The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-11
A WALL-STREET LAMB
ONE ICTIM TELLS HOW HE WAS
SKINNED OUT OF 100000.
Sad story Of the Man Who Lost His
Last Cent and Now Is Saved from
Starvation by Free Lunches.

)%<etas LO|aa "a
is my only home. and / thank CO for tne
free-lunch system, which saves me from ac-
tual starvation. I am not only penniiess. but
I am a physical wreck. My family is dis
persed: all ties dear to the heart are broken
I have but one passion-to hover with the
thousands Of other broken-winged moths
around the glamorous globe of the ticker. /
have lost all self-restraint. all ~self-posses-
sion. / am ~hypnotized into hell, and were
L to have my whole fortune laid back in
my arms once more ii should go the same
way.
Six years ago I was a prosperous shop
keeper in a small city in the northern part
of this State. 1t took me twenty years TO
build up the business worth $4,000. / am al
Englishman born. After graduation from
Oxford, not without honors, 1 came to a
new country to make my fortune. / wanted
to go into law. but while waiting to get my
credentials / went into a store, being un-
willing to depend more upon my folks at
home. The storekeeper died shortly, and /
ran the shop for the widow. Later / bought
it and began to lay aside money in two
banks.
Instead of the horribly hopeless existence
of a specializing has-been. living on tips
to the ''tupenny' plungers. whom, IL they
lose / avoid to escape their curses, if they
win I dog for the few crumbs from the
beggarly feast-instead OF this, I say, /
should have been In that. little city to-day
the most respected and surely the wealthiest
OF \ her citizens, with home, family and
friends, had I not received from England
two legacies within a twelve-month. These
windfalls aggregated $4,000, and the interior
town, so rural, innocent and honest, became
too small for me.
When 1 came to New York I had no more
idea Of specializing than l now nave of ever
returning to the land of my birth. I was
introduced to a man who posed as a broker.
He invited me to lunch with him next day.
1t is needless to say that i accepted his
invitation TO luncheon. Here was another
glimpse into the great world. Wall street
amazed, TUNED, hypnotized me. The Of
hces Of the great broker, who was really
There were at least six men TO be seen be-
for the broker" was reached, and no king
was ever hedged in with greater divinity.
The great man received me graciously. He
was giving orders to obseQuious confidential
clerks. three at a time, in cabalistic phrases,
which iiEbued me with a proper sense of
ings which he had just imported from Paris
at great costa magnificent Diaz, a genuine
t mar, lilo and an sa a Dnfubilgnyy; Z. b In the hen midst ! 4 Of
art, and he talked 1t well. Then we went to
luncheon at the Cafe Savarin, leaving the
offices by a rear exit In spite of the scores
awaiting an audience.
TWENTY-DOLLAR DINNER.
We had a window table at the savarin.
The bucket shop keeper threw the menu
aside and said: "Jules. well leave 1T to you"
The waiter bowed and proved himself a
man Of choice. That lunch was an epicurean
revelation. Out of a twenty-dollar bin
there was just enough left to tip Jules. The
broker was a diplomatist. He eschewed
Wall-street topics at meal. If I took the
initiative On the topic he swerved the sub
ject to paintings and horses, his two hob
bies. I saw that to talk shop there was
an impertinence. He said that at 3 o'clock
we should go up the Hudson and take a
spin to the home and tomb Of the nlustrious
Washington Irving behind his famous trot-
tiers. which cost him SO. 900. Meanwhile, I
points of interest of Wall street by a clever
young super" whom 1 piled with Ques-
lions.
At 8 o'clock up the Hudson we went in a
beautiful steam yacht, and the speedy trot-
tiers awaited us at the landing. In the
wicker armchair on the yachts deck. putting
a ffty-cent cigar. l was In glory; but seated
on the cushions behind twenty odd thousand
dollars worth Of horse flesh I was In the
seventh heaven. Still the broker eschewed
get Wall street and all that in it Is. Once
he said, "Oh. drat the market! Come down
to-morrow and III tell you all about how
enough. 1 went down. 1 put up ? thousand
dollars that day to learn something. That
n rnoasa pitni 6r1 teg bo, ms In three nuhdreo
l went back to my inland city with my
head buzz,ng; Never did the hftie store
the jolliest kind Of a trip. and was a hun@rsd
kept my secret, but planned to sell out my
store to my head clerk; He bought It.. A
I moved to New York.
Needless to say / returned to the man who
mane %4ney pla f1s a md rules re sfo Be c sGpksdi
in the pocket for instant reference" With
plenty of money at first, 1 made a fatal
when / was nearly lone to the limit, / made
the more fatal blunder of plunging. Ny first
order was Richmond Terminal on the
brokers' advice. 1t instantly went into
bankruptcy, and was quoted at minus two.
Up went $4,000 of my money. Then 1 dashed
at General Electric, which the bears imme-
diately logged down ten points In two days.
To the Winds went $1,000 more I began to
lose courage and likewise. confidence in my
adviser, He was very discreet and pune
Savarin, watering it with the sparkling wine
of Rheims.
Well. there is no use in going into details.
Here are the documentary evidences. / lost
SIG, 900 to that man within seven months.
Sometimes / made a thousand. and was
loss of ten thousand. A GOODNESS fen be-
tween the broker and his shopkeeper
~ CAUGHT BY 'BUCKETING."
tried another firm. I became one Of that
coterie of nerve-racked men and women who
occupy the armchairs in solid rows in front
OF great blackboards and watch the mo-
mentary registering of the ups and downs
of the market with the eager interest with
which people on ~shipboard watch the ocean.
1 had acquired the Wall-street fever; I
was getting the Wal-street face. / ad-
vanced very cautiously. Instead Of putting
up 80 per cent, / thought 1t safer to deal
in 10 per cent. margins-fatal error. 1 had
spent a whole year in the how OF the
street and lost $4,000 before / ever saw a
bond, a single share of stock or a bushel of
grain that / had bought or sold" In
fact, II was months before l discovered that
the orders were 'bucketed." and that / was
just betting against the b~roker-betting
against a sure system. Out of every thou
sand dollars worth OF stock / was paying
the broker" interest on nine hundred,
besides paying his commissions on both buy
ing and selling, when he never sent an order
TO the floor once a week
/ now came TO an interesting period Of
my career as a Wall-street operator. A
letter from a London broker informed me
about American securities London was just
the place.. With about fifty thousand dol
lars / shook the dust OF Wal street from
my feet and sought the land of my birth.
I never went near my people, however. hav-
ing a new passion which blotted out all
others. / was received I'm Throgmorton and
Threadneedfe streets with open arms. While
I was crossing there were cablegrams DASH