Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1887 — A HOLD DEAL. [ARTICLE]

A HOLD DEAL.

Sitne of the Wayt by Which Great Opera- I tors Heroine Rich. Some years ago Gould created a sensation by going heavily shoH on Jersey Central stock, and it was advertised that he was going to be badly squeezed, and prices were sent bowling up at a rapid gait, when suddenly Gould —who had kept on selling at the rising quotations—smilingly produced a big bundle of Jersey Central bonds that nobody seemed to know anything about, “convertible” —so read tlfeir indorsement — “>nto stock at the option of the holder.” Prices fell with a thump. Stock that he had sold at too figures Gould bought back away down, and all his cla uers howled their enthus'asm in and ont of print. So smart a thing had never been heard of before in Wall street—so shouted the Gould army—and almost everybody else indorsed this declaration. But a correspondent and good raconteur of the Boston Commireial Lull tin says that this was because the story of Jacob Little wasn’t well known to Wall street men generally. Gould himself could Have given them a vast deal of information on the subject, for the fact was that he had been following closely an example set forty years before, compared with which his feat was but the merest shadow. Gould was credited with having made $300,000 or $400,000 by his scheme. Jacob Little cleare'd $ Q ,00U,009 or $4,000,000 by the original cleverness, and Gould’s work looked very unimportant beside that which first startled Wall street many years ago. Little did this: One of the chief stocks in the market began to rise in price while he was carrying on a vigorous bear campaign. It began to be whispered around that a big scheme was on foot to break the old maD, and many a loser and envious magnate joined the bull forces and gloated over the prospective division of the Little millions. A dozen of the best known men in Wall street at that time were in the bull pool, and every one of them all was confident that finally they had the chronic bear leader at a great disadvantage. He was certain to be ruined. Up mounted the quotations. And still unconcernedly on went J acob Little se ling the stock short, thousands of shares upon thousands of shares. Friends implored him to quit the suicidal course. The plot against him was pointed out, but he only smiled and blandly sa d that he didn’t believe he ■was in any danger. Then came the day, fixed by the Wall street rules of that time, when he had to deliver the immense blocks of stock that he had sold. Before 9 o’clock that morning the street for a block beyond his office door was jammed by excited men awaiting his arrival and their share in his assets. He walked down the street leisurely. No sort of shadow seemed to be on him. He stops a friend, passes the compliments of the day, and wonders what the crowd in the street means. “Don’t you understand?” ejaculates the friend. “Why, man, they are waiting for you to open your office, and they are going to demand all this stock you’ve sold short, and, as you can’t deliver, overboard you go. You’ve sold twice the capital stock of the company, and these men have combined against you; there isn’t the slightest chance for you—not the slightest 1" “Oh, there isn’t, eh?” said Jacob and he passed into the little building, little better than a shanty, where he had his office. The throng gave way to let him pass, here and there some exultant or excited individual indulging in a jibe at the man who was to be a bankrupt in a minute or two. Some time passed after Mr. Little shut his office door behind him. The long line of men grew clamorous. Every moment’s delay was more and more in the line of proof that the great magnate of the exchange would now finally confess that he must go to the wall. Then open new the office door just as the clock struck 10, and behind his counter, inside stood Jaeob Little himself, all smiles, seeming content. A stack of parchment was at his right hand. It was new stock. Not a half dozen men took it before the crowd began to discover that something was wrong. Jaeob Little kept nobody in doubt. “The fact is,” he said, with a whole bed of th sties in the midst of his smile, “the fact is I haven’t really been short of the stock, for you see I had a few millions of b nds, and they were oonvertible into stock. That’s the reaeon I didn’t get scared, you see.” Then there was a panic. The corner that had been so beautifully planned fell to pieces with a thud as sickening as any French novelist ever expatiated on. Everybody was on a stampede. With such a measureless quantity of stock on hand Jacob Little had not the slightest difficulty in offering to fulfill every contract. ’ Down tumbled prices, and all the stock that he had sold at CO and 80 and 100 he bought back at a’most nothing. Never had Wall street seen such a slip ’twixt the cup and lip. Half the houses in Wall street were heavy losers. Never had the gospel of loaded dice taught its lesson anywhere in all the world more forcibly. Jacob Little remained king. The preparation for writing on glass called “diamond ink” is to be used with a common pen, and at once etches a rough surface on the parts of glass it comes in contact with. It proves to be a very useful article foir labeling bottles which are to contain liquids that will destroy common labels. At the request of Prof. Ma sch an analysis was made, which proved it to be prepared ammonium fluoride, barium sulphate, and sulphuric acid. The barium sulphate seems to act as an abjSorbing medium, and when the semi-

fluid mass is used it makes a white j mark and prevents the spreading of the watery liqu d; it a'so seems to make the acid etch a rougher It is made by m xing bar um suphasj»SJ' parts, ammon um l uor de 1 part, and sulphuric acid a quantity sufficient for decompos ng the ammonium fluoride and making the mixture of a sem -fluid consistency. The samp'e examined was contained in a glass bottle holding nearly two fluid drams, and whicK was thiek.y ccr.ted on the outs de with asphaitum, on the inside with a thick stratum of beeswax, and was stoppered with a rubber stopper. It is claimed by the manufacturer that the mixture contiins no hydrofluoric acid and does not corrode a pen; but, of course, it does corrode a pen, and hydroflu ric acid is the one thing that does the etching. Anyone making th s mixture and w.shing to keep it in a glass may coat the bottle inside with paraffine, beeswax, or rubber. It sh u.d be prepared in a leiden dish, and is preferably kept in a gntta perch a or leaden bottle.— American Druggist.