Evening star., 1914-10-25

the bright idea that 1t would be humorous to sell Gopher
short and hammer the price down to five cents. Before
three the gross transactions had into the thou
sands.
TWAS in Hubbs office when the first real money
paid for Gopher. hook-nosed young broker in
shepherd plaid suit and pink felt hat rushes in and
planks down twenty dollars for fifty shares at the
ket. Hubbs just passin em too, when Steele
nterferes
Give more, please, says ]. Bayard 1--WE are hold
ing Gopher at So
"Wha'dye mean ffty2" gasps the curb man. But
he short threeffteen delivery, and he had to
put up the extra five.
"Stck to that rule, Steele advises Hubbs @Ask 'em
ten points more than outside quotations.
What really got things gon', though, when
of the stock clerks and bookkeepers, who'd heard and
talked nothn but Gopher these last two days, begun
buyin' lots outright and turnin em in for deeds.
Whether not they believed all Hubbs had fed ern
about Gopher don't matter They was takn chance.
So they slips out at and gives real orders. Course
they wa mt plungin but the combined effect the
same.
And it don't take the curb long to get wise. "The
suckers buying Gopher the word passed
round. Then maybe the quotations didn't jump!
There wa any quarter matchn down in Broad street
after that They too busy yeln' Gopher at each
other. Up she went,-75 then S5, then no. and when
closin hour the third day the iveest
inside the ropes that the margin district had known in
years.
expect the newspapers helped lot too. They had
heap of fun with Hubbs and his Gopher propostion,-
Hubbs of Gopher, u S. A. They printed pictures of
him playn the accordion, and interviews reproducn'
his descriptive gems about @the banks of the peucd
Pinto" and such.
But you tell how comedy stab is goin to
turn out. This game of buyn real estate shares for
dollar so, with the prospects that before night it
might be worth twice as much was one that hit EN-
hard. By Friday Gopher stock was bein advertised
like Steel preferred, and the brokers flooded with
buyin orders Some of the big firms got into the game
too A fat German butcher all the way down
from the Bronx counted out thousand dollars in bills
to Nelson Hubbs, and satisfied to walk away with
a deed for hundred front feet of Gopher realty. He
wasn't such boob either Two hours later he could
have closed out five hundred to the good.
1t want like stock furry where there's inside
gang manpulatin the wires. All the guidin hand
there was in this deal that of Bayard Steele and
he contents himself with eggin Hubbs to stand firm
that ten-cent raise.
"Not penny more, not penny less says he,
beamn'. It'll get EN-"
And don't know when I've seen him look
tented. As for Nelson Hubbs he seems little dazed
at it ALL but he keeps his head and smiles goodnatured
everybody. Not until Gopher Development hits
twenty-five dollars share does he show any signs of
gettn' restless.
@Boys," says he, bangin his fist down on the desk,
cts great! I've turned that thousand-doar fund into
fifty, and figure property values along
Main street have been jumped about eight hundred
per cent They've heard of it out home and they're
just wild. expect ought to stay right here and push
things; but-well, McCabe, maybe you can guess"
@No word from certain party, eh?" says 1.
Hubbs shakes his head and starts pacn up and down
in front of the window. He hadn't done moren three
laps, though, before in blows messenger boy and
hands him a telegram
"We-e-e-yow!' yells Hubbs "Hey, Shorty it's come
-doggoned if it amt come! Look at that"
1t was brief bulletin but full of meat. 1t like
this: