Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-01-28
SUNK IN BLIND POOLS.
Millions Lost by "Jays" In Wall Strect-A
Strong Resemblance to "I,unco."

The talk of the week in Wall street
has been the attempt to break up the
blind pool business. Blind pools were
the legitimate successors of bucket
shops; both traded on public credulity
and on the appetite of mankind for
gambling gains. one concern, the Fisher
| Company. put forth millions of copies
of the following statement:
| The Mecca of the modern financial
| pilgrim is Wall street. There millions
are made and millions are lost and,
| contrary to the general idea. more mill
! lions are made than are lost. for, as
| Commodore Vanderbilt once said This
| Is bull country and the constant in
! crease in the value of securities is con-
| stantly adding to the value of the hold
| inEs Of investors and spectators alike.
| The foundations of the immense growth
| of modern American fortunes have been
| made at this source We claim that no
| other investment can pay as we'll; and.
| judging from the past. we have no hesi-
| fancy in predicting that not less than
| 10 to 20 per cent per month can he real
| lied from an investment in our combina-
| tions Remember that whenever dollar
is lost on Wall street that some one has
| made n profit of that dollar"
Gudgeons FASTENED to forward to
| Fisher & Co. sums of money proper
toned to their means; some sending as
| much as several hundred dollars, while Il
| contribution of S. was not dsdained.
says the San Francisco Argonaut. One
| blind pool firm received as much as
| S7.lS0 from one small town in a single
| week.
Women are oftener caught than men
widows with families, teachers, maiden
| ladies with small incomes, milliners anX-
ious to dress better, shop girls and even
servant girls All contributors got re-
| ceiptS for the money they sent, but when
| they asked for their profits they got an
account which showed that the particu-
lar pool in which. with the best inten-
tions, their money had been invested.
| had met with losses which had swal-
| lowed up their margins.
Three or four of these blind pool houses
| have flourished in or about Wall street,
and some of them occupied grand offices.
furnished in princely style; they must
| have made great deal of money. They
| had no city customers. The New Yorker
knows too much to be caught at so
transparent game. But in the small
| towns of the interior stupidity is still al
| lied to ignorance and the blind pool men
secured clientele which was numbered
by thousands. Some of the victims pro-
tested at last and put their complaints
| into the hands of the police.
Blind pools originated in the times OF
| wild speculation which followed the
war and sprang from the inability of
| Wall street men to trust each other.
Many of the first pools in which leading
spectators took part failed through the
| lredCHeTN OF HDtTS, WHO SDiu SctTelly
when their associates We're buying. To
defeat this, blind pools were invented:
| the mana cement of the pool was in
| trusted to one man, and his operations
| We're kept secret from the partners
whose money he was gambling with.
The idea was a success 1t not infre-
Guently happened that the manager of a.
pool dropped on to" outside opera tons
by members of the pool which We're cal
culated to defeat its objects; he was free
to "copper" their money, and to try to
| break them with the help of their own
money. No one ever knew whether he
was long or short of the stock in which
the pool had been organized, nor had
anyone warning of the day when the
pool was wound up.
These were very different affairs from
the blind pools of to-day. These last
are mere contrvances for wheeding ig-
| norant and greedy simpletons out of
their money They are offshoots from
the old-time tricks, of which the pocket
book game was type.
a country bumpkin, wanting to buy a
coat, was shown a secondhand coat in
the pocket of which he felt wallet; he
bought the coat at price in excess of
It's worth, because he fancied the for
gotten wallet contained money. He was
the victim of his knaVish greed.
So to-day rustics of interior towns in
Pennsylvania and Ohio remit money to
blind pool firms in New York because
they fancy they are going to make
money by GamDllnB, Iney Delons 10 tne
class which is so easily victimized by
thimble-riggers. They are possessed with
a wild delusion that they can play games
with willy and experienced New Workers
and take their money, Their fate Is a
forced conclusion, and, really, they de-
serve little commiseration.
No one falls a victim to the birds of
prey which infest large cities except
those who want to overreach someone
else, 1t is in trying to despoil the New
Yorker that the cunning rustic Is taken
IN by the bunco steerer