Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-21

the next day found the young farmer
in the busting metropolis. He found
Rose without trouble, and his Story
cured her of the speculative fever(i i'm
mediately. Next he sought his cousin,
the lawyer, who smiled grimly when
he heard Timothy's tale. $50 you
have been patronizing the bucket
shop have your" said he.
"What do you mean by sbuckst-
shop?'" queried Timothy.
"a bucket-shop is a place where
bets, small and large, are made on the
fluctuations in the prices of stocks,
grain, oil or provisions. The proprie-
tors of bucket-shops sometimes call
their establishments open stock ex-0
changes, or exchanges where fractional
lots of stocks are dealt in. The fact
is, never a certificate of stock, a bushel
of grain or a barrel of oil changes
hands in such places. The so-called
business is nothing but betting, with
the chances in favor of the shops. The
customer bets that the price of a GER
tain stock will go up or down, and if
he stays in the shop and watches the
quotations as they come out he stands
some chance of getting his money fine
wins. But come with me and I will
show you a bucket-shop."
The lawyer conducted Timothy to
the lower part of Broadway, and
showed him a large office, handsomely
finished in polished wood and furnished,
luNuriously. 1t was a very busy place.
One of the walls vas covered with
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and quotations of all of the active
stocks and the different kinds and
grades of grain and oil. The quota
tons were constantly being changed
on the b~lackboards by small boys,
whose sole duties were to adjust the
movable figures in accordance with the
announcements made by tie ''ticker'
instrument in one end of the room.
The quotations are derived from the
stock exchange, and the gov
errors of that influential body
have been striving for two
years to prevent the "bucket-shops'
from using their quotations. 1t has
been urged that the ''bncket-shops''
not only undermine legitimate stock
speculation, but that they tempt unin-
formed country folk to make invest
ments which they can no. watch, and
clerks and messenger boys to make
small ventures with money that does
not belong to them. Timothy and his
cousin observed that in the ''bucket-
shop" they were in by far the largest
proportion of customers were young
boys ranging from twelve to eighteen
years of age. Every person in the
room watched the constantly changing
figures on the b%lackboards with fever
ish anxiety.
After awhile the eyes of the lawyer
discerned in the assemblage imam with
whom he was well acquainted, and who
is known in the street as M of the
shrewdest and mostsuccessful ''bucket-
shop operators. Yes" said this
veteran operator, after he had been in
troduced to Timothy, 81 am one of the
few persons that have 'bucked' against
'bucket-shops' and come out winner.
L have had some pretty stiff fights with
them, though" Timothy briefly stated
his experience, and the veteran on
tinued: .'Of course you lost. You
had no chance to win. The cards were
all in the hands of the banker. You
had no means of knowing whether
prices were going up or down, and, of
course the banker wasn't going to post
you. 'Bucket-shops' don't make their
money by posting i%nnocents like you.
Their chief game is to work just such
chaps as you for all they are worth.
You are what we term a country
angel"
"How many bucket-shops are there
here in New York?' asked Timothy,
curiously.
"About thirty, 1 should think. Most
of them are right down here, in the
territory bounded by Broadway, Wall
street, Broad street and Beaver street.
There are a few uptown, however.
Two or three have fine quarters in
hotels. There are some elegantly fur
nished 'bucket-shops' which have only
ladies for customers. These ladies are
reckless and persistent gamblers, and
many of them are so respectfully con-
nected that they dare not kick when
they lose their money"
"What is the smallest investment
that a bucket-shop will accept?"
"Some bucket-shops will issue a
ticket for two dollars, others for not
less than five. Except in the cases Of
mere boys, ten dollars is usually the
smallest amount staked. You can buy
al option or one hundred shares Of
stock for ten dollars. The banker
charges you o%ne-eighth per cent. for
buying and one-eighth for selling, con-
sequently that is one-quarter per cent.
deducted at the outset from your mar
gin. If you only have ten dollars up
on one hundred shares of stock for a
rise, and the stock drops three-quartcrs,
you are wiped out. Oh! it's a great
scheme. One interesting feature Of the
~bucket-shops is that you find them in
such >out-of-the-way places sometimes.
1 once stumbled across a bucket-shop
in a room ten feet square, on the sew
enth floor of a building. 1t was patron
lied exclusively by messenger boys and
brokers' clerks"
''When a patron considers that he
has not been treated fairly, is there no
mea of his getting redress?" asked
Timothy, thinking of his w case
and that of Rose.
''Well, as near as l can find out, re-
piled the veteran, ''there appears to
be no law which can reach their pc
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