As the four watchers in the gallery looked on, a howl suddenly went up from the floor:
“P. & Y. at 65!”
“No takers at that price!”
“Bring it on at a lower price!”
“It’s going to smash!”
In lower tones men on the floor of the Exchange below were talking over the latest information supplied by the newspapers. It was believed by many that Francis Delavan had looted the railroad of which he was president, and that a vast sum of the stealings was hidden securely abroad.
“It’s a bad stock to deal in anyway, at present,” muttered one of the brokers below. “I have advised all of my clients to keep away from it.”
“If the run is based on false information, someone is going to reap a heavy profit when the stock begins to soar again,” remarked another broker.
“It won’t soar in a year. There’s something peculiar and rotten behind the whole business. The road won’t amount to anything until it has been reorganized by another crowd.”
Just then an agile young man hurried out on the floor, holding in his hand the earliest edition of an evening paper. He called out something to those nearest him. Instantly there was a rush, others crowding about the bearer of the newspaper.