October 30, 1929



T he women who some time ago took up the pastime of high finance seemed yesterday on the verge of returning to bridge. They filled the uptown offices of Stock Exchange firms, irritable and nervous. Toward 3 o'clock the general tenor of their remarks was that they were through forever.

Stock brokers have said that the women speculators are the worst losers. Many of those appearing the most worried yesterday were elderly. They pushed their way into the crowded rooms, asked for the latest quotations and then blamed the brokers for the condition of things. In one office a stout woman with chins asked a harassed manager for a quotation, heard it and then remarked: "You might at least be a gentleman." She went away crying.

Another woman, also elderly, went into the same office and announced loudly that she had lost $10,000. She seemed proud that she had lost it and went around for some time telling her friends. She wore four rings on one hand and smoked a succession of gold-tipped cigarettes from a jewel- studded gold case.

Four women were making the rounds of the offices on upper Broadway, apparently bent on turning catastrophe into a social affair. They drove in a large car with a chauffeur and entered each office regally. One of them, who said she had lost $15,000, remarked of an office that "this place is depressing." They went elsewhere.

The men in the uptown offices gathered around the tickers, sat quietly in their chairs or stood along the walls of the room. They made calculations, they appeared worried, but they said very little.

Shortly after 3 o'clock a small boy wandered into one of the uptown offices, looked around and finally found his mother. Apparently that is where he had been accustomed to meet her after school. They went out together shortly afterward, the boy asking for an ice cream cone and the woman telling a friend of her day's losses.



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