The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-01-17
..Anv FIGURES on r.. & NJ 2.

have gone so high and SO suddenly don't
exactly see Hello, he resumed, as he turned
again TO the mouth piece; twill you give me
those figures again, and not quite so loudi
can't make them out"
Again the message came, but it did not
seem any more satisfactory, for the president
looked astonished, and then frowned; then
he shouted back:
"There's some mistake; you didn't get the
right letters. / said e. & W.-Eastern and
Western. One moment. Mr.. Marge, won't
you kindly take my placee My hearing isn't
very keen"
Marge placed the receiver to his ear, and
shouted, "All right; go ahead" In two or
three seconds he dropped the receiver, turned
pale, and looked as if about to fall.
"What stir asked several voices in chorus
"He said, &c. e. W. is dead as a smelt;
knocked to pieces two days ago."
what is it quoted at now9" asked one,
quickly.
True enough: who could want to know
more than Marges 1t was in feeble voice,
though, and after two or three attempts to
clear his throat that he asked:
''How did it close to-day"
Again, as tho answer came back, Marge
dropped the receiver and acted as if about to
fall.
what is it'll" Speak, can't your"
"Thirty-seven!" whispered Marge.
There was an outburst of angry exclama-
tions, not unmixed with profanity. Then
nearly all present looked at the president in
quiringly, but without receiving any attempt
at an explanation, for the president was far
the heaviest owner of Z. 81 W. stock, and
he looked as stony of face as if he had sudden
ly died but neglected to close his eyes.
Marge hastily sought the outer air; it
seemed to him he would lose his reason if he
did not get away from that awful telephone
Thirty-sevenl he knew what that meant; his
margin might have saved his own stock had
the drop been to little below par, but it had
tumbled more than half a hundred points, so
of course his brokers had closed the account
when the margin was exhausted, and Marge,
who a fortnight before had counted himself
worth nearly million dollars wall street
millions), was now simply without penny
to his credit in Wall street or anywhere else;
what money he CHANGED to have in his pocket
was all he could hope to call his own until
the first Of the next month, when the occu-
pants of his tenement houses would pay their
rent.
twas awful; it was uncomfortable; he longed
to scream, to rave, to tear his hair. He
%
directors, and every one else but himself.
He heard some of his companions in the store
bawling messages through the telephone, to
be wired to New York; these were veterans,
who assumed from past experience that a
partial recovery would follow and that they
would partly recoup their losses. But what
could he doa There was not on earth a per-
son whom he could ask, by telegraph, for the
few hundred dollars necessary to a small
speculation on the ruins.
He heard the outburst of incredulity, fol-
lowed by rage, as the passengers who had re-
manned at the little hotel received the unex-
pected news, which now seemed to him to be
days old. Then he began to suspect every
body, even the crushed president and direc-
tors. What could be easier, Marge said to
himself than for these shrewd fellows to I'M
load quietly before they left New York, and
then get out of reach SO that they could not
render any support in case of a treakl He
had heard of such things before. Il certainly
was suspicious that the crash should have
come the very day after they got away from
the telegraph wires Likely enough they now,
through their brokers, were quietly buying
up all the stock that was being offered, to
''peg it up" little by little, to where it had
been. The mere suspicion made him want to
tear them limb from limb, to organize n
lynching party, after the fashion of the ter
ritory they were in, and get revenge. if not
justice.
1t was rather dismal party that returned
to New York from the trip over the E. &
w. The president, fearing indignant west
ern investors, and still more the newspaper
reporters, whom he knew would lie in wait
for him until they found him, quietly aban-
doned the train before reaching Chicago, and
went eastward by some other route A few
of tho mora hardened operators began 20 en-
courage each other by telling of other breaks
that had been the making of the men they
first ruined, but they dropped their consoling
"reminiscences when Marge approached them;
they had only contempt for a man who from
his manner evidently was so completely
"cleaned OUT as to be unable to start again,
even in a small way. The majority, how
ever, seemed as badly off as himself. Some
Of them were so depressed that when the
stock Of cigars provided especially for the
excursion was exhausted they actually bought
common pipes and tobacco at way station,
and industriously poisoned the innocent air
for hundreds of miles.
This, them was the end of Marge's dream
of WEALTH. Occasionally, in other days, he
he and his broker knew of it; no one ever
knew in what line Of stock he operated. But
now-why, had not his name been printed
again and again among those Of e. &. WIS
strongest backers9 Every one would know
of his misfortune: he could no longer pose as
a shrewd young financier, much less as a
man with as large an income as he had time
to enjoy.
Would that he had not been so conceited
and careless as to mentally give up Lucia,
who now, for some reason, persisted in APP
pearing in his minds eyel Had he given
half as much attention to her as to E. & W.,
she might now be his, and their wedding
cards might be out And iron was still
looking up, tool How could any one not a
lunatic have become so devoted to chance as
to throw away certaintyi for she had been
a certainty for him, he believed, had he
chosen to realize. Alasl with her, as with
Z. & W., he had been too slow at realizing.