"
With a roar he rushed into the midst of a whirling throng. I saw twenty
brokers about him, shouting and threatening. One in his eagerness
jumped upon the shoulders of a fat man in front of him, and shook a
paper under his nose.
I could make out nothing of what was going on, except that the
excitement was tremendous.
Twice Eppner reported to me. The stock was being hammered down stroke
by stroke. There was a rush to sell. Fifty-five--fifty-three--fifty,
came the price--then by leaps to forty-five and forty. It was a panic.
At last the gong sounded, and the scene was over. Men staggered from
the Exchange, white as death, some cursing, some angry and red, some
despairing, some elate. I could see that ten had lost for one who had
gained.
Eppner reported at the end of the call. He had bought for me twelve
thousand five hundred shares, over ten thousand of them below fifty.
The total was frightful. There was half a million dollars to pay when
the time for settlement came. It was folly to suppose that my credit at
the Nevada was of this size. But I put a bold face on it, gave a check
for the figure that Eppner named, and rose.
"Any more orders?" he asked.
"Not till afternoon."
As I passed into the street I was astonished at the swift
transformation that had come over it. The block about the Exchange was
crowded with a tossing throng, hundreds upon hundreds pushing toward
its fateful doors. But where cheerfulness and hope had ruled, fear and
gloom now vibrated in electric waves before me.
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