The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-21

ranean vaults and spreads itself over the
district. About o'clock in the afternoon
il goes back again to its lair, to repOse
! for the night in the dungeons of steel and
solid masonry that defy both fire and
burglars, guarded by watchmen. who all
night long patrol the dimly lighted corri-
doris Of the stronghold.
This real Wall street consists of securi-
ties to the value Of about $500, 600, 600. The
buying and selling of these securities is
the business Of the brokers. and a man en-
gagged in such buying and selling is in
the street" These 800 900 900 worth of Sc
curiues are sent to market every morn
ing by their owners to be sold for the
highest price they will bring; just as
farmer sends a pig to market, and the
broker corresponds TO the hired man who
takes the pig to market, and is paid for
doing so.
Wall street is often spoken of as a place
where people buy and sell what they do
not possess. That however, is a deiuslon.
Wall street is securities, and the business
of the street" is the buying and selling
of them. There are, to be sure, bucket
shops where things are carried on In
some such fashion; but these bucket shops
are not of the street"
Each of the above mentioned leather
boxes is carried by two clerks sent from
the brokers' Office TO which it is bound, and
behind walks a member of the firm, or
some trusted employe, such as the cashier.
There are leather handles on either end Of
the box, by which the clerks carry it; and
the carriers walk with n brisk step. The
representative of the firm who walks be-
hind keeps on a line half way between
the carriers and has one eye on the box
and one on the people about him. Some
of the small firms, instead of having
leather box for their securities, have
leather bag, which is carried by one man
and watched by another.
All up and down the sidewalks these
moving bags and boxes can be seen during
the half hour which is devoted TO their
transportation. There is little cash in
these bags and boxes. Sometimes a few
thousand dollars which the broker has re-
ceived after banking hours the day before
and put in the safe deposit vault over night
but no great amount.
1t is securities, stocks and bonds, repre-
senting the ownership of $500, 900 coo worth
of actual property, that is in them. 1t is,
of course, impossible to estimate the value
exactly, but the above figure is a fair APP
prOXimate.
Is it is a day of bear market" the val
ue represented is Con the principle that a
thing is worth what it will fetch) some
what less; if il is day of bull market"
more.
1t is an interesting object lesson in the
affairs of men to see the stream of leather
boxes spread itself over the Wall street
|
recede and seek it's caves at night Some
of those boxes which started out gay and
buoyant in the morning seek the seclusion
of their steel dungeons at night sadly de-
jected, and some that went forth timor-
ousy come back with an opulent swag-
ger.
While this transfer is being made about
a dozen well dressed men, who seem to
take only languid interest in life, may
be seen lounging or strolling about at the
place where Wall street divides Broad
| from Nassau, or in that immediate Vicin-
| ity They are Wall street detectives. who
| appearing to see nothing, see everything.
| And under their care this half a billion
! of property is carried through the streets
| in perfect safety.
Yet even if one could invent some kind
| of fish weir which would catch all these
| peripatetic boxes, and could then get away
| with them, it would do him no good.
| There would, of course, be no Wall street
! for a whle-until stocks and bonds to
| replace the stolen ones could be made out
| but the stolen securities would prob
ably be declared void, and as soon as the
| new ones took their places wall street.
| would reappear.
! Another sight which one frequently sees
| in the Wall street district, which adds rot
| a little to the sense of reality in the trans
| actions of the street. is dray being load
! ed with bars of silver by stalwart men
who pile in the white metal as if they
| were putting on a load of bricks-or an
other dray driving along loaded with bags
and boxes of gold.
Most of these drays are bound to or
| from steamers, though there is some cart
age of coin and bullion within the dis
trct itself.
On one of these argosies on wheels there
are generally four men besides the driver
to guard the treasure. When the load is
! of extraordinary value, other guards are
Of. talrn Nv he
dray. But gold and silver are not easy
things to steal anyway, they are so heavy
| A box of gold cannot be ''prigged' as cas-
! lily as a lady's pocketbook.
For 50 years the carting of coin and pre-
cious metal to and from the Wall street
district and in it was almost entirely done
| by j. f. Barley. About three years ago
| Mr. Barley died, and now his son con-
| tinues the business. They have carted
more billions of dollars in bullion and coin
| than any other firm in this country, and
! probably in the world; and in all this time
| only once have they had anything stolen
| from their care.
A few years ago they lost two bars of
silver. worth then about $500 each. The
| silver was being taken to steamer, which
| lay at North river pier. 1t was a foggy
| day and SO thick in Wall street that one
could not see a block ahead distinctly. In
| the dense jam of vehicles, which always
| incumbers Wall street in the busy hours,
| and in the obscurity of the fog at a mo-
! ment when the guards were not looking,
two thieves managed to steal each a bar
of silver out Of the truck, and to get away
| unobserved.
The thieves thought they had stolen lead,
and sold their booty to junk dealer for
| pigs of that metal. When the papers the
next morning told of the theft of the sill
yer bars, one of the thieves went to the
junk dealer and demanded more money,
| saying that what he had sold for lead
turned out to be silver, he ought to
have the difference in the price. His greed
was his ruin, for he was caught, tried and
| sentenced to as long a term of imprison-
ment as the law allowed.
1t is not an unusual thing for Barley
to carry a million dollars in coin or bullion
on one of his trucks, and he has a "dou-
Bile truck, as he calls it, upon which he
| will sometimes transport two millions