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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

JAY GOULD

UliiilMliO GEORGE J GOULD

LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS

—OF—

JAY GOULD
THE WIZARD OF WALL STREET
—BEING—
A Complete and Graphic Account of the
Greatest Financier of Modern
Times:
HIS EARLY LIFE AND STRUGGLES ; BOLD VENTURES AND
BRILLIANT SUCCESSES; WONDERFUL CAREER AS
A SPECULATOR AND RAILROAD KING; VAST
OPERATIONS IN WALL STREET; HIS
IMMENSE FORTUNE ACCUMU
LATED IN A FEW YEARS.
A Remarkable Story abounding in Fascinating
Incidents, Thrilling Episodes, and
Marvelous Achievements.
BY HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP,
Author of " Earth, Sea and Sky," Ftc, Etc.

EMBELLISHED WITH NUMEROUS FINE ILLUSTRATIONS.

PHILADELPHIA, PA:
ARIEL BOOK COMPANY,
ii 1 1 & 1113 Market Street.

COPYKIGHT, lSg2,

PREFACE.
This volume contains a graphic account of the life
and achievements of the greatest financier and rail
road king of modern times. It portrays the brill
iant career of the most dazzling operator ever known
in Wall street.
His early life was spent in humble surroundings,
but he rose to the highest pinnacle of fortune. With
out wealth or influence to aid him, he carved his
name high before the eyes of the people, and became
the greatest money king of the world.
He was a man of great shrewdness, bold decision
and sudden movements. His courage was equal to
every emergency ; he was master of every crisis. His
operations were on avast scale, and he became known
as the Wizard of Wall street.
This captivating Story of his Life gives a graphic
account of his boyhood and youth, his life as a sur
veyor, and in a country store, his business as a tanner,
his coming to the great metropolis, and his first suc
cesses as a railroad operator.
" Black Friday " is historic in the history of Wall
street. On that day of wild excitement this cool-
headed financier made $4,000,000. For years a great
mystery gathered about him; every movement. was
watched. His investments, his deals, even his health
and journeys were chronicled by the press as though
he had been a King.
This fascinating work traces his whole career. It
is a complete history of the money Monarch. Ii
(iii)

iv PREFACE.
abounds in facts and incidents which everybody is
eager to read. It pictures his home life, his elegant
mansions, his magnificent works of art, and gives a
detailed account of the gigantic schemes and achieve
ments which have made his name known throughout
the civilized world.
This complete life of Jay Gould is portrayed by a
masterly pen, and is as fascinating as a romance.
The world unites in pronouncing the career of Jay
Gould wonderful. He was endowed with a genius
for speculation as great as the genius of Napoleon
for war, and of Gladstone for statesmanship.
He found out in early life what he was fitted for,
and he never entered 'any field of endeavor except the
one to which nature assigned him. Few men have
ever united such penetrating intellect and indomitable
will. His name and activities have entered into the
history of our country, and have aroused the interest
of other nations.
In business life this hero among speculators was
quick to discover chances, and equally quick to take
advantage of them. He died the controlling owner of
three great systems of organized capital — the 11,000
miles of railroad centring about the Missouri Pacific,
the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the New
York Elevated System. In addition to these, he was
a large owner in many great properties, all. of which he
acquired by his own unaided efforts. Bold, daring,
ambitious, capable of immense combinations, and the
rapid execution of vast schemes, he stood before the
world as the very King of Finance.

MRS. GEORGE J. GOULD.

EDWIN GOULD.

CONTENTS.

PAC5E
CHAPTER i.
Birth and Boyhood  17

CHAPTER II.
Early Life of the Great Financier  26
CHAPTER III.
Story of the Tannery  41
CHAPTER IV.
The Wizard in New York  S3
CHAPTER V,
Inside History of the Erie Railroad  60'
t
CHAPTER VI.
How Gold Went Up and Down  89
CHAPTER VII.
The Story of Black Friday  100
CHAPTER VIII.
The Famous Wall Street and Stock Exchange 116
(v)

VI CONTENTS. PAGE
CHAPTER IX.
Gould and the Pacific Railroads ...... »34
CHAPTER X.
Gould and the New York Elevated Railroads . . .15°
CHAPTER XI.
Supreme Dictator of Telegraph Companies . . .159
CHAPTER XII.
Important Events in Gould's Career  172
CHAPTER XIII.
The Great Union Pacific Deal ....... 1S4
CHAPTER XIV.
How the Millionaire Lived  194
CHAPTER XV!
Mr. Gould's Charities  214
CHAPTER XVI.
9
Stories About the Money King  223
CHAPTER XVII.
Remarkable Characteristics of the Wall Street
Napoleon  267
CHAPTER XVIII.
Cranks and Crazy Men  288

CONTENTS. Vii
PAGE
CHAPTER XIX.
Stories of Interviews with Mr. Gould by Newspaper
Reporters .... .... 298
CHAPTER XX.
Incidents in the Life of Jay Gould  317
CHAPTER XXI.
A Many- Sided Man  334
CHAPTER XXII.
In the Valley of Death  356
CHAPTER XXIII.
Effect of Mr. Gould's Death  37°
CHAPTER XXIV.
Tributes to the King of Wall Street  381
CHAPTER XXV.
Preparation for the Obsequies  392
CHAPTER XXVI.
" Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes "  4°i
CHAPTER XXVII.
Mr. Gould's Last Will and Testament . . . .424
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Who is to Succeed Jay Gould?  449

V1U CONTENTS. PAGE
CHAPTER XXIX.
What was Said of the Railroad King .... 456
CHAPTER XXX.
Views of the Press Concerning the Wizard . . ¦ 469
CHAPTER XXXI.
Hobbies of Millionaires  492
CHAPTER XXXII.
Other Rich Men  504

Story of Jay Gould's Life.

CHAPTER I.
Birth and Boyhood.
The death of Jay Gould ended a remarkable
career. He began life with nothing- and he died
worth nearly a hundred million of dollars. From a
poor boy he became the most brilliant and successful
financier of our time. His judgment was quick and
sound, his energy was untiring, and his enterprises
were planned on so vast a scale that he was without
a rival in the business world. The history of this re
nowned financier and railroad king awakens universal
interest; the story is graphic and startling throughout.
It is scarcely necessary to say that Mr. Gould was a
self-made man. He came of Puritan stock, and was
born on May 27th, 1836, in the little village of Rox
bury, Delaware county, New York State. He was
destined to be one of the most extraordinary men of
his time. His life covered the most eventful period
of our political and commercial history, and during
this period he was a unique and commanding figure.
He was remarkable for the creation of a colossal for-
2 ' (17)

18 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
tune of tens of millions ; remarkable for the methods
he employed to create this wealth, and for the
stirrine and dramatic events in which his life
abounded ; remarkable for the extraordinary power
which for many years he exerted in the world of
speculation and business ; remarkable for the striking
contrasts of his character, for the purity of his private
life and for the audacious daring of his public life ;
remarkable for the frailty of his physique, and for the
courage, breadth and power of his mind.
The -Napoleon of Finance.
Other men have risen from poverty to affluence,
and the United States contain not a few who have
created colossal fortunes in a few bold enterprises by
the simple exercise of their shrewdness, foresight and
daring, but Mr. Gould's great wealth was created
thr.ough a series of incidents so extraordinary and
so dramatic, and by methods so startling, that his
career dazzles the imagination. He has been in
finance and speculation what Napoleon was in war and
politics — the most brilliant character the world has
ever seen.
L6ok back upon his wonderful career. We see
him leaving his father's farm a penniless but deter
mined lad, clerking in a country store by day and study
ing mathematics at night. We follow him as he be
comes a map-maker and goes forth to survey his own
and adjoining counties. We see him, hungry and
unable to purchase a meal, kneeling down by the road
side and repeating his sister's prayer.

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 19
We see him strike his first bargain. We see him win
the confidence of Zadock Pratt, the tanner. We fol
low him into the forests of Pennsylvania and hear the
sound of his axe as he fells the first tree for a great
tannery. We see him working for the control of the
property. We follow him in his partnership with
Leupp, the old-fashioned and honorable merchant of
New York, and see him again working to gain control
of the entire business. We see him entering-, even
at this early day, into wild speculations that involved
his partner and threatened him with ruin. We follow
the young adventurer to New York. We see him
buy his first railroad on credit and clear a handsome
fortune. out of the operation. We follow him into
Wall street, where for more than twenty years he
was to reign as a king and master. We see him in
Erie, first as a follower of Daniel Drew and after
wards as President. Wall Street in a Panic.
We see him and his companion, James Fisk, Jr., the
great speculator, in a series of wonderful stock
operations, cornering eyen their former leader, Daniel
Drew, and fighting with desperation Commodore Van-
derbilt. We hear the awful crash of Black Friday's
earthquake, from which Mr. Gould saved himself, but
in which hundreds were involved in ruin. We see
him now driven out of Erie by the indignant stock
holders, headed by Gen. Sickles, Gen. Dix and Gen.
McClellan. We see him cornering Northwest and
raking in the wealth of his recent Wall street partner.

^0 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
We can see him now fastening his fingers on the
great Union Pacific Railroad, which for ten years he
controlled. We see him securing control of the Pacific Mail,
the chief American steamship line. We see him buy
ing for a few million dollars from Commodore Garri-
son the Missouri Pacific, "just as a plaything," but
which he afterwards developed into a great railroad
system covering thousands of miles of territory. We
see him controlling vast sums of money, fostering
railroad enterprises, developing the resources of new
regions, and thus adding immensely to the wealth of
the nation. He is restless and eager, always launch
ing some new undertaking, and surprising the public
by his bold schemes and the coolness of his judg
ment. We see him organizing an opposition against West
ern Union until, the favorable moment arriving, he
secures control of the company, and by a series of ex
traordinary consolidations, makes himself the head of
a telegraph monopoly with a system covering the
United States and crossing the Atlantic ocean.
Domestic Virtues.
We hear the crash of another panic. There are
moments when we think the great speculator will fall
— when, lo ! we see him calmly exhibiting his millions
of securities to his friends. Others fall, among them
men who had been his partners and agents, but he is
safe. We see him living in a palace on the Hudson and

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD.

21

ploughing the waters of the river and the ocean with
the most splendid yacht ever constructed. We see
him at home, the personification of domestic honor and
purity, a faithful husband and a kind father. We find
the power of his millions and of the great properties
he controlled felt in every direction. He is a factor
in elections. Candidates seek him for favors. He

JAY GOULD S BIRTHPLACE.
dictates appointments to high offices. Honorable men
sit with him in boards of direction and are identified
with some of his enterprises. Nothing that the fertile
imagination of Balzac, Dumas or Goboriau ever con
ceived equals in dramatic incidents and sensational de
velopments the career of this extraordinary man.
It will be observed that there were two Goulds —

22 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. ,
Gould the man of affairs and Gould the man of family.
In all his domestic relations his life was pure, his
nature affectionate. No criticism can touch him in his
home life. There he was above reproach. Towards
the end of his life his dual nature seemed to blend into
one. He became more conservative in business, more
solicitous, apparently, of the good will and good opin
ion of his fellow-men. more careful to keep within the
bounds of strict business morality, less audacious in
his methods. Nor should it be forgotten that however
much Mr. Gould's public career may be justly subject
to criticism, much that he did was indirectly for the
public benefit ? For instance, he developed properties
that enriched wide sections of the country. No re
view of his career would be complete without this
acknowledgment. A Sterling Ancestry.
Such were the marvellous achievements of the
country lad who was born in the little village in New
York state on that May day in 1836. Nearly half a
century before, while Delaware, Ulster and Otsego.
counties were yet one, his grandfather came with half
a dozen Puritan families from Fairfield county, Con
necticut, and took up land near the hamlet which be
came Jay Gould's birthplace. v
This grandfather was Captain Abram Gould. He
had been a Revolutionary soldier and is described.
as a "grim, earnest, honest man." To him was born
in 1792 a son who was named John B., the first male
child born in the new settlement. John B. grew to

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 23
manhood, was three times married and Jay was his
son by his first wife.
Tlie boy's mother was a pious woman, a regular
attendant on the Methodist services held in the " Yal-
ler Meetin' House" where Jay also imbibed such
religious notions as found a foot-hold in a nature not
much given to the contemplation of spiritual things.
The father was a small farmer and kept a dairy of
twenty cows. At School.
Until he was fourteen years old Jay lived on the
farm, picking up such a meagre education as attend
ance- for from four to five years at a district school,
which was closed during the greater part ofthe year,
afforded. This school was finally closed altogether
by the breaking out of the " Anti-Rent War,'' as it was
called, an uprising of the farmers against the efforts
of persons who claimed to have bought the land from
the India'ns to collect an annual rental.
Jay was dissatisfied with farm life, which, indeed,
offered nothing under the circumstances to satisfy his
boyish ambitions. The reasons of his dissatisfaction
he once set forth as follows : " As I was the boy of
the family I generally brought the cows in the morn
ing and assisted my sisters to milk them and drove
them back, and went for them again at night. I went
barefooted and I used to get thistles in my feet, and I
did not like farming in that way ; so I said one day to
my father that I would like to go to a select school that
was some twelve or fifteen miles from there. He said

24 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
all right, but that I was too young. I said to him that
if he,; would give me my time I would try -my fortune.
He said, all right ; that I was not worth much at home
and I might go ahead. So next day I started off. I
showed myself up at this school, and finally I found
a blacksmith who consented to board me, as I wrote a
pretty good hand, if I could write up his books at
night. In that way I worked myself through this
school." Locked in the Cellar.
This school was kept by a Mr. Oliver, and Jay left
it in 185 1 after he had studied a year. During this
year, however, he must have made considerable pro
gress in mathematics in spite of the fact that it used to
be related of him in the neighborhood that he grew
tired once of going to school and was locked up one
morning in the cellar by his father as a measure of
correction, and forgotten until his non-return in the
evening caused comment.
The taste for mathematics it was that opened up to
him the first steadily lucrative employment in which
he became engaged, and also led him by easy steps
into the career which destiny seems to have marked
out for him. But first it was reserved for him to take
part in a transaction in which one cannot fail to
recognize one of the distinctive traits of his future
business career.
If the King of Wall Street never went huntino- for
snipes with a brass band, neither did the country lad.
After leaving school Jay got into a country store as a

CELEBRITIES OF WALL STREET.

viimg*.iiAc otimfflgpfw "

CELEBRITIES OF WALL STREET.

BIRTH AND BOYHOOD. 25
sort of boy of all work. He had to open the store at
6 o'clock in the morning and sweep it out, and. his
duties occupied him until 10 o'clock at night. During
this time he was learning the business, and one inci
dent dating back to this period in his career shows
that he was more than an apt pupil.
A Sharp Bargain.
His employer was negotiating for the purchase of
some property belonging to an estate in chancery and
Jay carried on the correspondence for him. The
executor demanded $2,500, but the would-be purchaser
offered only $2,000. Jay undertook a little investiga
tion on private account and became convinced that the
property was bound to appreciate in value. He went
to his father, got $2,500 on a loan, bought the property
at that price, had the deed made in his father's name
and within two weeks sold out for $4,000. It is said
that his employer looked at the transaction in the
light of a breach of confidence and the result was a
severance of relations and the disturbance ofthe. young
man's first matrimonial plans.

CHAPTER II.
Early Life of the Great Financier.
Mr. Gould related the story of his early life before
the Committee of the United States on Labor and
Education as follows :
" I think I was about fourteen when I left home, and
I spent about a year at school. Then I got into a
country store, where I made myself useful, sweeping
it out every niorning and learning what I could about
the business during the day. My duties in the store
occupied me from 6 o'clock in the morning until 10
o'clock at night. In the meantime I had got quite a
taste for mathematics, especially surveying and engin
eering. I took that up after I had left school, and as
I was pretty busy during the day, I used to get up. at
3 o'clock in the morning and study from that time
until 6 o'clock, and I very soon found that I had got a
pretty good idea of that branch, so I concluded that I
would start out as a surveyor.
" I heard of a man in Ulster county who was look
ing for an assistant in making a map of the county — a
surveyor. I wrote to him, and he wrote back engag
ing me ; so one spring morning I started off home.
This man's bargain with me was $20 a month and
lound. When I came to start I questioned whether I
(26)

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 27
should take any money with me or not. I could have
had it, but I thought it was better to break down the
bridge behind me; so I took. only enough to pay my
fare. I met this gentleman, and he started me out to
make these surveys. The map he was making was
one on which all the roads and residences are located
— a map showing the general topography of the
country. They are useful for reference.
" There are my Pockets."
"When this man came to start me out he gave me
a small passbook and said, 'As you go along, you will
get trusted for your little bills, what you eat, and so on,
and I will come round afterwards and pay the bills.'
I thought that was all right. I think it was on my
second or third day out that I met a man who took a
different view. I had stayed at his house over night.
They charged in that part of the country at that
time a shilling for supper, sixpence for lodging, and a
shilling for breakfast,, making two shillings and six
pence ih all. I took out my little book and said : ' I
will enter that.'
"The man turned >¦ . me with an oath and said (re
ferring to my employer) : ' Why, you don't know this
man ! He has failed three times. He owes every
body in the county, and you have got money and I
know it and I want the bl'.I paid. There I was; I
hadn't a cent in my pocket; so I just pulled my
pockets out and said to him : 'You can see that I tell
the truth. There are my pockets.' So finally he said he
would trust me. ' I'll trust you/ said he, ' but I won't

28 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
trust that man.' This incident had such an effect on
me that it seemed to me as though the world had
come to an end. This was in the morning, and I
could not have the heart that day to ask anybody to
give me a dinner, so along about 3 o'clock in the
afternoon I got faint and I sat down for a few
minutes. Praying in the Woods.
"After this rebuff I was naturally timid. It had a
great effect upon me, and I debated with myself
whether I should give up and go home or whether I
should go ahead. I came to a piece of woods where
nobody could see me, and I had a good cry. Finally
I thought I would try my sister's remedy — a prayer.
So I got down and prayed, and felt better after it, and
I then made up my mind to go ahead. I set my lips
close together and made up my mind that I would go
ahead and 'die in the last ditch.'
"So I went on and the first house I came -to I deter
mined right then and there to go in and get something
to eat. I went in and the woman treated me kindly,
gave me some bread and milk and cold meats, and
one thing and another, and when I got ready to leave
I said to her, ' I will enter it down.' She said all right.
In the meantime her husband came in and they both
said it was all right. I started, and had got, I guess,
about forty rods away from the house when I heard
him hallooing to me. Well, after the morning scene
I thought he was going to finish me ; but he came
right on and when he got up to me he said, ' I want

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 29
you to take your compass back and make me a noon-
mark.' "That, as you perhaps know, is a north and south
line right through the window, marked in so that the
farmers can regulate their clocks by it. When the
sun strikes the line it is 12 o'clock. I took my com
pass back and made the noon mark for him. W'hen
I had made it, and was about to go away, he said,
' How much is that ? ' ' Oh,' said I, ' nothing.' • Oh,
yes,' said he, ' I want to pay you for it.' I thought a
moment and he went on to say, ' Our surveyor always
charges a dollar for these jobs.' Said I, : Very well.
Take out a shilling for my dinner.' So he paid me
the seven shillings. Everything went by ' shillings *"in
those days-height shillings to the dollar — and he kept
one and paid me the other seven. That was the first
money I made in that business, and it opened up a
new field to me, so that I went on from that time and
completed the surveys and paid my expenses all that
summer by making noon-marks at different places.
A County Map.
"When I got through with the summer's work my
employer had failed and was unable to pay me. There
were two other young men, wealthy men's sons, who
had been engaged on the same work, and we three
together had the control of it. I proposed to them
that we should go on and finish the map ourselves,
and finally we decided to do so. Then, as they lived
in the county and were pretty conspicuous, they
wanted to put their names to the map, so I said to

