《股票作手回忆录·第三章·初到纽约·对赌行的赢法为何失灵》第9节
If you remember, the Harriman crowd notified Morgan and Hill of their intention to be represented in the Burlington-Great Northern-Northern Pacific combination, and then the Morgan people at first instructed Keene to buy fifty thousand shares of N.P. to keep the control in their possession. I have heard that Keene told Robert Bacon to make the order one hundred and fifty thousand shares and the bankers did. At all events, Keene sent one of his brokers, Eddie Norton, into the N.P. crowd and he bought one hundred thousand shares of the stock. This was followed by another order, I think, of fifty thousand shares additional, and the famous corner followed. After the market closed on May 8, 1901, the whole world knew that a battle of financial giants was on. No two such combinations of capital had ever opposed each other in this country. Harriman against Morgan; an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. There I was on the morning of May ninth with nearly fifty thousand dollars in cash and no stocks. As I told you, I had been very bearish for some days, and here was my chance at last. I knew what would happen--an awful break and then some wonderful bargains. There would be a quick recovery and big profits--for those who had picked up the bargains. It didn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure this out. We were going to have an opportunity to catch them coming and going, not only for big money but for sure money.
注释摘要
这段文字把一个在金融史上都排得上号的经典战役，像快放电影一样呈现在我们面前。这里提到的，是1901年5月爆发的北太平洋铁路股票逼空大战。要理解这件事，得先知道当时的背景。那年头正是美国铁路大兼并的时代，两条横贯大陆的铁路干线——北太平洋和大北方，还有一条关键的连接线路伯灵顿，它们的控制权意味着整个西北部运输网络的命脉。爱德华·H·哈里曼，这位用头脑而非蛮力…