Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-10-18
WOMEN In THE OIL MARKET
SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR SPEcu-
LATiONS ON 'CHANGE.

There have been some pretty big fe-
male plungers in the oil market at one
time and another. There are still wo-
men spectators in most of the oil *
changes in the region, but there are few,
il any of the "high rollers" left. Oil
City has had more women spectators
in petroleum than any other town, al
though at one time Bradford had a fair
quota. The Globe-D Democrat correspond
EN- learned today that there are but
three women who still visit the Oil Ex-
change daily and make a regular bust
ness of toying with the oily tiger. These
ladies have been familiar figures about
the exchange for several years, and are
all that are left out Of several women
spectators.
These ladies do not come on the floor
of the exchange, and are not, in fact,
members, but are in their seats in the
ladies' gallery as soon as the exchange
opens, and remain tolerably regularly
until the close at 8 o'clock in the after
noon. They deal, of course, entirely
through brokers, a nod being a sufficient
order for a broker to buy or sell 1000,
OyOVN WI 1OyOOO "a VI Oiiy dS VIC NdoS
may be. 1t is not often that they go be-
yond a deal of 1000 barrels, as the la
dies who are left in the exchange, to put
1t in the ~phraseology of a broker, are
flying light" With a few exceptions,
the ladies who have entered the jungles
of the oilytiger have got the worst of it.
The three who still cling to the exchange
are content TO deal in 1000 barrel lots,
and it is not always they can do this.
A number of ladies prominent In the
charitable organizations and in society
here have been successful spectators in
oil, and two or three Of them have been
interested in some large deals. They
were not regular habitues Of the ex-
change, and were frequent visitors to
the gallery, which is open to the public.
All their deals in the market have been
made through brokers. When there was
more activity in the market than there
is at present it was a universal theme of
fireside gossip. Everybody speculated
in oil, from the minister down TO the
porter in the hotel, and it is no wonder
the ladies fell under the fascinating spell
of the "bull ring" as the pen like place
where the deals are made on Change is
called.
During exciting times in the market it
has been discussed quite as much in the
drawing room as in the counting room.
In the system of specializing in oil the
persons of small capital and no capital
at all have not been overlooked, and the
servant girl is given an opportunity to
''take a flyer in oil" if she is so inclined.
During one big whirl. in the market, fol-
lowing the collapse Of the Cherry Grove
field, it was well known that a large
number of servant girls lost their little
bundle along with the big fellows. This
was the most disastrous panic the oil
country ever knew, and it marked to q
great extent the end of specializing by
women. SO many of them lost all their
money that only a limited number of
them have had the courage TO venture
back into the speculative whirlpool.
The history Of n woman's specula-
tons in the Oil City exchange is curious.
Her husband had been in business in the
oil country for several years and had ac-
cumulated considerable property, in all
worth about $4,000. He concluded to
go west, and went to several of the west
ern cities to look around for an invest.
ment. He had effected q sale of his
property before leaving Oil City, and his
wife remained behind to settle up some
details, collect payments not yet due
and join him in the west, where they
were to make their future home. The
collected the money, and, doubt
less, wishing to carry a pleasant surprise
to her husband, she put the money into
the oil market to ''make q turn" The
turn went the wrong way and she lost.
In the hope of getting it back she made
other investments, with the usual result
1t was not long before she had lost every
dollar Of the money that she was to carry
to her husband. 1t was some time before
she ventured to break the news of her
folly to her husband, and this she did
only after he had written repeatedly for
her to come on with the money. At last
she told him the story of her loss in the
oil market, where she had gone in the
hope of doubling their money. The hus-
band had taken enough money with him
to buy a small farm, and with this he
was contented to begin the business of
money getting over again, but his wife
refused TO share his lot until she had re-
stored to him the money she had lost.
She declined to go west, but remained in
Oil City in the hope of recovering her
lost fortune.
This was ten years ago, and the woman
is still q daily attendant in the gallery of
the Oil Exchange. She has had varying
luck, but has never got enough money
ahead to make good the loss to her hus-
band, or anything like it. The Globe
Democrat correspondent was told that in
this time she has several times been re-
duced to the extremity of doing the work
Of a servant. When she would get
enough money together to buy a put"
Oh a ''calp she would again try her luck
in the market. She always dresses in
solemn black, and evidently has but one
purpose i'm life, namely, to recover the
money she foolishly risked in oil and re-
store 1t to her husband.
There is not much likelihood that she
will ever succeed. Her husband contin-
ues to urge her to abandon her self inn
posed task and join him on his farm in
the west, but she resolutely refuses to do
SO. He has made two or three trips to