XVII. A GENTEEL "HOLD-UP"
In my childhood at home, my father was often away for a week or longer,working or looking for work. My mother had a notion that a boy shouldbe punished only by his father; so, whenever she caught me in what sheregarded as a serious transgression, she used to say: "You will get agood whipping for this, when your father comes home." At first I used towait passively, suffering the torments of ten thrashings before the "goodwhipping" came to pass. But soon my mind began to employ the interval moreprofitably. I would scheme to escape execution of sentence; and, though mymother was a determined woman, many's the time I contrived to change hermind. I am not recommending to parents the system of delay in executionof sentence; but I must say that in my case it was responsible for aninvaluable discipline. For example, the Textile tangle.
I knew I was in all human probability doomed to go down before the StockExchange had been open an hour the next morning. All Textile stocks muststart many points higher than they had been at the close, must go steadilyand swiftly up. Entangled as my reserve resources were in the Coal deal, Ishould have no chance to cover my shorts on any terms less than the lossof all I had. At most, I could hope only to save myself from criminalbankruptcy.
And now my early training in coolly and calmly studying how to avertexecution of sentence came into play. There is a kind of cornered-rat,hit-or-miss, last-ditch fight that any creature will make in suchcircumstances as mine then were, and the inspirations of despair sometimeshappen to be lucky. But I prefer the reasoned-out plan.
There was no signal of distress in my voice as I telephoned Corey,president of the Interstate Trust Company, to stay at his office until Icame; there was no signal of distress in my manner as I sallied forth andwent down to the Power Trust Building; nor did I show or suggest that I hadheard the "shot-at-sunrise" sentence, as I strode into Roebuck's presenceand greeted him. I was assuming, by way of precaution, that some rumorabout me either had reached him or would soon reach him. I knew he hadan eye in every secret of finance and industry, and, while I believed mysecret was wholly my own, I had too much at stake with him to bank on that,when I could, as I thought, so easily reassure him.
"I've come to suggest, Mr. Roebuck," said I, "that you let myhouse--Blacklock and Company--announce the Coal reorganization plan. Itwould give me a great lift, and Melville and his bank don't need prestige.My daily letters to the public on investments have, as you know, got mea big following that would help me make the flotation an even biggersuccess than it's bound to be, no matter who announces it and invitessubscriptions."
As I thus proposed that I be in a jiffy caught up from the extremelyhumble level of reputed bucket-shop dealer into the highest heaven of highfinance, that I be made the official spokesman of the financial gods, hisexpression was so ludicrous that I almost lost my gravity. I suspect, fora moment he thought I had gone mad. His manner, when he recovered himselfsufficiently to speak, was certainly not unlike what it would have beenhad he found himself alone before a dangerous lunatic who was armed with abomb.
"You know how anxious I am to help you, to further your interests,Matthew," said he wheedlingly. "I know no man who has a brighter future.But--not so fast, not so fast, young man. Of course, you will appear asone of the reorganizing committee--but we could not afford to have theannouncement come through any less strong and old established house thanthe National Industrial Bank."
"At least, you can make me joint announcer with them," I urged.
"Perhaps--yes--possibly--we'll see," said he soothingly. "There is plentyof time."
"Plenty of time," I assented, as if quite content. "I only wanted to putthe matter before you." And I rose to go.
"Have you heard the news of Textile Common?" he asked.
"Yes," said I carelessly. Then, all in an instant, a plan took shape in mymind. "I own a good deal of the stock, and I must say, I don't like thisraise."
"Why?" he inquired.
"Because I'm sure it's a stock-jobbing scheme," replied I boldly. "I knowthe dividend wasn't earned. I don't like that sort of thing, Mr. Roebuck.Not because it's unlawful--the laws are so clumsy that a practical manoften must disregard them. But because it is tampering with the reputationand the stability of a great enterprise for the sake of a few millions ofdishonest profit. I'm surprised at Langdon."
"I hope you're wrong, Matthew," was Roebuck's only comment. He questionedme no further, and I went away, confident that, when the crash came in themorning, if come it must, there would be no more astonished man in WallStreet than Henry J. Roebuck. How he must have laughed; or, rather, wouldhave laughed, if his sort of human hyena expressed its emotions in thehuman way.
From him, straight to my lawyers, Whitehouse and Fisher, in the MillsBuilding.
"I want you to send for the newspaper reporters at once," said I to Fisher,"and tell them that in my behalf you are going to apply for an injunctionagainst the Textile Trust, forbidding them to take any further steps towardthat increase of dividend. Tell them I, as a large stock-holder, andrepresenting a group of large stock-holders, purpose to stop the paying ofunearned dividends."
Fisher knew how closely connected my house and the Textile Trust had been;but he showed, and probably felt no astonishment. He was too experienced inthe ways of finance and financiers. It was a matter of indifference to himwhether I was trying to assassinate my friend and ally, or was feinting atLangdon, to lure the public within reach so that we might, together, fallupon it and make a battue. Your lawyer is your true mercenary. Under hiscode honor consists in making the best possible fight in exchange for thebiggest possible fee. He is frankly for sale to the highest bidder. Atleast so it is with those that lead the profession nowadays, give it whatis called "character" and "tone."
Not without some regret did I thus arrange to attack my friend in hisabsence. "Still," I reasoned, "his blunder in trusting some leaky personwith his secret is the cause of my peril--and I'll not have to justifymyself to him for trying to save myself." What effect my injunction wouldhave I could not foresee. Certainly it could not save me from the loss ofmy fortune; but, possibly, it might check the upward course of the stocklong enough to enable me to snatch myself from ruin, and to cling to firmground until the Coal deal drew me up to safety.
My next call was at the Interstate Trust Company. I found Corey waiting forme in a most uneasy state of mind.
"Is there any truth in this story about you?" was the question he plumpedat me.
"What story?" said I, and a hard fight I had to keep my confusion and alarmfrom the surface. For, apparently, my secret was out.
"That you're on the wrong side of the Textile."
So it was out! "Some truth," I admitted, since denial would have beenuseless here. "And I've come to you for the money to tide me over."
He grew white, a sickly white, and into his eyes came a horrible, drowninglook.
"I owe a lot to you, Matt," he pleaded. "But I've done you a great manyfavors, haven't I?"
"That you have Bob," I cordially agreed. "But this isn't a favor. It'sbusiness."
"You mustn't ask it, Blacklock," he cried. "I've loaned you more money nowthan the law allows. And I can't let you have any more."
"Some one has been lying to you, and you've been believing him," said I."When I say my request isn't a favor, but business, I mean it."
"I can't let you have any more," he repeated. "I can't!" And down came hisfist in a weak-violent gesture.
I leaned forward and laid my hand strongly on his arm.
"In addition to the stock of this concern that I hold in my own name," saidI, "I hold five shares in the name of a man whom nobody knows that I evenknow. If you don't let me have the money, that man goes to the districtattorney with information that lands you in the penitentiary, that putsyour company out of business and into bankruptcy before to-morrow noon.I saved you three years ago, and got you this job against just such anemergency as this, Bob Corey. And, by God, you'll toe the mark!"
"But we haven't done anything
that every bank in town doesn't do everyday--doesn't have to do. If we didn't lend money to dummy borrowersand over-certify accounts, our customers would go where they could getaccommodations."
"That's true enough," said I. "But I'm in a position for the moment where Ineed my friends--and they've got to come to time. If I don't get the moneyfrom you, I'll get it elsewhere--but over the cliff with you and yourbank! The laws you've been violating may be bad for the practical bankingbusiness, but they're mighty good for punishing ingratitude and treachery."
He sat there, yellow and pinched, and shivering every now and then. Hemade no reply. He was one of those shells of men that are conspicuous asfigureheads in every department of active life--fellows with well-shaped,white-haired or prematurely bald heads, and grave, respectable faces;they look dignified and substantial, and the soul of uprightness; theycoin their looks into good salaries by selling themselves as covers foroperations of the financiers. And how those operations, in the nude, as itwere, would terrify the plodders that save up and deposit or invest themoney the financiers gamble with on the big green tables!
Presently I shook his arm impatiently. His eyes met mine, and I fixed them.
"I'm going to pull through," said I. "But if I weren't, I'd see to it thatyou were protected. Come, what's your answer? Friend or traitor?"
