A WALL STREET POOL 157 



were over three and one-half millions, that the 

 shares he was already carrying involved his whole 

 fortune, and that to do more would ruin him. 

 Helpless and hopeless, I lived through the dread- 

 ful daily round. My ear was attuned to all 

 sounds that came through the cashier's window 

 and a low- voiced: "Von Hoffman calls a hun- 

 dred thousand," or "The Bank of British North 

 America would like to have you pay fifty on ac- 

 count loan of a hundred and fifty" fell upon it 

 like the blast of a trumpet. It was a physical 

 effort to keep my eyes from the clock as the hour 

 of one approached, after which no loans could 

 be called for that day. 



There were other periods of suspense, as when 

 money had been borrowed and a boy sent out 

 with securities for a loan of say $100,000. The 

 loan envelope might have contained 700 shares 

 of Atlantic Mail sandwiched in with $40,000 

 worth of Governments and first class stocks. 

 Usually the boy brought back a check together 

 with great relief to me, but sometimes he bore a 

 message, "Kelly says there is too much Atlantic 