30 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
them, ' Very well ; I will sell you out my interest,' and
I sold out my interest to them for $500.
" This was the result of my first summer's work. I
went on and finished the work and got it ready for the
engraver, so that what I sold was the perfected map.
This was a map of Ulster county. With this little
capital (which was a great deal to me then) I went
forward and made similar surveys of Albany and Dela
ware counties. I had made up my mind that I would
go it alone, and I made those surveys alone and com
pleted them, and- they were very successful in sale, so
that I made about $5,000 out of those maps. About
that time, while I was carrying on these surveys, I
met a gentleman who seemed to take a fancy to me,
Mr. Zadoc Pratt, of Prattville. He was at that time
one of the largest tanners in the country. I had done
some surveying for him. He had a very beautiful
place at Prattville, and I fixed that up for him, and
finally he proposed to me to go into the tanning busi
ness with him. He knew my whole history.
Off for Pennsylvania.
" I accepted this proposal, and next day I started for
Pennsylvania. The Delaware and Lackawanna Rail
road had just been completed. I went over that road
and found some very large lots of hemlock timber
land, and I came back and reported to Mr. Pratt what
I had found, and we decided to 0-0 on.
" He sent me back and I made the purchase of the
land — made all the contracts myself, and then came
back and took about fifty or sixty men down there

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 31

with me to start the work. It was right in the woods,
fifteen miles from any place. I went in there and
chopped down the first tree. We had a portable saw
mill, and we sawed the tree up, and that day we built
"a blacksmith's shop out ofthe timber. I slept init
that night, on a bed made of hemlock boughs. We
went on and built the tannery. It was a very large
one, the largest in the country at that time. We car
ried on the business for a while, and then I bought
Mr. Pratt out, and sold the interest to a firm in New
York, at the head of which was a Mr. Loup."
Such was the modest beginning of the man who
piled up the most colossal fortune of modern times
that has been acquired by individual exertion, without
any help from those who had gone before. Nobody
living but his sons know just how large that fortune
really is. Eager to Attend School.
Mr. Jay Gould used to tell his intimate friends that
whatever nerve he possessed he inherited from his
father. He remembered seeing his father chase a
band of anti-renters out of his dooryard with nothing
but an old musket in his hands. For a few years after
the anti-rent turmoil had quieted down young Jay re
mained at home, doing such work as his limited
strength would permit.
He was discontented, and from time to time urged
his father to send him to some academy where he
could obtain an education. His father did not refuse

32 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
his request, but kept telling the impatient boy to wait
a while. Jay did wait until he was fourteen years old. Then,
after pondering over his prospects, he formed a res
olution, and at once put it into practice by asking his
father's permission to leave home, saying that he was
confident in his ability to take care of himself. His
father was inclined to be amused at the boy's request,
which was made with much earnestness, and thinking
that it was a mere passing whim, returned a careless
affirmative. The family were astounded, however,
the next morning when little Jay entered the break
fast room equipped for his journey out into the world.
He ate his breakfast quietly and, arising from the
table, held out his hand to his father with a hearty
"good bye, father." His father was amazed at his
determination, and his stepmother and sisters entreated
him tearfvHy to remain at home. Unshaken in pur-r
pose, how . /er, the future "Wizard of Wall Street"
hastily caught up his little bundle and left his parent's
house. His bundle contained a spare suit of clothes,
and he had fifty cents in his pocket.
Bookkeeping and Mathematics.
Youjjg Jay trudged hopefully through the moun
tainous road between Roxbury and Hobart, where
there was an academy that he had lonp- desired to
enter. He went directly to the Principal of the academy
and told him of his anxiety to obtain an education and
his desire to get employment that he might earn money
to pay his tuition fees. The Principal became interested

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 33
in the boy and secured for him the position of book
keeper in a store kept by the village blacksmith.
Gould worked hard and soon mastered the intrica
cies of bookkeeping. He spent a few hours each day
at the academy and endeavored to avail himself of all
its advantages. He developed a decided talent for
mathematics and soon became quite proficient in sur-,
veying, trigonometry, and engineering.
He was at the same time an eager reader of history,
and his liking for historical works was one of his char
acteristics through life. He was an early riser. There
was scarcely a day while he was at Hohnrt that he did
not get up at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Having acquired a theoretical knowledge of en
gineering, Gould borrowed an old compass and a set
of surveying implements from a resident of the village
and devoted himself assiduously to practice in the
fields. Being of an inventive turn of mind he made
various toys which he gave to the village boys as com
pensation for acting as flag and chain bearers on his
surveying expeditions. Gets an Interest in a Tin-Shop.
After he had been with the village blacksmith as
bookkeeper for one year, his employer offered him a
half interest in the store on condition that he would
take full charge of the business. Gould accepted the
offer, and it is related that he speedily built up a
flourishing trade and developed business traits that
attracted the attention of New York merchants. The
business, however, was not congenial to his taste ancl
3

34 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
in the spring of 1852 he transferred his interest in the
Hobart store to his father, who, meanwhile, had sold
his farm.
The house in which Jay was born and spent his
boyhood is described as " a two-story, box-like frame
building covered with a coating of white paint." In
July, 1880, Jay Gould revisited his birthplace and also
Hobart, eleven miles distant, where he went to school.
He used to walk the entire distance to school every
Monday morning, returning Saturdays. He was en
thusiastically received by the inhabitants at the time
of his visit as the most noted man ever born in that'
region. Anecdotes of the Wizard.
Innumerable anecdotes are related of Jay's early
life. All the world has heard the mouse-trap story.
It was in 1853, when the World's Exhibition was held
in New York, that young Gould, then about seventeen
years old, is said to have made his first visit to the
metropolis, in which he was to become such a power.
He carried with him a showy mahogany case, contain
ing an invention which the boy hoped would bring
him fame and fortune. The invention was a mouse
trap. He entered a horse-car, and leaving his invention,
on the seat, stepped outside and stood on the platform,;
where he could view the glories of the great city. The:
box was picked up by a thief, but not without the ob
servation of young Gould, who pursued the thief and
captured him, his exploit being related next day in the

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 35
Herald, this being the first newspaper reference to
Gould, whose renown has filled columns of the daily
press for years. The mouse-trap was a success, but
its inventor laid traps and caught speculative mice all
his life.
In conversation Mr. Gould's dark eyes were seldom
directed full at one. There was a far-off expression
in them, as if he were constantly gazing into the
future. Indeed, in his conferences with his associates,
Mr. Gould rarely said anything until every one else had
had his say. If ever his eyes betrayed his innermost
feelings it was when he told of his first visit to New
York. He was not poor even then. He had several
thousand dollars, though he had but just turned sev
enteen years of age. This was his story :
That Famous Mouse-Trap.
" I was ambitious and had brought a little thing with
me which I was sure was to make my fortune and
revolutionize the world," said Mr. Gould, "and -you
will smile when I tell you that it was a mouse-trap.
It was in a pretty mahogany case, which I carried un
der my arm. I got into a Sixth avenue car, I think,
and every now and then I ran out on the platform to
see the building-s, leaving- the case containing- the
mouse-trap on the seat. When I got to the street
where I was to get off the mouse-trap had disap
peared. I turned to the conductor and said:
" ' What has become of my box ? '
" ' That box that was on the seat ? '
"'Yes.'

36 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"'Was it yours? Why,' replied the conductor, 'a
man who got out and turned down the last street
carried it off. If you run you will probably catch
him.' " I ran and caught him. He was a great strong
fellow, but I collared him. I really regretted that I
had done so and tried to let him go, but the fact is one
of my fingers caught in a button-hole of his coat, and
before I could get off there was a crowd around us
and a policeman, who took us both off to a near-by
court. The statements of the policeman and of my
self and of the thief were all heard. The magistrate
drew some nice legal and technical distinctions which
came very near costing me my liberty.
Escapes Imprisonment.
" While the thief who stole my mouse-trap was com
mitted to trial, I was given to understand that owing
to my inability to furnish bail — for I knew no one in
New York then — I should be detained as a witness
until the trial. It was not a pleasant introduction to
New York, but I have never forgotten it, and its recol-
'ection has often afforded me a good deal of amuse
ment. Fortunately for me there was a detective in
the place who had been hunting my mouse-trap thief
for years, and who had a requisition from, I think, the
Governor of Pennsylvania or New Jersey. He
; saved me.
" I forgot to say that when in the course of the ex
amination the box was opened to verify the truth of
my statement, and the purloiner of .my great inven-

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER. 37
tion found it was only a mouse-trap, his face assumed
such an expression of disgust that I could not help
laughing at him."
That Gould's great fortune was not the result of a
streak of luck, but of strict attention to business and
hard work, is clearly proved in all the events of his
life. His plans were the result of careful thought,
and they were carried out by hard'work. The man
in whose family young Gould worked for his board
when going to school thus speaks of his conduct at
that early date : " He was an excellent boy. His hab
its were good and he devoted most of his evenings to
study. He was always the first one up in the morn
ing- and he had the fire burning; and the tea-kettle
boiling by the time my wife was ready to prepare
breakfast." A Great Pusher.
The map-making episode has been pretty fully related
by Mr. Gould in his testimony before the Senate Com
mittee, but there are a few additional particulars of
interest related by Oliver J. Tillson, one of his part
ners in the map-making enterprise, after the failure of
the man who had first employed him in the business.
Mr. Tillson confirms Mr. Gould's account, and tells
of the bargain in which the latter sold out to his part-
ners. Here is a copy of a receipt given by Gould on
that occasion. December 27, 1852.
Received of Oliver J. Tillson and Peter H. Brink
ninety dollars and wheel in full of all debts and de-

38 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
mands and dues against them and the Ulster county
map. Jason Gould,
for John B. Gould.
It will be observed that he signed his name " Jason,"
not Jay. He was christened " Jason," but about this
time began to change it to Jay, by which he was ever
after known. " There wasn't any foolishness in Jason's ;
books," says Mr. Tillson, referring to the books in
which Mr. Gould had made his notes of the surveys.
" He was all business in those days, as he is now.
Why, even at meal times" he was always talking map.
He was a worker, and my father used to say : ' Look
at Gould ; isn't he a driver?' "
This, in fact, is the testimony of all his contempo
raries. From his earlier years he was absorbed in
schemes for making money, and his whole aim in life
was to " get on." With every passing year his ambi
tion broadened, until it enveloped a continent.
What a Lawyer Did.
It is a striking coincidence that young Gould and his
two partners in the map business were sued by the
man who first employed the former in the project, and
they placed their case in the hands of Lawyer T. R.
Westbrook, who succeeded in having the suit dis-
missed. Westbrook afterwards became (and this is
the coincidence) the Supreme Court Judge who years
after scandalized the legal profession by holdino- court
in Jay Gould's private office and issuing an order in
one of the Manhattan Railway litigations.

EARLY LIFE OF THE GREAT FINANCIER.

39

Personal Appearance.
Jay Gould was a short, spare man, with piercing
black eyes and a sallow face, the lower part of which
was hidden behind a full black beard. Those who
knew him best said that it was through his eyes that
the man revealed himself. They were a remarkable
pair — searching, firm,
cold and all but inca
pable of changing in
any way that might be
tray his feelings.
.He seldom lost his
temper or was excited.
His methods, if his
friends analyze them
correctly, led him to
discern public move
ments before his rivals
did, and to follow rather
than to lead them.
Thus he got the great
influence of natural
forces to add to his
power and weight in many important railway specu
lations. In others he created conditions to suit his
speculative intentions, and there were no means he
would hesitate to adopt in order to succeed.
Many who knew Mr. Gould intimately are in the
habit of asserting that his origin must have been
Hebraic. No one pretends to say how many genera-

JAY GOULD.

40 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
tions back the Jewish blood was in the family, or that
Mr. Gould was aware of its existence in him. But
both his names — Jason, or Jay, and Gould — served to
strengthen this belief in those who held it. The
twisted form " Gould " was suspected of being changed
from "Gold," which is a common prefix in the names
of inanimate and natural objects which certain Jews in
Europe were compelled to adopt as surnames in one
period of their history. His habits of thought and his
extraordinary intellect were both Jewish, these persons
assert, with how much or little basis in the actual fact
of his origin no one can ever decide.
Mr. Gould was certainly American in the character
and extent of his self-creation and success. Born of
poor parents on a poorer farm, he began to make..
money to pay his way through school, and he was a
partner in business enterprises while yet a lad. He
got richer and richer by the fairest means and by
means that caused him to be the man most cordially
disliked by jhe public of all the conspicuous men of
his day. He died worth many millions of dollars,
inheriting none and marrying none that united in his
vast estate.

JAMES FISK. JR

WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT.

CHAPTER III.
Story of the Tannery.
Mr. Gould next became a tanner, and his experi
ence in this business, which occupied him only a short
time, forms one of the most interesting chapters of
his eventful life.
While surveying in the interior of New York State
he became acquainted with Zadoc Pratt. He related
the incident himself and the events which followed it
to the Senate Committee as follows :
" At that time, while I was carrying on these surveys,
I met a gentleman who seemed to take a fancy to me
— one Zadoc Pratt, of Prattville, who owned one of
the largest tanneries in the country. I had done some
surveying for him. He had a beautiful place at Pratt
ville, and he proposed to me to go into the tannery
business with him. I consented, and on the next day
started for Pennsylvania. I found that the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad had just been com
pleted and had some large tracts of hemlock timber for
sale. I told Mr.- Pratt what I had found, and he sent
me back to purchase this tract. I made all the con
tracts myself and, returning, got from fifty to sixty,
men and with them- started the works. It was right
out in the woods and I cut down the first tree. (4H

42 LIFE OF JA1 GOULD.
"We got up a saw mill and put up a blacksmith's
shop, and I slept in that on a bed make of hemlock
bark. So we went on and it became the largest tan
nery in the country. I finally bought Pratt out, and
afterwards sold it in New York to a firm at the head
of which was a Mr. Leupp. About that time the panic
of 1857 came, and of course everything was very
much disturbed — confidence was gone in almost every
kind of business, and money was almost impossible to
get. I thought once or twice that we would fail, but
we went through. Mr. Leupp afterwards committed
suicide. That left the property in such a condition
that litigation grew out of it."
Tanner and Politician.
It is to be ieg;retted that Mr. Gould was not.so full
and explicit in his account of this part of his career
as he was in his statement of his earlier years. Zadoc
Pratt was a famous man in his days — a man of ability,
push and ambition. He was not only the biggest
tanner in the country, but he also was a power in the
politics ofthe State. He served ten years in Congress,
and at least one of his speeches attracted widespread
attention. He was one of the earliest advocates of cheap
postage, and he moved the establishment of the
Bureau of Statistics, which has since developed into
the Department of the Interior. He also moved the
first survey of the Pacific Railroad line. When he
ceased his Prattville tannery in 1845 he estimated that
in twenty years he had used 150,000 cords of bark.

STORY OF THE TANNERY. 43
and wood, had employed 30,000 men, had cleared 12,-
060 acres of land and tanned over one million sides
of sole-leather.
He was, however, nearly seventy years old when he
interested himself in Gould. The latter was fortunate
in obtaining the confidence of this man. The history
of his association with Pratt, and later with Leupp,
is not contained in. legislative and law reports, as are
other portions of Gould's career, but there are several
very circumstantial accounts extant based on the testi
mony of eye-witnesses, some of whojri may still be
living. A Big Concern.
Pratt was doubtless taken with young Gould's snap
and energy, and considered him just the kind of
material to use in pushing a new enterprise. Pratt
furnished all the capital and Gould conducted the
active operations. The capital of the firm was $120,-
.000, and the tannery at Gouldsboro, Pa. — for the
place was named after Gould — became the biggest
concern of its kind in the country. Gould threw the
whole energy of his being into the enterprise. As
he has related, he cut with his. own hand the first tree.
He carried a portable saw-mill with him into the
woods, and. in a day or two a blacksmith's shop was
erected. As already stated, Gould slept and ate in
that shop until the tannery was completed.
Pratt made occasional visits to Gouldsboro, but the
business was left practically in Gould's hands, and it
grew rapidly. But after a while Mr. Pratt became

44 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
dissatisfied with the condition of affairs. Apparently
a rushing business was being done, from which there
was no adequate return. The books seemed to be
so mixed that it was quite impossible to ascertain just
how the firm stood.
Gould soon saw that his partner was becoming
suspicious, and determined to be ready for him. On
the growth of the business Gould had, of course, occa-
sion to frequently visit New York, where he became
acquainted with most of the merchants in the
" Swamp," then, as now, the centre of the leather^
trade. An Old New-Yorker.
i Among others, he became acquainted with Charles
M. Leupp, a merchant of the old school, honorable
and correct in all his dealings. He was a man of
great refinement and of poetic temperament, and
possessed many literary and artistic tastes. He was
a man of wealth and owned a fine mansion on the-
corner of Madison avenue and Twenty-fifth street.
This mansion is still standing, but has been altered
into an apartment-house. In Mr. Leupp's time it was
probably the handsomest and best constructed private;
dwelling in the city, and cost about $150,000.
It was an evil day for Mr. Leupp when Gould came
to him and proposed that he advance the money to
purchase Mr. Pratt's interest in the tannery. That
was the beginning of Mr. Leupp's troubles, but at)
that time he considered the proposition an advanta
geous one and he consented to advance the cash;

STORY OF THE TANNERY. 45-
Gould never seems to have had at any period in his
career any difficulty in interesting the wealthiest and
most powerful men in his schemes. He himself said
that it is just as easy to obtain the acquaintance and
secure the friendship of the most powerful as of the
most insignificant if only one will set about it in the
right way.
Well, Gould returned to Gouldsboro with Leupp's
backing-. He found Pratt looking; over the books
and puzzled by their intricacies. He discovered that
Gould had started a private bank at Stroudsburg in
his own name, and he became suspicious that the
firm's funds were used in the bank.
An Explanation Demanded.
Pratt then demanded an explanation and finally
threatened to close up the tannery and dissolve the
partnership. Gould protested that this would ruin
him, when Pratt said that he must buy or sell. This
was what Gould was waiting for, and he offered Pratt
$60,000 for his interest Jn the business. Pratt ac
cepted the offer and Gould drew on Leupp for the
money. "This made Gould a partner of Leupp with full
powers. He continued with Leupp the policy he
had begun with Pratt. He branched out in many
speculations in Leupp's name, but without his knowl
edge. It is said that he bought another tannery,
attempted to get up a " corner " in hides and in other
ways entered into many hazardous enterprises. He
continued to draw on Leupp for money and to dis-,

46 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
play his incapacity as a bookkeeper until Leupp be
came suspicious, just as Pratt had.
Meanwhile the panic of 1857 had swept over the
country and unsettled all business operations, and
when Leupp discovered the extent in which he had
been involved in Gould's speculations he thought that
he was ruined. He went to his magnificent home one
night and, in a. fit of despondency, shot himself dead.
It is not certain but that Gould's schemes would have
turned out all right, and to Leupp's, as well as to
Gould's advantage, but it is a fact that Leupp's part
ners and heirs have always felt very bitter against
Gould, and could not help believing that he was
indirectly the cause of Leupp's sad and untimely-end.
" Who Killed Leupp ? "
It is related that in the excitement and passion of
Black Friday, when a mob surged through Wall street,
a voice was heard above the tumult shouting the
awful question :
" Who killed Leupp ? "
And the answer is said to have come from a hun
dred throats :
"Jay Gould!"
Mr. Gould then negotiated with Leupp's daughters
for the control of the tannery. It is stated that they
demanded $60,000, the amount Leupp had originally
advanced. Gould agreed to this, but proposed a plan:
by which the payments should extend over a^erm of
years— $10,000 cash and. a like amount every) year
until the entire indebtedness had been liquidated

