about five
minutes to ten
It was not until late in the following day that I saw Kennedy again . It had been a busy day at the Star . We had gone to work that morning expecting to see the very financial heavens fall . But just about five minutes to ten , before the Stock Exchange opened , the news came in over the wire from our financial man on Broad Street : `` ` The System ' has forced James Bruce , partner of Kerr Parker , the dead banker ; to sell his railroad , steamship , and rubber holdings to it . On this condition it promises unlimited support to the market . '' `` Forced ! '' muttered the managing editor , as he waited on the office phone to get the composing-room , so as to hurry up the few lines in red ink on the first page and beat our rivals on the streets with the first extras .