Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1907-07-11

A minute before I0P gong SJTuCk,
there were 300 men TANNED around
the sugar-pole men with set, deter-
mined faces; men with their coats
buttoned tight and shoulders thrown
back for the rush to which. by COM
parison, that Of a football team is
child's play. Every man in that
srowd was a picked man, picked for
what was coming. Each felt that
upon his individual powers to keep a
clear head. to shout lOudest, to forget
nothing to keep his feet, and to stay
as near the center Of the crowd as pos
sible, depended his floor honor" per-
haps his fortune, or, what was more
to him, his clients fortune. Nearly
every man OF them was a college
graduate who had won his spurs at
athletics or a seasoned floor man
whose training had been even more
severe than that OF the college camp
US. When ii was known before the
opening Of the exchange that there are
TO be things doing in certain
stock, it is The rule to send only the
picked floor men into the crowd
There may be a fortune to make or 10
lose in minute or a silver Of a min
ute For instance. the man who that
morning 14s able to snatch the first
5000 shares sci at 40 could have
resold them few minutes afterward
at 152 and secured $4,000 profit. And
the man who was sent into the crowd
by his client 10 sell 5000 shares at the
.,-g-. b,,. sn
the price would be I52 ny the time he
reported 10 his customer was a man
to be pi,!ed. Again. The trader who
the night before had decided that
sugar had gone up too fast, and who
had "shorted' rhat is. sold what he
did not have. with the intention of re-
purchasing at a lower price than he
sold 1t torl 5000 shares at 40 and
who, finding himself in that surging
mob with sugar selling at 1872, could
only get out by taking loss of 500
600, or by taking another chance of
later paying 1G2-such a trader was
also to be p.tied.
No one who scanned the crowd that
morning would have believed that the
calm, set face on that erect Indian
figure, occupying the very center Of
that horde Of gamblers who were only
awaiting the ringing clanE of the gong
to hurl themselves like madmen AZ
each other, was the hysterical man
who the night before was wildly pray
ing for this moment. Nearly every
man in that crowd was calm, but Bob
Brownley was the calmest of them all.
tia the exchange code that at any cost
of heart or nerVe-tear a man must re.
tain good form until the gong strikes.
Then, that he must be as near the un.
Gagged tiger as human mind and body
can be made. Only | realized what
volcano ragged inside my chum's bosom.
II any other man of the crowd had
known, Bob's chances Of success would
have been on par with a Canadian
Canoeist short-cutting Niagara for Buff
falo. Nine-tenths of the stock eH
change game is not letting your left
brain lobe know what race your right
is in until the winning numbers anC
the also-rans are on the board. II one
of those 300 chain.lightning thinker.
or any Of their 10000 alert associates
knew in advance the intentions OF {
fellow broker, the word would SWEEP
through that crowd with the surenesi
of uncorked ether, and the other 299
at gong strike. would be at each 9th
ers' throats for his vitals, and before
he knew the game had started would
have his bones picked to q vulture
finish cleanness.
Suddenly, as | watched the scene
there rang through the great hall tn
first sharp stroke of the gong. Their
were no echoes heard that mornine
The metallic voice was yet shaping it
command to at 'em, you fiends" who
from 800 Threats burst the wild SCUM
OF the stock exchange yell. No othe
sound in any of the open or hide
places of all nature duplicates tn
yell of a great stock exchange at a
exciting opening. 1t not only fills an
refllls space, for the volume Is terrific
but it has an individuality all its owl
coming from the incisive "take-mint
Fve-got yours" from the aggressiv,
almost arrogant 'you-cant.you-won
have-your-way," the confident "b!
heavenI-wil" individual notes that el
ter into the whole. as they blend wit
the shrill scream Of triumph and tn
die-aWay note of disappointment. whe
the floor men realize their success {
their failure. / picked Bob's magnii
Gently resonant voice from the mass
40 for any part Of 10000 Sugar"
was fhia daring hid that RtrncL terrS