Business: Boy Plunger

At a table in Manhattan's noisy Stork Club one night last week sat a tall, thin, aging man and his wife. A society photographer asked the couple whether they minded having their picture taken. "Not at all," said the thin man. "But it's the last picture you'll take, because tomorrow I'm going away for a long time."

For the rest of the evening Jesse Lauriston Livermore, most fabulous living U. S. stock trader, sat brooding at his table while his wife danced with friends. It was just three years short of half a century...