Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-10-09
CHAPTER V.-Continued.

first time in all his wonderful
career he realized that the System"
was to meet its Nemesis, or
what the cause, none could tell.
perhaps not even Barry Conant him.
self, but some emotion caused his
olive face for an instant to turn pale,
and give his voice tell-tale CULVER.
Once more pealed forth "25 for 5000"
That Bob saw the pallor, that he
caught the culver, was evident to all,
for the instant his ''sold" rang out, he
followed it with 5000 at "a, %, %,
TO-" Neither Barry Conant nor any
OF his 1ieutenants got in a take it,"
although whether they wanted to or
not was an open question until Bob
allowed his voice to dwell just like
pendulum swing of time on the 20.
1t was as if he were tantalizing them
into sticking by their guns BY the
time he paused, Barry Conant's nerve
was back, for his piercing Take it"
had linked to it $50 for any part of
$4,000" The bid was yet on his lips
when Bob's deep voice rang out
Sold" Any part of $4,000 at 10, Is,
Is, TO-" He'll was now loose. Back
and forth, up against the rail- around
the room and back and around again,
the crowd surged for Is Of the widest,
craziest minutes in the history of the
New York stock exchange, a history
replete with records of wild and crazy
scenes
At last from sheer exhaustion there
came a ten minutes lull, which was
used in comparing trades. At the be-
ginning of the respite Sugar was sell
ing at 1855. for in that quarter hour of
madness it had broken from 21O to
155, but when the ten minutes had
elapsed, the stock had worked back
to 1877. Barry Conant had again taken
the center of the crowd, after hastily
scanning the brief notes handed him
by messenger-boys and giving orders
to his lieutenants He had evidently
received reenforcements in the form
of renewed orders from his principals.
Many of the faces that fringed the
inner circle Of that crowd were fright
full to look upon, some white as
though just lifted from hospital pill
lows, others red to the verge of apo.
plexy-all strained as though await
ing the coming of the jury with
life or death verdict. They all knew
that Bob had sold more than a hun
dred thousand shares of Sugar upon
which the profits must be more than
$4,00O,O00. Would he resume selling,
or was he through? Was it short
stock, which must be bought back, or
long stock; and if long, whose stock?
Were the insiders selling out on one
another, or were they all selling to-
gether, and under cover of Barry Con-
ants movements were Camemeyer
and STANDARD Oil'' emptying their
bag preparatory to the slaughter of
the Washington contingent? All these
questions were rushing through the
heads of that crowd of brokers like
steam through boiler, now hot, now
cold, but always at high pressure, for
upon the correctness of the answer de-
pended the fortune of many who
breathlessly awaited the renewal or
the suspension of the contest Even
wore a tinge Of anxiety.
Indeed, Bob was the only one in
the center of that throng that showed
no sign of what was going on behind
it. The same cynical smile that had
been there since the opening still
played around the corners of his
mouth as he squared himself in
~ h 10
that he was not through Barry Con-
ant had evidently decided to force the
fighting, although more cautiously
than before "67 for a thousand"
One of his lieutenants bid 81 for 500,
another 81 for 800, and as Bob had
not yet shown his intention of meet
ing their bids, 81 for different amounts
was heard all over the house. Bob
might have been tossing metal coin
to decide the ACCESSIBILITY of buying
back what he had sold; he might have
been adding up the bids as they were
made. He said nothing for fraction
of a minute, which to those tortured
men must have seemed like an age.
Then with a wave of his hand, as
though delivering benediction, he
swept the circle with a cold-blooded:
"Sold the lots. $500 in ALL
"Sixty-seven for thousand"-again
Barry Conant's bid. "Sold" "67 for
5000" Sold" "66 for a thousand"
Sold" The drop from 5000 to 1000
and dollar a share in Barry Conant's
bids was the MORALLY wounded, but
still game generals Sound the Re-
treat" Bob heard it. "Any part of
10000 at IS, ca. 81. co." The din was
now as fierce as before. The entire
crowd, all but Barry Conant and his
lieutenants, seemed to have concluded
that Bob's renewal of attack meant
that he was the winning side, and
those who had been hanging on to
their stock hoping against hope, and
those who were short and had been
undecided whether to cover or to hold
on and sell more for greater profits,
ried with one another in frantic ef-
fort to sell. All could now feel the
coming panic. All could see that it
was q bad one, as the least informed
on the floor knew that there was u
tremendous amount of Sugar stock in
the hands of Washington novices at
speculation and of others who had
bought it at high prices. Sugar was
now dropping two, three, five dollars
a share between trades, and the panic
was spreading to the other poles, as
is always the case, for when there are
sudden large losses in one stock, the