STORY OF THE TANNERY. 47
When the papers were drawn up it was found Gould
had made no provision for paying interest.
Negotiations were broken off, and Mr. Lee, a
relative and former partner of Leupp, hastened to
Gouldsboro and took possession of the tannery in
the name of Leupp's heirs, taking the precaution to
hire a lot of men to help him barricade and guard it.
Gould arrived a day or two later and determined to
capture the tannery at all hazards. Gouldsboro was a
village of about three hundred inhabitants, situated
some distance from the railway station, and besides
the tannery the most important building was the hotel.
Mr. Lee, who, like Mr. Leupp, is described as- an
honorable, warm-hearted man, but with more courage
and grit, had the tannery guarded by about thirty or
forty men whom he had hired at Scranton. Gould,
as soon as he arrived, began active operations. He
interested nearly the entire population of the place in
his behalf. They knew him and Lee was a compar
ative stranger. A Battle for the Tannery.
iGould told every one he met that he owned the
tannery, that Lee and his cutthroats were endeaVdV'
ing to get it away from him, and that if they suc
ceeded the business would go to wreck and ruin and
the place would suffer a big loss. He had soon an
armed gang of about 150 men around him prepared
to fight for him. They were a tough-looking set of
men. He took them to the hotel, where he gave them
an oyster supper, and then mounting an empty box he

48 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
addressed his forces, telling them to use no unnecessary
violence, but to " be sure and get the tannery."
This was probably the. first and only speech that
Gould ever made in all his life. Filled with oysters
and whiskey, the men made a determined charge on
the tannery, Gould directing everything, but prudently,
keeping in the background, for he heard that Lee had
a loaded musket ready for him.
The battle was fierce but short. The barricaded
doors were battered in and Lee's men were driven
from the tannery. Two men were badly wounded.
Oneof Lee's party was shot through the breast..
Warrants were issued for the arrest of all concerned.
Many of the men fled from the place never to return.
Those arrested were afterwards released on bail.
Gould was left in possession of the property, but it
did him little good.
Lee began legal proceedings against him and Gould
brought counter-suits, and this litigation was continued
until the business was destroyed and the tannery
abandoned. Gould's ready resources were so ex
hausted that it is related that he had to borrow the
money to pay his railroad fare to New York. It is
probable that no man in this or any other country has
ever been a party to so many law-suits as Gould.
From the time of the contest over the map business.
there was scarcely a day during his whole life that he
did not have some litigation on his hands.
We give below the graphic account of the battle
to secure the tannery which was published in the New

STORY OF THE TANNERY. 49
York Herald at the time, prefacing it with a statement
of the circumstances which led to the exciting combat.
Another Account.
Like other men of active brain Mr. Gould had a
fancy for a tan yard. He had become familiar with
the favorite tanning- regions of New York and Penn-
sylvania, and he knew the hemlock forest in the
counties of Luzerne and Monroe, in Pennsylvania, as
well as the travelled wilds of his native county. It
occurred to him to establish a town and tannery on
the Lehigh bordering on the counties above named.
He fixed on the site, sought Zadock Pratt, an exten
sive New York tanner, formed a firm (Pratt and
Gould), laid out the village of Gouldsboro, and in
one hundred days after the first tree was felled in the
previously unbroken forest the works w°,re in full
operation. A post-office, schoolhouse, church, plank road, bank
and stage route were very soon added to the conven
iences of the village, and Mr. Gould was postmaster,
of course.
After a while Gould bought out his partner, obtain
ing the needed capital from Charles M. Leupp, a hide
and leather merchant of this city. They became
partners, but the daring ventures of Gould, who was
the resident partner, alarmed the New York firm of
Leupp and Lee, and after considerable distress of
mind Mr. Leupp sent his bookkeeper to Gouldsboro
to investigate the accounts. The bookkeeper found
himself in a quagmire of undecipherable figures. He
4

50 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
was puzzled and confounded and could make nothing
of them beyond the fact that the concern was badly
involved and that it was probable that the New York
house was likewise involved.
Gould had gone into corners in hides and other
tanneries, which might or might not have turned out
well, but the old-fashioned notions of Mr. Leupp were
shocked, and when he found that his partner had
bought not only all the hides then in the market, but
all that were to arrive in the ensuing six months, he
literally lost his reason and shot himself after a
stormy interview with Gould, who remained imperturb-
ably cool, and simply turned on his heel and left the
office. Mr. Leupp lived in what was then called the
Barretta mansion, corner of Twenty-fifth street and
Madison avenue, which cost in low price time $150,000
to build, and which was filled with costly furniture and
rare products of pencil and chisel.
A Hard Fight.
On the death of their common partner Gould and
Lee made a dash for the property in Gouldsboro.
Prior to the fatal shot Gould had arranged with Con
gressman Alley, of Massachusetts, to take the works
and thus relieve Leupp and Lee : but the suicide of
the senior partner stopped the final consummation of
this plan, and, Gould always insisted, stopped the way
to a profitable continuance of the works. Both Gould
and Lee were men of nerve, and both determined to
get and hold the tannery. Lee reached it first and
garrisoned it with the employes. Information wasj

STORY OF THE TANNERY. 51
received that Gould intended to use force, and prepara
tions were made to receive and repel him.
In the Herald oi March 16, i860, the battle is thus
described :—
TANNERY INSURRECTION IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Battle between the forces of the swamp leather dealers
— The Leupp and Lee tannery, in Gouldsboro,
attacked and defended — Sides of leather used
for breastworks — Insurgents two hundred strong
— The tannery taken — Flight of the defenders
— Wounded four.
About halfpast ten o'clock on Tuesday morning
the lock was wrenched from the stable, die men having
been concentrated into the tannery, and the stable
being unguarded.
A little past twelve the tannery itself was attacked
by a mob variously estimated at from 180 to 250 men,
armed with axes, muskets, rifles and other weapons.
Without a demand of possession or summons to
surrender the doors were beaten in, and but a few
blows had been struck by the assailants before they
began to fire ball and buckshot through the building,
raking it in every direction. As vigorous a defence
was made, by a force of fifteen men in the story
attacked, with tannery sticks, stones and four re
volvers, as was possible against such overwhelming
odds. The tannery was finally carried on all sides, and-
those who did not escape were violently flung from
the windows and doors, while the assailants rushed
through the buildings, yelling like Indians, pursuing
the fugitives with their guns in every direction. In
the action many contusions were received and four

52 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
gunshot wounds, and had it not been for the large
number of sides of leather hung in the lofts, very few
of the defending party would have escaped without
wounds. Mr. Jay Gould, in his version of the affair, in which
he endeavors to exculpate himself, says : —
"I quietly selected fifty men, commanding the
reserve to keep aloof. I divided them into two
companies, one of which I despatched to the upper
end of the building, directing them to take off the
boards, while I headed the other to open a large front
door. I burst open the door and sprang in. I was
immediately saluted by a shower of balls, forcing my
men to retire, and I brought them up a second and
third time and pressed them into the building, and by
this time the company at the upper end of the tannery
had succeeded in effecting an entrance and the firing
now became general On all sides and the bullets were
whistling in every direction. After a hard contested
struggle on both sides we became the victors and our
opponents went flying from the tannery, some of them
making fearful leaps from the second story."

CHAPTER IV.
The Wizard in New York.
On his visits to New York Mr. Gould used to put
up at the Everett House, and here about this time he
met the lady who shortly became his wife, as will here
after be related. The impression is that after the
tannery episode Mr. Gould was pretty thoroughly im
poverished. However that may be, his marriage put
him on his feet again, for his father-in-law was a
wealthy merchant, and though it is said that he op
posed his daughter's marriage with the hero of Goulds
boro, yet he soon became reconciled and evidently
aided Mr. Gould in the operations into which he then
entered. At this time he bought his first railroad, and Mr.
Gould's own account of the transaction, given in his
extraordinary narrative to the Senate committee, from
which extracts have already been given, will be inter
esting. " About that time," he said, " the panic of 1857 came
on and everything was very much disturbed. Rail
road values after this time went down very low and
the first mortgage bonds of the Rutland and Washing
ton Railroad were selling at 10 cents on the dollar.
I bought all the bonds at that price, borrowing the
(53)

54 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
money to pay for them. I took the entire charge of
this road and learned the business, as I may say. I
was President, Secretary, Treasurer and Superintend
ent, had sole control, and I formed what was known
as the Saratoga consolidation. The first road was
sixty-two miles long. I had gradually drawn the road
up and I kept at work until finally we made the present
Rensselaer and Saratoga consolidation. Meantime
the bonds became good and my stock also.
A Lucky Venture.
" A friend of mine came to me one night and said
that the next day he must fail. He had bought Cleve- :
land and Pittsburg, but could not pay for it. He
bought it at 60 and it was down to about 40. I told
him, ' I will take half of what you have at that figure.'
He agreed to this, and that was the way I became the
owner of the Cleveland and Pittsburg. As soon as it
was found that there was some one there who could
take care of it the stock went up to 120. I took the
road and it was very successful. It paid dividends
from the start, and finally I sold it to the Pennsylvania
road." His profits from the Rutland Railroad speculation
were very large, and Gould was now fairly on his way ;
to hi.s colossal fortune. At this time his attention was ,
turned to Wall street, and, though friends warned him
against entering into the whirlpool of blasted hopes
and ruined fortunes, his inclinations in that direction .
were too strong to be resisted. Gould was a born
speculator. It is true that his great fortune was created

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BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF NEW YORK CITY SHOWING THE EAST RIVER BRIDGE.
'56 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
mainly in hazardous, enterprises outside of Wall street,.
and that in stock speculations pure and simple he was
not always so successful or so infallible as many have
supposed, but by nature and habit Gould was' at this
time of his life a commercial gambler, and it was as
natural that he should enter Wall street as for a duck'
to take to water. In Wall Street.
It was in 1859 or i860 that Gould first entered Wall
street.. It was not very long before he stepped to the
front rank. What a long list of brainy and courageous,
nien do Gould's contemporaries in the street make!
With most of them Gould has been at sword's point,
with a few he has been an ally, with some he has been
both ally and enemy. Most of them are no longer
powers in the speculative world. Some of them are
dead. Not a few have been overwhelmed in the swift,
resistless torrent of stock speculation. Three orfour
yet remain with power in their hands and millions ih
their vaults.
The Vanderbilts — the Commodore, his son and
grandsons — Daniel Drew", James Fisk, Jr., the Beldens,
Commodore Garrison, Henry N. Smith, James R^
Keene, William Heath, George I. Seney, General";
Thomas, Calvin S. Brice, D. O. Mills, Horace F. Clark,
Alfred Sully, Addison Cammack, C. F. Woerishoffer,
the Rockefellers, S. M. Kneeland, C. J. Osborn, D. P.
Morgan, H. S. Ives, C. P. Huntington, Russell Sage,
Cyrus W. Field, John W. Garrett, Robert Garrett; J.
P. Morgan, the Seligmans, Brown Bros., Jay Cooke,

CYRUS W FIELD

RUSSELL SAGE.

THE WIZARD IN NEW YORK.

57

Hugh J. Jewett, Lathrop, Little and Austin Corbin,
Henry Clews, Washington E. Connor, Burnham, Gen
eral E. F. Winslow, Edward S. Stokes, S. V. White,
Wm. Dowd, Solon Humphreys Wm. R. Travers,

&

HL

IP
m

mm

¦0%

Jn£t 'A

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
Rufus Hatch, Samuel Sloan— these were some of the
men identified with various Wall Street interests with
whom Gould has been allied or at enmity, or both,
during his long career in the street.
A Born Leader.
That he has been able among all these financial'

58

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

UNITED STATES SUB-TREASURY, WALL STREET.
giants to make himself the leader is the highest evi
dence that can be given of his genius in speculation
and railroad financiering. As we read some of these
names there arise before our eyes the- visions of:
murder, of suicide, of bankruptcy, of the debtor's
prison, ofthe felon's cell, of ruined fortunes and blasted
reputations. Others of the men have achieved wealth:

THE WIZARD IN NEW YORK. 59
and honorable names. It is interesting to note that
at the time Gould first entered the street one of his
fellow-boarders at the Everett House was James Gor
don Bennett, the elder, with whose son and successor
he became engaged in such bitter business and per
sonal antagonisms,
Gould not only gambled in Wall Street, but he de
fended the operation. " People," he told a State
Senate Committee which was investigating into stock
and grain corners, "will deal in chance.. Your min
ister, doctor and barber all have the same interest in
speculation. Would you not, if you stopped it, pro
mote gambling? "
. No young man should get the impression that suc
cess in life depends on trickery and a shrewdness that
borders on rank dishonesty. Many of Jay Gould's
transactions have been almost unanimously con
demned. There is enough to admire in the man with-
out applauding his tricks, his cunning schemes, his un
scrupulous dealings. Whether any man can honestly
make as many million dollars as he did" is a question
which most persons would answer by an emphatic no.
It is not the aim of this story of the great money
maker touphold the saying which must be familiar to
all, " Make money — honestly, if you can — but make
it." The man who takes this in its full meaning for
his motto is a knave. If he is outside the peniten
tiary he is not getting his deserts. The only proper
place for such a rogue and thief is under lock and
key.

CHAPTER V.
Inside History of the Erie Railroad.
Mr. Gould, in his sworn autobiography before the
Committee on Labor and Education, while careful to
give minute details about other periods, of his history,
significantly preserved an entire silence as to Erie and
Black Friday.
There is no intention to speak maliciously of Gould.
Beside an open grave charity and forgetfulness- stand
guard on either side. But the lesson of Gould's career
would be lost if even at this time the facts were not
plainly and openly told.
Fortunately the record of Erie, notwithstanding Mr.
Gould's silence, can be told from authoritative testi
mony. In his famous " Chapter of Erie," published
in the North American Review in 1 869, Charles Fran
cis Adams gave a thrilling account of Erie frorr^ the'
time Daniel Drew engaged in his famous war with
Commodore Vanderbilt to the time when the unfortu
nate road was in complete control of Jay Go'uld and;
James Fisk, Jr. Mr. Adams's history stopped short
in the middle of the story, but the record of Erie from
1869 till Mr. Gould was driven from power in 1872 is
given in the reports of the Legislative inquiry in 1873
and of the Hepburn investigation in 1879.
(60)

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 61
Power of Money.
It is a curious fact that years after writing this
"chapter" Mr. Adams, having become President of
the Union Pacific, sat in^the same Board of Directors
with Mr. Gould, but only for a comparatively brief
period, and Mr. Adams never repudiated or recalled
his early history of Gould in Erie.
It is a striking illustration, however, of the power
of millions that Gould should live to sit in the same
board with the representative of the aristocratic
Adams family, which furnished two Presidents to the
United States ; that after involving the administration
of President Grant in the disaster of Black Friday, he
should in after years be joined with him in business
enterprises ; that after having been denounced in a
Congressional report written by James A. Garfield, he
should be sought for to render aid to secure Garfield's
election as President, and that, though not seeking to
join the social circles in which the Astors are leaders,
he was able to induce John Jacob Astor to sit with
him in the Western Union Board of Directors.
After Mr. Adams wrote his " Chapter of Erie," he
was himself President of the Union Pacific, and it
must have given Mr. Gould the keenest satisfaction to
have been the occasion of his retirement frbm that
position. The railway was in a bad way financially —
had a big floating debt— and Mr. Gould and his friends
-stepped in, gained control of the property the second
time, retired Mr. Adams from the Presidency and se
cured an adjustment of the floating debt.

62 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Mr. Adams Retires.
It was suggested to Mr, Gould at this time that he
might write a " Chapter of Union Pacific," covering the
history of the Adams administration. But whatever
there may have been lacking in administrative vigor
in Mr. Adams's presidency, he retired without any blot
on the family escutcheon.
When Gould entered Wall street Erie was one of
the most active stocks on the list of the Stock Ex
change. It was natural that he should drift into its
speculation, and his connection with the Cleveland and
Pittsburg led him naturally into Erie. His old ac
quaintances were surprised to hear one day that he
had become a director and a controlling spirit of this
great road. This was in 1867.
But now let us quote a little plain language from
Charles Francis Adams in order to get into the atmos
phere of Erie at this time :
" Yet freebooters are not extinct," he wrote. " They
have only transferred their operations to the land, and
have conducted them in more or less accordance with
the forms of law, until at last so great a proficiency-
have they attained that the commerce of the world is
more equally but far more heavily taxed in their be
half than would ever have entered into their wildest
hopes, whije outside the law they simply make all
comers stand and deliver. . . Gambling is a business
now, where formerly it was a disreputable excitement.
Cheating at cards was always disgraceful. Transac-
tions of a similar character under the euphemistic

JAMES FISK, JR.

(63)

64 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
names of ' operating,' ' cornering ' and the like are not
so regarded. . . . No better illustration of the fantastic
disguises which the worst and most familiar evils of
history assume as they meet us in the actual move
ment of our own day could be afforded than was seen
in the events attending what are known as the Erie
wars of the year 1868."
A Famous Vermont Peddler.
In these wars Gould was an active spirit, and here,
for the first time in Wall street, showed his consum
mate ability.
Before his entrance into Erie,Gould had become ac
quainted with James Fisk, Jr., and the former, with that
unerring judgment of men which was always one of
the elements of his success, soon perceived in Fisk the
qualities whjch supplied his own deficiencies. Fisk
was the son of a Vermont peddler and followed the
calling himself for some time, and in it learned the
great art of driving a hard and shrewd bargain.-
Wholly uneducated, his natural ability in the line of
making money was very great.
Gould was timid and shrank from publicity. Fisk
was bold and loved notoriety. Gould had many re
finements of mind and was of a domestic nature.
Fisk was cqarse, sensual and fond of display. He be
came the colonel of a militia regiment, and with great
delight used to put on his uniform and ride in the front
of his command. He used to create a sensation by
riding in a carriage with six horses in questionable
female company. He considered it one of the choicest.

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 65
prerogatives of his position" as Vice-President and
Comptroller of Erie to direct the theatre that adjoined
the railway offices in the Grand Opera House.
While Gould did not have the inclination or courage
to do these things, he did not hesitate to use Fisk in
every available way and to hide his own personality
behind that of his partner. In those days Fisk seemed
to play the more prominent part, and Gould, in public
estimation, was a secondary character. When any
thing was done it was Fisk that bore the brunt of
popular criticism and indignation. Yet the facts as
they are now known show that Gould was the master,
mind ; Fisk was simply his right arm. " With Gould
to plan and Fisk to act," said General Francis Barlow,
in 1872, ~" they were a strong team."
Uncle Daniel Drew. 1
At the time Gould and Fisk entered into Erie Daniel
Drew was the master of that great trunk line. Drew
was one of the most extraordinary characters in Wall
street history. He was a Director and Treasurer of
Erie, and used these positions simply for speculative
purposes. He was known in his day as " the great
speculative director."
His biggest piece of " financiering " was to get him
self apparently cornered in Erie stock, and then to
appear in the street with a block of stock which had
been converted from bonds issued with an obscure
provision entitling the holders to convert them into
stock. Gould later oh repeated this trick with suc
cess, both in Erie and Jersey Central.
5

66 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Soon after. Gould and Fisk entered Erie Drew be
came engaged in his celebrated contest with Commo
dore Vanderbilt and in this contest he had their able
assistance. The first and great Vanderbilt was cast
in a larger mould than Drew. The latter was simply
a speculator. Vanderbilt was a creator of property.;
He was the first of the line of railroad kings. Laying
the foundations of his great wealth in the steamboat,
and steamship business, he soon drifted into railroads
operations, clearly seeing that in the development of
the great inland commerce of America there were
larger and quicker profits to be obtained than in the
export trade. Gigantic Stock Operation.
Vanderbilt had obtained control of the Harlem and
Hudson River Roads : he now aimed at the owner
ship of Erie. Space will not permit -the telling ofthe
story of this famous contest. It is a story of extraor
dinary stock operations, of millions lost and won ; of
securities issued by the bushel and with littleor no re.
gard for law or equity : of large and intricate litiga-.
tion ; of judges bought, legislators bribed ; of direc
tors defying injunctions and fleeing to another State!
to escape arrest.
Vanderbilt, having been defeated in other efforts' to
get his fingers on the Erie road, resolved if possible to
buy a controlling interest, and his brokers were set at
work on this difficult job. Drew resolved to let Van
derbilt have as much stock as he wanted, but entered
into a bargain with Gould and Fisk by which the rail-

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 67
road king should be defeated by issuing and marketing
an unlimited number of new securities. So Drew
sold and Vanderbilt bought. The latter, having in
remembrance Drew's famous convertible stock trick,
resorted to the courts to prevent him from issuing any
more stock.
Injunctions were issued enjoining Drew and all the
directors of the road from issuing any stock. Counter-
injunctions were obtained by the Drew-Gould party.
One judge would issue an order commanding certain
things to be done which another judge simultaneously
commanded should not be done. Judges in -New
York, Brooklyn, Albany and Binghamton issued
contradictory injunctions. Such a legal pandemonium
-has never been seen before or since.
In the meantime, regardless of injunctions, Drew
and his aides calmly proceeded to carry out their care
fully matured plans to issue new stock. It was agreed-
that 50,000 shires 'of new stock should be delivered
to the Wall Street firms of which Gould and Fisk
were members. Without going into the details of the
intrigue it is sufficient to say that it was, at least for
the time being, successful. When the 50,000 shares
were thrown on the market the price of Erie fell from
83 to 71. Vanderbilt found that he had bought at
high figures a lot of Erie stock, but that he was no
nearer control than ever.
Drew raked in about $7,000,000 of Vanderbilt's
money, and Gould and Fisk shared in the profits.
Then orders were issued to arrest the Drew directors

68

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

for contempt of court. Receiving intelligence of this,
.Jthey hastily packed up their papers and securities, and/
thrusting them into their pockets and valises, they

..Jfe.

