The registering of the vote called forth quite a
demonstration. Laughter, smiles and sarcasm predominated in the part of
the hall where I was located. For a moment I was the center of
attraction.
Despite the embarrassment and annoyance under which I labored, I felt
that I was called upon to defend the good name of the company and,
gaining recognition from the chairman, I said that the manner in which
the "California" voted seemed to cause some of those present
considerable amusement and that, individually, I didn't see anything in
it that was funny; that it was more of a tragedy than a comedy, and that
it was a solemn and serious matter for the company of which I was the
representative to go on record for the second time, publicly, as
pledging itself to pay so tremendous an amount of money out of the
pockets of its stockholders; that I was present at the meeting to carry
out the expressed instructions and wishes of these same stockholders and
that they intended to be scrupulously careful in keeping their promises,
backing their words with their deeds and dollars. This statement brought
from the dollar-for-dollar companies a gratifying amount of applause and
the "six-bit-ers" sank into silence.
As the days passed and the "tumult and shouting" died, it gave a certain
amount of satisfaction to find that amongst the jeerers and sneerers at
the memorable Reed's Hall meeting, those who had battled most vigorously
for the horizontal cut of twenty-five cents were those who afterward
developed into the worst welshers and shavers in the entire history of
the loss settlements of the San Francisco or any other conflagration.
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