The sun., 1901-05-11
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
AND so WERE STOCK BROKERS WITH
WHOM THEY TRADED.
Firms That went Jpd,r lay All Their Troubles
TO women who "welchcd" when They Lost
Failed TO Respond TO Calls for Margin
Few showed Up ycstcrday--An Afraid.

Few showed Up ycstcrday--An Afraid.
Several stock brokerage firms who failed
during the last few days laid their trouble
directly 20 women traders One was John
T. Ice of 80 Broadway He had nm Office
uptown with special Accommodations for
women spectators. In the days Just, pre-
cecding the panic Of Wednesday the easy
chairs in this office Of which there were about
thirty wcro filled, and about nifty women
stood up Sun reporter who visited this
offlce yesterday was told that not one Of
those women had been near the place all
day When he asked the reason for this
he was told that nearly all of them owed
the firm money for margins. and that that
was the reason. the only reason. why the
concern had gone under. A man connected
with the Office said:
The women who have been coming here
IN increasing numbers since the present
speculation began have been buying small
lots but they have been drawing regularly
as profits anywhere from $40 to $500 week.
Every cent of these profits they drew ont
out we nadc the mistake of thinking that
II was all right, and only insisted on from
on" To three points margins When the
orash came yesterday only very few re-
spond"d 10 the calls for margins and we
saw then the mistake we had made One
woman before the crash came was a winner
TO the extent of about $4,000 Now she owes
us $1,000. and don't know when we will get
u To be sure some of them made desperate
EFFORTS to raise money. but they could not
get II in time, None of them has been here
to-day, although we expected some would
show up ltshows to my mind that they emit
he counted on, and that II one decides 10
do any of this kind OF business with women
he has got to start out by insisting on good
sized margins. Otherwise they will quit
you in minute. and all but few will fail
to respond to calls for margin To savo you
or themselves. In other words. most Of
these women when IL came TO make good
simply 'welchcd' and that's all there is about
IL
Another firm in the Wall Street district
which failed yesterday had been catering
particularly to women customers recently
and It's failure was said to be due to the same
cause. This firm had lavatorcs and dress
ing rooms, fitted NJ for women where the q
were all tho appointments of "A fashionable
wOmans dressing table. They had failed
entirely to respond to the call for margins
and left tho brokers with the stock.
There were stories told in IA" uptown
branches of the brokerage firms Yesterday Of
the women traders and how they got through
tho storm of the previous day. II Is fair
20 assume from what was said that largo
proportion Of them lost and that their losses
were greater than their profits on the pre-
Cedng DAYS when the trend of everything
was upward In the offices where women
Congregdt"d there was Il decided dlmunitIOn
in the number of customers Yesterday and
II was said al nearly all oi them that tho
women who wor" watching the ticker were
not doing any trading. one reason was
that IA" majority of them wcrc either broke
or so scared that they were not ready to
plunge again Then. too. another reason
was that "a good many of the firms were de-
mandnE either cash or - per cent mar
gins, owing. It was said, to III" tickl'sh state
Of the market and also To the lessons that
the previous day had taught.
r. Judge from tho tales told in some of
the offices in III" Astor Court Building lot
of women had been selling short and were
caught in ono Office II was said that ten
women ont of the hundred about that were
customers Of the firm wero short al the open
ing of the market day before yesterday and
were losers. some of them TO tho extent of
thousands of dollars. One case was that
of "a widow whose husband died a short while
ago and left her ONLY his life insurance
I'M, woman" said the manager Of an
Office yesterday. who, by the wnv, IA a woman
herself, decided t. try To Increase this sum
by Speculating Sh" went 70 far as to take
this money out OF the bank That was
week ago and for u while she WAS IN the swim
and collected far profits Then she began
10 soil y 7. short Yesterday morning at
the opening Of the market, her funds were
exhausted. she lost all she had made IN
profits and her 81, 600 beside i am as though
had been left pennrss. She said to a friend
and she left the Office crying
Her case j. Hh exception. That Is for
showing emotion There has been a lot of
talk about women crying over their losses
yesterday Most of II j. ridiculous. ] was
here all through the day and ! saw n lot of
them showed tear Although I'm manager
here and have been in III" business good
wh 10 ! want 20 say TINT ih"r" l. more harm
done in the gambling IN Wall Street thnn in
any gambling hou~" Tint has over been IN
thi4 city. The woman when she engages In
speculation Is naturally a bull She's opt-
never wants 20 sell That's been the way
with nearly all Of thrn that went into il re-
ccutly. Now. women ar" AL rlght on tho long
side Of the market but when they are on
the short side all of them lack the courage
10 hold out ~ the Same time my expert
cnce here has been that they are pretty good
loser and that as customers th"y are not
half as impatient and bothoT~omc as mon.
one woman who Is one Of tho few heArs
know came in to-day and Just had enough
lelt after yesterday 70 do s9mething with.
what she did was 10 buy steel nt 80 and sold
tutl2 She only could afford to get twenty
shurc-: bu' she said i partly made mp for yes-
terday, when she was caught short and sur
iercd with the rcst"
The few women who were seen in orNccs
YESTERDAY Apparently were there because
they, couldn't stay, away.
man 20 a crowd in one Of the Offices IN hstor
Court "SteoPs going up and | lost every
bit Ind YESTERDAY. isn't that n shnme'"
NJ [, = and what II did to me Yesterday
ONLY little most egg of n couple o' thousand
gone on the horrid old thing and all I'VE got
10 show for the whole week Is what / saved
bv st1vnG away from tho stores / guess
I'VE had enough"
just then Union Pacific went up eight
points md there were nll sorts Of eNclarnn-
tons. Finally one woman ordered n hundred
shares
That's tho first order we've had to-day"
said the manager, and thev have becn hcre
nearly all dav, They arc too scared 10 do
much. and II they were wlse they would 60
homo until to-morrow, anyway. lot ot
them have got the fever now thAt never
know what II was before and suppose thew
will keep II M. Others are ont for good
They haven't been here to-day add. Judging
from their losses | guess they have had
enough"
MIGHT HAVE SOLD OFT FOR Sas. 900.