A WALL STREET POOL 151 



the eyes of a trout. In a few days I was noti- 

 fied that accumulation of stock compelled a call 

 upon me for $25,000 of my subscription. A 

 similar call was repeated at very brief intervals 

 until my whole subscription had been safely cor- 

 ralled. If I had exercised the intelligence of 

 a mud turtle at this time I should have seen the 

 game that was being played against me. For 

 it had not then been possible to accumulate suf- 

 ficient stock to justify a call for the whole 

 $600,000 of pool money. 



I was then busy in my office and beginning to 

 be worried over the prospective cost of my addi- 

 tions to the Castle and gave little thought to 

 the Atlantic Mail operation. It was brought 

 sharply to my attention by a cry of distress from 

 my cousin's firm. The manager of the pool had 

 given it many orders to buy the stock on the Ex- 

 change, but instead of paying for the shares had 

 requested the firm to carry them. This had hap- 

 pened again and again until the total advances 

 were alarming. I was safely in the trap. In- 

 stead of having joined a pool with $600,000 in 