"Can't you give me any security--any collateral?"
"No more than I took from you when I saved you as you were going down withthe rest in the Dumont smash. My word--that's all. I borrow on the sameterms you've given me before, the same you're giving four of your heaviestborrowers right now."
He winced as I thus reminded him how minute my knowledge was of theworkings of his bank.
"I didn't think this of you, Matt," he whined. "I believed you above suchhold-up methods."
"I suit my methods to the men I'm dealing with," was my answer. "Thesefellows are trying to push me off the life raft. I fight with every weaponI can lay hands on. And I know as well as you do that, if you get intoserious trouble through this loan, at least five men we could both namewould have to step in and save the bank and cover up the scandal. You'llblackmail them, just as you've blackmailed them before, and they you.Blackmail's a legitimate part of the game. Nobody appreciates that betterthan you." It was no time for the smug hypocrisies under which we peopledown town usually conduct our business--just as the desperadoes used topatrol the highways disguised as peaceful merchants.
"Send round in the morning and get the money," said he, putting on aresigned, hopeless look.
I laughed. "I'll feel easier if I take it now," I replied. "We'll fix upthe notes and checks at once."
He reddened, but after a brief hesitation busied himself. When the paperswere all made up and signed, and I had the certified checks in my pocket,I said: "Wait here, Bob, until the National Industrial people call youup. I'll ask them to do it, so they can get your personal assurance thateverything's all right. And I'll stop there until they tell me they'vetalked with you."
"But it's too late," he said. "You can't deposit to-day."
"I've a special arrangement with them," I replied.
His face betrayed him. I saw that at no stage of that proceeding had I beenwiser than in shutting off his last chance to evade. What scheme he had inmind I don't know, and can't imagine. But he had thought out something,probably something foolish that would have given me trouble without savinghim. A foolish man in a tight place is as foolish as ever, and Corey wasa foolish man--only a fool commits crimes that put him in the power ofothers. The crimes of the really big captains of industry and generals offinance are of the kind that puts others in their power.
"Buck up, Corey," said I. "Do you think I'm the man to shut a friend in thehold of a sinking ship? Tell me, who told you I was short on Textile?"
"One of my men," he slowly replied, as he braced himself together.
"Which one? Who?" I persisted. For I wanted to know just how far the newswas likely to spread.
He seemed to be thinking out a lie.
"The truth!" I commanded. "I know it couldn't have been one of your men.Who was it? I'll not give you away."
"It was Tom Langdon," he finally said.
I checked an exclamation of amazement. I had been assuming that I had beenbetrayed by some one of those tiny mischances that so often throw the bestplans into confusion.
"Tom Langdon," I said satirically. "It was he that warned you against me?"
"It was a friendly act," said Corey. "He and I are very intimate. And hedoesn't know how close you and I are."
"Suggested that you call my loans, did he?" I went on.
"You mustn't blame him, Blacklock; really you mustn't," said Coreyearnestly, for he was a pretty good friend to those he liked, as friendshipgoes in finance. "He happened to hear. You know the Langdons keep a sharpwatch on operations in their stock. And he dropped in to warn me as afriend. You'd do the same thing in the same circumstances. He didn't say aword about my calling your loans. I--to be frank--I instantly thought of itmyself. I intended to do it when you came, but"--a sickly smile--"youanticipated me."
"I understand," said I good-humoredly. "I don't blame him." And I didn'tthen.
After I had completed my business at the National Industrial, I went backto my office and gathered together the threads of my web of defense. ThenI wrote and sent out to all my newspapers and all my agents a broadsideagainst the management of the Textile Trust--it would be published inthe morning, in good time for the opening of the Stock Exchange. Beforethe first quotation of Textile could be made, thousands on thousands ofinvestors and speculators throughout the country would have read my letter,would be believing that Matthew Blacklock had detected the Textile Trustin a stock-jobbing swindle, and had promptly turned against it, preferringto keep faith with his customers and with the public. As I read over mypronunciamiento aloud before sending it out, I found in it a note ofconfidence that cheered me mightily. "I'm even stronger than I thought,"said I. And I felt stronger still as I went on to picture the thousands onthousands throughout the land rallying at my call to give battle.