Idaho semi-weekly world., 1892-09-02
H WANTED TnE EAaTn.


4 80 Rrnu<1ses hatcher WIN ri Por.
tnnc slip ThroaGh His Grasp.
For = long time after the bonanza ex-
citement the stock market IL san Fran
cisco remained quiet and inactive. More
|or less trading was done Iii Comstock
shares, of course, but the market ss 4
whole was qnietly settling down to what
appeared . bedrock basis.
The Sierra Nevada and Union Cousoli.
dated mines ut the northern end III the
CNnstock group were at this time par-
ticnlarly inactive. the former selling VI
low - fifty cents share Rurnors, how
fycr, began to circulate about this time
Of q strike in the north end mines. and
Sierra Nevada and Union hogan foclimb
upward
John Powers, i butcher. owned at the
time Of which Isleak small shop 1t the
corner Of Hayes street and Van Ness ave
une, and be somehow became imbued
with the idea that there was more money
TO be made 1T stock speculation than is
the butcher business. Acting upon tliis
idea Powers, by mortgaging his business
and borrowing what money he could,
scraped together few thousand dollars.
which be deposited in the Office Of Pine
street brokerage firm
He wasn't particular, be said as 10 wlraf
stock be should buy. and finally settled
on Sierra Nevada as being . good pur-
chase. leaving instr uetions with his brUk-
ers 70 buy 100 shares for his account.
This was done. and Powers was duly
credited with the stock. for which had
been paid ~ q share
Meanwhile the rumofs came pouring
fn from Virginia City about the great
north end strike, and Sierra Nevada be-
gan to fairly jump forward, until ii was
quoted at $f75 This would have salts
! fed any ordinary man, but not 90 Pow
ers Instead Of selling he gave orders to
buy more stock
! In the course Of the NEXT two weeks
Sierra Nevada had reached $3.50 per
share. and Powers, with 800 shares to
his credit. was in debt to his brokers
about 100000. He could have realized
at this point clear profit Of over &45,-
600. His brokers begged him to sell, but
Powers was obdurate. He was after q
million, he said. and as long as his mar
gins remained good the brokers remained
satisfied
Powers then sold out his business en-
tirely and put up the proceeds as addi-
tional margin He began to look up fa-
vorable building sites for the residence
be intended to put up that. he asserted,
would beat them mob heal affairs all
. holler'
| Having, like skyrocket, reached its
highest point. Sierra Nevada now began
to come down. at first slowly and then
more rapidly even than it went up
Powers had gone to the country for q
few days to look at ranch he had in
tended purchasing His brokers had
wired him to return. and he had sup
posed that it was because his stock had
reached the 81 900 limit, at which figure
he had left orders to sell.
1t was with very joyous countenance
that he greeted his broker. whom he met
on the street.
well said Powers. sshave you sold
the stock?
'.Oh. yes,r said the broker, I'VE had to,
You see it began to fall, and to protect
ourselves we had to let it all go at l4o,
and you now owe us $3.50. which hope
you can settle"
"Whaty' fairly gasped the astonished
Powers. Let it go at l40? And you say
I'm in debit
Yes" replied the broker; 1--WE told
you to sell. but you wanted the earth
and guess you'll have to go back to your
/ trade
| When it finally dawned on Powers that
the broker really spoke the truth he was
almost overcome with grief and disap
pointment He rallied. however. and
if any one now wants choice steak
Johnny" Powers, who works for large
market concern on Pine street. is Just
the man to go to.
He win probably tell you that he ought
TO be and might have been a millionaire
but the quality of the meat will be good
just the same. New York Herald.