kl
sold him. Then he was compelled to
turn about and sell what he had
bought from me, and when I had re
bought it for ten millions less than I
had sold it for, the tnck had been
turned. I had sold him 100,000 shares
ay at 220. He had sold them back
to me say at 120, and he stood where
he had stood at the beginning. He
had none of the 100,000 shares. Both
of us stood, so far as stock was con
cerned, where we had stood at the be
ginning, but as to profits and lossesi
there was this difference: I had ten
millions of dollars profits, while Barry
Conant's clients, the 'System,' were
ten millions losers-Vand all by a trick.
The trick did nol^ differ in principle
from the one in constant practice by
the 'System.' When the 'System,'
after manufacturing Sugar stock, sell
100,000 shares to the people for $10,-
000,000, they so manipulate the market
by the use of the $10,000,000 that they
have taken from the people as to scare
them into selling the 100,000 shares
back to them for $5,000,000. After
they have bought they again manipu
late the market until the people buy
back for $10,000,000 what they sold for
$5,000,000. The 'System' commits no
legal crime. I committed no legal
crime. I had not even infringed any
rule of the exchange, any more than
had the 'System' when they performed
their trick. Since my experimental
panic I have repeatedly put the trick
in operation, and each time I have
taken millions, until to-day I have in
my control, as absolutely as though I
had honestly earned them, as the la
borer earns his week's wages, or the
farmer the price of his crops, over
$1,000,000,000, or sufficient to keep en
slaved the rest of their lives a million
people.
"What do you intelligent men think
of this situation? You know, because
you know the stock-gambling game,
that the American people, with their
that comes through lead pipes, for
theirt dippers and wash boilers, and
nts
an
f?r.
ntin
1
i
Robert Brownley Glared Down Defiantly as a Sullen Growl Arose from
the Gamblers.
boasted brains and courage, come year wealth. You who are turning over in
after year with their bags of gold, the your minds the consideration that your
result of their prosperous labors, and great body can make new rules to
dump them, hundreds of millions, into render my discovery inoperative, are
this gambling inferno of yours. You dealing with a shadow. There is no
know that they are fools, these silly
millions ot people whom you term working. There are 1,000 seats in the
lambs and suckers You chuckle as, New York stock exchange. They are
year after year, having been sent away worth to-day $95,000 apiece, or $95,-
shorn, they return for new shearing. 00,000 in all. Their value is due to
You marvel that the merchants, manu- the fact that this exchange deals in
facturers, miners, lawyers, farmers, between one and three million shares
who have sufficient intelligence to a day. Were any attempt made to
gather such surplus legitimately, would prevent the operation of my invention,
bring it to our gambling hell, where transactions would because of such
upon all sides is plain proof that we attempt drop to five or ten thousand
who conduct the gambling, and who shares per day, or to such transactions
produce nothing, are obliged to take as represented stock that will be actu*
from those who do produce, hundreds ally delivered and actually paid for.
of millions each year for expenses, To make my invention useless it must
and hundreds of millions each year for e made impossible to buy or sell the
profitsfor you know that we have same share of stock more than once
nothing to give them in return for at one session, and short selling, which
what they bring to us. You know that is now, as you know, the foundation of
every dollar of the billions lost in Wall the modern stock-gambling structure,
street means higher prices for steel must likewise be made impossible. If
rails, for lumber and cars, and that this could be done the $95,000,000
this means higher passenger and worth of seats in the exchange would
freight rates to the people. You know be worth less than five millions, and,
that when the manufacturer brings his what is of far greater import to all
wealth to Wall street and is robbed of the people, the financial world would
it, he will add something to the price be revolutionized. Men of Wall street,
of boots and shoes, cotton and woolen do not fool yourselves. My invention
clothes, and other necessities that he is a sure destroyer of the greatest
makes and that he sells to the people.
