induced into taking shares, upon which she had
paid flve hundred pounds—the half of all she
had in the world—and was now liable for at
least five times that amount. She had thus
utterly ruined herself, and with her were ruined
four children under ten years of age. The money
she had invested was the total savings of her
late husband, the fruits of twenty-five years' self-
denial. She had read in the papers of the large
premiums which the shares in various banks and
finance companies commanded, and she hoped by
this—her first and last—speculation she would
be able to add something—a few hundreds, at any
rate—to her little store. She appeared quite
stricken down by her misfortune, but was
not alone in her troubles. An officer—a
major—in the army had, by long service and
great economy in India, scraped together enough
to enable him to purchase his lieutenant-
colonelcy. There being no immediate prospect
of promotion, he had invested his hard-earned
savings in our bank shares, thinking that whenever
called upon to pay for his step he could at
once sell them and realise his funds, perhaps
with a considerable profit. He now found all
his money swept away, just as he wanted it to
pay for his rank. He had no other means, and
not being able to purchase, was passed over by
his junior, who thus obtained command of the
regiment. The silent despair of this veteran
was enough to make the heart of any save
a promoter of companies bleed. It is true
that, strictly speaking, men like him have no
more right to speculate than a child has to play
with razors; but he had seen the names of men
he knew and respected—men who had themselves
been deceived—amongst the directors, and,
thinking the concern must be a sound one, he
had invested his all; his past years of saving
and his future professional rank were alike
swept away at one blow. "I can never hope
now to be a general officer," were the last words
he said to me upon leaving the bank. Six
months later—having previously sold out of the
service—he died, as I was told, of what may be
truly called a broken heart.

* See How we Floated the Bank, vol. xii.,
p. 493.

There were also several old servants—men
and women—that had, with their savings of
many years, bought our shares, and were now
beggars. One case I remember particularly
well. It was that of a couple considerably past
middle life. The husband had been thirty years
butler in a nobleman's family, the wife had
been nearly as long housekeeper to an old lady
who had just died, and left her a hundred
pounds. The united savings of husband and wife
amounted to about three hundred pounds, and
with this they were going to take and partly
stock a small inn, in a town where they could
obtain credit for the rest of the money they
wanted. In an evil moment they had seen the
prospectus of "THE GRAND FINANCIAL" in the
papers, and believing that they would be able to
double their capital in a very few months, they
purchased shares to the full amount of what
money they had. They were now worth several
hundred pounds less than nothing, for they were
liable for the full amount of the shares they
had so foolishly taken.

But I could fill column upon column in
describing all the misery caused by the break-
up of our bank. For those who had taken
shares as a speculation, and who had done so
with their eyes open, no one could feel the least
pity. Yet these were by far the most noisy and
abusive. There were sharp individuals from Leeds,
hard-headed calculators from Huddersfield, and
men who would have sold their own fathers—if
they could have done so at a premium—from
Liverpool. These and many more used for a
time to frequent daily the bank, and make all
kinds of preposterous demands of instant
payment of the money they had invested in shares.
Of course I, as secretary, had to receive them;
but they got very little satisfaction out of me,
beyond the offer of a seat when they came in
to the office, a few civil words whilst they
remained, and a bow when they took their
departure. Some few of these gentlemen,
however, came so often, that I got quite
intimate with them, and they used often to
insist upon my leaving the office and showing
them about London, even paying out of their
own pockets for sundry steaks, chops, soups,
and other luncheon refreshments, which we
partook of together in various parts of the
metropolis, to say nothing of hot brandy-and-
water which these strong-headed north countrymen
appeared able to drink in any quantity at
any hour, and which seemed to affect their
heads no more than so much lemonade or soda-
water.

There was one shareholder who nearly brought
down the whole fabric of the bank upon the
heads of the unfortunate directors. When
called upon to contribute his share, this
individual denied his liability on the plea that,
inasmuch as the prospectus of the bank set forth
that one kind of business was to be done, and
the articles of association permitted more
extended operations being entered into, he—
having applied for shares on the faith of the
prospectus—ought not only to be declared free
from future liability, but also to have the money
he had paid returned to him. In short, he
pleaded that he was not a shareholder, and was
thus entitled not only to be taken off the list
altogether, but to have his money returned to
him.

As a matter of course, a decision like this—
for the case was tried and decided in the
shareholder's favour by one of the lower courts of
law—took everybody aback. Nearly all the
shareholders in the bank commenced instituting
legal proceedings against the directors, and trying
not only to get free from future liabilities,
but also to have their past payments returned.
The unfortunate directors were utterly aghast.
Most of them had been induced to take seats at
the board from representations which were at
variance with facts, and none, save two or
three, none had reaped any benefit whatever
from their connexion with the concern. Some
of them were men of straw, and to try and