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order to freeze out the poor, unsophisti- THE BREAK IN TURPENTINE 63 cated stockholders, and to tire out some of the early buyers, because Turp, being a good thing, Greenbaum et al. wanted it all for themselves. And Greenbaum et al. smiled guiltily and said nothing, though Jakey winked from time to time when they spoke to him about it; and old Isidore Wechs- ler cultivated a Napoleon III. look of devil- ish astuteness; and Bob Lindheim became almost dignified; and myopic little Morris Steinfelder gained 15 pounds and Rosenthal stopped patting everybody on the back, and mutely invited everybody to pat him on the back. Then Sharpe sent for Jakey, and on the next day young Eddie Lazarus swagger- ingly offered to wager $10,000 against $5,000 that a dividend on Turp stock would be declared during the year. Whereupon the newspapers of their own accord began to guess how great a dividend would be paid, and when; and various figures were men- tioned in the Board room by brokers who confided to their hearers that they got it on the dead q. t., straight from the inside. And two days later Sharpe s unsuspected brokers 3 offered to pay 1 D 4 per cent for the dividend on 64 WALL STREET STORIES 100,000 shares, said dividend to be declared within sixty days or the money forfeited. 3 And the stock sold up to 66 D 4, and the public wanted it. A big, broad market had been established, in which one could buy or sell the stock with ease by the tens of thousands of shares. The 114,400 shares, which at the inception of the movement at the unsalable price of $30 a share represented a theoretical $3,432,000, now readily vendible at $65 a share, meant $7,422,000; not half bad for a few weeks work. And still Sharpe, wonderful man that he was, gave no sign that he was about to begin unloading. Whereupon the other members of the pool began to wish he were not quite so greedy. They were satisfied to quit, they said. The presence of the pool s stock in their offices began to irritate them. They knew the vicissitudes of life, the uncertain- ties of politics, and of the stock market. Supposing some crazy anarchist blew up the President of the United States, or the Emperor of Germany were to insult his grandmother, the market would break to pieces, and their $4,000,000 of paper profits THE BREAK IN TURPENTINE 65 would disappear. They implored, individu- ally and collectively, Mr. Jacob Greenbaum to call on Sharpe; and Greenbaum, disre- garding a still, small voice that warned him against it, went to Sharpe s office, and came out of it, two minutes later, somewhat flushed, and assured his colleagues one by one that Sharpe was all right, and that he seemed to know his business. Also, that he was cranky that day. He always was, added Greenbaum forgivingly, when one of his horses lost a race. The stock fluctuated between 60 and 65. It seemed to be having a resting spell. But as it had enjoyed these periods of repose on three several occasions during the rise at 40 and 48 and 56 the public became all the more eager to buy it whenever it fell to 60 or 59, for the Street was now full of tips that Turp would go to par. And such was the public s speculative temper and Mr. Sharpe s good work that disinterested observers were convinced the stock would surely sell above 90 at the very least. Mr. Sharpe still bought and sold, but he sold twice as much as he bought, and the big block he had been 66 WALL STREET STORIES obliged to take in the course of his manipula- tion diminished. On the next day he hoped to begin selling the pool stock. That very day Mr. Greenbaum, as he returned to his office from his luncheon, felt well pleased with the meal and therefore with himself and therefore with everything. He scanned a yard or two of the tape and smiled. Turp was certainly very active and very strong. In such a market, thought Mr. Green- baum, Sharpe can t possibly tell he s get- ting stock from me. In order to be on the safe side I m going to let him have a couple of thousand. Then, should anything happen, I d be that much ahead. Ike! he called to a clerk. Yes, sir. Sell two wait; make it 3,000 no, never mind. Send for Mr. Ed Lazarus. And he muttered to himself, with a subthrill of plea- sure: I can just as well as not make it 5,000 shares. Eddie, he said to his partner s son, give an order to some of the room traders, say to Willie Schiff, to sell five er six tell him to sell 7,000 shares of Turpentine and to bor- THE BREAK IN TURPENTINE 67 row the stock. I am not selling a share, see? with a wink. It s short selling by him, do you understand? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |