A WALL STREET POOL 155 



tion at which our vote upon our own stock was 

 refused. The meeting was adjourned for a 

 brief time during which the trustees conceded the 

 release of our stock and our representation on the 

 board of the Pacific Mail. Our stock was sold 

 and our borrowings upon it paid, but the cost 

 was ruinous. Legal expenses alone exceeded 

 half a million dollars. 



Then began for me the life of Poe's victim be- 

 tween daily contracting iron walls. The stock 

 with which I was burdened was dead and the 

 daily transactions on the exchange were like gal- 

 vanizing a corpse. The manager of the pool un- 

 loaded upon me his last share and professed in- 

 ability to bear any portion of the burden. He 

 left me to give the necessary orders for the daily 

 transactions and heartlessly refused to execute 

 a buying order unless I promised to take up the 

 stock from him. It was imperative to have daily 

 transactions upon the Exchange and always to 

 have bids on the floor for all the stock of the com- 

 pany that could possibly be offered, for a single 

 break in price would have spelled ruin. 



