The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-10
HAYsxEps As SHARP As STEEL.
a Countrymsn Who Presented a
S425, 900 Check and Demanded
Legal Tenders.
From the PHILADELPHIA Press.

I
New YORK, Feb. 2-Those mysterious
beings who appear on Wall street on the
heels of a panic have sent their advance
quad there. On Saturday morning a
quaint and curious-looking person showed
himself there and was at once rec gnize by
Cashier Cornell. vino mas been on Wall
street since the days of his boyhood, as the
harbinger Of this little group. He always
CO mes ii>e a first shad or the frs sprlg If
/ May flower, to indicate that the season
1 when these myst riOus financiers are ready
t. operate is nj ha %.
This particular representative is one of
! the most unique of his tribe. No buuco
steerer would ap9roach him for there is not
| the sllg ltsst suggestion of money IN mis- sp-
| psarauce. He ears oll-fashioned cow
! hide boots which never felt a backing
/ urush. Once he appeared on Wall street
| in blue jeans overalls, but yesterday his
! trousers we're a see Y and failed pat e-n Of
| ancient make, and which had never fitted
| him. He Is, in fact, a typical farm laborer,
a man whom you would judge could scrub
living of a f)rty-acre patcl. This person
has for many years appeared in Wall 5 rect
/ whe ever there was pa ic or any sig OF
| one, and he has been led, doub less to C 1me
yesterday through the reports of the failure
Of three btnks and tie imp essi N that
bank stocks would be heavy for some days,
AMI possibly some financial trouble be ex-
| periencet. His purpose is to pick up first
class stocks at a bargain, and he must have
made hundreds of thousands of dollars in
| this business.
HAYSEED FINANCIER.
At the time Of the Grant and Ward fail
ure, IS hen a small panic affec ed the market
and a general whirlwi1d i stocks seemed
likely, this individual was seen by Cashier
Cornell standing on the steDs Of one of the
| downtown banks. He evidently knew who
Mr.. Cornell was, for he hailed him and
asked him everal questions about certain
stocks, aid particu arly about railroad
| bonds He then declared that he wanted to
buy a, M my as h could get, preferri
certain line of ra lroad securities Mr.. Cor
nell looked at him in anazement He
seemed more like man who sought to Dor
row oney rather than to buy bonds. Dur
ing this conversation there was a rush of
brokers into the ba IS we'll "a into one or
two adjoining banking inst tutions. They
were an excited and frightened lot of men,
and S me of them had in their ha DIS the
| securities which they proposed to hypothe-
cate or sell. Cash was commanding a tire
mendous premium, ana hard TO get at that,
the only sale of securit es possible was
that which could be consummated with
| heavy capitalists who were on the street
| picking up bIrgains.
The cou tryman asked Mr.. Cornell how
| he could best pick up the bonds he was
after, aud was told to stand where he was
and he could collar enough brokers in half
an hour who would be very glad to make
| bargain with HIM.
"BuC how can you pay for them" the
cashier asked. Nobody will take checks,
not even csryiiei ca cxs t)-1ly, because it
is hard cash they want"
The countryman replied that he thought
| he had money enough about him to take all
the stock ne wanted to get
Pm pretty good 1T bargain" he said,
but | ain't quick at fig serin',n and ne pro-
posed to Mr.. Cornell that he SD ul1 bring
the customers he might secure to the cashier
that his sklllful pen might figure out those
computations which were n ice ,sary 10 effect
a bargain and sale Mr.. Cornell good
| nature lily sal hs would do it, not having
| the slightest idea that anything would come
of it.
BIG ROLL OF BANK NOTES.
Within five minutes the countryman had
| hooked broke' and led him into the bank.
He made an offer for some bonds about %
per cont. below tbs ma ,ket value, as the
| quotations of day or two before had made
the n, and the broker snee ed at hi H. Tue
,ountrynan thrust one hand into his trous-
ers pocket and produced therefom
a roll of bills strapped together
with a skate strap. Ii was so big
| that both hands could not encompass i.
| the bait took the broker, ne laid down the
| bonds and the cOuntryman asked Cashier
| Cornell to figure for him. Fne computation
was made in moment or two, the broker
| received the cash and the colntryman the
| bonds. He put them into a sort of book
homemade, the leaves having beea stitched
together with needl and thread, and thrust
| them into an inside 20 ket. Then he disap-
peared.
Within ten minutes he re-entered the
| bank with another broker in tow, whom he
had collared on the bank steps, and speedily
| had agaia exchanged some # his cash for
| bonds. This remarkable operation was con-
| tinued for nearly three hours the farmer
| finally diving into his coat-tail p cket,
| whence he produced another roll of bill s.
| When he quit this buslne 5 he had received
so nethi 1g like $4,000 worth of bonds and
stocks. and had paid out less than 500. 900
| for them.
Within ten days these securities were
again quoted at heir nor nal rate and then
| these identical stocks and bonds began to
| appear in Wall street, coming from differ
! emit out of town places. The countryman
ust nave made nearly $4,000 out of that
| operation.
This S the same GLOW who showed him
SELF again Yesterday in Wall street, but
| whether he has made any bar. Gains or not,
no one can tell. Certainly he did not coA-
summate them in the dramatic and curl ous
manneg whoa ar 4cterized his opera ions
| in the spring of 1885.
| Mr.. Cornell says he does not know who
| the man is and doubts wetaer any one IN
! Wall street does, bat he Is practicing the
only method which viii make men surely
pr sperous, and that is to buy cheap and
| sell dear.
DREW $425, 900 IN LEGAL TENDERS.
All sorts and conditions of men are met
with by those who do bust los in banks or
Oh Wall street. Mr. Cornelps narration of
the anecdote respecting the c)untryman
| callef to nina lOther experience winch he
not long ago enjoyed, and which he decl res
is one of the inosJ remarkable illustrations
| of the curiosity of human nature respect
| ing banking matters. There walked
into one Of The Wall street banks q cadav-
erous, solemn-eyed and melancholy man
nered man, one day not lolg since, who was
5 tall thai he could look over the wire
railing enclosing the teler's desk and so
thin that he seemed like a shadow. He
thrust a check into the opening, which on
examination proved to be the draft of one
of the largest firms of brokers on Wal
street, and callei + 1925, 600 1t was an
unusually large draft. The teller, how
ever, proceeded to certify 1t, for the ok
ers' account there averaged something like
| 81 900, 900 The thin man thruS- his hand