The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-11-15

slUGk up To their necRS "a TYPICAL Dll
or stock-iobbing Whereat other and more
artistic stockholders had expressed the
greatest Indignation. Instead OF putting
the stock on a dividend paying basis the
directors had decided-at the last hour
that il would not be conservative to
do so, whereupon the stock had broken"
seventeen points. The lambs lost hum
dreds of thousands of dollars; the in
siders gained as much. 1t was nice
turn
Hayward remembered this and when
the stock, after several days of con-
splcuous activity and steady advances,
rose to 81, he promptly sold short" o.
600 shares--believing that the barefaced
manipulation would not raise the stock
much above that figure and that before
long it must decline Only a month pre-
viously it had sold at 80 and nobody
wanted any of it, He was all the more
decided in his opinion that the top
had been reached by prices, because Mr.
Dorr, in Chicago paper, had stated
that the stockholders would probably re-
ceive an entire years dividends at one
fell swoop by reason of the unexampled
prosperity in the steel rod trade. Such
an action was unprecedented. 1t had
been talked about at various times in
connection with other stocks, but it had
never come true. Why should it come
true in this instance?
Hayward, familiar with DQrr record
promptly "coppered" his tip to buy,
banking on DORIS consistent mendacity
But Mr.. William G. Dorr, shrewdest and
boldest of all Western stock gamblers,
fz 10 al hn
truth. That week the directors did ex-
actly as he had predicted. When spec
uator of his calibre lies he fools only one
half-the foolish half-of the Street
When he tells the truth he dcceives
everybody Before Wall Street could re-
cover from the shock the price of the
stock was up 5 points, which meant that
Haywood was out $4,000 on that dea,
alone. But, in addition, the general list
vas carried upward alphabetically.
Money rates and bear hopes fell; stock
values and bull courage rose! Hayward
began covering" Steel Rod. He bought
i'll" 5000 shares and after he had fin
ished he had lost$26,750 by the deal. He
was still short about 1900 shares OF
other stocks on which his paper" at
the last quoted prices, were over $50, 00G;
but ii he tried to buy back such a large
amount of stock in a market go sensi-
tive to any kind OF bull impetus he would
send prices upward in a iiffy, increasing
his own losses very materially.
He went to his office that morning in
tremor He consulted the cashier, and
found he had only $52,0n0 at the bank,
of which two-thirds belonged to his GUS
toners. He was already, morally speak
ing an embeZzler. He was ruined if he
didn't cover, and he was ruined if he
did. His seat on the Stock Exchange
was worth possibly $40, 600, not cent
mere; and as he personally owed his out
of-town correspondents nearly $4,000.
he could not avoid being hopelessly
ruined. Moreover, his bankruptcy would
not be an honest" failure, for, as ne
told himself bitterly, after the harm was
done, Il had no business to speculate Ola
my own hook with other peoples money
Now he was face to face with the
question that every gambler breads: II
stood to loose all how desperate a risk
would l take in order TO get it back?"
As he left his office to so the Board
Room" he put to himself the fatetul
query. But he would not let himself an
swer it until he had stopped at "Freds,"
the official barroom of the Stock Ex-
change, and had taken stiff drink of
raw whskey. Then the answer came.
He was ruined anyhow. If he failed
without further ado, that is, without
Increasing his liabilities, he would be
cursed by twenty-five OF his customers
and by fifteen of his fellow-brokers who
We're lending stocks to him. But if
Ia I,
might pull out of the hole; or at the
worst why, the number of cursing GUS
toners would remain the same but the
fellow brokers would rise to twenty or
thirty
He took another stiff drink. The market
had become undoubtedly a bull market.
The bears had been fighting the advance
and there still remained a stubborn
short interest in certain stocks, as, for
example, in American Sugar Company
stock. Now if that short interest could
be stampeded it might mean an eight or
tenpoint advance. If he bought 10000
or $4,000 shares and sold them at an aver
age profit of four or five points, he would
put off the disaster, and if he made ten
points he would be a great operator. He
had, to be sure, no business to buy even
1000 shares of Sugar; but then he had no
business to be on the verge of bank
ruptcy.
The liquor was potent. Sally said to
himself, aggrievedly: Il might as well be
hung for flock as for one measly old
mutton"
He walked a trifle unsteadlly from
'Freds" across the narrow asphalted New
Street to the Stock Exchange. He paused
at the entrance. There was no escape.
Unless he could make a lucky strike, he
would fall ANONYMOUSLY.
Pixies Peak or bust!" he muttered to
himself, and walked into the big room.
Good morning, Mr.. Hayward" said
the doorkeeper Hayward nodded abb
sently, caught himself repeating, pixies
Peak or bust! and walked straight to-
ward the Sugar post.
He began to bid for stock. One thou
sand shares at 116; he got it. Another
thousand; it was forthcoming at 11615.
So FAR, so bad. Then he bid III Tor $500
shares, and it was promptly sold. But
when he bid III for any part Of 5,OOO!"
the crowd hesitated. the brokers We're
not altogether sure Hayward was good
for it," his ability to pay for the stock