Halsey & Co.: or, The Young Bankers and SpeculatorsShackleford, H. K. (Harvey King)
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Halsey & Co.: or, The Young Bankers and Speculators
Shackleford, H. K. (Harvey King)
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Wall Street (New York, N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"Then I want you to go with me and tell the story to the coroner.
"We'll all do that," said Allison.
"Did you see it, too?"
"Yes."
"Then I want you, too."
"Very well."
The doctor who had been summoned came in and examined the wound.
"The jugular is severed," he said. "No power on earth could have saved
him."
"Who was he?" the officer asked.
Nobody answered him.
"Does no one in this crowd recognize him?"
They gazed at the dead man, but none knew him.
"Who sent for me?" the doctor asked, looking around.
No one answered him.
"Who pays my fee?"
"You ought to know who told you about it," said the officer.
"Somebody called up to my window to come quick. I didn't see him."
"Doctor, I'll pay the bill," said Fred, "as long as it happened in
here."
"Very well. Ten dollars, please," and the doctor held out his hand for
the money.
Fred handed it to him, saying:
"Be kind enough to get out. You're a hog on two legs."
"What!" and the doctor gasped as if for breath.
"Get out of here, you old hog!" repeated Fred.
The doctor struck at him, his face livid with rage. The officer caught
him by the arm, saying:
"If you raise a disturbance here I shall have to arrest you, sir."
"Did you hear him insult me?" cried the doctor.
"Yes, but you can't fight here."
"If he wants to fight, let him fight a man of his size, not a boy," said
a broker in the crowd. "He is a hog, judging from his actions, and I am
ready to back it up!"
"I'll sue you for slander!" hissed the doctor, as he made his way
through the crowd.
"Sue and be hanged to you! You are a coward as well as a hog!" and the
belligerent broker followed him out to the sidewalk.
The doctor got away in the crowd. The ambulance came, and the body was
removed to the police station to await identification and the action of
the coroner. The doors of the bank were closed, and a number of brokers
remained inside to find out how the thing had happened. Mr. Allison
related how it occurred, and produced the certificate, which they all
examined. But not one of them was willing to say it was a forgery. The
old man was the best posted of them all.
"I would have loaned him $20,000 on that," said a well-known broker as
he examined it.
"You would have lost every penny of it, sir," replied Allison.
"Do you wish to wager anything on it?" the broker asked.
"I have no money to put up."
"Make the bet--I'll put up the money," said Bob. "I am willing to bet on
you."
"Very well, I'll wager $10,000 that this is a forgery, that the company
has never issued a 'Third series' of shares."
"Put up the money," said the broker. "I'll give my check. It can't be
certified now, since the bank is closed."
"You won't stop it if you lose, eh?" Bob asked.
"No, not I."
"Very well, Mr. Allison, put up the money in the hands of any one you
know."
The old man put up the money and Broker Dean put up his cheek.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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