You know that when the copper, lead,
tin, and iron miners part with their
surplus to the 'System,' i means
higher prices to the people for their
copper
potrse
thost neces
a1
1
and gutters, for the water
sities into which machinery, lumber,
and other raw and finished material
enters. You know that every hundred
millions dropped by real producers to times exchange members who will
the brigands of our world means lower
wages or less of the necessities and
luxuries for all the people, and espe
cially for the farmer. You know that
it is habit with us of Wall street to
gloat over the doctrine of the 'System,'
which the people parrot among them
selves, the doctrine that the people
at large are not affected by our gam-
iaw&
bling, because they, tne people, having
no surplus to gamble with, never come
into Wall street. And yet, knowing
all this, you never thought, with all
your wisdom and cynicism, that right
here in this institution, which you own
and control, was the open sesame for
each or all of you, to those great
chests of gold that your clients, the
'System,' have filled to bursting from
the stores of the people. What, I ask,
do you wise men think of the situation
as you now see it?"
There was an oppressive stillness
on the floor. The great crowd, which
now contained nearly all the members
of the exchange, listened with bulging
eyes and open mouths to the revela
tions of their fellow member. From
time to time, as Bob Brownley poured
forth his shot and shell of deadly logic,
from the vast mob that now surround
ed the exchange rose a hoarse bellow
of impatience, for few in that dense
throng outside could understand the
silence of the gigantic human crusher,
which between the hours of ten and
three was never before known to miss
a revolution except while its victims'
hearts and souls were being removed
from its gears and meshes.
Bob Brownley paused and looked
down into the faces of the breathless
gamblers with a contempt that was
superb. He went on:
"Men of Wall street, it is writ in the
books of the ancients that every evil
contains within itself a cure or a de
stroyer I do not pretend that what I
am revealing to you is to you a cure
for this hideous evil, but I do say that
what I am giving you is a destroyer
for it, and that while it will be to the
world a cure, it may leave you in a
more fiery hell than the one of which
you now feel the flames. I do not care
if it does. When I am through, any
member of the New York stock ex
change who feels the iron in his soul
can get instant revenge and unlimited
rule or device that can prevent its
curse in the world, stock-gambling."
A sullen growl rose from the gam
blers. Robert Brownley glared down
his defiance.
"Let me show you the impossibility
of preventing inr the future anyone's
doing what I have done to you so
many times during the past five years.
All the capital required to work my
invention is nerve and desperation, or
nerve without desperation. It is well
known to you that there are at all
commit any crime, barring, perhaps,
murder, to gain millions. Your mem
bers have from time to time shown
nerve or desperation enough to embez
zle, raise certificates, give bogus.
checks, counterfeit stocks and bonds,
and this for gain of less than millions',
and when detection was probable. All
these are criminal offense* and their
detection is sure to bring disgrace and
state prison. Yet members of this ex
change desperate enough to take, the'
chance, when confronted with loss of
fortune and open bankruptcy, have al
ways been found with nerve enough
to attempt the crimes. I repeat that
there are at all times exchange mem-'
bers who will commit any crime, barr
ing, perhaps, murder, to gain millions.
That you may see that my successors
will surely come from your midst from'
time to time during the future exist
ence of the exchange, I will enumerate
the different classes of members who
will follow in my fdotsteps:
"First, the 'In God We Trust*
schemer who is of the 'System' type,
but who is outside the magic circle. A
man of this class will reason: I know
scores of men, who stand high on 'the
Street' and in the social world, who
have tens of millions that they have
filched by 'System' tricks, if not by
legal crimes. If I perform this trick
of Brownley's, the trick of selling
short until a panic is produced, I shall
'make millions and none will be the
wiser. For all I know, many of the
multi-millionaires whom I have seen
produce panics and who were applaud
ed by 'the Street' and the press for
their ability and daring, and whose
standing, business and social, is now
the highest, were only doing this same
thing, and having been successful, they
have never been detected or suspected.
