The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-12-04
TRAGEDIES ON THE FLOOR.
Sudden Deaths of Members That Haze
Occurred In the New York
stock Exchange.

Teterans of the civil war, VINO dur1nB
ears of service never knew WEat d
lay might bring forth, have confessed
hat in their worst battles and most
oilsome marches they did not AGE
20 the physical and mental strain lhe
I die daily" of the ever-reneWed CAM
,aign uDon the floor. Yet in the actual
there of the king of terrors
in his few entrances-he has at once
stayed all contests. Greed, passion
riumph, fear. have been quelled by
his ouos ego. One becomes Wonteu 10
the floors swift circumstance, as TO
the motion of a ship at sea. only
something abnormal will impress MIN
more so than a sudden huSh,
a questioning Of what 1t means
writes Edmund Clarence Stedman, IN
Life on the Floor"
Occasions which scared themselves
into the memory were the three With
in q single decade, upon each OF
which a well-known membe or the
board died in TIE tfnYtG5Hr 81 its stage.
An impression that instantaneous
deaths are more likely to occur Lere
than elsewhere is not confirmed by
he record. AS a class, the brokers,
after long service. carry no more marks
OF nervous strain than other active
business Or professional men. 1t
may be that some, whose constitutions
are poorly adapted to the work, find
it prudent to withdraw at the first
SVm DtnmS of nI-raDln dot rior1tinr A ~
expert actuary might tell us how many
among 500 men who move and deal
together, under the special conditions.
for a score Of years, ought to die in
their tracks. That three SHOULD have
done so within memory ofthe street, and
all in a single decade, does not i'm
ply a large percentage, ever when al
loWance is made for continual re-
crulting.' So, when the Intruder
forced at last his several entrances,
each was in the nature Of a surpri &c.
and seemed discourteous, If not with
out warrant. But such considerations
were quickly overcome by the dramatic
quality of each episode.
The first took place close upon noon
u u Illdoulillilcl NdS, duu was I'LL
pressive from the fact that the strick-
en- man a the vice president of the
exchange, who had just announced the
death of another member, and was de-
scending from the rOstrum, when lie
staggered and grew pale, was as
sisted to the hallway, was laid down,
and forthwith breathed his last. This,
!lnInn1 woc a hrplyop'c Gno1 toni, 70
the door" but, as the Dark SummOne1
had kept without the gateway, the
event, however startling, was less
spectral than his. return and actual
intrusion Upon the floor three years
~afterward, and at the same hour OF
the day. A favorite old-time member,
seated by a pillar in the center OF the
room. slipped without warning to the
floor. 1t was a day of financial alarms,
the was crowded, gloom and e
element had prevailed. Suddenly the
midmost group divided, and then be-
gan that strange hush, widening like
a mist to every sic. Trading ceased.
though few at first knew why or how.
And there a man lay in his last ire
NOR, with Il or two comrades minis
tering, and others bracing themselves
back to give him air. The streteher.
borne by two men, entered from some
where, while the entire assemblage
formed a circle extending to the
boundaries OF the room. So died al
once a colleague before the eyes OF
all. The silence, the barring of heads,
the lifting of the dead, the solemn,
sturdy march of his carriers to the
exit, were like nothing SO much as a
scene on the stage of some great the
alter, in some historic play. 1t was fol
lowed Immediately by that action taken
only upon imperative occasions-ths
temporary adjournment of the board
and the floor was silent for an hour.
When its functions were renewed, the
days financial malaise had~in some
way been allayed, as if, appeased by
a human sacrifice, the adverse arbiters
had for the moment ceased their
spleen. And SO the old life went on
for days and months and years, and nc
trap-door again opened beneath one OF
these wayfarers upon the bridge OF
Mira, until the seventh year came
round. Then precisely the same scene
was again enacted. Another old-time
member, also dealing near the can
ter of the room, was smitten. sank
down, and died Immediately in the
sight of all. Again the hush, the
awed circle, the stretcher, the re-
moval, the adjournment. Since then,
the Intruder has kept aloof from the
guarded sanctuary of the exchange it
self, although its ~life-menaeing excite
ments never have exceeded those OF
the last five years. Youth, strength
and hope, meanwhile, have largely
supplanted the weakened reserve of the
old guard, and may well count. upon
q long immunity before they, too, will
be brought to realize SO wildly that
for all in turn there is no armol
against fate"
without u Fear.
a said the palm reader, gazing
sternly into his outstretched hand, "be.
ware. q dark woman is going to cross
your path"
~ ~. AEEE ~. M..