Year: 1872

cl0onr' or tho COntost-The story Of
tho Last Day or tho Struggle.


Yesterday witnessed at last what was practically
the collapse OF the long-pending corner in North
west, and there was . corresponding imitation Of
spirits among the ''gay and festive boys" OF the
Board OF Brokers. There was, however, very
naturally, and in accordance with the general be-
lief % to the effect OF the break In price when IL
should at last arrive. slight depression in the
price Of the stocks on the general list But this
was not very serious In degree, and excited no
alarm. For the immediate future everybody seems
to prognosticate skies normally clear and return
to the average routine now Of business.


THE HISTORY OF THE CORNER


has many features that have not yet been written.
Its incidents fortunately have been rather comic
and ludicr0us than tragic and they are gradually
being disclosed in the thawing OF tongues and ella
tion OF spirits produced by the happy termina-
tion OF this tremendous financial earthquake. One
OF them at any rate deserves to be told. Gould
and Smith, the most


CONSPICUOUS FIGURES


In the cOntest-the Menelaus and Paris OF the light
were, as is generally known, common partners
in two or three houses. At one OF these, which
did business for both Of them, the active and con-
trolling partner INDUCED his friendship for Smith
by lending him sOme-and q very cOnsid-
cradle sum, t0O-0f GOuld's stock, In
spite OF the rigorous instructions of the latter that
under no circumstances was q borrower ever to
be permitted to lay his clutches upon it, This is
funny enough to begin with; but more remains
behind. AS was, perhaps, inevitable, Gould at
last discovered the amusing game that was being
played upon him. Dire was mis- wrath, and, with
his features ablaze with


RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION,


he strode into the office of his offending agent
or hi auA And
what could that gentleman say In response to the
reproaches that were heaped upon him Perhaps
he had been betrayed into the indlscretlon inno-
Gently, and only discovered his error when
it was too late to escape Its unpleasant
consequences. He 'lo0ked oil around for . hole"
as some one said in narratlng the facts and the
only one he could find was to saddle the transac.
ton upon another house. This house was, OF
course also very indignant at first, though the
matter has since been satisfactorily


SMOOTHED OVER


and Jay Gould was much too old q bird to be the
victim of 80 empty, vain. thin and illus0ry ex-
cuse .And, sir you had better believe that he
damned him up and down and shook his fist In his
face and called him names, and generally made one
of the loveiest scenes that ever transpred even
In the heated atmosphere OF the street." Nor
could the culprit say anything in reply
to any purpose He wilted and had to take
Incident OF this mammoth struggle. There are
plenty more such, but they are hard to get at and
to be disclosed without too greatly provoking per-
sOnal bitterness.
was admirably told by good-natured broker yes
There they were. sir" said he to the writer,
the id machine Stacked up little shey tried to
get their head away instead Of gracefully waiting
until 1t had made ITS last revolution. And the mo-
ment they struggled, or even made movement,
the engineer Of the arrangement started his In
fernal wheel again, turning 1t as brisky as Gould
means means Of Of which Smith was KIND enough enough t. 70
say that he would have to get his living with per.
the h G a q ms trends who
stretch so far. ! tell you, sir, 1t is my private
opinion that among organ grinders Gould would
be an


IMMENSE SUCCESS


as he Is, and always will be, at any business to
turn his his hand hands to to keep him out Of mischief and
have got to do, as have been trying to say, Is to
get out OF it rs soon as you can. The first loss is
show yOnr weakness. And, besides that, it hurts
you IN another way 1t makes you little of
color as M man o. your w1rd 1 ready @ a. any hazard
and that Is q worse misfortune to q man In the
street than to be busted dozen times over.n
~" 'A''0 POPULATION oaHS. ON syxpArnrzEp


w the %a mao ss
Scant words OF sympathy or pity or con-
dolence were wasted upon the wretched victims



Everyone reserved his admiration for the genius
that had been sublime enough in Its daring and
cautious and keen-sighted enough In its purview
OF the future to carefully and noselessy plot out
the ruin, absolute or modified, Of SO many Of the
denizens Of the street.


EARLY IN THE DAY


the corner showed signs OF weakening. The first
thing that looked like break was purchase of no
less than 8,400 shares, under the rule at decline
from $50 to 140 This would, to an outsider who be-
lieved everything that was told him about the
completeness and perfect symmetry OF the corner.
huun n dol Ia vNlou
ton, humanity and forbearance. But veterans in
terpreted it very differently.


''Let up on t6eml'' quoth one contemptuonsly
replying to a suggestion from gentleman OF this
species. "Let up on theml Never, sir, while the


ROUND OF THE SEASONS


comes and goes in the order appointed by Provi-
dence, unless indeed, they can't help 1t. No. sir,
you can bet that they have found out that they
can't do any better and that's the only reason they
have for letting the thing drop. Mercy, sir! They
don't know the meaning OF the word"
Later in the afternoon the stock dwindlcd away
down to 100, and closed nominally 90 bid, which
is the rate at which the market for the present
places IT..