New-York tribune., 1905-02-19

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from lie OF the career and experience LH
OF its leading operators, who often, 1~
though generally, have gone up I" -
Ike rocket and down like
stick 2"S
l shall not begin with those now
foremost in the Wall Street arena but 0SA ;.
go back to Jacob Little whose name is
still household word the Stock ~
Exchange rSF
He died in the sixties. while the war As
between the North and South was rag Rl
ing. and he gradually had ceased to be Ny
power IN the Street after the panic of ~
1857. He remained a bear the rising
tide Of currency initiation following the
outbreak of the war and submerged and wiped out
He odd hsh-singular in appearance manner
and business mehods-but for than twenty wears
he had a great name in Wall Street. To speak col
loquially, he the cock of the walk by self
assertion and common consent. He the successor
OF Jacob Barker, who came from Philadelphia and
was the first great leader Wall Street had known
He trained in his Office and began a stock
operator his account in 1885.
The panic of 1887 made his reputation and his for
tune, for naturally being bear he largely short
OF stocks That panic swept the whole United States
with the bosom OF destruction and down prices
Il left him greater bear than ever preacher
Of distrust and prophet OF failure He thrived
calamity and grew richer and richer during the wears
OF depression that followed that memorable revulsion
From 1855 1910 he in his glory and his prime
and disputed his leadership in the world of
Wall Street. But then he met with great reverse
not however through continuing bear stocks, but
through bull operation in Norwich & Worcester
Railroad stock With Boston clique, he attempted
to control It, and personally bound himself to this
clique in the of twenty-five thousand dollars not
sell his stock below o.
He went to work to put 1t up; but it buled hard,
and refused stay up. So he paid the forfeit, and
sold the best prices he could get losing Million
which looked upon IN those davs as ten or twenty
millions would be This the only large bull
operation he ever engaged in and it confirmed him
his natural bearishness.
He more than recovered from this disaster however
by breaking the in Erie stock not long after
ward. He largely short OF it. and the cornering
clique had bought up all the stock the market.
They put the price higher and higher from day day.
but Jacob Little remained unterried and refused
cover his contracts. He the only short who
stood against the corners, and made effort to
buy IN his stock. The eyes of all Wall Street
watching him, and the prevailing opinion that
he would be forced to a ruinous loss, fail.
But he had card up his sleeve that the
never had suspected and just when they expect
ing his surrender failure at the maturity OF his
tracts 10 deliver, he produced a big bundle of
Ere certificates of stock and filled his contracts by
delivering them. These had been issued to him in
exchange for the companys convertible bonds,
known the clique. the issue of the bonds with the
convertible clause also being unknown to them.
Such a surprise and checkmate Wall Street never
had known before, and the corner broken,
with resulting decentralization and disaster to the
nerng clique, and great profit and Gclat to Jacob
Little But subsequently he failed several times on
the bear side, yet always managed to pay IN full out
Of later successes. He equally generous as
creditor and compromised easy terms to
give his debtors chance recuperate Hence he was
liked and respected Notwithstanding his aggressive
ness and the havoc he often wrought among spectators
on the opposite side of the market.
He was q born speculator. Speculation was his daily
E41c lltJf