PETER B. SWEENY.

beat a hasty retreat to Jersey City. Over $6,000,000
in securities were carried in one coach. Among this
company, of course, were Gould and Fisk,

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 69
In Jersey they were safe from the operation of New
York law. They calmly proceeded to have the Erie
incorporated as a New Jersey institution, at the same .
time laboring to get the New York Legislature to
pass a bill to legalize the issue of 50,000 shares of
stock. "Poor Erie."
It was not conscientious scruples which caused the
Legislature to hesitate to pass this bill. It was simply
a question of cash. Vanderbilt was still in the fight
to protect his interests, and it was a question of who
had the biggest purse. Meanwhile Peter B. Sweeny
— the brains of the Tweed ring — had been made, tem
porarily, receiver of the road, and though he never
actually did anything in that position, Judge Barnard
ordered that he be paid $150,000 for his services.
Poor Erie had to foot the bill.
It was necessary that the Drew party should have
a trusty representative at Albany to look after Erie
legislation there, and Gould was selected as the fittest
man to act in this capacity. Gould now appears on
the scene as a lobbyist. First giving out that he is go
ing to Ohio, Gould quietly slips up to. Albany, with
$500,000 of Erie cash in his pockets. Here in a day
or two he was arrested but released on $500,000 bail
to appear in a New York court on Saturday. He ap
peared on that day, but his attorneys secured a post
ponement, and he was allowed to return to Albany in
charge of an under-sheriff.
Arriving in Albany Mr. Gould was conveniently

70 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
taken sick, and unable to return to New York to
attend the court proceedings, though he drove to the
Capitol in a sno-w-storm. The officer reported him to
the court as a " runaway," but the matter was after-*
wards settled, and, in the language of Mr. Adams, he
" assiduously cultivated a' thorough" understanding
between himself and the Legislature." The corrup
tion at this session was investigated by a legislative
committee in 1869. Gould's Own Story.
In the famous Erie investigation of 1873, Mr. Gould
testified as follows :
"I was first elected President of the Erie Railroad
in 1868, and I was President in 1869, 1870 and 1871.
I do not remember whether I approved payment to
William M. Tweed of money for legal services while
he was Senator. I do not know whether he is a lawyer.
He was a director of Erie and a member of its
Executive Committee. I would not have allowed
pecuniary transactions with Mr. Tweed to be put in
the shape of legal services if my attention had been
called to them. The name of William M. Tweed is in
my handwriting. The words in my handwriting are :,.
' Wm. M. Tweed, legal disbursements as per order J.*
G., $35,000, April 25th, 1 87 1.' The approval of;
voucher was on April 5th, 1869. He was Senator in
1869, also in 1871 and 1872.
" The ' legal account ' was of an india-rubber char
acter. I gave large amounts in 1869, 1870, 1871 and
1872 ih the Senatorial and Assembly districts, It was

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 71
what they said would be necessary to carry the day
in addition to the amount forwarded by the committee,
and contributed more or less to all the districts along
the line of the road. We had to look after "four States,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. It
was the custom when men received nominations to
come to me for contributions, and I made them and
considered them good paying investments for the com
pany. In a Republican district I was a strong Re
publican ; in a Democratic district I was Democratic,
and in doubtful districts I was doubtful.
" In politics I was an Erie Railroad man all the time.
We had friends oh both sides — friends in a business
way. The amounts contributed for the election were
large, but I could not give any definite estimate. No
names occur to me at the moment. I am a poor
hand to remember names. I had relations in several
States. I did not keep separate what I paid out in
New Jersey from what I paid out in New York. We
had the same ground to go over there, and there has
been so much of it — it has been so extensive — that I
have no details now to refresh my mind. You might
as well go back and ask me how many cars of freight
were moved on a particular day."
Buying Elections.
This confession, so charmingly frank, relates to pay
ments before elections, but there is every reason to
believe that the payments were contniued after
election. The state of things unearthed by this investigation

72 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
was officially described in the report of the legislative
committee as follows :
'' It is further in evidence that it has been the cus
tom of the managers of the Erie Railway, from year
to year in the past, to spend large sums to control
elections and to influence, legislation. In the year
1868 more than one million ($1,000,000) was dis
bursed from the treasury for 'extra and legal-
services.' Corrupt Use of Money.
" Mr. Gould, when last on the stand, and examined
in relation to various vouchers shown him, admitted
the payment during the three years prior to 1872 of
large sums to Barber, Tweed and others, and to influ
ence legislation or elections ; these amounts were
charged in the ' India-rubber account.' The memory
of this witness was very defective as to details, and
he could only remember large transactions, but could
distinctly recall that he had been in the habit of send
ing money into the numerous districts all over the-
State, either to control nominations or elections for
Senators and members of Assembly.
" Considered that, as a rule, such investments paid
better than to wait till the men got to Albany, and
added the significant remark, when asked a question,,
that it would be as impossible to specify the numerous
instances as it would to recall to mind the numerous
freight-cars sent over the Erie road from day to day."
The report of the committee concludes as follows:'
" It is not reasonable to suppose that the Erie Rail--.

THE BOWERY—SHOWING ELEVATED R. R

JAV GOULD'S '.YACHT: ATALANTA"

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 73
way has been alone in the corrupt use of money for
the purposes named ; but the sudden revolution in
the direction of this company has laid bare a chapter
iri the secret history of railroad management such as
has not been permitted before. It exposes the reck
less and prodigal use of money, wrung frdm the
people, to purchase the- election of the people's repre
sentatives and to bribe them when in office. Accord
ing to Mr. Gould, his operations extended into four
different States. It was his custom to contribute
money to influence both nominations and elections."
Mr. Adams did not have this report before him *
when he wrote his " chapter." His record closes in
1868, soon after Mr. Gould had' been elected Presi
dent of the road. This had been brought about in
the following manner : While Gould was engaged in
" fixing " the legislature, and the courts were filled
with Erie suits, the various parties in interest got
together and effected a compromise. Vanderbilt got
rid of the useless stock he had bought at high figures.
Drew, pocketed his profits and returned from exile- in
Jersey. The Boston, Hartford and Erie crowd which
had .figured in these transactions, having got all they
could out of Erie for the benefit of their own bank
rupt road, withdrew. "All litigation was stopped and
injunctions revoked. Bills were rushed through the
legislature favorable to both Vanderbilt, and Erie.
Drew resigned from the road ; Vanderbilt relinquished
his ambition for control, and the property was turned
over to Gould and Fisk. Drew may have thought

74

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

that by this time the poor old road was a squeezed
lemon, but if so he'was mistaken, for Gould and Sage
found that the property had not yet been worked for
all that was in it.
Enormous Increase of Debt.
What their administration cost the road is very
plainly set forth in the
testimony given be
fore the Hepburn Com
mittee of 1879 by ]<.
W. Guppy, assistant
general superintendent
under Gould, and for
many years connected
with the road, into
whose service he first
entered as a telegraph
operator. When Gould
was ousted »from the
control in March, 1872,
the total stock was
$8 6, 5 3 6, 910, the funded
debt $26,395,000 and
the floating debt $2,517,301, a total of $1 15,449,211 ;
an increase during the time of Gould's identification
with the road of $64,383,268. Yet Mr. Guppy testi
fied that not a dollar of this vast sum was represented
by any additions to the road.
One of the first achievements of Gould and Fisk
when they assumed entire control of Erie was to

RUSSELL SAGE.

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 7S
corner, their old associate, Daniel Drew. The latter.

after a short retirement from the street, returned to
speculation and naturally drifted into Erie, but this
time from the outside. He was caught just as many
times he had caught others. And Gould repeated,
only in a more aggravated way, his trick of issuing;
new stock and flooding Wall street with it.
This new stock was issued by Gould and Fisk with
out even going through the form of consultation with
the other directors. Mr. Adams calls this "the most
extraordinary feat of financial legerdemain which
history has yet recorded."
Too Shrewd for Drew.
Drew found that even he, old and experienced in
all the tricks of his trade, was no match for Gould.
He appealed to the courts for relief, but Mr. Gould
fought him in the same way. Realizing that he had
no other avenue of escape, Drew actually called on
Gould and Fisk one night and appealed piteously to
be permitted to get out without loss, though his com
panions in loss might be squeezed to Gould's heart's
content. Gould and Fisk bowed their a^ed associate
out without satisfaction and smiled as they closed the
door on the old man. Drew lost $1,500,000 in this
transaction. Gould at this time posed as an anti-
monopolist before the public. All his extraordinary
acts as President of the Erie were defended on the
ground that he was endeavoring to protect the system
against consolidation or affiliation with other trunk
lines.

76 Life of jay gould.
English Capital.
The wonderful financial operations of the Drew"
and Gould regimes in Erie could not have been pos
sible but for the extraordinary fascination which the
stock possessed for English capitalists. While Ameri
cans looked with more than suspicion on the Erie
securities, England was possessed of an irresistible
craze to get as many of them as possible. English
capitalists would not take the United States bonds
even when selling below par, but they bought with
avidity every share of Erie they could get hold of.
At last, however, the eyes of the English stock
holders were opened to the true condition of affairs,-
and under the lead of James McHenry they organized
to get the control of the property. At this time Gen.
Daniel E. Sickles, one of the heroes of Gettysburg,
was Minister to Spain. He was engaged to lead the
anti-Gould forces against the Erie strongholds. He
did his work well, and it is said was paid a very big
fee for his labors. He obtained a leave of absence
from Madrid and returned home to conduct the opera
tions in person on the ground. This was the last of
the Erie wars.
It should be recorded at this time, however, that the
famous partnership of Gould and Fisk had been dis
solved by death. Fisk, late in 1871, had been shot by
Edward S. Stokes, and after a few days had died from.
the wound. He and Stokes had at one time been
friends, but had quarrelled over business matters and'

locking up greenbacks.

78 . LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
about a woman— the beautiful, but notorious, Josie
Mansfield-^and the quarrel led to the murder.
The Murderer of Fisk.
It will surprise no one who has read this history,
thus far that in the course of the Erie litigations a
Supreme Court Judge once held court and issued
orders from Josie Mansfield's apartments. Stokes
was tried three times. Once the jury disagreed.
Once he was convicted of murder in the first degree
and sentenced to be hanged by Judge Noah Davis.
This verdict being overruled by the Court of Appeals,
he was tried again and convicted of manslaughter in
the third degree. After serving a few yeai;s in Au
burn Prison Mr. Stokes returned to New York, where
he soon became a prosperous business man, intimate
for a long time with John A. Mackay, the California
millionaire, ,and President of a telegraph system com
peting with Gould's Western Union.
Before his death the belief is that Gould and Fisk
had substantially parted company. One of the
journals of that day gives an account of an inter
view between Gould and Fisk in which the former
asked Fisk for his resignation as Vice-President and
Comptroller of Erie. After Fisk's death Gould acted
handsomely by his widow. Whatever else may be.
said of Fisk he was certainly a more popular ' man
than Gould, and after the former's death Gould did
not long remain at the head of Erie.
Fisk was Popular.
"The feeling against Gould," said Gen. Barlow at

INSIDE giSTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 79
the time of the anti-Gould revolution, " grew in great
part since Fisk's death. Fisk was always popular
with the people of the road and in the office. Had
he been alive we should have had more trouble or
perhaps the move would never have been made."
Besides Barlow, Gen. Sickles had other efficient aid,
and the anti-Gould movement was strengthened by
such names as Gen. John A. Dix, who in the same
year was elected Governor of New York; Gen.
George B. McClellan and William R. Travers.
In March, 1872, the blow was struck. A man named
Archer had been elected Vice-President in place of
Fisk, and with his aid the revolution was accomplished,
Gould had made him Vice-President with the view of
conciliating the opposition. Nine members of the
Board of Directors had been won over to the oppo
sition. These wrote to Gould asking- him to call a
meeting of the board. As Gould did not respond
Vice-President Archer called the meeting.
The revolutionists assembled at Barlow's house and
prepared to carry the Grand Opera-House by storm.
This building is located at the corner of 8th Avenue
and 23rd street, and was occupied by the offices of the
Erie Railroad. Gould had this building barricaded by
his men, with instructions to permit no one to pass in.
But the revolutionists succeeded in passing the picket
line and passed in, and Mr. Archer called the meeting
to order. Then ensued an extraordinary scene which
lasted all night. Gould ordered the " conspirators,"
as he called them, to leave the building. They refused.

80

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

Gould at this time had the benefit of the legal ad
vice of David Dudley Field and Thomas G. Shearman.
Mr. Field was long one of the leaders of the New
York Bar. One of his brothers sat on the Supreme
Court bench of the United States, and the other,
Cyrus W. Field, was the father of the Atlantic cable,
and soon one of the
closest of Gould's busi
ness associates. Mr.
Shearman, who after
wards became famous
in the defense of Henry
Ward Beecher, had
before this time pub
lished an article on the
corruption of the New
York judiciary which
attracted widespread
attention, but he was
now counsel to a man
who owned two or
three Supreme Court
cyrus w. field. Judges and a few
months later publicly admitted the distribution of a
corruption fund. A Stormy Scene.
Space will not permit the telling of all the incidents
of that night. Shearman appeared with forty police
men and ordered the revolutionists to leave, but they
shut themselves up in their rooms and refused to d,Q

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD,- 81
so. Gould obtained from Judge Ingraham a temporary
injunction to restrain Archer and the other directors
from acting, but they calmly proceeded to elect new
officers and directors. Field and Shearman declared
that Gould's legal position was absolutely perfect, but
notwithstanding this he was finally obliged to give
in. A Night to be Remembered.
A daily paper of March 1 1, 1872, thus describes this
memorable night.
"The scene at the Grand Opera-House was one to-
be remembered. Gould and Eldridge, with their coun
sel, in one room and the newly chosen directors in
another, the doors of both rooms barred, opening to
no one but an avowed friend, each fearful of orders of
arrests being served on them, every spare room in the
offices filled with blue-coated officers of the peace,
sitting in all the chairs and on all the tables and lying
on the floors, and an intense sense of subdued excite
ment pervading the heavy air of the place."
The only communication between the two hostile
parties was by means of Peter B. Sweeney, who acted
as go-between.
Finding that he was defeated, Gould then resorted
to one of those bold strokes with which at different
periods in his career he has surprised the public. In
a public letter he offered to leave all the questions in
dispute to arbitration by Horace Greeley. Thus he
attempted to place himself in favorable light before
the public. But it should not be supposed that Greeley
6

82

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

was in any sense a friend of Gould. On the contrary.
the Tribune of that day shows how severely he criti
cised Gould.
The battle lasted one night and then Gould sur-

HORACE GREELEY.

rendered. He remained as a director for a time, but
his power was gone and Erie passed out of his hands
forever. The property has never fully recovered from
the condition into which it was thrown by the Drew-

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD. 83
Gould regime.- Though one of the most important
systems in the country and enjoying an immense
business, it is crippled with its enormous stock and
bond liabilities, and not until 1891 did it pay a dividend.
For many years it remained in the hands of a receiver.
The testimony of J. W. Guppy before the Hepburn
Committee, already referred to, gives some interesting
details of Gould's management of the Erie. Among
the roads which Erie leased were the Chemung Rail
road and the Canandaiguaand Elmira. These leases
were very profitable to Erie, but Gould, as an in
dividual, after quietly purchasing a majority of their
capital stocks, as President of Erie refused to pay the
rentals, thus abrogating the leases.
New Enterprises.
Then he sold the roads to the Northern Central of
Pennsylvania at a big profit. Gould and Fisk organ
ized a number of auxiliary companies whose plant
was usually paid for by Erie. Among these compan
ies was the National Stock Yard Company. The land
was purchased and the improvements made by Erie.
The Erie Emigrant Company, the Jefferson Railroad
Company, the Blackford Company and the Greenwood
Coal Company were the names of some of the com
panies practically saddled upon Erie, but whose stock
was issued to Gould and Fisk without consideration.
Augustus Stein, who made an examination into the
records, told the Hepburn Committee that the amount
of Gould's transactions in Erie was about $12,000,000.
After he had left Erie the new management sought

84 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to ascertain how large were the profits carried away
by Gould. This information could be obtained with
complete accuracy only from Morosini, the auditor of
the company, and he refused to make up the accounts
and left Erie and joined Gould.
A Notable Italian.
Morosini now became inseparable from Gould and
a notable figure in Wall Street. He was a tall,
athletic Italian, shrewd and faithful, an ideal private
secretary. He had served with Garibaldi in the wars
for Italian liberty, and was proud of his service under
the great Italian patriot. He had been a sailor, too,
and had had a wide experience with the world, which'
made him invaluable to a man like Gould. When the
firm of W. E. Connor & Co., of which Gould was a
special, was founded, Morosini became partner, and
when the firm dissolved and Morosini retired from
business Gould said that his private secretary was
worth $2,000,000 or $3,000,000.
A way was soon opened, however, by which the new
Erie management gained some proof of Gould's trans
actions. Gould, in company with Horace F. Clark,
had engineered a corner in Northwest stock, one of
the most famous and successful corners in Wall Street
history. In after years Gould gave a unique account
of this corner to a legislative committee which was in
vestigating corners.
"He was interested," said Mr. Gould, with that
charming frankness which he sometimes assumed, "in
the Chicago and Northwest corner. The stock was

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE RAILROAD.

