The San Francisco call., 1904-02-14

lv told the truth mat MSonA.ssa4-5
rectofs did actually as ne Pi,ee.. PIeu.0 49,
when a speculator Of his calDer nss nes
y. fooIa only one-half-the tooliSh halI
of the street When he tells the truth
he deceives everybody. beLoIe WaH
street could recover from the shock tns
nrice of the stock was up nNe points,
which meant that Hayward was OUT
.o. 200 -, +ba+ deal alone But in addi-
ton the general list was carried up
ward sympathetically.f Money IaS 5
and hear hooes fell: stock values ana
bull courage rose. Hayward oesIi
E covering Steel Rod he ~DouSht III
5000 shares. and after ne nad nIIsneu nt9S,
- Ios+ eos 75o bv the deal. He was still
"short' about 1900 shares OF otner
stocks on which his paper losses az
the last quoted prices were over sSo'VOO,
> but II he tried to buy back such Iarge
amount OF stock in a market 50 sensI-
! tive to any kind Of bull impetus ne
would send prices upward IN Jlny, IN
creasing his own losses very maeerl-
ally.
He went to his Office that morning IN
n .trennor. He consulted the cashier,
and found he had only $1,000 at tns
bank. OF which two-thirds belonged 20
his customers. He was already. mora
ly speaking, an embezzler. he was
ruined IL he didn't cover, and ne was
ruined IL he did. His seat on tho
Stock Exchange was worth possloiy
$4,000. not a cent mOres and as ne per
sonalIy owed his out-of-town CORE
spondents nearly s38, 900 he could not
avoid being hopelessly ruined. Mors-
over, his bankruptcy would not be an
honest failure, for, as he told him.
self bitterly, after the harm was done.
2 II had no business to speculate on my
own hook with other peoples money
Now he was face to face with the
question that every gambler dreaoS:
IF stood to lose all, how desperate a
risk would 1 take In order to get IL
back?"
AS he left his ONCE to 20 to tho
board room he put to himself the
fateful query. But he would not let
himself answer 1t until he had stopped
at "Fred's." the official barroom Of the
Stock Exchange, and had taken a stin
drink OF raw whisky. Then the answer
came.
He was ruined anyhow. II 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 were lending stocks to him. But
IL he made one last desperate effort
he might pull out Of the hole; or, at
the worst, why, the number OF ycurSing
customers would remain the same. but
r. the fellow brokers would rise to twenty
or thirty
( He took another stiff drink. The mar
s ket 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 II that
short interest could be sJampeded II
: might mean an eight or ten point ad-
{ vance. If he bought 10000 or $1,000
shares and sold them at an average
profit of four or five points. he would
- IL L
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 70 business to be on the verge
OF Bankruptcy.
-. The LIQUOR was potent. Sally said to
!, himself aggrievedly: II might as well
be hung for flock as for one measly
old mutton"
He walked a trihe unsteadily from
"Fred's' 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 ignOmini-
eusly.
pixies Peak or bust!" he muttered
to himself, and walked into the big
room
Good morning, Mr.. Hayward" said
sently. caught himself repeating.
Pixies Peak or bust." and walked
straight toward the sugar post.
He began to bid for stock. One thou
sand shares at 116: he got 1t. Another
thousand; it was forthcoming at 11S55.
So far. so bad. Then he bid III for
1000 shares, and it was promptly sold.
But when he bid "117. for any part Of
5000" the crowd hesitated. the brokers
were not altogether sure Hayward was
good for it,; his ability to pay for tho
stock was not undoubted. So Sally.
taking advantage OF the hesitation. bid
117H and 1171z for 5000 Sugar, at which
price BILLY" Thatcher, a two-dollar
broker. sold it to him. It made To-
500 shares Hayward had bought and
the stock had risen only ia points.
The shorts were not frightened q wee
bit. But Sally was. He rushed out Of
the crowd to his telephone and made
a -pretense Of reporting" the transact
tions of his Office. as he would have
fdone had they been bona dde pur-
chases. He was followed by a hun
dred sharply curious-and curiously
sharp-eyes. They saw him hold the
telephone receiver to his ear with an
expression of great interest. as IL he
were listening to an important mes
sage. But the only message he heard
was that of his heartbeats. that seemed
to say, almost articulately, you have
played and you have lost; you have
played and you have lost. Therefore.
you are that much worse of than be-
fore. You must play again, and not
lose!"
He left his telephone and rushed
back to the Sugar crowd. He was less
excited, less like a drunken man; his
face was no longer flushed, but pale.
And anon there flashed upon him the
words, Pixies Peak or bust" But
Pixies Peak glowed duly. feebly,
while the alternative was OF a Iurid
splendor And he biinked his eyes and
made a curious impatient motion with
his hand as one waves away an an
noying insect
He gave an order for 5000 Sugar to
his friend Newton Hartley
rs this for yourself. Sally2" asked
Hartley.
mo It's for one of ne biggest men
in the street Newt. It's all right Ao-
soIutely o. K"
And thus resssured. Hartley bought