The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-21

ing the Fuller wheat corner and thus
involving Winters and his hackers in
irretrievable ruin. He was smiling
grimly as he walked down LaSalle
street to his office, and those who no
ticed the smile knew that the old man
was about to tighten the coils on some
unfortunate.
Peter Potter heard the account of this
interview with a smile. 1t was just
what he expected, and that evening
when Billy Maginn came in 1ubilant
from his walk with Margaret he let
the boy trifie deeper into the secret
Of his plans.
81 don't mind telling you, Billy" he
said. that old Ike Wagner. the head
of the beef trust, may have had some
thing to do with getting Mr. Winters
into his scrape. Now I've got a little
argument of my own on with Mr.. Wag-
ner, and you can help me out. if you
will"
Billy Maginn sprslng to his feet. Tell
me how he cried enthusiastically
Il am trying to run corner in
wheat, Billy. and Ike Wagner is on the
other side of the fence. He is deter
mined to land me in the poor house"
What can / do?"
IF YOU follow directions. you can
just about land Mr.. Wagner a knock
out punch in the solar plexus- Here
He handed the young man a thin book,
bound in paper and printed in French.
| You can read it?"
eyes, but what on earth is the
thing2" He turned the pages curiously.
1T seems to be a report of the Paris
Pasteur Institute on a new incubation
flor smallpox. What's that got to do
with Wagner and the wheat deal?"
BILLY" said the Privateer, you
know that Wagner commands more
ready money than any man west of
New York. I'm not fool enough to
measure pocketbooks with him.. We
must win this fight with some other
weapons. All you've got to do is to
keep your mouth shut and follow di-
rections."
Next day Billy Maginn resigned his
position in the bank and matriculated
at Rush Medical college, where ar
rangements were made for him to pur-
sue his studies and experiments along
special lines.
Meanwhile the campaign of Wagner
TO break the wheat corner went brisk
ly on. As Peter Potter had foreseen,
the name of the great packer did not
appear at all during the pre1iminaries
But the brokers acting for Potter and
his associates found no difficulty in get
ting all the wheat they wanted to buy
long. They took millions of bushels for
December delivery, the price gradually
rising until it reached one dollar and
twenty cents. At that point-it was
three weeks before delivery day-they
bought 100000 bushels of wheat in a
single day. Practically all the funds
of which the Privateer could get con-
troll were tied up in margins.
Tomorrow" Peter Potter told Billy
Maginn, Il want you to go down to
South Chicago. Here's a letter to a
man who will put you to work on one
of the big whaleback ore carriers. It's
about time for wagner to make his
great stroke. He's got all the elevators
in the northwest full of real wheat,
and he must start after it soon if he
expects to get it here in time for de-
livery on the 31st."
Are you sure he will do it that
way?"
It's the only way he can get it here
in time. Besides, that's the way he
broke the last big corner"
The day after Billy Maginn went to
work as clerk of the fleet of whalebacks
signs of activity began on the big
boats Crews were set to work on an
even dozen of the monsters, and within
twenty-four hours the great empty flo
tilla steamed out into the lake toward
the north.
In his aerie, high up in the sixteenth
floor, Peter Potter stood, rocking back
and forth as the long procession swept
by outside the breakwater. 1t was a
Tremendous sight. The capacity of the
fleet was more than 1900, 900 bushels of
wheat. Potter knew that Isaac Wag-
ner had more than that amount stored
and waiting in the elevators at Duluth
and the Superiors. If he could safely
deliver the grain in Chicago by Dec 81,
and demand $1.20 in cash for every
bushel of it, the wheat corner would
be broken to pieces and Potter and his
friends would be beggared and bank
rupt. Yet as he watched the great
fleet of ore carriers sail by on their
great errand there was a cynical smile
on the face Of the Privateer.
Early one morning more than two
weeks later, Peter Potter lay off the
harbOr Of Milwaukee in a tug and
watched the tweleve whalebacks, each
heavily laden and lying low down in
the water, steam slowly past on their
way to the Chicago grain docks. At.