About three million dollars were taken out of the pockets of the bears. Several prominent houses went down in the struggle. The result of the "corner" was that the bulls were saddled with the entire capital stock of the property.

One broker, who had sold calls at 150 and was requested to fulfil his contracts when the stock had advanced to 250, was very much in the same position as Glendower's spirits, which were called from the vasty deep but would not come. "I don't see anything here," he said, "about delivering. You can call, but I don't mind it."

There were two "corners" in Harlem. The Commor Council was cornered in one and the Legislature in the other.

In the Rock Island "corner" the bulls bought 20,000 shares more than existed, and the price rose from 110 to 150.

London financiers have a fearful horror of "corners." Hence the London Stock Exchange is very chary about listing our railroads, especially those with a moderate number of shares.

"Corners" are seldom profitable, and the parties connected with them can hardly escape getting badly hurt unless they are prepared to own and carry the entire property. Even in that event, it is usually put out of the speculative market for a considerable time.

The Hudson "" corner was one of the most successful. It paid a profit of 12 per cent. There was a profit of 4 on the Rock Island "corner."

The first "corner" of which there is any record in Wall Street was in Morris Canal, an old "fancy" now almost forgotten except for its "corner." It had been forced upward as fancies frequently are, until it was far above its intrinsic value, and several operators began to sell "short."

After this operation had gone on for some time a pool was formed to protect it, and the pool bought it all up and locked it up in a trunk. The operation was new to the

Street and the bears were astounded, but when called upon to settle they became furious, and accused the manipulators of the "corner" of entering into a conspiracy. The "bulls" asked the "bears" why they had sold what they did not possess and could not procure.

The dispute was referred to the arbitration of the Board of Brokers, and that eminent body, then unsophisticated in the arts of speculation, took what seemed to them an equit able view of the case, and decided it in favor of the "shorts," who, on the ground of conspiracy on the part of the clique, were relieved from fulfilling their obligations.

THE

CHAPTER XIII.

THE COMMODORE'S "CORNERS."

THE GREAT HUDSON "CORNER."-COMMODORE VANDERRILT
""
"Boss OF THE SITUATION. THE "CORNER"
FORCED UPON HIM."-HOW HE MANAGED THE TRICK OF
GETTING THE BEARS TO "TURN" THE STOCK, AND THEN
CAUGHT THEM. HIS ABLE DEVICE OF UNLOADING WHILE
FORCING THE BEARS TO COVER AT HIGH FIGURES.THE
HARLEM "CORNER."-THE COMMON COUNCIL BETRAYED
THE COMMODORE, BUT WERE CAUGHT IN THEIR OWN
TRAP, AND LOST MILLIONS.-THE LEGISLATURE ATTEMPT
THE SAME GAME, AND MEET WITH A SIMILAR FATE.

IN

N the Hudson "corner," the stock jumped from 112 to 180. Commodore Vanderbilt was the "Boss" of the situation in this "corner." He got the "bulge" completely on all the other parties connected with it, and what is more, he had the balance of the sympathy of the Street with him, for he was not the aggressor in getting up the "corner." The fighting at first was forced upon him, but he acted on the defensive in a way that made his opponents sorry for their rashness. Though he did not know much about Shakespeare, he acted in accordance with old Polonius' advice to his son by pushing the opposition to the wall.

As soon as he gained the mastery, he became severely aggressive, as he was in everything.

The beginning of this story of the Hudson "corner" is somewhat romantic. The Commodore was sunning himself on a pile of logs on the Jersey side of the Hudson while his yacht lay in the stream, and he was in the mood for enjoying a long and well-earned vacation, attempting to lay aside for a time the toil and trouble of eking out a precarious existence in speculation. While basking in the noon-day sun and gazing with delight on the luxurious foliage that arose from the New Jersey bank of the river, he was aroused

from his charming reverie by a messenger from Wall Street, who conveyed to him the important intelligence that a wicked and unregenerate clique of "bears" had conspired to sell Hudson stock "short," and that it was declining with great rapidity under the repeated and unmerciful blows of their hammers.

The Commodore arose and shook off his lethargy, as a lion may be supposed to shake the dew from his mane prior to his preparation for a spring upon an unfortunate foe.

The Commodore hastened down to Wall Street and instructed his brokers to take all the sellers' options offered in Hudson. Cash stock was then taken as quickly as possible until the market was bare. A brief calculation showed that the buyers had secured either as cash or contract stock all the Hudson stock in existence with the exception of a small number of shares which were not expected to come upon the market.

The prolific brain of the Commodore then invented a new move in the game. A number of leading "bear" houses were requested to "turn " Hudson, which means to buy it for cash from the cornering party and sell it back to them on buyers' options for periods varying from ten to thirty days. This able ruse was intended to impress the bears with the idea that the cornering party was weak. It seemed as if they were short of cash. So the leading bears grasped at the good chance, as they imagined, of turning several thousand shares, and instantly threw the cash stock on the market. It was privately picked up by the brokers of the great "cornerer."

Everything having thus far progressed in favor of the ruse the trap was sprung upon the unsuspecting party. The sellers' options began to mature, and there was no Hudson to be obtained..

The "corner" was complete, and the stock rose to 180. It had been 112 a few mornings before, when the Commodore was basking in the sun, and found that the bears were tak