But even suppose I fail, which can
only be through some extraordinary
accident happening while I am en
gaged in selling, I shall ha\e com
mitted no crime, and, in fact, shall
have done no one any great moral
wrong, for if I fail to carry out my
contract to deliver the stock I have
sold in trying to produce a panic, the
men to whom I have sold will be no
worse off for not receiving what they
bought in fact, they will stand just
where they stood before I attempted
to bring on a panic.
"Second, if an exchange member for
any reason should find himself over
board and should realize that he must
publicly become bankrupt and lose all,
he surely would be a fool not to at
tempt to produce a panic, when its
production would enable him to recoup
his losses and prevent his failure, and
when if by accident he should fail in
his attempt to produce a panic, the
penalty would simply be his bank
ruptcy, which would have taken place
in any event.
"The third class is that large one
that always will exist while there is
stock-gambling, a class of honest,
square-dealing-play-the game fan ex
change men who would take no unfair
advantage of their fellow-members un
til they become awakened to the
knowledge that they are about to be
ruined by their fellow-members' trick
ery.
"Next, let us consider further wheth-'
er it is possible for our exchange to
prevent my device from being worked,
now that it is known to all. Suppose
the governing committee was informed
in advance that the attempt to work
the trick was to be made. If, at any
session, after gong-strike, the govern
ing committee, or any exchange au
thority, could for any reason compel a
member to cease operating, even for
the purpose of showing that his trans
actions were legitimate, the entire'
structure of stock-gambling would fall.
Think it through: Suppose a man like
Barry Conant or myself, or any active
commission broker, begins the execu
tion of a large order for a client, one,
say, who has advance information of a
receivership, a fire at a mine, the
death of a president, a declaration of
war, or any of the hundred and one
items of information that must be
acted upon instantly, where a delay of
a minute would ruin the broker, or his
bouse, or its clients. If the governing
committee could thus call the broker
to account, the professional bear or
the schemer, who desired to prevent
him from selling, would have but to
pass the word to the president of the
exchange that the broker in question
was about to work Brownley's discov
ery and he could be taken from the
crowd and before he returned his
place could be taken by others and he
could be ruined.
"Men of Wall street, it is impossible
to prevent the repetition of those acts
by which in five years I have accumu
lated a billion dollars, impossible so
long as a short sale or a repurchase
and resale, is allowed. When short
sales, and repurchases and resales, are
made impossible, stock speculation will
be dead. When stock speculation is
dead, the people can no longer be
robbed by the 'System.' In leaving
you, the exchange, and stock-gambling
forever, as I shall when I leave this
platform, I will say from the depth of
a heart that has been broken, from the
profoundity of a soul that has been
withered by the 'System's' poison, with
a full sense of my responsibility to my
fellow-man and to my God, that I ad
vise every one of you to do what I
have done and to do it quickly, before
the doing of it by others shall- have
made it impossible, before the doing
of it by others shall have blown up the
whole stock-gambling structure. In
accepting my advice you can quiet
your conscience, those of you who
have any, with this argument: 'If I
start, I am sure of success. If I suc
ceed, no one will be the wiser. The
millions I secure I will take from men
who took them from others, and who
would take mine. The more I and
others take, the sooner will come the
day when the stock-gambling struc
ture will fall.'
"The day on which the stock-gam
bling structure falls is the day for
which all honest men and women
should pray." i
Bob Brownley paused and let his
eyes sweep his dumfounded audience.
There was not a murmur. The crowd
was speechless.
Again his eyes swept the room.
Then he slowly, raised big right hand!
ttON THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1907.
with fist clenched, as/ though, about to
deal a blow.
"Men of Wall street"his voice was
now deep and solemn"to show thai,
Robert Brownley knew what was fit
ting for the last day of his career, he
has revealed to you the trickand
mdre.
"Many of you are desperate. Many
of you by to-morrow will be ruined.