85

selling at 75 to 80." He "considered it very cheap,"
and he bought. He soon had bought a great deal
more than there really was lo deliver, and the shorts
were cornered. The price went up to 250. "I was
induced," said Mr. Gould, with exquisite humor, " to
part with some at that price."

jay gould's old desk.
Mr. Morosini telling reminiscences.
How Fortunes Shift.
Amono- the shorts caught in this famous corner was
Henry N. Smith, who only a short time before had
been Gould's partner in the firm of Smith, Gould &
Martin, and who had supported Gould in cornering
gold. Smith is another noted Wall Street character,

86 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
whose life is linked in that of Gould. He was somer
thing of an " exquisite," and had the reputation of
wearing corsets, but he was for many years remarkably
successful in Wall Street. After renewing his rela
tions with Gould he became chiefly distinguished as
one of the bear leaders, and was thus continually in
antagonism with Gould. Woerishoffer, Cammack and
Smith were a trio that once nearly drove Gould to the
wall, but the latter lived to see one dead, the second
his associate in certain speculations and the third in
volved in irretrievable bankruptcy.
It was not in the Northwest corner that Smith was
ruined, but in it he lost a very large sum. Smith was
not slow in getting his revenge. The books of the
late firm of Smith, Gould & Martin -were in his pos
session, and he handed them over to Mr. Barlow, of
the Erie, who quickly discovered in them the evidence
on which to obtain an order of arrest for Gould and to
establish a suit for the recovery of $12,803,059, the
proceeds of bonds converted into stock to the extent
of 407,347 shares, which were sold by Mr. Gould's
firm and never accounted for.
The Wizard Arrested.
That was the charge, and Gould was arrested and
placed under very heavy bonds, which he furnished.
Here Mr. Gould's genius displayed itself. He actually
entered into a big speculation based on his restitution
of this money. General Dix.it should be recorded,;
remained as President of Erie for only a few months, n
and was succeeded by President Watson, a man who

INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ERIE -RAILROAD. 87
owed his position mainly to Horace F. Clark, who, as
has been seen, was in intimate relations with Gould.
Clark undertook to arrange a compromise between
Watson and Gould, and all three evidently united to
" rig " the stock market by the operation. One day
it was reported that Gould intended to make restitu
tion, and the price of Erie advanced with a bound. A
day or two later a denial of the report would come,
and down would go the price.
Great Talk of Restitution.
This was repeated two or three times, and Gould,
of course, bought at the low figures and sold at the
top, and the profits must have been big. Finally the
restitution, so-called, was announced with a flourish
of trumpets. On the face of the agreement Gould
made over to Erie an immense amount of property, and
all suits were withdrawn ancl Gould released from all
criminal responsibility. A clause in the agreement
said that in making this transfer of property Gould
expressly stipulated that it should not be considered
as an admission of wrong-doing.
The Opera House and adjoining buildings and
other real estate, with the exception of Gould's Fifth
Avenue mansion, were made over to the Erie, and, in
addition, a mass of stocks of the par value of about
$6,000,000. As a matter of fact most of these stocks
were worthless. J. G. Guppy told the Hepburn Com
mittee that he would riot give $200,000 for the entire
lot. Among the securities were $1,000,000 of United
States Express stock to be issued, and which Gould

88

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

. JAY GOULDS NEW YORK HOUSE, WHERE HE DIED.
guaranteed to be issued, but which, as a matter of fact,
never was. When Hugh J. Jewett became receiver
of Erie he made a final settlement with Mr. Gould.

GAPT. J. W SHAGKFORD OF THE ATALANTA'

„,.vS»--»W'"™V """ "™X'^

CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW.

CHAPTER VI.
How Gold went Up and Down.
The gold " combine " of 1869, now famous in the
history of Wall street, was investigated in 1870 by a
•Committee of Congress of which James A. Garfield,
afterwards President, was Chairman, and S. S. Cox, a
member. The report of the Committee;, with the ac
companying testimony, is one of the most absorbingly
interesting books in existence.
It was one of Mr. Gould's peculiarities that he
rarely entered into any large speculation without fur-
riishing the public with a plausible reason for assisting
him in his operations. This was certainly the case in'
the gold conspiracy. The plausible reason was in this
case suggested to Mr. Gould by James McHenry, who
was then training with Mr. Gould in Erie. The latter
spared no pains to dress the reason up in the best
shape and give it to the public. Mr. Gould argued
with much apparent force that an advance in the price!
of gold would benefit the Western farmers in giving;
them a bigger price for their grain, and Mr. Gould
backed up this theory with many facts and figures.
Gen. Grant had just become President. His Sec
retary of the Treasury was George F. Boutwell. The
key to the situation was the financial policy of the
(89)

90 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Government. No successful corner in gold could be
established if the Treasury should sell gold with a
liberal hand. It should be explained that the war had
^caused a lively speculation in gold which continued
after the war, until the resumption of specie payments
ynade the greenbacks equal in value to gold. Specu
lation in gold was carried on in the gold-room, an in
stitution separate from the Stock Exchange.
Roping in the Administration.
It became essential to the success of Mr. Gould's
plans that the Grant Administration should either be
come a party to the speculation or else an honest be
liever in his crop theory. Failing in both of these, the
public must at least be impressed with the idea that the
Administration was in the deal whether it was or not. '
So Gould began to lay systematic siege around the
Administration. He seems to have entered alone into
this speculation. It was only when he was unable to
carry the burden alone that he took in others, and it
was not until late that Fisk entered. Gould found a
brother-in-law of President Grant a convenient helper
in his, operations. The name of this brother-in-law
was A. R. Corbin; who had been something of an
operator all his life. Gould unfolded enough of his
plans to Corbin to enlist him in his service and to bind
him by interest to the speculation. Gould bought for
Corbin $1,500,000 of gold, and promised him that all
the profits should be turned over to him. Every rise
of 1 per cent, iii the price of gold made Corbin $15,-
000 richer. Corbin claimed to have great influence

PLOTTING THE GREAT GOLD RING OF 1869.

92

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

with the President, and Gould evidently placed much
reliance in him. " I am right behind the throne," said
Corbin to Gould at one stage of the proceedings.
"Give yourself no uneasiness. All is right."
Gould Good to his Friends.
The first step after the purchase of a large quantity

WALL STREET, NEW YOKK.

of gold was to secure the appointment of the right
sort of man as Assistant Treasurer at New York.
Though nominally a subordinate officer and having

MOW GOLD WENT UP AND DOWN. 93
i
no original authority, the Assistant Treasurer draws
the salary of a cabinet officer and his influence is
large. Corbin undertook this part of the scheme and
secured the appointment of Gen. Butterworth, who
seemed to give great satisfaction to Gould. Butter-
worth was afterwards exonerated by Congress of all
guilty connection with the affair, but Gould purchased
for his account $1,000,000 of gold. But then Gould
also had the presumption at one stage of the negotia
tions to buy $500,000 of gold for Gen. Porter, the
President's private secretary, which that gentleman
promptly declined. It was said also that $500,000
was purchased in the name of Mrs. Grant, but she
never received any of the profits and had no connec
tion with the " combine."
Butterworth secured, it was necessary to make an
impression on the President. Through Corbin, Gould
secured an interview with Gen. Grant, and later, when
the President made a brief visit to New York, he was
given Fisk's private'box at the Opera House, and on
his way to Newport was honored with a big banquet
on one of Fisk's Sound steamers. Fisk and Gould
were both there and were supported by Cyrus W.
Field and other " solid " citizens. At dinner an at
tempt was made to extract from the President the
lines of his financial policy. Gould obtained little
satisfaction. A remark by the President in reply to a
question by Fisk that there was " a fictitiousness
about the prosperity of the country and the bubble

94

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

might as well be tapped " threw a wet blanket on
Gould's schemes.

BROADWAY NORTH FROM EXCHANGE PLACE IN 1 869.
However, Gould was already in, and he was not a
marl to back out as long as he saw any chance for

HOW GOLD WENT UP AND DOWN. 95
success, and he finally succeeded in really impressing
on the President's mind that in order to move the
crops it was necessary that gold should sell at 145.
Gould's first purchases had been made as low as
130%, which was about the normal price.
President Grant Impressed.
But it should be said at the outset that there is not
a particle of evidence that Gen. Grant was ever per
sonally concerned in the speculation or that he winked
at members of his official household being so. On
the contrary, the evidence is all the other way. Grant
never seemed to like Gould. When the latter suc
ceeded in getting his first interview with the President,
Gen. Grant reprimanded his servant for allowing him
so easy an access to his person.
How different was Gould's position in 1892 when
he was a specially invited guest at the White House
of President Harrison, making the journey to Wash
ington in his private car, attended by his daughter
Helen, whom he had just introduced to society at a big
reception at his own mansion in Fifth avenue.
Grant's apparent conversion to the gold theory was
brought about by persistent agitation, and he finally
wrote to Secretary Boutwell that in his opinion it
would be unwise to force down the price of gold at
present — a suggestion which, of course, the Secretary,
considered the same as an order. This was the
position which Gould desired the administration to
maintain. He did everything to give the public

96 .LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the impression that the Government was behind the
"deal." The Odor of Wall Street.
An article written by Corbin was published as an
editorial in the Times and attracted attention, as the
editor, John Bigelow, had just had a conversation with
the President and was supposed to speak with
authority. Notwithstanding the authorship of the
article, it is just to say that the Times detected the
odor of Wall Street about it and quarantined the
article before making it public. Its effectiveness for
Gould was much lessened. Gould wrote to Boutwell
with a view of obtaining an official statement from
him, but received, a reply that said little and that diplo
matically. Meanwhile Gould had been buying millions
in gold and had formed a pool that bought millions
more. That the movement was fictitious is shown by
the fact that the impression on prices was compara
tively small. Fisk looked on incredulously. " The
country is against you," was his criticism of the
scheme. The members of the pool sold out, but Gould con
tinued to buy. " I had to buy," testified Gould after
wards, " or show the white feather. The other fellows
deserted me like rats." Gould had the material aid
rof the Tenth National Bank, an institution which he
owned and which he used as an adjunct to his specu
lative operations. The extent to which he used it in
the gold movement was shown by the fact that it in one
day overcertified Gould's checks to the amount of

HOW GOLD WENT UP AND DOWN. 97
$7,500,000. Garfield called this bank " a manufactory
of certified checks." An Exciting Battle.
As Gould bought, the bears sold " short " and the
battle became intensely exciting. At this point Fisk
was drawn into the scheme. He took no stock in the
crop theory, but the idea of making the Administra
tion a partner in the enterprise seems to have attracted
him. Fisk was drawn into the movement when his
aid was most needed. This corner was a glittering
edifice built on a weak foundation. It could not long
stand. The most that Gould and Fisk could do was
to frighten the " shorts " into covering before Grant
awakened to the realization of how he was being used
and issue orders to sell gold. Wall street was soon
filled with rumors that the Administration was in the
deal and the excitement ran high.
The magnitude of the movement is shown by the
fact that before Black Friday Gould had employed
fifty to sixty brokers to make his purchases, and $50,-
000,000 to $60,000,000 of gold had been bought by
Heath & Co., Woodward, H. K. Enos, E. K. Willard
and others of the brokers. He required all this to,
advance the price of gold from 135^ to 140^.
Grant Says " All Right."
Fisk's entrance into the game was a powerful help
to Gould, for it not only furnished another purchaser
for gold, but directed public attention from himself to
Fisk. The ex-peddler loved to bask in the sun of
7

98 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
public notoriety. Gould was timid, but Fisk had
brazen courage.
At last the denouement came. A last attempt was
made to still further involve the President in the
scheme. Grant was then at a little town in Western
Pennsylvania off the line of a railroad. Corbin wrote
him a long letter calculated to elicit a response and
Fisk sent his special messenger to deliver the letter.
He succeeded in handing it to the President, and, after
waiting until he had read the contents, asked if he had
anything to say. The President replied " All right,"
and the messenger so telegraphed to the conspirators.
These interpreted " all right '' to mean a favorable
answer to the letter, and they were much elated. But
the President, supposing that the messenger was only
a clerk from the Post-office, had said "All right"
merely to indicate that he had received the letter and
required his presence no longer. His suspicions were
aroused after the messenger had left, when he ascer
tained that he had brought the letter at post haste all
the way from New York.
That night Mrs. Grant wrote to Mrs. Corbin a note
stating that the President had heard that Mr. Corbin
was engaged in Wall street speculations, and if it
were true he desired that he should immediately dis
sociate himself from them. This letter filled Gould
with-consternation. He and Corbin sat in the latter's
house all night reading and rereading the note and
endeavoring to grasp the meaning between the lines.
" If you show that note," said Gould, finally, " I am

HOW GOLD WENT UP AND DOWN. 99
a ruined man." Corbin said he must obey orders and
leave the street, but he insisted Gould should first
take up the gold held in Corbin's name and pay him
the profits. Corbin had already received a check for
$25,000. But Gould had already all the gold he
wanted, and after standing for a while in silence by the
door, his brow black with mystery, he left the house.
The game was up. One stroke of a woman's pen
had punctured the dazzling bubble. A word from the
President was sufficient to collapse the biggest corner
on record. How to save himself? That was the
question which, with knit brow and lips compressed
with hidden excitement, Gould debated as he returned
home that night. His mind labored for himself alone.
He soon reached a conclusion. While there was yet
time he would dump his heavy load of gold on the
market, and let others take what he could not carry.
His only capital now was the early information he
possessed of the President's aroused suspicions ; of
his change of purpose. He"did not tell even Fisk of
Mrs. Grant's letter to Mrs. Corbin, but let Fisk con
tinue his purchases in ignorance of the real situation.
He only remarked to Fisk that Corbin was getting
weary and wanted his profits, or something to that
purpose. Thursday — the day preceding Black Friday
— Gould began his dumping process.
" I sold that day," he testified afterwards, " and only
bought enough to make the street think I was still a
bull."

CHAPTER VII.
The Story of Black Friday.
^ In the month of September, 1869, one of the most
gigantic atternpts to run-up the value of gold ever
made was attempted by a powerful combination of
Bulls, whose only object was to made money. Their
scheme came near attaining a success which would
have broken the market utterly, have unsettled values
¦ ¦ — ^  , — 1  .  ^— . -
of all kinds, and have precipitated upon the whole'
'Country a financial crisis of the most terrible propor-
' tions. Nothing but the interference of the Secretary
of the Treasury at a critical moment averted this
disaster. As it was, the losses were fearful. Men in
Wall Street were ruined by the score, and for several
days the best houses in the street were uncertain as
to their exact condition.
An account of this formidable transaction is inter
esting as revealing the method of conducting the'
great operations of the street.
On the 22d of September, 1869, gold stood at 137^
when Trinity bells rang out the hour of twelve. By,
two it was at 139. Before night its lowest quotation'
was 141. An advance of three and a half per cent.
in five hours. At the same time the Stock Market
exhibited tokens of excessive febrility, New York
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102 Life of jay gould.
Central dropping twenty-three per cent, and Harlem
thirteen. Loans had become extremely difficult to
negotiate. The most usurious prices for a twenty-four
hours' turn were freely paid. The storm was pal
pably reaching the proportions of a tempest.
Nevertheless, the brokers on the Bear side strove
manfully under their burden. The character and/
purposes of the clique were fully known. Whatever
of mystery had heretofore enfolded them was now
boldly thrown aside, and the men of Erie, with the
sublime Fisk in the " forefront of the assailing column,
assured the shorts that they could not settle too
quickly, since it remained with the ring, now holding
calls for one hundred millions, either to kindly com
promise at 1 50 or to carry the metal to 200 and nail
it there. This threat was accompanied by conse
quences in which the mailed, hand revealed itself
under the silken glove.
Millions of Money Involved.
The movement had intertwisted itself deep into
the affairs of every dealer in the street, and entangled
in its meshes vast numbers of outside speculators.
In borrowing or in margins the entire capital of the
former had been nearly absorbed, while some five
millions had been deposited by the latter with their
brokers in answer to repeated calls.
When Thursday morning rose, gold started at
141^, and soon shot up to 144. Then the clique
began to tighten the screws. The shorts received
peremptory orders to increase their borrowing mar-

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. 103
gins. At the same moment the terms of loans over
night were raised beyond the pitch of ordinary
human endurance. Stories were insidiously circulated
exciting suspicion ofthe integrity of the Administration,
and strengthening the belief that the National Treas
ury would bring no help to the wounded Bears.
Whispers of an impending lock-up of money were
prevalent ; and the fact, then shrewdly suspected, and
now known, of certifications of checks, to the amount
of twenty-five millions by one bank alone on that day,
lent color to the rumor. Many brokers lost courage,
and settled instantly. The Gold Room shook with
the conflict, and the battle prolonged itself into a
midnight session at the Fifth Avenue Hotel.
Great Excitement.
The din of the tumult had penetrated to the upper
chambers of journalism. Reporters were on the alert.
The great dailies magnified the struggle, and the
Associated Press spread intelligence of the excite
ment to remote sections.
When Friday opened clear and calm, the pavement
of Broad and New streets soon filled up with un
wonted visitors. All the idle population of the city
and its neighborhood crowded into the financial
quarter to witness the throes of the tortured shorts.
Blended with tbe merely curious were hundreds of
outside speculators who had ventured their all in the
great stake, and trembled in doubt of the honor of
their dealers.
Long before 9 a. m. these men, intensely interested

104 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
in the day's encounter, poured through the alley-way
from Broad street, and between the narrow walls of
New street, surging up around the doorways, and pil
ing themselves densely and painfully within the
cramped galleries of the Room itself. They had made
good the fresh calls for margins up to 143, the closing
figure ofthe night before. The paramount question
now was, How would gold open ? They had not
many minutes to wait. A Startling Shout.
Pressing up to the fountain, around which some
fifty brokers had already congregated, a Bull operator
with resonant voice bid 145 for twenty thousand. The
shout startled the galleries. Their margins were once
more in jeopardy. Would their brokers remain firm ?
It was a terrible moment. The Bears closed round
the aggressors. Yells and shrieks filled the air, A
confused and baffling whirl of sounds ensued, in which
all sorts of fractional bids and offers mingled, till
'46 emerged from the chaos. The crowd within the
arena increased rapidly in numbers. The clique
agents became vociferous.
Gold steadily pushed forward in its perilous upward
movement from '46 to '47, thence to '49, and, pausing
for a brief twenty minutes, dashed on to 150^ It
was now considerably past the hour of regulai es-
sion. The President was in the chair. The ' ';re-
tary's pen was bounding over his registry book The
floor of the Gold Room was covered with 300 as jated
dealers and operators, shouting, heaving in ? tasses

JAY GOULD'S TOMB, WOODLAWN OEMETARY, N. Y.

SIDNEY DILLON.

