The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-09-22
sTOCKBROxERs' sUpERsTrT1oNs.

The man who was watching the
tape anxiously suddenly snapped it
off and, turning to the brokers stand
ing near him, said:
"That last sale has probably cost
me 81 900, and 1 am through buck
ing my superstition.
"Lost a rabbit foot?" asked
broker"
"No, nothing of that sort. l don't
believe in rabbits feet, opals and all
that sort of thing. l have a little
superstition of my own, however,
which is just as foolish. 1t is really
absolutely silly, but 1 have never
known it to fail. 1 come down town
in Broadway car every morning.
Experience has taught me that if 1
step on a crack as. I walk from Droad-
way down Wall and Broad to my Of
fee luck will go against ME all day.
first noticed this ten years ago. It
came to me like an inspiration. 1
tried to fight it down. On days when
| had stepped on crack in going to
my office in the morning would
trade only in the most conservative
stocks and on what seemed to be sure
tips. In nine cases out of ten, how
ever, the market would go against
me.
"Of course it is foolish, but I'll
venture to say that eight brokers out
of ten down here have some pet
superstition like it. l have tried in
every way to take the hoodoo way
from mine, and today's luck has con-
vinced me that it is useless. / step.
ped OH crack this morning just as
was thinking about buying 200 shares
of x. Y. Z. I had straight informa-
tion that it was to be bulled. and its
last report warranted piece better
than 81. When I stepped on the
crack, l thought to myself: There
is my hoodoo. If I buy that stock
now, it will go down. I'll just take
the curse off that hoodoo by selling
200 shares. That was what I did.
ordered my short stock covered at
76. Five points was all the profit l
expected. The stock began to sag as
sold, and then came rally, and it's
been going up ever since. NY stock
has just been covered at five point
loss. That convinces me that I can't
get the better of my hoodoo, and
hereafter I am going to yield to it.
Several Of the other brokers admit
ted in turn their pet superstitions,
and one of them told story about
the death of a we'll known governor
of the Stock Excange a few years
ago. The governor may be called
Brown. The broker said
''There was not more level head
ed man on the exchange than Brown,
and probably all of you knew him.
He had one superstition which he
contlded to his friends. He alwa
said Chat hc leIt sure IHat II it ever
became necessary for him to announce
members death that his own death
would come very shortly after that.
We all guyed him about it, and Brown
himself didn't seem to be very serious.
1t SO happened one morning, how
ever, that the other officers of the
exchange were i'll, and Brown was
called upon to announce the death of
member. 1 heard him do il and
thought to myself that this was a
good opportunity to prove the fool
ishness of his superstition. Brown
looked to be i'll perfect health. After
announcing this death he stepped
down, walked across the floor and
when near the door he fell as if in a
faint. He never recovered conscious
ness. You all know that he died in
that way, and there are dozen other
men besides myself who can vouch
for his having that superstition. My
experience leads me to believe that
stockholders are the most supersti-
tious of men. '-New York SIN.