The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-12-26

who had taken money from bucket-shOps
bnt unon further investigation he learned
that these men had put in thousands
and were content to take out hnudreds.
These same hundreds went back and
the same men were content with tens
He discovered that the bucket-shop bust
ness was fourishing. Some of the board
of trade firms. with suites of offices III
that palace of speculation, had been ac'
cused of doing a bucket-shop business.
They have leased wires strung over tne
Northwest and the Southwest and
bucket shops hang from these leased
wires like fish from a trout line. They
have leased wires TO Wall street but
not half of their Wall street orders are
sent over these wires. Boswell, the
writer. learned that the man who specu-
lates in the wildcats now killing wall
street believes in good faith that when
he buys Sugar" or "St. Paul. the order
| is executed on the New York stock ex-
change. 1t surely ought to have been
executed, as the man pays quarter
commission and is usually heeced out
of another quarter before the order is
| filled. If a buying order ii is always
| filled at the highest quotation announced
after the order is given; if selling order,
at the lowest.
What is true of stocks was found
equally true of cereals. Many orders
| for five" and ten wheat were put
down in the books and never executed n
| the pit.
| Boswell observed that the bueket-shop
paid big rent, paid heavy tolls TO tele-
graph companies. that bucket-snopping
is a violation of law, and yet makes ire
mendous profits. He saw sure thing"
| Il, l.nr mir no rap
20 into the bucket-shOp business. He
noticed that old gamblers had quit brace
faro and abandoned the cold poker
deck to flourish in bucket-shops. He
saw the man who manipulated shells at
the county fair. the bunco man, the
green goods" man and confidence man,
all in the bucket-shOp business.
Surely" said Boswell, the writer, this
must be a great game" He had not yet
given up his quest for the man who had
made a winning. He followed every clue
and at last one day he encountered The
Man.
Il understand. sir said Boswell, shat
you once made large sum of money in a
bucket-shOp."
Il did," said The Man. Il ran a shoe
string up to $500"
II don't quite catch your meaning-the
shoe string part" said Boswell.
Il mean said The Man. that l ran
so up TO $500"
You are just the man have been look
did did i it,. ''''' DO'"e''' tel il'S ~" S''
It's not a long story" said The Man.
AT that time ] was new in the business.
went into a bucket shop one day and
decided to buy some wheat. 1t was July
wheat. You know those slips of paper,
one for buying and one for selling. on
which you jot down your play? Well,
| took what | thought was the buying
slip and gave the shark at the window
my so. The market broke points in
an hour, and | was about to tear up that
found | had sold the wheat. | closed it
and sold some more, and made money.
They told me it would make things handler
for the bOokkeeper to leave my profits
with them. | sold and bought, making
many mistakes, but somehow winning.
| remember the last deal. | went up to
buy. The shark said grufiy, Did you
say buy" | thought it hurt his feelings
and | said, No, SELL Well that market
instantly fell like good man from grace,
and | cleared up $500. | came down
the next day to get it, but the bucket-shop
man and the shark had closed up and
skipped
Didn't you get anything"
mo, nobody got anything. | lost the
$40 | began with. | went to see a law
yer and he said | couldn't do anything
as freely gave the shark my money to
handle. Then The Man fastened his
eyes on the blackboard. and Boswell, the
writer, retired, disappointed.
He continued, however, to acquire in
formation about bucket-shops. He
formed the acquaintance of retired
bucket-shop man, who was spending part
of 100000 he had made in the few years
he was in the business, in buying Louis
XIV furniture and scarce editions of old
books.
=, 81 have tried to find a man who has
beaten bucket-shop," said Boswell
to him one day, "and l have failed.
Now, will you tell me how the
bucket-shop beats the other fellow?
My friend, DR.. Johnson, outlined it in a
crude way, but J. want it official"
Now that have quit the business
anu retired" said This Man, II have no
objection to telling you how it is done,
Boswell. In every gambling game there
are 100 small players to every big player.
You'll see this illustrated at race tracks
and gambling houses. No man who con-
uu|tS " S"hipiiS SaiiiS ihco W chSouh
ter plunger. The dealer of square
faro does not like plunger. The
plunger may not have much capital, but
he is liable to win 10000 per cent of
his investment in short order if he has
luck If he goes broke the bank will win
but little. The bucket-shop men, in their
game, have barred the plungers; they
cater to the little fellows and get all the
money. The average bucket-shop player
never quits until he is dead broke and
every dollar he secures afterward is
staked in the hope of making profitable
turn. SO, you see, once you get them
you have them forever. They are
source of revenue for all time. They
pay better than government bonds. If
one of them wins he wins but little, and
if he loses he continues until he loses
everything. There are fortunes in the
bucket-shop commissions alone, and
this is increased by the sandbagging
rule charging interest for carrying long
stocks A bucket-shOp often hedges.
and that is where the leased wires come
in. If n bucket-shop takes in 100000
bushels, say, of long wheat and does not
like to carry it, the stuff is instantly
hedged through some board of trade
firm. The bucket-shop business is kill
ing the market
There are always in the country ten
bulls to one bear. If the small orders
that are executed all over the country
every day in bucket-shops could be
punched and executed on the board of
trade you would see bull market and
a range of three points day in wheat.
The bucket-shop gets all the country