The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-08
The Way Langley Made $780,
900 on a Borrowed 500.
PYRAMIDED HIS WINNINGS
On the Narrowest of Margins-When
He Piled Up 100000 He Stopped
That Way of Working and
Went in for Straddles."


street men told this story in an uptown
club last week to half a dozen young
men as warning not to tempt fort
une too far Langley operated in stocks
before the Napoleonic revival or he
would undoubtedly have been dubbed
the first Napoleon of Finance. He died
in poverty, otherwise he would not have
served to point a Wall street moral,
and his name was not Langley, but so
near it that old brokers may easily
identify him
You have asked me to tell you of the
most sensational plunging since I have
broker, and l will answer you by
telling the story of Langley. 1t is not
fiction and to my mind it is more re-
markable than any similar tale Ct fic-
ton I have ever read. 1t happened that
/ had offices with Langley's broker at
that time and l knew every in and out
of his operations. Let me say at the
outset that in my experience plungers
are a class by themselves and when a
man is once plunger he will remain
plunger to the end of his career. Such
a man was Langley. I met him first
in 1875 when he was prosperous mer-
chant in Philadelphia. He was reported
business was profitable. 1t was not
necessary for him to speculate, but it
seemed to be in his blood, and he oper-
ated through Blackwoud, with whom /
had an office. He went in for thousand
share lots and there were weeks when
he seemed to be gambling on every ac-
tive stock in the market without any
particular reason for it.
'Blackwood urged him again and
again to go slow, but Langley wouldn't
have it. The market began to go
against him and when the slump came
in 1877 it not only wiped out his
account at his brokers, but his bust
ness in Philadelphia as well. Langley
found himself in middle life without a
dollar that he could call his own Such
blows are knockouts for some men and
when Langley disappeared for six
months or more we thought that he
had given up the fight. His reappear-
anc" in our city was dramatic The
market was just beginning to react
from it's depression when one afternoon
Langley walked in. He had always
been a well-dressed man. He now ap-
peared in the shabbiest kind of clothes.
Failure was plainly stamped on his face
and he looked even hungry. Langley
bowed to three or four men in the office
whom he had known in his days of
prosperity and each one of them calcu-
would ask TO borrow and how much he
would givefhim.
'Blackwood,' he said, I am in hard
luck
I can see that said his old brok-
err, and I am sincerely sorry for you.
gladly do So - -
"1 haven't come here to beg said
Langley. but l want you to give me a
start in the market ~.
Let me beg of you to stay out of it,
replied Blackwood You have paid me
a great deal of money in commissions
and now let me give you enough to help
you get a start somewhere, but don't
touch the stock market
That won't suit me- said Langley,
and I am only going to ask you to
risk 500 for me. If I lose I will dis
appear. If I win I will make more.
Will you do it?'
Blackwood felt that it was throw
ing money away, but Langley had been
his good customer for many years and
he could not refuse.
will put you in the market for
$780, he said.
The market had closed and the men
in the office were listening curiously
to hear how Langley was going to in
vest his money.
'Blackwood,' he said, Northwest
closed at 31A to-day. I want you to
buy for me tomorrow morning 100
shares of it with one-point stop loss
order
TO the other men in the office tits
seemed to be a foolish way to throw
away 500. and apparently their eX-
pressions indicated their thoughts.
Turning to them and shaking with ex-
element, Langley said:
Laugh if you choose, gentlemen,
hut IL ~
sell for 131 before it again sells for 81
and events proved that ne was right.
He had made a careful study of the
crop prospects, and he succeeded in
forecasting the big bull movement be-
fore Wall street felt it. Blackwood
bought the 100, shares for him at BIZ
and the stock advanced point
Now, Langley sad Blackwood,
you have called the turn this time,
and let me advise you to take your
profit and get out of the market. Your
margin is so small that a slight fluctu-
alton will wipe you out.
You heard what I said about
Northwest replied Langley, and I
know what I am talking about. Please
buy me another 100 with stop loss of
half a point. I am going to pyramid
this stock and make something worth
while or lose it ALL
again the stock went up. Langley had
a chance now to get out with something
like $500 clear profit, and there was not
much general confidence in Northwest
despite its little turn for the better
1t wasn't Langley's style to get out.
He bought more stock on the strength
of his visible profits, and still the stock
went up. The little crowd of men who
used to frequent our office in those
days followed his operations with in
terest. and on the strength of them in
vested in Northwest themselves,
Langley followed that stock up point
by point, pyramiding as it rose and
brushing aside the advice of friends to
get out with his profits. Some of you
may remember what a strong bull
market followed the slump of ~, and
yet how its real strength was doubt
ed from day to day and week to week.
but Langley never doubted it. He as
serted in the face of sneers that North
west would have a Hotpoint rise, and
he said that he was going to get out of
it all the profit that he saw. The time
he gfr,a1 i