(105)

106 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
against and around the iron railing of the fountain,
falling back upon the approaches of the committee-
rooms and the outer entrance, guarded with rigorous
care by sturdy door-keepers. Many of the principal
brokers of the street were there — Kimber, who had
turned traitor to the ring ; Colgate, the Baptist ; Clews,
a veteran government broker ; one of the Marvins ;
James Brown ; Albert Speyer, and dozens of others
hardly less famous. Bedlam Let Loose.
Every individual of all that seething throng had a
personal stake beyond, and, in natural human estimate,
a thousand-fold more dear than that of any outside
patron, no matter how deeply or ruinously that patron
might be involved. At 1 1 of the dial gold was 1 50^ ;
in six minutes it jumped to 155. Then the pent-up
tiger spirit burst from control. The arena rocked as
fhe Coliseum may have rocked when the gates of the
wild beasts were thrown open, and with wails and
shrieks the captives of the empire sprang to merciless
encounter with the ravenous demons of the desert.
The storm of voices lost human semblance.' Clenched
hands, livid faces, pallid foreheads on which beads of
cold sweat told of the interior anguish, lurid, passion-
fired eyes — all the symptoms of a fever which at any
moment might become frenzy were there. The shouts
of golden millions upon millions hurtled in all ears.
The labor of years was disappearing and reappear
ing in the wave line of advancing and receding prices.
With fortunes melting away in a second, with five

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. 107
hundred millions of gold in process of sale cr pur
chase, with the terror of yet higher prices, and the ex
ultation which came and went with the whispers of.
fresh men entering from Broad street bearing con
fused rumors' of the probable interposition of the
Government, it is not hard to understand how reason
faltered on its throne, and operators became reckless,
buying or selling without thought of the morrow or
consciousness of the present.
A Great Bid.
Then came the terrific bid of Albert Speyer for any
number of millions at 160. William Parks sold in
stantly two millions and a half in one lot. Yet the
bids so far from yielding rose to 161, 162, 162^. For
five minutes the Board reeled under the ferocity of the
attack. Seconds became hours. The agony of Wel
lington awaiting Blucher was in the souls of the Bears.
Then a broker, reported to be acting for Baring &
Brothers, at London, sold five millions to the clique
at the top price of the day. Hallgarten followed ; and
as the shorts were gathering courage, the certain news
that the Secretary of the Treasury had come to the
rescue swept through the chamber, gold fell from 160
to 140, and thence, with hardly the interval of one
quotation, to 133. j
The end had come, and the exhausted operators
streamed out of the stifling hall into the fresh air of
the street. To them, however, ' came no peace. In
some offices customers by dozens, whose margins
were irrevocably burnt away in the smelting-furnace

108 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
of the Gold Board, confronted their dealers with
taunts and threats of violence for their treachery!
In others the nucleus of mobs began to form, and, as
the day wore off, Broad street had the aspect of a
riot. Huge masses of men gathered before the door
way of Smith, Gould, Martin & Co., and Heath &
Co. Fisk was assaulted, and his life threatened.
Deputy-sheriffs and police officers appeared on the
scene. In Brooklyn a company of troops were held in
readiness to march upon Wall street.
A Remarkable Sighf.
When night came, Broad street and its vicinity saw
an unwonted sight. The silence and the darkness
which ever rests over the lower city after seven of the
evening, was broken by the blaze of gas-light from a
hundred windows, and the foot-fall of clerks hurrying
from a hasty repast back to their desks. Until long
after Trinity bells pealed out the dawn of a new day.
men bent over their books, scrutinized the Clearing-
House statement for the morrow, took what. thought
was possible for the future. At the Gold Exchange
Bank the weary accountants were making ineffective-;
efforts to complete Thursday's business. That toilful
midnight, at the close of the last great passion day of
the bullion-worshippers, will be ever memorable for'
its anxieties and unsatisfying anguish.
Saturday brought no relief. The Gold Board met
only to adjourn, as the Clearing-House had been
incapable of the task of settling its accounts, compli
cated as they were by ever fresh failures. The small

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. 109
brokers had gone under by scores. The rumors of
the impending suspension of some of the largest
houses of the street gave fresh grounds for fear. The
Stock Exchange was now the centre of attraction. If
that yielded, all was lost. To sustain the market was
vital. Values Plunge Headlong.
But whence was the saving power to come ? All
through yesterday shares had been falling headlong.
New York Central careened to 148, and then re
covered to 185^. Huclson plunged from 173 to 145.
Pittsburg fell to 68. Northwest reached 62^. The
shrinkage throughout all securities had been not less
than thirty millions. Would the impulse downward
continue ? The throngs which filled the corridors and
overhung the stairway from which one can look down
upon the Long Room saw only mad tumult, heard
only the roar of the biddings. For any certain knowl
edge they might have been in Alaska.
But the financial public in the quiet of their offices,
and nervously scrutinizing the prices reeled off from the
automaton telegraph, saw that Vanderbilt was sup
porting the New York stocks, and that the weakness
in other shares was not sufficient to shadow forth
panic. It soon became known that the capitalists
from Philadelphia, Boston, and the great Western
cities had thrown themselves into the breach, and
were earning fortunes for themselves as well as grati
tude from the money-market, by the judicious daring
of their purchases. The consciousness of this new

110

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

element was quieting, but Wall street was still too
feverish to be reposed by any ordinary anodyne. A

BROAD STREET ON BLACK FRIDAY.
run on the Tenth National Bank had commenced;
and all day long a steady line of dealers filed up to
the counter of the paying teller demanding their

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. Ill
balances. The courage and the ability in withstand
ing the attack which were shown by the president
and his associates deserve something more than
praise. Freaks of Mad Men.
The Gold Exchange Bank witnessed a similar
scene, angry brokers assaulting the clerks and threat
ening all possible things unless instantaneous settle
ments were made. The freedom with which the press
had given details of the explosion had been extremely
hurtful to the credit of many of the best houses. In
a crisis like that of Black Friday the sluice-gates of
passion open. Cloaked in the masquerade of genuine
distrust, came forth whispers whose only origin was
in ancient enmities, long-treasured spites, the sound
less depths of unquenchable malignities. Firms of
staunchest reputation felt the rapier-stroke of old
angers. The knowledge that certain houses were large
holders of particular stocks was the signal of attacks;
upon the shares. Despite of outside orders for vast
amounts, these influences had their effect upon securi
ties, and aided to tighten the loan market. One, one
and a half, two, and even four per cent, were the com
pulsory terms on which money could alone be bor
rowed to carry stocks over Sunday.
On Monday the 27th the Gold Board met, but only
to be informed that the Clearing-House was not yet
ready to complete the work of Friday. Important
accounts had been kept back, and the dealings, swollen

,^i'2 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
in sum total to five hundred millions, were beyond the
capacity of the clerical force of the Gold Bank to
grapple with. A resolution was brought forward
proposing the resumption of operations Ex-Clearing-
House. The measure took the members by surprise,
for a moment quivered between acceptance and rejec
tion, and then was swiftly tabled. It was an immense'
Bear scheme, for no exchange can transact business
where its dealers are under suspicion. All outstand
ing accounts require immediate fulfilment. Failure to
make good deliveries would have insured the instant
selling out of the defaulters " under the rule."
A Measure of Relief.
As the majority of brokers were inextricably in
volved in the late difficulty, the only consequence
would have been to throw them into bankruptcy, thus
bringing some $60,000,000 under the hammer. The
market could not have borne up under such an ava
lanche. It was decided that the Room should be kept
open for borrowings and loans, but that all dealings
should be suspended. One resultpf this complication
was that gold had no fixed value. It could be bought
at one house for 133 and at other offices sold for 139.
The Board thus proved its utility at the very juncture
when least in favor.
Such is a picture of Black Friday, a day of days, a
day more exciting and terrible than ever dawned on
the financial world before or since :
The scene during the conflict almost beggars de
scription, and exceeds anything ever before witnessed

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. 113

on Wall street. It was a tussle of enormous magni-.
tude, fierce and desperate. It was a day long to be
remembered and not easily forgotten by those who
witnessed it, or were caught in the maelstrom that
carried everything before it.
The operators were early in the street, and the
offices of Smith, Gould & Martin, Fisk & Belden, and
William Heath & Co., were the centre of enormous
excitement. William Belden, who was Fisk's partner,
played a conspicuous part in this day's history. He
was a man cool and daring — the fit companion of such
bold speculators as Gould and Fisk. The day, how
ever, left a stain on his record that could never be
obliterated, and when, in 1888, Belden formed a co
partnership with a member of the Stock Exchange,
the governing committee of the institution stated that
unless the member severed his partnership with Bel
den he must leave the Exchange.
The Silent Wizard.
Gould, Fisk, Belden and their brokers held a coun
sel of war and laid out the. work of the day. Heath
was to look after this, Willard was to attend to that,
Belden. was to direct this, and Fisk was to direct that,
while Gould, by nods and whispers, directed all. " I
determined," said Mr. Gould afterwards, " not to open
my mouth that day, and I did not."
"What a study for a dramatic painter Gould would
have made thatvday !
Albert Speyer, who accepted verbal orders from
Pelden fo the presence of Gpuld and Fisk to buy4

114 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
went into the board-room and did buy immense quan
tities of gold at the highest prices-. The street was
filled with the wildest rumors. Prices rapidly ad
vanced to 1 65. The shorts trembled before the rising
tide that seemed about to sweep over them. Many
were frightened into covering their contracts.
Gould continued to sell. Fisk and Belden con
tinued to buy. The excitement rose point by point
to the wildest pitch. Old operators lost their heads,
men rushed hatless and half crazy through the streets,
their eyes bloodshot, their faces pale with anxiety,
their brains on fire. There came rumors of contem
plated selling of gold by the treasury, and the street
went mad. Where these rumors started no one ever
knew, but they were the forerunners of actual fact.
James Brown, the Scotch banker, appeared in the
board and began to offer gold at declining figures.
The Earthquake Comes.
Then the earthquake started, and the golden edifice
built by Gould began to tumble. Soon the treasury
order to sell $4,000,000 of gold appeared, and then
the terrible collapse. Prices fell from 165 to 133^.
The board-room was the scene of contending furies.
Albert Speyer completely lost control of himself; his
hair is said to have turned white that night after he
went home a ruined man. Wall- and Broad streets
were filled with men wild with excitement.
Infuriated mobs surrounded the offices of Fisk and
Belden, and Smith, Gould, and Martin. Threats of
violence were made. Speyer went about saying:
"Some one has threatened to shoot me. Let him

THE STORY OF BLACK FRIDAY. 115
shoot." The Gold Exchange Bank was obliged to
suspend operations. Its clearances that day amounted
to over $300,000,000 of gold. Trading was stopped
in the gold board. Fisk and Belden suspended and
their contracts were repudiated.
The fortunes of hundreds were swept away in that
day's battle. Several firms were driven to the wall
and announced their failures. The Administration
was involved in suspicion which it took years to re
move. The nation was disgraced and its credit was
broken. But Gould went home saved. What he made or
what he lost in that struggle is unknown, but though
he had involved others, he had saved himself from
overthrow. In his sworn autobiography delivered to the Com
mittee on Labor and Education, Mr. Gould omitted all
mention of Black Friday, but when as a witness before
the Committee on Corners, he was asked about the
Black Friday panic, he calmly said that it was the
" result of over-trading," and that its real cause was
"the fluctuations in the price of gold caused by the
war !" It is a singular coincidence that exactly twenty-
two years after Black Friday, on the very anniversary
of the day in 1891, Gould caused another big flurry
in Wall street. After several years of depression, a
"boom " in stocks was in progress, when the sudden
announcement was made that the Missouri Pacific, of
which Gould was president, would pass its dividend.
The announcement caused a revolution in prices and
the " boom " completely collapsed.

CHAPTER VIII.
The Famous Wall Street, and Stock Exchange.
Frequent reference has been made to Wall street.
This will be understood by residents of New York
and many others who are familiar with the city. Some
readers may not fully understand what goes on in
Wall street, and the talk about gold-rooms, stock,
boards, broker's offices, etc., is to them mysterious
and puzzling. Before proceeding, therefore, with the
narrative we will give a full description of this cele
brated street and some account of the great financial
transactions which go on there.
' Wall street begins on the east side of Broadway,
opposite Trinity Church, and terminates at the East
River. It is about half a mile from the extreme
southern end of the island, and about the same dis
tance from the City Hall. It is a narrow street,
about fifty feet in width, and slopes gradually from
Broadway to the river. It is lined on both sides with
handsome brown stone, yellow stone, granite, marble,
iron, and brick buildings, and the Treasury and
Custom-House rear their magnificent fronts, about
midway between the termini of the street. They are
diagonally opposite each other.
The buildings are covered with a multiplicity of
(116)

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THE DREAM OF A SPECULATOR.
(117)
118 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
signs, rivalling the edifices of Nassau street in this re
spect. Scarcely a house has less than a score of
offices within its walls, and some contain at least three
times as many. Space is valuable, and rents are high
in Wall street, and many of the leading firms in it
have to content themselves with small, dark apart
ments, which a conscientious man would hesitate to
call an " office." The rents paid for such quarters
are enormous, and the buildings yield their owners
large incomes every year. The streets running into
Wall street, on the right and left, are also occupied
for several blocks with the offices of bankers and
brokers, and are all included in the general term
" Wall street," or " The Street."
Wall street first appears in the history of the city as
a portion of a sheep pasture which was used in com
mon by the inhabitants of New Amsterdam. -Its
natural condition was partly rolling upland and partly
meadow of a swampy character.
Origin of the Name.
The name of the street originated thus : About the
middle of the seventeenth century, the English in the
New England colonies began to press heavily upon
the Dutch in New Netherlands, and kept the worthy
4 burghers of New Amsterdam in a constant dread of
an invasion. Influenced by this feeling, the city-
authorities resolved to fortify the place, and in 1653
constructed a wall or stockade across the island, from
river to river just beyond the line ofthe village. This
wall passed directly across the old sheep pasture.

WALL STREET AND STOCK EXCHANGE. H9
Citizens were forbidden to build within 100 feet of
the stockade, this open space being reserved for
the movements of troops. It soon became a promi
nent highway, and the eastern portion has since re
mained so.
The anticipated attack on the city was not made,
but the wall was kept in good condition. Houses
crept up close to the wall on the city side, and began
to appear on the opposite side just under the wall.
Thus a new street was formed, through which ran the
old stockade. The open space along the wall was
originally called The Cingel, signifying " the ramparts."
Soon after the town reached the limit of the military
reservation, persons residing here were spoken of as
living "long de Wal," and from this the street came
to be called " the Wall street," which name it has ever
since borne.
The wall, having fallen into decay, was demolished
about the year 1699, and its stones were used in the
construction, of the old City Hall, which stood at the
intersection of Wall and Nassau streets, the site now
occupied by the Sub-Treasury of the United States.
The old building was used for the various purposes of
the city government until the close ofthe Revolution.
It contained, besides the council and court rooms, a
jail for the detention and punishment of criminals, a
debtor's prison, which was located in the attic, a fire-
engine room, a cage and a pillory. A pair of stocks
was set up on the opposite side of the street, wherein

12,0 LIFE*" OF JAY GOULD.
criminals were exposed to the indignant gaze of a
virtuous public. Old Federal Hall.
At the close of the Revolution the City Hall was
enlarged and improved for the use of the General
Government. It thus became the first capitol of the
new Republic, and was known as Federal-Hall. The
first Congress of the United States assembled within
its walls in the year 1789, and upon its spacious
portico, in the presence of an immense multitude,
George Washington took the oath to support and
defend the Constitution as first President of the United
States. Wall street was originally taken up with priva:e
residences, and the old views represent it as well
shaded with trees. Even as late as 1830 it presented
a very rural appearance between Broadway and Wih
liam street. Prior to the Revolution, the lower part
of the street had been built up with stores as far as
Front street, and had become the centre of mercantile
affairs in the city, the row of stores on Wall street
being the first erected beyond Water street. About
the year 1792, the old Tontine Coffee House was
erected on the northwest corner of Wall and Water
streets, and this become the favorite rendezvous for
the city merchants, by whom, indeed, it was erected
and controlled. In 1791 the Bank of New York was
located at the corner of William street, and marked
the first encroachment upon the strictly private por
tion of the street. It was also the first effort to make

WALL STREET AND STOCK EXCHANGE. 121
this locality the centre of the financial operations of
the city. Other institutions and private bankers soon
followed, and the character and architecture of the
street began to undergo a change. The work of im
provement went on steadily, and the Wall street of
to-day is the result. Wall Street Celebrities.
Famous lawyers have also had their offices in this
street. Alexander Hamilton's sign might once have
been seen here, not far from where his humble monu
ment now stands in Trinity churchyard, and the name
of Caleb Cushing is still to be found near a doorway
just below Broadway.
The street fairly began its present career in the days
of Jacob Little, "the great bear of Wall street." He
opened an office here in 1822, and by dint of such
labor as few men are capable of performing, placed
himself at the head of American operators. His
credit was good for any amount, and his integrity was
unimpeachable. He could sway the market as he
pleased, and his contracts were met with a punctuality
and fidelity which made "his word as good as his
bond." Efforts were made to ruin him, but his genius and
far-sightedness enabled him to defeat all his enemies
with their own weapons. His gains were enormous,
and so were his losses. The civil war brought upon
him disasters which he could not surmount, and he
died poor in the early part of 1861, leaving behind
him one of the names of which New York is proud.

122 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
At the corner of Nassau street, and looking down
into Broad street, is the Sub-Treasury of the United
States, a handsome white marble edifice. It is built
in the Doric style of architecture, and its massive flight
of steps and imposing portico give to it a striking ap
pearance. It is constructed in the most substantial
manner, and has a rear entrance on Pine street.
Government Vaults.
The interior is handsomely arranged, and tasteful
but secure iron gratings protect the employees from
surprise and robbery. The vaults are burglar proof.
This is the principal depository of the Federal Gov
ernment, and millions of dollars are always in its
vaults. The building was erected for, and was used
for some years as, a Custom House.
From the steps of the Treasury one may enjoy a
fine view of the entire street, and of Broad street also.
About the hour of noon the scene is busy and exciting.
The roadway in Wall street is full of struggling vehi
cles, and long rows of cabs stand in waiting in Broad
street for the busy operators within the Exchanges.
The sidewalks are crowded with an eager, hurrying
throng. The steps and street around the Stock Exchange,
in Broad street, are black with men who are shouting,
pushing, and struggling in the effort to turn the trans
actions of the day to their advantage. Overhead is
an intricate maze of telegraph wires, along which flow
the quick and feverish pulsations of the great financial
heart of the country. The sunlight falls brightly and

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE— BOARD IN SESSION.

124 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
cheerily over it all, and at intervals the clear, sweet
chimes of old Trinity come floating down the street
high above the noise and strife below them.
Famous Buildings.
Diagonally opposite the Treasury, and at the corner
of William street, is the Custom House, which occu
pies the irregular square bounded by Wall street,
Exchange Place, William street, and Hanover street.
It is one of the finest and best arranged edifices in the
city. Just below the Custom House is the handsome
marble building of Brown Brothers, one of the model
houses of New York, as regards both the firm and the
edifice. The Messrs. Brown are regarded as the most
reliable and accomplished operators in the street.
The Drexels occupy and own the handsome white
marble building at the corner of Broad street, oppo
site the Treasury, and there conduct the New York
branch of their enormous business. A few years ago
they purchased the ground on which their building
stands, paying for it the highest sum ever paid for real
estate in any of the great cities of Europe or America.
Other firms, of more or less eminence, fill the street.
Some have fine, showy offices, others operate in dark,
dingy holes. The Stock Exchange.
The Stock Exchange is located on the west side of
Broad street, just out of Wall street. It is a fine
white marble edifice, with a portico of iron, painted
flashily in black and gold. It extends back to New

WALL STREET *AND STOCK EXCHANGE. 125
street, with an entrance on that street. It contains
the " New York Stock Exchange," the " Mining
Board," and the " Government Board."
During the spring and summer of 1871 the internal
arrangements of the building were very much im
proved. The refitting cost the brokers $60,000, but
they now have the handsomest establishment of its
kind in the world.
The main entrance is on Broad street, and from this
the visitor passes into a room, the larger portion of
which is separated from the Broad street end by an
iron railing. This is "The Long Room," and during
the day it is almost always filled with a noisy and not
over-nice crowd. It is the scene of the irregular sales
of stocks. Any one who can raise $50 can purchase
a season ticket to this hall, and once admitted can sell
and purchase stocks without being a member of the
Regular Board. Beautiful Apartments,
This arrangement has nearly put an end to the
sales of stocks on the sidewalks, and has given a
tinge of respectability to the class known as " Curb
stone Brokers." A dozen or more different stocks
may be sold here at once, and the sale may be con
tinued as long as the seller sees fit. There is no reg
ular organization ofthe brokers operating here, though
these m^n control the bulk of the sales made in the
street. They are noisy and seem half demented in
their frantic efforts to make sales.
The " Stock Exchange " occupies the main hall,

126

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

which is on the floor above the Long Room. This
hall is one of the most
|g|ll|i§|jg|§j|L beautiful apartments
B in the city. It is sev
enty-four feet long,
fifty-four feet wide,
and fifty-two feet four
inches high. Its lofty
ceiling is arched and
decorated with bright
red and buff pencil
ing upon a sky-blue
ground, while the
walls are relieved by
broad square pilas
ters, painted in bril
liant bronze, with tall
windows and arched
tops rising between,
and other spaces be
tween the columns
covered with drapery
in more subdued col
ors. Up to a few
feet from the floor
the painting is in a
dark-hued bronze.
The coloring is in the
the stock exchange. Moorish style, and the
effect of the whole is very fine throughout.

A BROKER'S OFFICE— ENTER VERDANT GREEN.

128 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
At the north end is the platform for the desks of
the Vice-President and Secretary, and on each side
of this is a black-board for recording the quotations
of the session. On the same platform are the desk and
instrument of the stock telegraph operator.
At the south end of the hall is a light gallery ca
pable of holding 200 persons, for the use of visitors.
In connection with the hall are several committee;
cloak and ante-rooms. In the centre of the ceiling is
a huge ventilator, beneath which is suspended the
lighting apparatus, containing 100 burners. A cham
ber five feet in depth underlies the hall and the ad
joining lobby, and in it are laid pipes for conducting
warm air. At the base of the walls is an open iron
grating covering the apertures of a shaft leading from
the enoine-room. Through this shaft warm air is
forced into the hall in winter, and cool air in summer,
thus securing perfect ventilation.
Stock Exchange Board.
The Stock Exchange Board is an incorporated
company, and is the only lawful association in -the city
for the transaction of business connected with stocks.
It consists of 1050 members', but the control of its
affairs is vested in a council of forty members, to
gether with the President, Secretary and Treasurer
in their unofficial capacity. The admission fee is
$5000, and a seat in the Board becomes the absolute
personal property of the broker, who can sell or
otherwise dispose of it as he would of his watch or
his coat.

