The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-13
sUPERsTTTIoNs OF BROKERS
Nearly ALI of Them Have Some Pc
One or Another.

Nearly ALI of Them Have Some Pet
One or Another.
New York Sun.
The man who was watching the tape
anxiouslY suddenly snapped it off, and
turning to the brokers standing near by
said:
THAT last sale has probably cost me
$l,OOO and l am through bucking my SUI
perstition."
Lost q rabbit foot?' asked a broker.
:, NO. nothing of that sort, 1 don't be-
lieye in rabbits feet. opals and all that
ton. Of my own, however, which is just
as foolish. 1t is really absolutely silly,
but have never known 1t to fail. I
morning. Experience has taught me that
If step on q crack as l walk from
Broadway down Wall and Broad to my
office luck will go against me all day. I
first noticed this ten years ago. 1t came
to me like an inspiration. 1 tried to fight
it down. On days when I had stepped on
q crack In going to my. office in the
morning I would trade, only in the most
conservative stocks and on what seemed
to be sure tips In nine cases out of ten,
however, the market would go against
"Of course it is foolish, but I'll venture
to say eight brokers out of ten down
here have some pet superstition like it.
| have tried in every way to take the
hoodoo away from mine, and today s
luck has convinced me that it is useless.
1 stepped on a crack this morning just
as was thinking about buying 200 shares
Of x. Y. q. I had straight Information
that 1t was to be bulled, and its last re-
port warranted a price better than 81.
When stepped on the crack I thought
to myself There is my hoodoo. If 1 buy
that stock now 1t will go down. I'll just
take the curse off that hoodoo by selling
2G1 shares and that was what 1 did
ordered my short stock covered at 76
Five points was all the profit I expected.
stock hnpQn q
sold, and then came rally and it's been
going up ever since. My stock has just
been covered at viewpoint loss. That
convinces me that I can't get the better
of the hoodoo, and hereafter am going
to yield to IT.
Several of the other brokers admitted
Of them told story about the death of a
well known governor Of the Stock ex-
change a few years ago. The governor
may be called Brown. The broker said:
Ihere was not more level-headed
man on the exchange than Brown, and
you probably all Of you knew him He
had one superstition which he confided
to his friends. He always said that he
felt sure that If it ever became necessary
for him to announce q members death
that his own death would come very
s sbort e ad anS R 5hat Ms al gggsd him
to be. very serious. 1t so happened one
morning, however, that the other officers
of the exchange Were i'll and Brown was
called upon to announce the death of a
member. / heard him do 1t, and thought
to myself that this was good opportu-
nifty to prove the fooiishness of his sI-
perstition. Brown looked to be in per
he stepped down. walked across tsIs 9ef fba
floor and when near the door he fell as
if in faint. He never recovered con
seriousness, You ali know that he died
in that way, and there are dozen other
men besides myself who can vouch for
his having that superstition My expert
ence leads me ito believe that stock bro
kers are the most superstitious of men,