Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-02-26
JESSE LIVERMORE, YOUTHFUL
BROKER MARVEL, NO PLUNGER
boy Wonder" of Wall Street
Says He Merely Leads
Spectators Around Like a
Flock of Sheep
BY ROBERT T. SMALL
(Leased Wire Service to The Journal)
copyright, 1924

Copyright, 1921
NEW YORK, Feb. 22,-Very few
persons In Wall Street know Jesse
Livermore by more than a name. He
never appears on the floor Of the
stock exchange. Yet his Influence
over the trading, when he chooses
to exert 1t, Is such that stocks rise
Or tumble at a word reported to
come from his lips.
Jesse Livermore Is not the spec
tacular figure that other wizards
of Wall Street have been. He Is
not a ''plunger," nor is he q gam.
bier" in the commonly accepted
meaning Of that word. Jesse Liver
more would not bet you a million,
as one of his prototypes in the street
would have done, at the wink Of the
eye. Livermore Is what the street
knows as a shrewd trader and he
has figured out a system to beat
the other fellows who are like so
many sheep, always waiting around
to follow a leader, no matter which
direction he may take.
After Jesse LiVermore has sold"
the market at high figures he lets
it be known that he is selling and
then everybody sells. The result
is a big tumble in security values
After Livermore has "bot" the mar
ket at low figures he lets it be
known that he is buying and then
the sheep fall in line and open their
purses.
''Whip-Saws" Market
The result is great rise in val
ues, and thus far, Livermore has
been able to "whip-saw'' the mar
ket, beating it up and down.
LiVermore is known some times
as the boy wonder" because he is
only forty-seven years of age. This
he does about Wall. The dominant
older. They were John w. Gates.
of the million dollar bets, and John
A. Drake, two plungers, who, like
Lochinvar, came out of the west.
But they were men of mature age.
grizzled in their battle of the years
for money and position. Then, too,
there was thea austere James r.
Keene. Wall Street once waited
upon his word, as today it waits
upon Mr.. Livermore. But Mr.. Keene
was what might be called a market
manager. He represented known
group of clients.
No one knows just what interests,
if any, Livermore represents. There
was also Jim Fiske, who met
tragic fate. Fiske was a tremendous
power, but he gained it largely
through the fact that he represent
ed Jay Gould and his crowd. Liver
more is "flashy youth" compared
to the old campaigners of other days
among the friendly bulls and the
rapacious bears of Wall street.
Jesse Livermore has not always
been sitting pretty" in the stock
market. He has had his bumps"
He has stated that he has been
broke" seven times in 16 years.
Started at Very Bottom
Because he was an Office boy in
a brokers' office in Boston, Jesse
Livermore as lad of 10 and Ia
began reading all the financial news
he could find, When he first started
to play the market, he took his
weeks salary, So, and ran it up to
10000, only to lose it again. He
borrowed SIS after his first meteoric
flight and ran that up to a. figure
which he never has revealed.
Livermore's ups and downs con-
tinued as he operated in Denver and
Chicago before finally coming to
New York about 16 years ago. His
first spectacular transaction here
was in "bucking" the Gotten mar
ket in 1912 when prices began to de-
cline. LivermOre was credited with
losing $5000,000 in six weeks.
1T was bad judgment" he said.
There I was, on a falling market
collecting bales and bales of the
stuff"
One of the mysteries OF Wall
street, LiVermore said recently, was
why men should hang on to stocks
On a declining market. He was
speaking, Of course, of men who hold
stocks for speculative purposes. In
denying that he is in any sense a
gambler" Mr.. Livermore chose his
own designation.
IT am a speculative investor" he
said.
AS a result of his disastrous cot
ton transactions in 1917 it is said
that Jesse Livermore was $2,000,0 900
in debt in May of 1917. On sheer
nerve, it is said, he plunged on u. S.
Steel and made 100000, SO once
more he was riding the crest Of the
wave.