The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-01-03
SMARTER THAN HIS BANKERS.
A Renaissance of ''B1ack Fridayr-HOW q
Broker Saved Himself from Ruin.

egram reporter TO prominent broker as the two
sat together after Office hours, hoping the
Spanish treaty would be acceptable to
Congress- and the reduction in the price of
cigars would enable them to smoke something
more fragrant than Connecticut tobacco.
''Do remember Black Fridayp unused the
broker, as he leisurely pulled cloud to the cell
ingl ''Well, my impression is that have pretty
fair reasons for not forgetting it. came near
losing every penny 1 had in the world on that
occasion, and man is not likely to let such an
event slip from his memory, is he"
. Then rose few more clouds, and the man of
stocks lapsed into brown study, at the end of
which he half muttered, half growled. him!
Yes, was on hand, and had a very narrow es-
cape. never worked so hard in my life as did
for the twentyfour hours from 10 o'clock on
Sunday morning to 10 o'clock on Monday"
I'm saving the piecesr suggested the reporter
mo, but in keeping myself from going to
pieces"
And so you think you won't forget it in a
hurry, de youF"
''Just suppose" said the broker, as he fell to
musing again, 'iust suppose you met with an
accident. Well, railroad collision will serve
my purpose as an illustration Now, then, if you
had at any time of your life happened to be on
board of train going at the rate of forty miles
an hour, and you had hit another train coming
at tie same rate you probably would not for
get all about it in couple of days, would you?
Il rather guess not" admitted the reporter.
swell, then, suppose yourself picked up out
of the pile of burning rubbish with four ribs
broken, compound fracture of the leg, your
arms bent double and your head so bruised that
it had swollen to the size of half bushel meas
ure, and it took you six months, with brain
fever thrown in by way of variety, to get on
your pegs again, don't you think you'd keep
the incident in mind for little whiles tell
you, many an honest fellow lost every penny
he had that day, and it's not an easy
thing to see the results of twenty years swept
away-not lost mind you. by any misjudgement
but stolen outright, just as much as though q
highwayman were to put pistol to your head
and cry out Stand, deiver! The brokers were
like flies, and this big spider, Gould, sucked the
life blood out Of them"
And you were among the number9
81 got badly scorched, so to speak, but good
many were burnt right into the bone"
Tell me the story, if you have mind to-
well, it runs somehow in this wise On that
Friday morning my balance was ninety thousand
dollars. The directors sent me word they had
legal tenders but that they had plenty of
gold certificates, and told me that if I would
send over a certified check for two hundred
thousand dollars, in greenbaeks, of course, they
and fifteen thousand dollars, the premium on
which would make the sum just two hundred
and ninety thousand in currency, and SO clear
up my account Do you underestimate
Perfectly"
''Of course there was but one thing for me to
do, and.I didit knew the bank was hard pressed,
but supposed the directors would be as honest
as most men could afford to be in emergency.
l rushed up to my own bank, got certified
check for the amount stipulated, gave it to my
clerk, who took it over to the bank, sitting in
my Office and smoking like a steam engine in
my anxiety. In a few minutes my clerk came
back"
with the gold certificates"
mot much, my innocent friend"
"And why not, prayW
"He was as white as sheet and trembled like
leaf 'WellP l howled, for l knew something
had gone wrong.
moaned, and they won't give me the check,
either
"'Whatr yelled, do you mean to say they
have taken the certified check and given you
nothingP
''Just that, and the fellow sat down and al
most cried.
ut was a terrible moment Every dollar
had in the world was in danger and danger of
no ordinary kind either. They had deliberately
taken that check, and refused to give me dime.
l crowded my hat over my eyes, and wild with
frenzy rushed over to the bank. The room was
full of men just as anxious as | was, who had
been swindled, as had been. hardly knew at
the time what / did: but they say cried out,
Boys, the directors have cheated us like high
waymen. They have every penny / possess in
the world Behind that counter is money
enough to pay all they owe us. 1t belongs to US,
and has been stolen. If any man will follow.
we'll tear down the bar and help ourselves to
what belongs to us, and see how they like their
own game
''Well, either fear or common sense or pru
dence prevailed, and no one stirred l saw that
nothing was to be DONE and went back to my
office and sent post haste for a prominent law
yer, now judge. l stated the case, and he
shook his head. That was not encouraging.
Simply saying he would see what he could do he
went away and left me in perfect fog. On
Monday morning at a quarter past II o'clock it
was raining as never knew it to rain before,
but was down on the steps of the bank with a
young sprg Of the law and with injunction pa
pers to serve. If could once get hold of the
president, even of director, and put the pa
pers into his hands the bank would be only too
glad to pay me in full rather than submit to any
sort of investigation. My plan was to knock,
and when the janitor opened the door to have
the lawyer put his foot in the crack of the door
and then the rest of us, there were four alto
gether, would give shove and get inside the
building
We'll: you knockedp
eyes"
And the janitor Gamer
Eyes"
"And you
No, we didn't either" he broke in quickly.
''Thats just when were tripped up / told
the young lawyer TO put his SCOT inside the door
when it was opened, and so keep the janitor
from shutting it. But he didn't do it, and the
janitor slapmed the door in our faces. Well
no matter what | said, but was eloquent about
two minutes, and used the English undefiled' in
a very vehement fashion,"
$50 you were defeated, after allr
''No, we weren't, either. This is story where
guessing does no good, and you must listen till
/ get through
II am all ears"
''Well, we stood under cover of porch until
8 o'clock. We chose porch for two reasons.
viz to get out of the rain as much as possible
and also to get away from the telescopes Of the
directors, who were peering everywhere to see
if anyone was near TO disturb them At Last