The St. Johns herald., 1901-10-05
sTocKBRokERs' suPERsTITIoNs.
Luck of Man Who Stepped on .
 Crack Going to His Office,

Crack Going to His office.
 The man who was watching the tape Rnxiously suddenly snapped it off and, | turning to the brokers standing near him, said:
 "That last sale has probably cost me $1 ,000, and am through bucking my su- perstition."
 'Lost a rabbit foot?" asked broker.
 "No, nothing of that sort. l don't be- lieve in rabbits feet, opals and all that sort of thing. have little superstition of my own, however, which is just as foolish. It is really absolutely silly, but 1 have never known it to fail. 1 come down town in a Bnadway car every morning. Experience has taught me that if l step on a crack as l walk from Broadway down Wall and Broad to my office luck will go against me all day. 1 first noticed this ten years ago. It came to me like an inspiration. 1 tried to fight it down. On days when I had stepped on a crack in going to my office in the morning 1 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 me.
 "Of course it is foolish, but I'll ven ture to say that 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. I stepped on a crack this morning just as 1 was thinking about buying POO shares of x. I. z. l had straight infor- nation that it was to be pulled, and its last report warranted a price better than S1. When 1 stepped on the crack, 1 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 1 did. 1 or dered my short stock covered at 76. Five points was all the profit 1 expected. The stock began to sag as soon as 1 sold, and then came a rally, and it's been going up ever since. My stock has just been GOV cred at a five point loss. That convinces me that can't get the better of my hoo doc, and hereafter I am going to yield to it."
 Several of the other brokers admitted in turn their pet superstitions, and one 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:
 There was not a more level headed man on the exchange than Brown, and probably all of you knew him. He had one superstition which he confded to his friends. He always said that he felt sure that if it ever became necessary for him to announce a 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 Yery serious. It sc 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 it and thought to myself that this was a good opportuni- ty to prove the foolishness of his super stition. Brown looked to be in 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 a dozen other men besides myself who can vouch for his having that superstition. My expert ence leads me to believe that stcekbro- kers are the most superstitious of men" New York Sun.
 When a fellow has money to burn. the mother of marriageable daughters is ready to supply him with match Philadelphia Record.