The time of all times for such to put
my trick in practice is now. The vic
tim of victims is ready for the experi
ment. I am he. I have a billion dol
lars. With this billion dollars I am
able to buy 10,000,000 shares of the
leading stocks and to pay for them,
even though after I have bought they
fall a hundred dollars a share. Here
is your chance to prevent your ruin,
your chance to retrieve your fortune,
your chance to secure revenge upon
me, the one who has robbed you."
He paused only long enough for his
astounding advice to connect with his
listeners' now keenly sensitive nerve
centers then deep and clear rang out,
"Barry Conant." The wiry form oi
Bob's old antagonist leaped to the ros
trum.
"I authorize you to buy any part ol
10,000,000 shares of the leading stocks
at any price up to 50 points above the
present market. There is my check
book signed in blank, and I authorize
you to use it up to a billion dollars,
and I agree to have in bank to-morrow
sufficient funds to meet any checks
you draw. You have failed to-day for
seven millions, and, therefore, cannot
trade, but I herewith announce that I
will pay all the indebtedness of Barry
Conant and his house. Therefore he
is now in good standing." Bob had
kept his eye on the great clock as the
last word passed his lips, the presi
dent's gavel descended.
With a mighty rush the gamblers
leaped for the different poles. Barry
Conant with lightning rapidity gave
his orders to 20 of his assistants, who,
when Bob Brownley called for Conant,
had gathered around their chief. In
less than a minute the dollar-battle
of the age was on, a battle such as no
man had ever seen before. It required
no supernatural wisdom for any man
on the floor to see that Bob Brownley's
seed had fallen in superheated soil,
that his until now secret hellite was
about to be tested. It needed no ex
pert in the mystic art of deciphering
the wall hieroglyphics of Old Hag Fate
to see that the hands on the clock of
the "System" were approaching 12. It
needed no ear trained to hear human
heart and soul beats to detect the ap
proaching sound of onrushing doom to
the stock-gambling structure. The
deafening xoar of the brokers that had
broken the stillness following Robert
Brownley's fateful speech had awak
ened echoes that threatened to shake
down the exchange walls. The surg
ing mob on the outside was roaring
like a million hungry lions in an Ar
bestan run at slaughter time.
CHAPTER X.
The instant after the gong sounded
Bob Brownley was alone on the floor
at the foot of the president's desk.
His form was swaying like a reed on
the edge of the cyclone's path. I
jumped to his side. His brother, who
had during Bob's harangue been vain
Jy endeavoring to beat his way
through the crowd, was there first.
"For God's sake, Bob, hear me. Word
came from your house half an hour
ago of the miracle: Beulah has awak
ened to her past. Her mind is clear
the nurses are frantic for you to come
to her."
He got no further. With a mad bel
low and a bound, like a tortured bull
that sees the arena walls go down, Bob
rushed out through the nearest door,
which, I thanked God, was a side one
leading to the street where the crowd
was thinnest. He cast a wild look
around. His eyes lighted on an empty
automobile whose chauffeur had de
serted to the crowd. It was the work
of a second to crank it of another to
jump into the front seat. Quick as
had been his movement, I was behind
him in the rear seat. With a bound
the great machine leaped through the
crowd.
"In the name of Christ, Bob, be care-
ful," I yelled, a,s he hurled the iron
monster through the throng, scatter
ing it to the right and left as the
mower scatters the sheaves in the
,wheat fields. Some were crushed be
neath its wheels. Bob Brownley heard
not their screams, heard not the
curses of those who escaped. He was
on his feet, his body crouched low
over the steering wheel, which he
grasped in his vice-like hands. His
hatless head was thrust far out, as
though it strove to get to Beulah
Sands ahead of his body. His teeth
were set, and as I had jumped into
the machine I had noted that his eyes
were those of a maniac, who saw
sanity just ahead if he could but get
to it in time. His ears were deaf not
only to the howl of the terrified throng
and the curses of the teamsters who
frantically pulled their horses to the
curb, but to my warnings as well. He
swung the machine around the corner
at New street and into Wall as though
it had been the broadest boulevard in
the park. He took Wall street at a
bound I was sure would land us
through the fence into Trinity's
churchyard. But no. Again he turned
the corner, throwing the Juggernaut
on its outside wheels from Wall street
into Broadway as the crowds on the
sidewalk held their breath in horror.
