THE STARTING OF A "CORNER"
There are always two parties in every stock exchange, well known as
bulls and bears. Those who believe in an advance, or what is to the same
end, manipulate a stock to increase its price, are said to be "bulling
it"; while those who honestly think it quoted above its worth and sell
it, or plot to depress its price, are said to "bear it." Like the ever
varying hues of the kaleidoscope, so the opinions and actions of each
individual among those men constantly change, and a bull to-day may be a
bear to-morrow. Then cliques and pools take up one little joker of
values, and seek by force of number and capital to toss it up or down.
To this end they fill the press with columns of false reports,
fictitious statements, and items of apparent news for one purpose--to
deceive. When the wildcat, Rockhaven, started on its career, the bulls
and bears, glad of a fresh toy, began to toss it back and forth. None
believed it of any actual value, but merely one of the many dice in the
speculative box. All united in asserting that it was the _avant courier_
of a scheme; it might be pushed up to a fabulous price and it might any
day go down with a crash. It was this very certainty of being an
uncertainty--the fact that its future was an open gamble, a positive
chance--that made it interesting. None of these astute speculators were
deceived by the early dividend, even for one moment; and when Simmons,
well known as Weston's mouthpiece, openly bid two dollars for five
thousand shares or any part of it, and really obtained one hundred, and
that the identical hundred originally given a prominent man for the use
of his name, all knew that the fresh toy was on its way toward the roof
or the cellar. It may seem strange after the countless schemes which
have come to naught, that any remain who could be inveigled into a new
one, but as a wise showman once said, "the world loves to be humbugged,"
and the early dividend worked its inevitable result among the real
investors, while the gamblers' chance stimulated "the street"; and
between the two Rockhaven was pushed upward. And the _Market News_, as
well as other city papers anxious to sell space, helped to swell the
bubble until Rockhaven became one of the loaded dice all speculators
love to play with. It started at two dollars a share, bid by Simmons,
who the next day offered three for it and had two hundred more sold him
by a too-confident bear who didn't own a share, and who later on bought
it in at a higher price, pocketing his loss with a smile. And so it kept
on, now up a point and back a half, then up two and down one, to go back
again when some nervous bear sought to cover. Some who owned it at the
subscription price of one dollar sold, and quadrupled their money, to
see it go still higher, and catching the fever, bought it in again;
while others who were short of it at three, bid it in at five, and
distrustful of it as ever, went short again, and so the definite stock
value in this case, as in all others, became a guess.
In the meantime Weston, the spider in his web, and Simmons, his trusty
spokesman, watched the market and were not idle. They had sold some
thirty thousand shares, the _Market News_ kept printing items (at a cost
of fifty cents per word), the street was all guessing, and Rockhaven
bade fair to become a sensation "on 'change."
Then a few far-seeing bulls, believing the natural sequence of stock
manipulation in this case would end in a "corner," began bidding it up,
while Simmons, quick to feel the pulse of the situation and really
holding the key to it, aided them by spreading a report to that effect,
and when the price showed weakness, buying a few hundred. As most of
"the street" asserted that the stock was valueless, his object was to
create a short interest, if possible, and in time so manipulate matters
as to scare the shorts, knowing full well what the result would be.
The only danger he knew lay in the action of Winn Hardy and what he
might do. If that duped young man scented the game and, returning,
alarmed his aunt, who had bought ten thousand shares and locked them up,
the game would be balked.
"We must keep your man Hardy on the island all summer," he said to
Weston, "and let him quarry stone, at whatever cost. If ever he hears
what Rockhaven is quoted at and isn't a fool, he will hurry back and not
only unload his thousand shares, but tell his aunt, and she will do the
same."
"I doubt that he will," answered Weston; "he has few friends in the
city, and those are not posted on the market, and as for his aunt, I
have assured her that if she hopes to sell out her stock at the top
price, she must keep her investment an absolute secret. I gave her the
tip on Sunday as we were walking home from church together, and in such
a way that I feel sure she will heed it. The good woman is wrapped up in
church work and putting the matter in the way I did, and at that time,
insures her secrecy. Some people must be handled with religious gloves,"
he added, smiling urbanely, "and some hit with a club." He thought of
Hill in this connection.
And in the case of Winn Hardy, he reckoned without Jack Nickerson.