The Columbus journal., 1906-11-28

Fue6ys ~ stEs pla5le- -aad = ssot IN
But would have none Of e. ,g
An this time I vas Giving myself
Or thought / Has -GivtnG myooik =
chiefly to my busiAe4o, q usual,
know nor, that TN new interest nd
In tact crowded the things down tow1
faf into the background. had impaired
NY judgment. had suspended ny com:
mon sense: but had NO ilkling a
this then. The most important nat,
ter that wAs oecupying me down town
was pushing textile up toward par
Langdons doubts. little though they
Influenced me. still made enough Of IN
impression to cause me to test the
market. sold for him ut ninety, -
he had directed; I sold in quantity
every day.. But no matter how much
I unlpaded, the price showed no ten
dency to break.
This" said to myself, ''is testi-
moni3l to the skill with which pre-
pared for my bull campaign" And
that seemed to me-all unsuspicious
as then was-a sufficient explanation
Of the steadiness of the stoc.. ~. c.l
hadtworked to establish in the public
confidence.
l filt that, II my matrimonial plans
sh0uld turn out as I confidently ex.
pected, should need a much larger
fortune than had-for was deter
mined that my wife should have an
establishment second to none. Ac.
cordingly, l enlarged my original
plan. I had intended to keep close to
Langdon in that plunge; believed I
controlled the market, but l hadn't
been in Wall street twenty years with
out learning that the worst thunder
bolts fall from cloudless skies. With
out being in the least suspicious of
Langdon, and simply acting on the
general principle that surprise and
treachery are part of the code of high
finance. had prepared to guard. first,
against being taken in the rear by q
secret change of plan on Langdon's
part, and second, against being in
volved and overwhelmed by a sudden
secret attack on him from some assc-
ciate of his who might think he had
laid himself open to successful raid.
ing.
The market is especially dangerous
toward Christmas and in the spring
toward Christmas the big fellows Oft
en- juggle the stocks to get the money
for their big Christmas gifts and
aims; toward spring the motive is, Of
course, the extra summer expenses of
their families and the commencement
gifts to colleges. 1t was now late in
the spring.
say, had intended to be cautious.
I abandoned caution and rushed in
boldly, feeling that the market was,
in general, safe and that textile was
under my control-and that I was one
of the kings of high finance. with my
lucky star in the zenith. decided to
continue my bull campaign on my own
account for two weeks after had un-
loaded for Langdon, to continue it un-
til the stock was at par. had no
difficulty in pushing 1t to ninety-seven,
and ] was not alarmed when found
myself loaded up with 1t, quoted at
ninety-eight for the preferred and
thirty for the common. assumed
that was practically its only sup
porter and that it would slowly settle
back as l slowly withdrew my sup
port.
To my surprise, the stock did not
yield Immediately under my efforts to
depress it. I sold more heavily; tex
tile continued to show tendency to
rise. sold still more heavily; it
broke point or two. then steadied
and rose again. Instead of sending
cut along my secret lines for inside
information. as l should have done,
and would have done had not been
in a state of hypnotized Judgment
went to Langdon! l who had been
studying those scoundrels for, twenty
odd years, and dealing directly with
and for them for ten years!
He wasn't at his Office; they told
me there that they didn't know
whether he was at his town house or
at his place in the country-"prob-
ably in the country" said his down
town secretary, with elaborate care
lessness. He wouldn't be likely to
stay away from the Office or not to
send for me, If he we're in town, would
he?"
It takes an uncommon good liar to
lie to me when I'm on the alert. AS
was determined to see Langdon. was
in so far on the alert. And felt the
fellow was lying. That's reasonable" :"
said l. Call me up. II you hear from
him. want to see him-mportant,
but not Immediate And l went away.
having left the impression that
would make no further effort.
went up to his house. You, no
doubt, have often seen and often ad-
mired its beautiful facade, SO simple
that it hides its own magnfhcence
from all but experienced eyes, 80 per.
feet in its proportions that 1t hides
the vastness of the palace Of which It
is the face. I have heard men say:
I'd like to have house-a moderate
sized house-one about the size OF
Mowbray Langdon's-though perhaps
q little more elegant. not SO plain"
"Blr. Langdon isn't at home" said
the servant.