I, too, was on my feet, but crouching
as I hung to the sides. Thank God,
that usually crowded thoroughfare was
free from vehicles as far up as I could
see, on beyond the Astor house. What
could it mean? Was that divinity
which 'tis said protects the drunkard
and the idiot about to aid the mad
rush of this love-frenzied creature to
his long-lost but newly returned dear
one? I heard the frantic, clang of
2?n!
6
of
tn
flooJ. a a yo no
dar
as
Wf^lf^ t^V*3
gongs, and as we shot by the World
building, I saw ahead of us two plung
ing automobiles filled with men. 'Twas
from them the gong clamor sounded.
As we drew nearer I saw that these
were the cars of the fire chiefs answer
ing a call. I thanked God again and
again as I yelled into Bob's ear, "For,
Beulah's sake, Bob, don't pass if you1
do, we'll run into a blockade. If we
keep in the rear they'll clear our way,
and we may get to her alive." I do
no^ know whether he heard, but he
held the machine in the rear of the
other cars and did not try to pass.
Away we went on our mad rush
through crowded Broadway. At Union
Square we lost our way-clearers. As
our automobile jumped across Four
teenth street into Fourth avenue, Bob
must have opened her up to the last
notch, for she seemed to leap through,
the air. We sent two wagons crash
ing across the sidewalks into the build
ings. Cries of rage arose above the
din of the machine, and seemed to fol
low in our wake. Bob was dead to all*
we passed. His entire being seemed
set on what was ahead. I knew he'
was an expert in the handling of the
automobile, for since his misfortune,
automobiling with Beulah Sands had[
been his favorite pastime, but who'
could expect to carry that plunging,
swaying car to Forty-secondthe
cles and foot passengers as though
hacks and teams? No. His head must
be clear. Again he threw the great
10
street!
J?*
rformin
drous task. We shot from curb to'
curb and around and in front of vehi-
instructed. I did
0
herhave"bushe
for fear
QUestionso.
th
woulds I Bo wa
stair two and three steps at a
time.
My breath was almost gone and it
took me minutes to get to the second
floor. My feet touched the top stair,
when, O God! that soundf For five
long years I had been trying to get it
out of my ears, but now more guttural,
more agonized than before, it broke
upon my tortured senses. I did not
need to seek its direction. With a
bound I was at the threshold of Beulah
Sands-Brownley*s office. In that brief
time the groans had stilled. For one
instant I closed my eyes, for the very
atmosphere of that hall moaned and1
groaned death. I opened them. Yes,
I knew it. There at the desk was the!
beautiful gray-clad figure of five years
ago. There the two arms resting on
the desk. There the two beautiful
hands holding the open paper, but the
eyes, those marvellous gray-blue doors'
to an immortal soulthey were closed
forever. The exquisitely beautiful
face was cold and white and peaceful.
Beulah Sands was dead. The hell
hounds of the "System" had overtaken
its maimed and hunted victim it had
added her beautiful heart to the bags
and barrels and hogsheads stored away
in its big "business-is-business" safe
deposit vaults. My eyes in sick pity
sought the form of my old schoolmate,
my college chum, my partner, my
friend, the man I loved. He was on
his knees. His agonized face was
turned to his wife. His clasped hands
had been raised in an awful, heart
crushing prayeBrownley's as his Maker touched
S won the bell Bob great brown
eye
ha
an
the drivers eyes and hands were in- Glorious golden-brown waves until in
spired
Across the square at last and on up
Fourth avenue to Twenty-sixth street.
Then a dizzying whirl into Madison.
