The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-06-09

IA 4hShuaJ Lhe bGOCh LOucneQ lU5.
Bowman met by appointment at lunch
con two of his fellow members of the
executive committee of the st. Louis
and they had agreed that 1t was a good
time to put out the 10000 shares of
stock in the treasury.
1T is difficult to tell how long this
movement will last" said Bowman,
who was a nervous little man with
family traditions, social ambitions and
big racing stable. IT'S those west.
ern gamblers, of course, and It might
not be a bad idea to take advantage of
their foolish bulling.
IF we put out 10000 shares of the
stock at 106 that will mean $3.50 900
more than We could get at par, and
If 1t goes farther we can put the 9TH
err 10000 out, too"
The board Of directors met the Same
afternoon. They authorized the issue
Of the stock and put its sale, which
was to be secret. as the new shares
would not be good delivery to buyers
for the prescribed 30 days, In Bow
mans hands. II meant a commission
of two per cent, or 1920, 900, to Bow
man q Co.
On the following morning Bowman
reached his ONCE earlier than usual
and sent for Walter Carruth of the
stock exchange firm of Carruth & Hen
drie, who handled all of Bowman &
Co.'S exchange business. The mar
ket had just opened and he was at the
ticker when Carruth entered.
Mr.. Carruth," Bowman said at once,
u see that the market Ia very strong,
and that st Louis Southern has open
ed at 1853. The directors of the st.
Louis have voted to sell $4,000 shares
OF stock now in the treasury, and this
seems good time to put it out. Do
you think the market will take sc, 900
shares around 1862"
Easily, Mr.. Bowman. This market
Is so broad and strong that it would
take the entire issue and advance on
it, believe" Carruth believed this
fully, and, besides, the sale of 10000
shares meant a commission of $500
for his firm.
That is also my belief, but we'll
PNS SNb oOtOOO ohdl AS
as you can of it today, if it touches
106. l can't believe it will go much
higher, but we'll try it anyway.
Il think the entire market will go
higher, Mr.. Bowman" said Carruth, as
he rose to go.
Bowman laughed a little.
We'll, If it does, Mr.. Carruth,
shall be sorely tempted to turn bear
and sell some of my personal holdings.
I'm sure I'd get them back lower.
by the way, think you had better
give up your name as the seller. It is
best to keep the road out of the mat
ter, as it will be some time before we
can deliver the new stock. You can
borrow 1t easily enough meantime"
And it was this same afternoon,
hot Tuesday Of July. that Barr stood
over the ticker in his Wall street of
fee and listened to the message of the
busy little machine, which told him
in pleasing words: You've got him!"
words which the watching man
transposed into I've got him." quite
naturally.
For st. Louis touched 106 at one
o'clock, and Carruth began to sell. The
ever watchful Pierce detected this
selling as soon as 1t began, and hur-
ried a message, almost congratulatory,
to Barr with the information.
With the crumpled message in his
pudgy hand, Barr lowered over the
ticker, his eyes shining but otherwise
as cool as you would have the "nery-
lest poker player west of Chicago"
Longitude is a trivial thing in
game of chance.
Through Tuesday afternoon and all
day Wednesday Carruth sold st. Louis
Southern. At the close of Wednes-
day he had put out the 10000 shares
of management stock, and it was safe
ly in the hands of Pierces brokers,
who had kept the stock so easy to
borrow in the loan crowd that no
thought had been raised of the accu-
mutation.
Under the manipulator's orders the
stock had declined automatically on
the heavier sales, but in company with
the whole market it had held well,
closing at 1864 on Wednesday. Pierce
had also taken in some 5000 shares
sold by the arbitrage house for London
account.
On the floor of the exchange shortly
after noon Thursday a rumor gained
way that something good was coming
out on st. Louis Southern. The stock
had touched 1OS, and in explanation of
the rise were offered stories of In
creased dividends, and the cutting of
a melon for the stockholders, which
Is the streets way of describing an is
sue of new stock at price under the
market. There were attractive de-
tails as to the sweetness of the melon.
Pierce was a famous imaginative art
LIST.
Floor members telephoned the ru-
mors to their houses, and the reporters
went to Bowman to confirm or deny
them.
Il have absolutely nothing to say"
he banker told the newspaper men, in