPECULATION.
Which Broke Up the GAINESVILLE FinaDcier in
Marbles and Made Panic.

New York Times
The panic in the GAINESVILLE school has natur
ally cast gloom overpayground and dormtory,
and it viii probably be long before the game Of
marbles RECEIVERS its former standing as . reput
able though risky game.
The panic was distinctly due to overtrading in
marbles. An immense business was done with
insufficient capital. and a shTinkage in the value
of rabbits or rther securities would have precp-
itated panic at any time during the last three
months. The failure of James Smith was, Of
course, the immediate origin of the panic, but
the firm could not, in any event, have kept itself
above water more than a week or two longer
Master James Smith Is not only a skllful mar
BILE player but he is financial genius At the
beginning of thy present school term he con
ceived a grand scheme for enriching himself and
all the boys who had confidence in him. He
proposed that he should borrow marbles at a
high rate of interest, and pay both this interest
and large dividends out of his winnings mar
bleplayer To every boy who should lend him
six marbles he offered to repay nine marbles
within two days, and in case the lender should
reinvest both principal and profits he undestoOk
TO repay him ut any moment with profits at the
rate of 80 per cent every two days.
The offer was so tempting that there was
general anxiety on the part of the boys to lend
their marbles to James Smith, and i'll the course
of the week every boy in the school had invested
III the marble pool. Ii was understood that
James Smith was to win marbles from boys un
connected with the school; but curlously enough,
no one inquired where these boys were to be
found, or at what hour of the night James Smith
was in the habit of secretly getting out of bed
and going off to play with his unknown adverse
r1eS. The boys were, however. perfectly satisfied
with his method of conducting business. He never
failed to tender large quantities Of marbles to his
patrons whenever. by the terms of his contracts,
they were entitled to dividends, and they never
failed TO reinvest the whole amount with him.
Each of them had decided to make at least
million of marbles before closing their accounts
with James Smith, and they were eager not to
draw marbles but to add to their investments.
The local store keeper, who sold marbles, con-
sented after the boys had spent all their money,
to sell them marbles credit. provided they
would place securities in his hands Most of
the boys kept rabbits, and they pledged
their rabbits, their tops, their jack knives, and
other negotiable securities with the utmost
recklessness. Last Thurday night the books
of James Smith showed that twenty eight
millions OF marbles in round numbers were due
to the siXty-fOur boys of the Clarksvile school
On Friday night James Smith announced his in
solvency,. and assigned 203 marbles to the Greek
professor in trust for his creditors.
The disaster was preclpltated by q Shrlnkage
in the value Of rabbits. caused by the breaking
out of a distemper among the rabbits hypotho-
Gated with the storekeeper The latter, not
knowing at what moment all the rabbits might
die, demanded that they should be redeemed
In order to redeem them their owners were com
PEELED to call in the marbles they had invested
with James Smith. The latter was unable to
fortunate boys lost both their marbles and their
hypothecated securities.
The principal of the school investigated the
affairs Of James Smith on Saturday afternoon
with three consecutive apple tree switches of the
largest size. He found no assets worth mention
ing. James Smith had played marbles with the
son of the janitor of the female seminary on two
or three occasions and had lost heavily The
dividends which he rendered to his victims were
simply the investments made by other victims.
He had not won a single legitimate marble
during his entire career as marble fnancier,
and, as the principal coldly remarked whenever
he stopped to select new switch, his conduct
had been no better than that of professional
pickpocket
AT present the GAINESVILLE school boys have
neither pocket money, marbles, rabbits, nor any
other negotiable property. No one can palliate
their folly or feel much sympathy with them in
their losses Nevertheless, although no grown per
would for instant be guilty of like folly it
should be mentioned that James Smith informed
the boys that he conducted his business strictly
in accordance with Wall street methods, and
that they actually believed that he spoke the
truth