Was he going to keep to it until he got
to Forty-second street and try to make
Fifth avenue along that congested
Beulah Sands Was Dead.
block with its crush of Grand Central ley's heart, too. I staggered to his
passengers and lines upon lines of ,side-
machine" around the corner "andinto f^L*"?
Fortieth street. For a part of the
block our wheels rode the sidewalk
and I awaited the crash. It did not
come. Surely the new world Bob was
speeding to must be a kind one, else
why should Hag Fate, who had been
at the steering wneel of his life-car
during the last five years, carry him
safely through what looked a dozen
sure deaths? Without slacking speed
a jot we swung around the corner of
Fortieth into Fifth avenue. The roau
was clear to Forty-second there a
dense jam of cars, teams and carriages
blocked the crossing. Bob must have
seen the solid wall for I heard his
low muttered curse. Nothing else to
indicate that we were blocked with his
goal in sight. He never touched the
speed controller, but took the two
blocks as though shot from a catapult.
The two? No, one, and three-quarters
of the next, for when within a score of
yards of the black wall he jammed
down the brakes, and the iron mass
ground and shook as though it would
rend itself to atoms, but it stopped
with its dasher and front wheels
wedged in between a car and a dray.
It had not stopped when Bob was off
and up the avenue like a hound on the
end-in-sight trail. I was after him
while the astonished bystanders stared
in wonder. As we neared Bob's house
I could see people on the stoop. I
heard Bob's secretary shout, "Thank
God, Mc Brownley, you have come.
She is in the office. I found her there,
quiet and recovered. She did not ask
a question. She said, 'Tell Mr. Brown
ley when he comes that I should like
to see him.' Then she ordered me to
get the afternoon paper. I handed it
to her an hour ago. I think she be
lieves herself in her old office. I shut
were closed, his clasped hands
dropped against his wife's head,
in dropping had unloosed the
'fond abandon they had coiled around
his arms and brow as though she for
whom he had sacrificed all was shield
ing his beloved head from the chills
and dark mists of the black river that
laps the brink of the eternal rest. The
"System" had skewered Robert Brown-
As I touched his now fast-icinng
Mnxiquity of Proverbs.
Proverbs existed long before books.
In the earliest times they served as
the unwritten language of morality
and have been passed down through
the generations. In Africa there are
numerous quaint proverbs. Among
them are: "He who dives on dry land
will scarify his face," "Two people
cannot sit down upon the point of the
same thorn'at the same time." In the
Transvaal the proverb, "Beware of a
Bilent man he has a brass band in his
mouth," is often heard.
Holmes on Shelley.
Shelley vaporized everything in his
plowing crucible, but there was gold at
the bottom of it. Whea I look at him
spreading the starry wings of his fancy
over his chaotic philosophy he seems
like a seraph hovering over the un
fathomable chasm, whose blackness is
the abode of demons."Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table."
Her Reasoning.
Wife (at the costumer's)Which
shall I havethis coat at 40 marks or
that one at 70? HusbandI have only
40 marks with me. WifeOh, wll,|
then, we'll buy the seventy mark coat
on credit, and then you can buy me a
hat with the 40 marks.Lustige Blat-'
ter.
%&t&j&.&%&*fr *.**&. &BF
v.
bee
brow my eyes fell upon the great black
headlines
spreadIah,,
acrosandse th top of the
ha
Bfe"
reading when the all-kind God had cut
her bonds:
FRIDAY, THE THIRTEENTH.
And beneath in one column:
TERRIBLE TRAGEDY IN VIRGINIA.
The Richest Man in the State, Thomas
Reinhart, Multi-millionaire, while
Temporarily Insane from the Loss
of His Wife and Daughter, ana of
His Enormous Fortune, Which Was
Shattered in To-day's Awful Panic,
Cut His Throat. His death was
Instantaneous.
In another column:
Robert Brownley Creates the Most
Awful Panic in History and Spreads
Wreck and Ruin Throughout the
Civilized World.
THE END.
4