The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-03
~JUST A Chats

feve1ish. The stock exchange was Ill
n tumult. | was there in the run OF
newspaper work from day to day. but
was not prepared for the tempestuous
scene that followed during the next SIN
hours. Nor were even the operators,
perhaps. prepared for the crash that
came. In the wreck We're caught
many men before thought to be solvent
and one of the men who went down was
big enough in the financial world to pre-
cipitatc a panic To those who have
looked from the galleries of the Stock
Exchange upon a Wall Street panic no
description is necessary; to those VINO
have not, it would be impossible to give
any idea.
But it is not of the mad whirl that L
happen to be thinking now. | tried to
describe then what took place i'll the
street for the paper on which 1 was
working but there was one scene, MEM
orable to me, a strange scene as SIM
pie and as unseen as it was dramatic
and tragic. | wonder If the story l.
worth the telling. 1t is life anyway,
and an almost forgotten bit snatched
from the flames of that awful day when
mems passions swept away their reason
even us sage brush is swept by the pra-
rie-fire.
The big operator had tried hard to
hold his margins good. He was. too, a
big officer in a big bank. He was not
alone i'll his deal" He had collateral.
bonds too, but it was no time to talk of
time money" when "call loans" were
beyond the beyonds. Something had to
be done, desperately and quickly. The
big man took his bonds to the bank and
called the cashier to his private room.
Industrials had begun to tumble. There
was a lull and spasmodic rally i'll response
to the temporary stand of the big mans
well-veiled brokers' on the floor. The
big man held himself steady in that back
office with much of that rigid steadiness
that one perceiyes in another who has
hold of the handles of a galvanic bat
terry. The bonds the big man had were
windy enough at best even il the
National Banking law had not forbidden
the loan of so much money to any one
man. The cashier knew this-a man
who had been trained from his youth IL
the banking business. and whose judg
ment was as ripe with age as his char
acter was ripe with integrity. Address
ing the cashier with fegned calm and
tone of command Of which the daring
operator was master. the big man said:
You will please charge those bonds up
to Bond Account at such price, and
write a check to the order of Miss So
and So The old cashier grew Il trifc
paler with the astoundment OF. the mo-
ment. but he said nothing as he ran his
thumb between the bonds one by one
looking at them intently as he fingered
them. A word out of season might have
been worth his job to him and he was
dependent upon the job for the support
of himself and his large family. He did
not speak. He took the package of
securities to his desk and ordered them
charged up to Bond Account He was
about to write cashiers check, and he
stopped. He went back to the general
ledger. His hand .trembled.. When he
had finished writing, Bond Account had
been credited and balanced. Taking the
bonds from the collaterals in the vault,
he gathered them as firmly as he was
able and walked unsteadily at best back
to the room where the big man sat alone
ana waiting.
'Mr. - ] do not believe it would
be honest bookkeeping to put those bonds
TO Bond Account; part of them up to
the limit of the law might be, if thew
were valid collateral, changed to HCall
Loans" began the old man with much
Of the feebleness taken out of his voice
by the lneaning Of the words so momen-
tous to him.
1T is not yours to judge as to the
merits of transaction; / ann here for
that purpose; it is enough that / give
You orders You will take the bonds
back and put them to Bond Account,
and bring me the check"
The old man came near yielding for
a second. but he rallied while regiment
after regiment of moral victories came
as a reserve across the battle
field of heart that had thus far stood
staunch during the years for what was
God sees honesty The ola
hap thought he could hear music now:
It was a sort of martial music, that
music which glorifies into heroism that
fails not those acts unseen of men which
live and die most often with the doer.
The big man waited: ''WellT' he
asked firmly, after Il moment. The shouts
Of the Babel from the Stock Exchange
could almost be caught along the sweet
spring breeze. Blank and Company had
thrown up the sponge was the last
thing on the ticker-tape; it was the be-
ginning of the avalanche
"Well!' repeated the big man.
The cashier had arisen; he rested dis
hand on the back of chair; he looked
for the first time straight into the big
mans face, his look was met by an eye
rs steady as a lions. But the two gazes
were different there was the blaze of
hell IN one; there was the cooness and
serenity of the April sky in the other.
''Welln'-for the third time.
'"fhat YOU order me-" replied the old
official slowly, cannot satisfy me here;
in some cases | take my orders from
there" his hand was pointed upward.
He turned to retire but, stopping IA mo-
ment, he added, "tihs is one of the
cases Mr.. --" The struggle had
been won-in the reaction. the sweat
beads burst out cool upon his white
brow. lie settled back in his chair
weak, but passing his hand
over his face he regathered himself,
and this tragedy sank unseen out of
sight of mortal mpn-but what matters