The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-04
WALL STREET TYPES MANY
FROM GAMBLERS To CLERGYMEN
AND INCLUDE WOMEN.
women. However. Are n Horror to Brokers
-~PrOprictors NJ Gambling Houses Take
wall street Losses with Poor Grace
Chart PIayerg-Westcrn Spectators.

in the customers rooms Of brokers. in the
hack rooms ~ bucket shops, in the door
ways and on the pavements Of New street.
in the cafes, restaurants and other haunts
" those who chase the elusive dollar.
Here IL a brokerage firm doing business
on the Stock Exchange. says the Van
NordCn Mage zine; one member, or perhaps
two. active on the board. another looking
out for the office requirements. There is
a comfortable customers room. with stock
tickers. easy chairs. gossip tckers and
on the table literature of a kind calculated
TO interest and entertain the casual way
farer or customer.
The office member is genial. plausible,
confidential, full of wise saws and secrets
Of vast importance, exuding knowledge
of prospective movements, clear az to the
significance Of the news and reluctantly
intitnating by his very denials and his
hesitancy that he ia in close &C mmunica-
ton with the big interests"
Candor sits enthroned on his forehead.
there is a total disregard Of self Interest
in his advice and in his pocket is the memo
randum OF his margin clerk, showing how
much further leeway his customers may
have before ne calls them. Tn best type
Of Office man il the one who can keep full
margins and at the same time impress his
clients with the belief that he is the earthly
manifestation of their guardian angel.
Blu the customer himself is the more
interesting type. He has many varieties.
from the top hat and frock coat OF the
pseudo plunger to'the commonplace SLOUGH
and bourgeois tweeds of the 100 share
man. His facial characteristics are many.
his expressions rejecting the tale of the
ticker as told in his own account, his pur-
pose TO beat n gamesthat Is as crooked as
thimblerigging and to which the old
fashioned trick o. the loop is as square as
euohre ~ a church social.
Recent years nave seen the advent OF
the so-callei Western Spectator. spectacu-
lar in his stock market operations. which
are but a variation Of his other forms of
gambling. firm in his own belief that he
is a power in the market. kept before the
hubble by the v~olcing<s hiSsSNSA Sell;ap.
probation and under cover OF his himsy
reputation for,breeziness and square deal
ig9, earnestly and ~assiduously looking
Gaf Tor himself ,even at the sacrifice Of his
Intimate friends.
Then there sal he gambler, the owner OF a
gilded palace uptown somewhere. You
can find him in, the financial district, in
variablv a loser. He does not take his
losses easily.
iProfanely he consigns the game to
Gehenna, but -he.comes back. Luc goes
against him. he loses heavily. he borrows,
loses again. and again he ia tided over.
He retires beaten. lsIt he comes back again
10 pay his debts and renew the game.
Akin 10 him il the horsy trader. some
times vague. mostly vulgar. whose lucky
plays and amoIlrS are his choice top cs.
He will tell YOU contidentially when a stock
has advanced several points how he had "A
iii To buy il before the advance. No
important move catches him unawares,
and his prescience' after the fac) is Won
derful.
Ia there anything quite 30 interesting
as the chart PLAYER? He has a note book
in which he jots down each day. by means
of diagrams, the fluctuations ia certain
stocks.
He speaks in a mysterious way OF double
tops" and double bottoms" tells you
how IL IL certain hat when q stock crosses
the high price Of a previous upward move
ment IL will score a further substantial
advance. The chart is positively an oracle
70 him, Delphic it N true. for there are
few who thus keep a record OF Fortunes
pranks who show any outward and visible
signs Of Fortunes favors.
There are az many distinct t~ypesamong the
wealthy SPECTATORS IA among the smaller
fly. There is the exceptional type, the free
handed plunger who plays for the excite
ment It affords. occasionally wins, but takes
il for granted that the balance will be on the
denit side at the end OF the year. he is the
prey of those who havc schemes OF all kinds
n the object OF tender solicitation
on the part of brokers. who see big COM
missions in his disregard OF conventional
methods and lack OF conservatism.
Then there is the quieter type who Is I'M
known 10 the public, who trades heavily and
takes either his losses or mis- winnings without
Usually ne il a close observer OF
conditions ana in touch with the so-called
big interests.
A variation of this type is the wealthy
trader who is identified with some issue or
security TRADED in on the board. He has
many accounts, but he is secretive and
sharp witted.
He will promise.anything, he is especially
conciliatory and a good fellow TO newspaper
men, and he is always at pains to enthuse
over any visitor who can serve him.. But
il Is an unwnolesome type, the kind that
makes white light history, and the associa-
ton of whose name with any enterprise Ia
enougn to blacklist IL in the eyes OF square
traders.
Success in politics seems to leave men sus-
ceptible to the lure Of Wall Street, and there
are dozens of offices in the financial district
that number among their customers men
VINO are closely identified with the political
game
And il is not your ward politician, your
Al-ht " hN'' hot ycNh- haNNhC " bco ''A
chine that constitutes the principal part of
this particular coterie OF Spectators. Some
or them are high in the Legislative coun-
ellis, some are stern and Puritanioal in their
public views, others are names to reckon
with when public functions are in hand.
One man who was at one time very much
in the public eye, TO whom was intrusted
certain Government work OF special inn
portance, spent much Of his time in a
brokers' Office in the financial district. He
was n favorite character in the Rise and
Shine series of thumbnail sketches which
good magazines and periodicals published
from time 10 time. and his youthful admir-
ers pictured. him with a halo.
Needless 10 say, he was very human and
stocks fascinated him. He was a plunger
ar times when the fever seized him, but at
other times he was so conservative that he
practically purchased his stocks outright.
When he was deeply interested in the
market he was brusque TO the point of rude
ness. at other times he was mild and equable
as June weather.
He was known personally to a dozen
newspaper men. but no word Of his pres
enoe in the Street reached the public. Let
10 be added also that the work assigned
him was completed in a most thorough