The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-08
WALL STREET BEGGARS
BROKERS ANNOYED BY MANY
 KINDS OF PERSISTENT M G MENDICANTS.
The Trouble Grown Worse Since the Recent Boom in Stocks-Mistakes ''.. Mads in Bestowing
 1F' Charity.

America for the calling. Every form of begging game fourisnes there, and since the boom in stocks things have been worse than ever before.
 So long as the begging was done with some degree of art, Wall street endured 1t cheerfully and gave freely. Lissome young women with soft voices and appealing eyes who wished to sell l tickets to performances that never took place. found a ready market; suave gentlemen in silk hats, who politely suggested subscriptions to an organiza- | tion which existed chiefly within those hats, collected an occasional bonus, while the hardluck story, buoyantiy and genially presented, was almost sure to be rewarded with the price of a drink. But the plain unvarnished tramp, with the five days growth of whiskers and too we'll ventilated cloth ing. is not popular in Wall street, and this kind has become very prevalent of late. Along with him have come a horde of subscription agents. So Wall streets is now in revolt.
 1 The publication of illustrated vol 1 umes on Wall street and its prominent l men has made 1t possible for the beg | gar to recognize a Stock Exchange man in the street. and 1t is quite a common thing for one of the board members to be approached by a seedy stranger and addressed by name.
 MT. Blink" began the stranger. Il used to speculate in your office and had a run of luck, but I got on the wrong side of the market. and now am up against it. I want to ask you | for a small loan until I sell a house own in the country. When I can get the cash for this place I shall be back | in your office rolling up the money | again."
 The broker thinks he recognizes a casual customer and the loan is forth | coming. The ups and down of Wall street life makes 1t necessary for every one to be kindly disposed to the man who Is temporarily out at elbows. The | borrower may be the lender in few weeks time. But when the same | broker is approached a second time | with the same tale of hard luck he be- gins to be suspicious. At the same time the broker must | be cautious in his dealings with the stranger who accosts him on the streets. There are many varieties or speculators, and some of those who drift in from the country districts wearing clothes that would make hit on the variety stage are too good GUS toners to lose. A certain member Of
  experience in this line recently. As he was going to the Exchange an elderly man in shabby clothes addressed him timidly:
 "Aain't you MT. So-and-So?" "Yes. I am; but I'm in great hur- ry."
 q just wanted to ask you eff you couldn't"
 NO sir. cannot" said the broker. emphatically.
 As he walked away he was dimly aware of some messenger boys laugh ing at the figrure his interlocutor cut as he stood staring and discounted, Half an hour later the broker came ont upon the street again only to run into the seedy little man.
 MT. So-and-Sc," began the little man. "I only wanted to ask you ef you couldn't
 Now. here" cried the outraged brok- CT, q won't stand being held up this way. If you do 1t again will have you arrested"
 "Then give me back my $2o,ooo," said the little man, patiently.
 "What?"
 "I've got $2o,Oo6 with your firm in Common Wheat. and I just wanted to ask you eff you couldn't tell me wheth- CT I'd better hang on or sell"
 The seedy little man was country mill oWne- and a considerable specu-' lator. It took the broker ten minutes to apologize in a manner behttng the occasion.
 Another class of beggars that the stock broker seeks relief from IS the insistent man who collects for a chari- table institution. real or imaginary, principally tine latter. He invariably descends on his prey at the busiest time in the day bursting in on the brokers study of the ticker and reel ing of begging petition while holding out a book in which appear the names of well-known men as subscribers to the charity in question. Most or the names are inserted there without their owners permission. but the list serves to lend emphasis to the collectors 5 re- mark that 'it will look very queer when the list is published If your name does not appear there.
 lii is too late to recall the money when the broker learns later, by com pairing notes with his friends Tn the street, that his name as well as theirs has been used in wholesale gathering in of funds. which never reached the charitable society they were intended to benefit
 So persistent are some Of the bogus collectors of charity that it Is all the doorkeepers of the Exchange can do to prevent their penetrating to the very floor in search of victims. Tsey are busted from one entrance only to seek admission at another; they lie in wait for brokers going in a3d brokers com ing out; they fall in step beside their victim and walk and talk unth the money is given as>the easiest way or saving A scene; they ignore the signs on private doors. are pastmasters Tn the are of bluffing office boys. and when not fattening at the expense or the broker they are picking up cruinh" and whole loaves from the customers who throng his office anu are always Iiheral and open-handed when the mar ket is going their way.
 Of late new apparitlon has appear ed in Wall street. It wears a pohntt of coal-scuttle shape, bedecked "lth scarlet and gold ribbon; it stands pal iently outside the entrance to the StoSt exchange, holding in it's extended hahd a tambourine. It is silent apparltloh so far as vocal evidence or its pres ence is concerned. but the tambourlne is thrust ont in a way that explains it's ohiect very forcibly and the atten- tion of the passerby is attracted to the obiect bv a sign on a hand organ in inc vicinity of the tambourine. on the organ there is printed appeal to the world in general and Wall street in narttrular to "heIp the homeless. I'll is sclr-denial week" tho sign informs inc brokers. Give to this worthy char .. anl eoI-o tba last" SaVS aOOt her