WALL STREET AND STOCK EXCHANGE. 129
Candidates are admitted by ballot and with great
care, the object being to secure the exclusion of all
but men of known integrity, for the Board requires
the most scrupulous good faith in the transactions of
all its members. Four black balls will prevent the
admission of a candidate whether he wishes to enter
by purchase or otherwise. Candidates must submit to
a close scrutiny of their previous lives, and must show
a clear record.
There are two daily sessions of the Board, one in
the morning and the other in the afternoon. The
securities offered at these meetings are divided into
two classes, the Regular and the Free List. No stock
or bond can be dealt in until it has been rigidly ex
amined by a committee, and found to be a bona fide
security. At half-past ten o'clock in the morning, the Morn
ing Board is called to order by the First Vice-Presi
dent. The Regular List, which is made up in advance
of the meeting, must always be called, and called
first. The Free List may be called or not at the
option of the Board. The Regular List consists of
ist. Miscellaneous Stocks. 2d. Railroad Stocks.
3d. State Bonds. 4th. City Stocks. 5. Railroad
Bonds. Mode of Operation.
The session opens with the reading of the minutes
of the previous day. Then comes the call of the
Regular List. The call of Miscellaneous Stocks
awakens but little excitement. Bids follow quickly
9

130 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
upon the announcement of the stocks, and the trans
actions, as they are announced by the cries of the
brokers, are repeated by the Vice-President to the
Assistant Secretary, who records them in the journal,
and they are also recorded by a clerk on a black
board in full view of the members. Where there is
a doubt respecting a sale or purchase the Vice-Presi
dent decides, and his decision is final, unless reversed
by the votes of a majority of the members present.
The call of railroad securities brings the brokers to
their feet, and the real business of the day begins.
Offers and bids, shouted in deep bass, high treble, or
shrill falsetto, resound through the hall, and in a few
minutes the jovial-looking brokers seem^to be on the
verge of madness. How they yell and shout, and
stamp, and gesticulate. A Roaring Mob.
The roar and confusion are bewildering to a
stranger, but the keen, practised ears of the Vice-
President at once recognize the various transactions,
and down they go in the Secretary's book, and on the
black-board, while the solemn-visaged telegraph
operator sends them clicking into every broker's of
fice in the city. High over all rings the voice of
Peter, the keeper of the gate, calling out members for
whom telegrams or visitors have arrived.
The other stocks awaken more or less excitement,
and when the Regular List is completed, the Free List
is in order, and the Vice-President calls such stocks as
the members express a desire to deal in. Then, unless

i.32 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
there is a wish to call up some stock hastily passed
over on the call of the Regular List, the session
closes. At one o'clock the afternoon session is held, and the
routine of the morning is gone over again. The
transactions of both sessions are carefully recorded in
the Secretary's books.
The Vice-President receives a salary of $7,000 per
annum for his services, which are not light. The Sec
retary and Assistant Secretary and Roll-keeper do the
rest of the work of the Board. The last named keeps
a record of the fines, which yield an exceedingly large
revenue to the Board. Jokes and Horseplay. •
The brokers are not the most dignified of mortals
in their meetings, but are very much given to disor
derly conduct and practical jokes. The annual dues
of the Exchange are but fifty dollars, but the average
broker pays at least ten times as much in fines. To
interrupt the presiding officer during a call of the
stocks subjects the offender to a fine of not less than
twenty-five cents for each offence ; to smoke a cigar
within the Exchange costs five dollars ; to be absent
from special meetings is to incur a fine of not more
than five dollars ; to stand on a table or chair is pun
ishable with a fine of one dollar ; to throw a paper
dart or ball at a member during the session of the
Board costs ten dollars ; and other offences may be
punished with fines assessed by the Vice-President at
any sum between twenty-five cents and five dollars.

WALL STREET AND STOCK EXCHANGE. 133
Each day a list of stocks to be put in the market is
made out, and no others can be sold during the session.
The Board can refuse to offer any particular stock for
sale, and a guarantee's required of the party making
the sale. The members of the Board are men of
character, and their transactions are fair and open.
They are required to fulfill all contracts in good faith,
however great the loss to themselves, on pain of ex
pulsion from the Board, and it is very rarely that an
expelled member can be reinstated.

CHAPTER IX.
Gould and the Pacific Railroads.
Having given a description of Wall street and the
Stock Exchange, the scene of the great battles of
finance and speculation, we resume the story of Mr.
Gould, whose operations for many years startled the
whole business world. Thousands envied his money-
making genius, yet he stood without a rival. Jay Gould
was a phenomenon. Once in a century, or more, such
a phenomenon appears in almost every pursuit and
calling. He bursts upon the world's astonished gaze
as the burning meteor, does ; he passes and there is
no other to rival his dazzling splendor.
Having severed his relations with Erie Mr. Gould
entered into that career of acquisition which made
him the master of several of the most important rail
roads in the United States, of the Yale system of tele
graph and of the chief line of transportation in New
York city. In nearly all his railroad operations he
repeated, to a greater or less extent, his career in
Erie. His scheme was to buy up cheap and bankrupt
roads and reorganize them. His career in Union
Pacific comes naturally first in order. For ten years
he was master of this great system which, with the
Central Pacific, constitutes the first and most important
(134)

136 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
of the lines leading to the Pacific coast. His record
in this road has been a matter of official investigation.
It is but fair that Mr. Gould's own account of his
connection with Union Pacific, as stated in his testi
mony before the Senate Committee on Labor and
Education, should be given. Having omitted all
mention of Erie, Mr. Gould said :
" I then went into the Union Pacific road. I met
Horace Clark and Augustus Schell out West, and they
gave me so good an account of the road that I con
cluded to buy in it. I telegraphed to New York an
order to buy at a certain price. When Mr. Clark got
home he was taken ill, and as soon as his brokers
learned that his illnes'. was to be fatal they sold "Out
his stock. That broke the market and filled orders
which I had sent at a price lower than I ever expected.
Threatened Bankruptcy.
"When I got home I found myself the owner of a
large amount of this property and at once inquired
into its condition. I learned that it was saddled with
a large floating debt and that there were $10,000,000
of bonds coming due within a month. It was in
rather a blue condition. The directors were consult
ing who should be the receiver. I made up my mind
that I would carry it through, and I told them that if
they would furnish half of the money to pay the debt
I would furnish the other half.
"The stock went down to 15. It was a large loss,
but still I kept right on buying, so when the turn came
there did not seem to be any top to it. It went up to

GQULD AND THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 137
75 and I immediately went to work to bring the road
up. I went out over it, started coal mines, and to the
surprise of everybody it soon began to pay dividends
and has never passed a dividend since.
"'Well,' continued Mr. Gould, "when this road
began to be a financial success and developed other
ways there arose quite a clamor, and it was said to be
Jay Gould's road, as though it were a dangerous thing
to have one man control a road. I thought that it
was better to bow to public opinion, so I took an
opportunity when I could place the stock in the hands
of investors. Great Number of Stockholders.
" In the course of a very few months, instead of con
trolling the road, I was entirely out of it, and the stock
was twenty per cent, higher than I had sold it for.
Instead of being thirty or forty stockholders there
were between six and seven thousand, representing
the savings of widows and orphans. There were
also a great many lady stockholders. That was after
Congress enacted very harsh legislation, after they
had broken the bargain they had made to get the
road through in its early stages.' "
"You refer to the Thurman act?" asked the
Chairman. " Yes, and that closed my connection with the
Union Pacific road."
The reader will be interested in a more detailed
account of the great financier's connection with the

138 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Pacific Railroads. That his power was felt clear
across the continent cannot be denied.
When Mr. Gould began to take an interest in the
Pacific railroads he found, as he subsequently ex
pressed it, that they had been " badly financed." He
took hold of some of them, notably the Union Pacific,
the Kansas Pacific, the Denver Pacific, and the
Missouri Pacific, and "financed" them with conspicu
ous results. He began buying Union Pacific stock
in 1873. After a while, in consequence of a mis
understanding with other persons, he found himself
in possession of several thousand shares. Horace
Clark was then in practical control of the property.
He was taken seriously ill, and the price of the stock
went down at a rapid rate. Gould kept buying the
stock as it went down, and when it touched 14 he
concluded that the best way to save himself was to
buy control of the property.
The Road Comes Up.
He acquired 200,000 of the 367,000 shares and
took the management into his own hands. The
stock increased in value, and in a few years dividends
were declared.
Sidney Dillon was then President of the Union
Pacific, and he, Mr. Gould, and other large stock
holders agreed upon a plan to fund the floating debt
in bonds, of which Mr. Gould took $1,000,000. Mr.
Gould remained in practical control of the property
until about r88o, when public opinion clamored for a
change, and, as Mr. Gould said to one of the numer-

HOW A SUCCESSFUL OPERATOR SPENDS HIS MONEY. (139)

140 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ous investigating committees before which he, was
called upon during his busy life to testify, " I bowed
to public opinion. I let outside parties in, and soon,
instead of thirty or forty stockholders, there were
6,000 or 7,000."
Charles Francis Adams succeeded Sidney Dillon
as President, and in a short time an astonished public
beheld the spectacle of the author of the scathing
" Chapter of Erie " standing sponsor for the man he
had denounced. Mr. Gould managed to persuade Mr.
Adams to view the future of Union Pacific through his
(Gould's) eyes, and in consequence Mr. Adams un
consciously assisted Mr. Gould in disposing of large
blocks of the stock to good advantage. In 1891 Mr.
Gould again got control of the Union Pacific Road,
owing to peculiar Wall street conditions, and he
calmly turned Mr. Adams out of the Presidency and
put Sidney Dillon back there.
In 1876 Mr. Gould began buying Kansas Pacific
stock because it was cheap. At that time stock
speculators did not regard the stock as being worth
anything. Mr. Gould, however, was looking away.
ahead, and he bought largely or Denver Pacific
securities and stock and bonds of the St. Joe and
Western, the Kansas Central, and Central Branch
Roads. All of these securities he got at a very low price;
and he realized an enormous profit when they were
all turned in under the famous Union Pacific. consoli
dation scheme in 1880. For his Central Branch

GOULD AND THE TACIFIC RAILROADS. 141
stock alone he received $239 per share. Mr. Gould
was one of the first to suggest the consolidation of
the Kansas Pacific and its subsidiary roads with the
Union Pacific. He employed Solon Humphries and
Gen. Dodge to go West, look over the situation, and
make a report on the practicability of the consoli
dation. In 1879 a consolidated mortgage was issued by the
Kansas Pacific to wipe out the innumerable securities
bearing different rates of interest which were then
burdening the road. Jay Gould and Russell Sage
were then directors of both the Union and the Kansas
Pacific Roads, and they were made trustees of this
mortgage. Among the assets covered by this mort
gage were 30,000 shares of the Denver Pacific Rail
road, then of little value, but which under the plan of
consolidation which Gould was then maturing would
become of great value. Sidney Dillon, who was
associated with Gould and Sage in all three roads,
asked them to release these. stocks from the lien of
the mortgage. Shrewd Tactics.
Gould and Sa^e sat down at the same desk at
which Dillon had written this modest request and
wrote suggesting that an action should be brought
against them in the courts for the release of the stock.
The action was immediately brought before Judge
Donohue, to which Gould and Sage made no defense.
Dillon testified that the stock was worth only $200,000
or$ 306,000 The order was given, the stock released,

142 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
and the day after the consolidation was effected which
made the stock worth its face value, or $3,000,000.
In 1888 an action was brought by the bondholders
through three New York lawyers to compel a restitu
tion of the value of this stock. District-Attorney
(afterwards Judge) Martine and his successor, Dis
trict-Attorney -Fellows, brought the facts before the
Grand Jury, the chairman of which, Mr. Havens, had'
been a fellow-dicector of Gould in Jersey Central.
The jury, on a ruling by Judge Cowing that the statute
of limitations prevented a criminal action, refused to
bring in an indictment. This ruling was afterwards
upheld by Recorder Smyth.
The Wizard Disappears.
While criminal proceedings were being agitated
Gould went away on a long ocean trip, on his yacht,
returning after the matter had been settled. On his
return he attacked his prosecutors with a virulence
which he had never displayed before, and filled the
columns of the newspapers with interviews.
In one of these he declared that the attack upon
him was the result of a conspiracy and blackmail, and
that the powers behind the criminal proceedings were
"a newspaper" (meaning the Herald), "a cable com
pany " (referring to the Mackey-Bennett Company)
" and a woman." The latter was understood to be the
wife of an officer of one of Gould's railroads who had
brought suit for divorce. This bringing of a woman
into the. case created a great sensation.
A few days later Gould made a bitter personal- at-

GOULD AND THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 143
tack on James Gordon Bennett, of the Herald, calling
in question his personal and social character, and re
citing incidents unfit for publication. This was the
first time in his life that Gould appeared to be thor
oughly " rattled ;" the first time that he let down the
curtain of mystery with which he had so long covered
himself, and the first time that he broke that silence
which was his best weapon. How he Did It.
This is a good place to quote from Gould's testi
mony before the Pacific Railroad Commission, as it
gives an insight into his theory of railroad operations.
,"I consider," he said, "the past a good thing to
judge a road by, but the future more. I have been
all my life dealing in railroads, that is, since before I
came of age. I always bought on the future; that's
how I made my money. The bonds on the first road
I bought were down to 10 cents. I built up the road
and sold them for $i 25. That's the reason I went into
the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific. But I saw
the Kansas Pacific was going to develop faster than
the Union Pacific."
After Mr. Gould came in possession of the Wabash
system, he was impelled by force of circumstances to
get control of Missouri Pacific in order to protect his
Wabash interests. The Wabash system had been
built up by the amalgamation of sixty-eight different
railroad corporations, and Mr. Gould was bitterly as
sailed for some of the financial methods with which he
worked out his great consolidation scheme.

144 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
The Wabash system finally got into the hands of a
receiver, and the hotly-contested litigation which fol
lowed the efforts of the security holders to wrest the
property from Gould's control, culminated in a strong
anti-Gould decision by Judge Walter Q. Gresham, of
the United States District Court.
Sudden Rise in a Railroad.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad was owned in 1880
by Commodore Garrison, who was not friendly to Mr.
Gould. The latter sent Russell Sage to find out how
much the Commodore would take for his interest in
the Missouri Pacific. The Commodore said that
$2,000,000 would be about right. Sage offered
$1,500,000 and Garrison shook his head brusquely.
The next day Sage returned and offered to close the
bargain at $2,000,000. " No," said the Commodore,
"the price has advanced to $2,800,000." "Pooh,
pooh !" said Sage, and he went back and reported to
Mr. Gould.
The next day Gould went himself and told Garri
son that he would take his stock at $2,800,000. The
Commodore replied that the stock had advanced in
price to $3,800,000, and it would continue to go up
$ 1 ,000,000 a day. Gould closed the bargain on the
spot, giving Garrison his check for $3,8,00,000.
The Missouri Pacific stock subsequently became
very much depressed in the stock market, and a great
many weak stockholders were obliged to let go.
Gould was always ready to buy. After a while he
consolidated the Missouri Pacific with the Iron Moun-

GOULD AND THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 145
tain and the International and Great Northern, and
Missouri Pacific stock went up rapidly. The Iron
Mountain was a first-class money-earning road.
Controller of 6000 Miles of Railroad.
This consolidation gave Mr. Gould a southwestern
railroad system of more than 5000 miles, which he
subsequently extended largely. In speaking of his
development of the Missouri Pacific system to a Sen
ate committee, Mr. Gould remarked : " I did not care
about making money with it. I had got beyond that
point where I cared about making money for myself.
I was chiefly interested in convincing myself and others
that I could make an effective and financially success
ful railroad combination."
- Mr. Gould's policy while in control of the "Union
Pacific was such as greatly to curtail the earning power
of the Kansas Pacific road, which wa6 a natural de
pendent on the Union Pacific. Consequently the
marketable value of Kansas Pacific stock went down
to almost nothing. Gould bought much of it. It was
then that the consolidation of the Kansas Pacific and
the Denver Pacific with the Union Pacific was sug
gested. Mr. Gould was committed to the scheme. Before
it was completed Gould had got control of the Mis
souri Pacific, and although still in the Union Pacific
directory, he threatened to build a short line connect
ing the Kansas Pacific with the Colorado Central, and
thus, with the Missouri Pacific, forming a strong com
peting line to the Pacific coast. This frightened the
10

146

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

THE PARK BANK, BROADWAY, NEW YORK.
Boston directors of the Union Pacific, and .they hast
ened to Gould's house^and insisted upon his standing
by the consolidation agreement.

GOULD AND THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 14?
" Lost a Good Tiling."
Gould subsequently testified that he offered the
Boston people his check for $1,000,000 to let him out
of the agreement, but they declined and remained with
him until he signed a binding contract to stand by the
agreement. In his testimony before the Pacific Rail
way Commission in 1887, Mr. Gould ruefully remarked
that he lost a good thing when-he abandoned his Mis-
souri Pacific extension scheme, and at the same time
frankly admitted that the success of that scheme would
have resulted in wiping out the Government's claim
of $17,000,000 against the Union Pacific.
When the Union Pacific consolidation was completed
Gould was found to be the largest holder of the secu
rities of all the subordinate roads. The Kansas Pacific
road owed him $2,000,000, he owned $2,000,000 of
Denver Pacific securities, and he and Russell Sage
were trustees for $3,000,000 of Denver Pacific bonds
which had been in the Kansas Pacific treasury. All
of Gould's stocks in the subordinate roads were
turned into the Union Pacific consolidation at par and
over. Here he reaped extraordinary profits. For
instance, on January 17, 1880 (before the consolida
tion), Kansas Pacific stock was worth but $2 or $3 a
share. On January 24, 1880 (after the' consolidation),
it was rated at par. Those Trust Bonds.
Some time afterward, when a committee of Kansas
Pacific bondholders took hold of that property and
reorganized it, they found that the $3,000,000 of trust

148 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
bonds were missing. The Messrs. Gould and Sage
gave no other explanation than that the bonds had
been released from the trust. By what authority the
release was effected was never made known. Suits
were brought against Gould and Sage for fraud and
larceny, and District Attorney John R. Fellows was
appealed to to prosecute them. Mr. Fellows, how
ever, regarded the defendants' plea of the Statute of
Limitations as effective, and the criminal charges were
pigeonholed. Mr. Gould went to Europe about the
time this matter was being agitated.
Mr. Gould was questioned about the release of that
$3,000,000 trust fund by E. Ellery Anderson of the
Pacific Railway Commission, in 1887, and he said: "I
considered that it was the only thing to do, and I
stand on what was done. I am ready to take the re
sponsibility for it that day, or this day, or any other
day." A Great Railroad Strike.
One of the most memorable events connected with
Gould's management of the Missouri Pacific was the
great Knights of Labor strike in 1885, which disabled
the road for a long time. An interesting feature of
the strike was a Sunday conference at Mr. Gould's
house between him and General Master Workman
Powderly, at which negotiations for a settlement were
entered into. The foremost representatives of capital
and labor thus met to settle vital questions at issue
affecting the wealth of the capitalists and the liveli-

GOULD AND THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 149
hood of the workingmen. Mr. Gould said to the
Senate Committee on Labor and Education :
"I have been all my life a laborer or an employer
of laborers. Strikes come from various causes, but
are principally brought about by the poorest, and
therefore the dissatisfied element. The best workers
generally look forward to advancement in the ranks
or save money enough to go into business on their
own account. Though there may be few advanced
positions to be filled, there is a large number of men
trying to get them. They get better pay here than in
any other country, and that is why they come here.
My idea is that if capital and labor are let alone they
will mutually regulate each other. People who think
they can regulate all mankind and get wrong udeas
which they believe to be panaceas for every ill cause
much trouble to both employers and employees by
their interference."
To the Congressional Committee which investigated
the Missouri Pacific Strike he said: "I am in favor of
arbitration as an easy way of settling differences be
tween corporations and their employees."

CHAPTER X.
Gould and the New York Elevated Railroads.
Mr. Gould turned his attention to the elevated rail
roads in New York city, early in 1881. The Man
hattan Company was then in control of all the lines
as lessee, and to Mr. Gould's keen vision that com
pany presented the appearance of being on the verge
of financial disaster. The Manhattan Company had
issued $13,000,000 of stock — pure water — ^and had
divided the same equally between the Metropolitan
and the New York Companies.
There was much criticism of the action ofthe Man
hattan Corporation in issuing so large a quantity of
stock, which was wholly unrepresented by property.
The Attorney-General of the State, Hamilton Ward,
obtained permission from Judge Donohue, May 18,
1881, to begin a suit for the dissolution of the Man
hattan Company's charter and the appointment of a
receiver. Other suits were begun about the same
time to restrain the Manhattan Company from paying
any dividends on its stock. Of course those suits
tended to depress Manhattan stock in the stock
market. Mr. Gould, naturally enough, came into control of
this great system, which carries 600,000 passengers
(150)

THE ELEVATED RAILROADS. 151
every day, through a consolidation and the " water
ing " of stock. As already stated, there were three
elevated roads — the Metropolitan (formerly the "Gil
bert," named after the originator, Dr. Gilbert), of
which S. H. Kneeland was President ; the second, the
New York, of which Cyrus W. Field was President
and of which Samuel J. Tilden was once a heavy
stockholder, and the third, the Manhattan, of which
Jay Gould and Russell Sage were the owners.
A Paper Concern.
The Metropolitan and the New York were bona-
fide companies, actually owning railroads and rolling-
stock, but the Manhattan was a " paper " company,
having a nominal charter and an organization, but not
one inch of road. Yet these three companies were
consolidated on equal terms, and Gould, Sage, and
Field became the owners. Later the control narrowed
down to Gould and Sage.
Sage, Field, and Kneeland are remarkable charac
ters in Wall street history, and their names are in
timately identified with Gould's — Sage and Field as
associates, and Kneeland as an unpurchasable oppo
nent. Russell Sage is one of the richest men of his genera-
tion. He came originally from Troy, where he ran a
bank, and whose district he represented in Congress
before the war for one or two terms. Then he
entered Wall street. Money-getting was his passion —
not for the power and luxury which money can pur
chase, but for the mere pleasure of acquisition. He

152 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
lived, it is true, on Fifth Avenue and gave somewhat'
to charity, but his habits were economical almost to
the point of penuriousness, and once a dollar got
into his hands it did not easily slip through them.
A Powerful Ally.
It should be said for him, however, that he was as
careful of other people's money as of his own. This
was the man who for many years was Gould's most
intimate business associate, a director in all his com
panies and a partner in all his schemes. Gould esti
mated Sage's wealth at $50,000,000 and their com
bined capital was thus enormous. Sage was chiefly
a money-lender in Wall street. He carried an im
mense amount of ready cash and was of incalculable.
aid to Gould in all his undertakings.
It is indeed one of the traditions of the street that
Sage saved Gould from ruin at a time when he was
hotly pressed by James R. Keene "and other bear
operators. Field was a different kind of a man. He liked
money, but only as a means to an end, and he shared
for a time in the enterprises of Gould and Sage. At
one time he was worth millions. Field's passion was
love of fame. His brothers all gained distinction in
the professions : he sought and obtained distinction in
commercial life. One of his brothers sat /on the
Supreme Bench of his country. Another was a leader
of the New York Bar. A third was a noted clergy
man, editor, and traveller.

CHATHAM SQUARE, NEW YORK, IN 1869.

154 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Famous Rag Merchant.
Cyrus W. Field began his business life as a rag
merchant, but with indomitable pluck, energy, and
foresight he finally succeeded in constructing the first
Atlantic cable, and was honored both in London and
New York. Mr. Field sought almost equal distinc
tion in connection with the elevated railroads, whose
great importance he comprehended, and he made a
bid for popularity by insisting on a reduction of the
fares from 10 to 5 cents against the wishes of Gould
and Sage. Sage first became acquainted with Gould
in Troy. Field first became identified with him in
1879, when he (Field) was President of the Wabash
Railroad, though we have seen him as a guest at the
famous banquet given to President Grant on "Jim"
Fisk's steamboat in 1869.
Gould, Sage and Field agreed together to consoli
date the three elevated railroad companies. They
were, however, met by the determined opposition of
President Kneeland of the Metropolitan road. Noth
ing could induce him to waver in his opposition. His
associates in the Metropolitan deserted him and one by
one they went over to Gould, but he stood firm to the
very last, and h*is persistency caused a celebrated litiga
tion, which proved so protracted and costly that Knee
land was finally defeated, though his spirit was un
subdued. Making Three One.
The first plan of consolidation was by leasing the
New York and Metropolitan roads to the Manhattan,

THE ELEVATED RAILROADS. 155
but the courts did not uphold the lease, and finally, in
1884, the Manhattan issued stock which was ex
changed for the securities of the other two companies,
and Gould became President of the whole system.
Mr. Field became identified with all of Mr. Gould's
properties, but gave most of his attention to the de
velopment of the elevated roads.
In 1886 he inaugurated the big bull movement in
Manhattan stock. He "boomed" the stock in every
possible way, and bought immense quantities, and
publicly predicted that it would sell at 200. He suc
ceeded in pushing the price to 175. Like almost all
artificial corners this movement collapsed suddenly
and Mr. Field was nearly burled in the ruins. Many
believed at the time that this collapse was precipitated
by Gould and Sage. It might have come about by
other causes, but Gould gave the tottering structure
the push that levelled it to the ground.
There were many reasons, it was argued, for this
action. First, Field was no longer necessary, but on
the contrary a hindrance to Gould and Sage, and they
therefore wanted to get rid of him ; and second, Field
was conducting his bull movement independently of
them. They would profit by his fall, while if he suc
ceeded the system might pass into his hands.
The Crash Conies.
So in June, 1887, came the collapse. Mr. Field
never charged Gould with having precipitated it, and
Gould himself claimed that he came to the rescue of
Field and saved him from bankruptcy. It was, how-

156 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ever, a remarkable deal and one by which Gould made
himself absolutely master of the elevated system, of
which in 1891 he made his eldest' son vice-president
and another son a director.
Field was carrying an immense amount of stock on
margins and was consequently a heavy borrower of
money. Gould and Sage were lenders. The bank
reserves were low. Gould and Sage called in their
loans and Field found it impossible to negotiate
loans and was thus obliged to throw over his stock
at a sacrifice.' The price of Manhattan fell from 160
to 1 20 and Gould purchased from Field 78,000 shares
at prices understood to have ranged from par to 120.
Field saved his real estate and other property, but his
power in the street was gone. His later history was
a tragedy. In 1891, within a few weeks, he lost his
wife and his son became a disgraced bankrupt. His
death occurred July 26th, 1892.
This chapter would not be complete without a
reference to the elevated railroad litigation. This was
remarkable not only for the number and high stand
ing of the lawyers engaged in the suits and tlie im
portance of the questions at issue, but also for a judi
cial incident which recalled the palmy days of the Erie
and Tweed rings. Mr. Gould's favorite judge in this
litigation was Westbrook, who sat on the Supreme
Bench in a Hudson River district. Many years before
he had been the first lawyer consulted by Gould, and
now that he was Judge he gave several orders that
were favorable to Gould, and once actually held court

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158 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
and issued an injunction from Mr. Gould's private
office in the Western Union Building. The State
Assembly presented him for impeachment for malfeas
ance in office, but on trial by the Senate he was ac
quitted, but not unanimously by any means. He died
shortly after while still serving as Judge.

CHAPTER XI.
Supreme Dictator of Telegraph Companies.
In probably no other country of the world could one
man control its telegraph system. But Gould became
the absolute dictator of the Western Union and suc
cessfully overcame every competitor that arose. His
record in Western Union, like that in his other prop
erties, is that of a tremendous increase of securities.
The mainspring of the Western Union is monopoly.
Its condition is such that it cannot exist with profit to
its stockholders with a strong competition in the field.
Thus it is a grand aggregation of small companies.
It has absorbed and will probably continue to absorb
every rival in the field. Gould himself rode into con
trol on the back of a competing company. This was
early in 1881. His version of the story is given in his
testimony to the Senate Committee on Labor and
Education. "I am interested in the telegraph," he told the
Committee, "for the railroad and telegraph systems
go hand in hand, as it were, integral parts of a great
civilization. I naturally became acquainted with the
telegraph business and gradually became interested
in it. I thought well of it as an investment and I kept
increasing my interests, (159)

160 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
A Rival Company.
" When the Union Pacific was built I had an inter
est in a company called the Atlantic and Pacific and I
endeavored to make that a rival to the Western Union.
We extended it considerably, but found it rather up
hill work. We saw that our interest lay more with
the Western Union. Through that we could reach
every part of the country, and through a small com
pany we could not; so we made an offer to sell- to
Western Union the control ofthe Atlantic and Pacific,
" At that time a very dear friend of mine was the.
manager, and I supposed that he would be made the
manager of the Western Union, but after the consoli
dation was perfected it was not done, and I made up
my mind that he should be at the head of as good a
company as I had taken him from. The friend was
General Eckert, and for him I started another com
pany — the American Union — and we carried it forward
until a proposition was made to merge it also into the
Western Union.
"As the stock of the latter went down I bought a
large interest in it, and found that the only way out
was to put the two companies together. Gen. Eckert
became general manager of the whole system. Mean
time I bought so much of its property and its earning
power that I have kept increasing my interest. I
thought it better to let my income go into the things
that I was in myself, and I have never sold any of my
interests, but have devoted my income to increasing
them. This is the whole history of it."

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162 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
A Move to Obtain Control.
Gould's policy in regard to the American Union was
twofold. It was to establish a competing company so
strong that the Western Union would have to absorb
it, or else it would absorb the Western Union. The
result was that the Western Union did absorb the
American Union and Gould absorbed the Western
Union ! By the aid of his rival company Gould kept
hammering at the stock of the Western Union, then
controlled by Vanderbilt. By every art known to
Wall street speculation he forced the price down as
low as he could. He sold the stock " short " in large
amounts, and in buying to cover bought enough addi
tional to place him in control.
Then he consolidated the two companies and 100,000
shares of American Union, which represented a com
paratively small outlay of capital on the part of Gould,
went into the Western Union at par, and Gould's .
immense holdings of Western Union were thus
acquired at a low figure. Of course, if he had
attempted to market his holdings in one lump his
profits would have been wiped out, but by carrying
the load and letting the stock out by driblets his
profits were large, even if he sold under the market
price, which was nearly always below par.
Sudden Rise in Stock.
On Jan. 11, 1881, it became known in Wall street
that the consolidation was probable and the price oi
Western Union rose from 78 to 103, and the next
day to 114^. The consolidation increased the cap-

SUPREME DICTATOR OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 163
italization of the Western Union to $80,000,000, and
this amount increased later by the capitalization of
script dividends and by the acquisition of the Balti
more and Ohio telegraph. After Gould became the
master of the system the Mutual Union was started
as a rival concern. Gould soon secured it and leased
it to the Western Union.
Buying up Companies.
Then Robert Garrett developed the wires owned by
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad into a competing
telegraph system, and under the management of Mr.
Bates, who had formerly been with Gould in American
Union and Western Union, it became a big system,
stretching far West and South. But Garrett soon got
into deep waters. He had not the genius of his
father, the famous John W. Garrett, and a struggle with
Gould was beyond his strength.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, nominally a
Gibraltar of strength, was intrinsically weak. Garrett
entered into negotiations to sell a controlling interest
in the property. His desire was to place it in hands
hostile to Gould, but the latter used his power in the
stock market to frustrate his plans. Garrett contracted
to deliver the control to Henry S. Ives, a young spec
ulator who was modelling his life after the Gould
pattern, but in the end Garrett was not able to deliver
nor was Ives able to receive. The Baltimore and
Ohio system was dismembered, and the telegraph fell
into Gould's hands.
Gould had previously announced to the public that

164 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" the Western Union does not intend to buy any more
rival telegraph companies," but when he found he
could get the Baltimore and Ohio cheap, a little
declaration of that kind did not stand in the way. In
fact it was intended only to mask his intention to buy.
Gould drew around him in Western Union a power
ful body of men. -iiis board of directors included Nor-
vin Green, Harrison DurkeeV'Al°nzo B. Cornell (who
when Governor of the State from 1880 td~v88.$ posed
as an anti-Gould and anti-monopoly Governor), Cyrus
W. Field, Robert L. Kennedy, Hugh J. Jewett, J.
Pierpont Morgan, of Drexel, Morgan & Co., C. P.
Huntington, R, C. Clowry, Henry Weaver, Erastus
Wiman, of R. G, Dun & Co., John Jacob Astor, Frank
Work, George B. Roberts, President of the Pennsyl
vania Railroad, the leading railroad system of the
world, George D. Morgan, John Hoey, W. D. Bishop
and J. W. Clendenin.
The management, however, was in the hands of an
executive committee composed of Gould's immediate
associates. The Western Union, besides its land
system, owns ocean cables and has a big interest in the
telephone and stock " ticker " systems, and Gould's
power as the master of this company can scarcely be
estimated Willing to Sell Out.
It is believed that Mr. Gould's real ambition, so far
as concerned the Western Union, was to sell it to the
Government. But so long as the country believed
that Jay Gould desired to sell there could be no pub-

SUPREME DICTATOR OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 165
lie opinion aroused in favor of purchasing it. So
Gould, if such was his real desire, masked his purpose
behind a display of indifference or opposition, in the
hope that if it was thought he did not wish to sell, the
country would be all the more eager to buy>- Thus he
told the Committee on Labor and Education :
" I think the control by the Government is contrary
to our institutions. The telegraph system, of all other
business, wants to be managed by skilled experts,
while the Government is founded on the idea that the
party in power shall control the patronage. If the
Government controlled it the general managers' heads
would come off every four years, and you would not
have any such efficient service as at present. The
. very dividend of the Western Union is based upon
doing business well, keeping her customers and de
veloping her business. Worth $100,000,000.
" If the Democrats were in power there would be a
Democratic telegraph ; if the Republicans came into
power there would be a Republican telegraph, and if
the Reformers came in I don't know what there would
be. (Laughter.) I think it would be a mere political
machine. I would be perfectly willing, so far as I am
- concerned, to allow the Government to try it, to sell
out our property, but it would be very unjust to take
it away, the property of our own citizens, and make it
valueless." " Have you any idea what the Government ought
to pay ? "

166 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" I think that it ought to pay what it is worth and no
more. I think that the method that was provided in
the law is a very just one, and I would be perfectly
willing to let the Government take it on those terms."
"What, in your opinion, is the Western Union
property worth ? "
" Well, I judge of property myself by its net earning
power ; that is the only rule I have been able to get.
If you show me a property that is paying no more
than the taxes, I don't want it. I want property that
earns money. You might say that there is water in
Western Union, and so there is. There is water in all
this property along Broadway. This whole island was
once bought for a few strings of beads. But now you
will find this property valued by its earning power, by
its rent power, and that is the way to value a railroad
or a telegraph. So it is worth what it earns now, a
capital that pays 7 per cent."
" That would be $100,000,000 ? "
" Yes, and it is worth much more than that, because
there are a great many assets.''
What the President Said.
After Mr. Gould's death, Dr. Norvin Green, the
President of the Western Union Telegraph Company,
gave an interesting account of Mr. Gould's connection
with that company. Dr. Green had the highest re
spect for Mr. Gould personally, and he spoke with a
great deal of feeling about' his private character.
" Mr. Gould," he said, " came into the Western
Union Company in 1881. Three years before that I

SUPREME DICTATOR OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES 16V
was elected president of the company. Mr. Gould
got into the Western Union Company through the

" NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
American Union Telegraph Company, which he then
controlled, and which he used as a lever to get into
the Western Union Company. Through an outside

168 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
agreement, when Mr. Gould's company was taken into
the Western Union Company, four of the directors
of this company were also taken as directors of the
Western Union. They were Jay Gould, Russell Sage,
T. C. T. Eckert and Frederick Ames.
"Mr. Gould had been gunning for the Western
Union Company for twenty years. He was extremely
anxious to get control of it. To do this he first se
cured the control of a dilapidated company known as
the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. He
bolstered up the stock of this company and finally got
it taken into the Western Union, through a pooling
arrangement. Getting Ready to Buy.
" He was more successful, however, in breaking down
the Western Union stock with the American Union
Company. With this company he worked the stock
of the Western Union Company so low that he could
afford to buy it. As the Western Union went down
Gould bought it quietly,, and when the November
meeting of 1881 was held, at which Gould went into
the company, it was found that Mr. Gould held more
ofthe Western Union stock than did William H. Van
derbilt, who was supposed to own more stock in the
company than any one else did.
" Mr. Gould then controlled $30,000,000 of the
Western Union stock. About five years ago he re
duced his holdings in this company to $20,000,000,
which he has since held. Mr. Gould always had great

SUPREME DICTATOR OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 169
faith in the Western Union Company, and he looked
upon it as a safe investment stock.
A Wonderful Brain.
" Mr. Gould was a man of wonderful brain power.
He was a man of decided views and strong will, yet
he never strongly expressed them. As an instance
of this are his actions in the meetings of the boards of
directors of the companies in which he was interested.
He would sit quietly rubbing his hands while the
members of the boards would express their views as
to what ought to be done.
" He would listen to all that was said, and after every
one was through he would say : ' How would it do to
pass such and such resolutions?' naming them over
as the case might be. His suggestions would just hit
the point, and the members of the particular board,
would all declare that he had suggested just the right
thing to do.
"The men with whom Mr. Gould was associated
/ecognized his power and followed him. He had
wonderful sagacity and foresight. Mr. Gould was a
generous man, and his noble impulses and generous
deeds were never known except to those most inti
mately associated with him. I know that during the
financial troubles of 1884, Mr. Gould carried through
many men who had gotten into financial straits. He
did this at a great sacrifice to himself, and he had to
sell his stock to do it. In 1889 I was carrying
$1,000,000 worth of securities. The money market
was tight. I was strained for money and my broken

170 LIFE OF JAY, GOULD.
were also strained for money. They wanted me to
increase my margins from 10 to 20 per cent.
Help in Need.
"In view of the situation I went to Mr. Gould,
showed him my securities and asked him what I ought
to do. He looked them over and said he would tell
me what he thought at luncheon time. At that hour
when we met, Mr. Gould put his hand on'my shoulder
and said : ' Mr. Green, I have arranged for you to
borrow $450,000,' naming a certain trust company,
'and as your securities will not quite secure that
amount, I will send George over to the office of the
company this afternoon with $50,000 Missouri Pacific
bonds and secure the money for the loan.' Mr.
Gould never asked me for collateral or for interest.
It was a simple loan.
"As the manager of a corporation, Mr. Gould was
a close man, but when an appeal was made to him he
acted most generously. There was the case of the
head of a department in the Western Union Company,
who, when he presented his report for a period, accom
panied it with a request of a raise in his salary of
from $2400 to $3000 a year. Some of the directors
did not seem to be willing to vote to make the increase,
but Mr. Sage said: 'Wait until Mr. Gould comes in
and see what he says.' When he reached the meeting-
room the case was put to him. Mr. Gould looked
over the report carefully and said : 'If that man made
out this report he is entitled to the salary that he asks.
He is a valuable man.' The salary was voted to him."

SUPREME DICTATOR OF TELEGRAPH COMPANIES. 171
Dr. Green would not make an estimate as to Mr.
Gould's wealth, but he said:
"I know that Mr. Gould held $20,000,000 worth of
Missouri Pacific, $20,000,000 of Manhattan Elevated
Railroad, and $20,000,000 of Western Union. He
always had great faith in these companies, and he told
me some time ago, that he wanted them to be retained
in his estate. He believed that Missouri Pacific stock
would go to 120, Western Union to 150, and Manhat
tan to 200. It was always his idea that this part of
his fortune should not be dissipated. I do know this
in regard to Mr. Gould : He never carried a dollar's
worth of life insurance in his life."

CHAPTER XII.
Important Events in Gould's Career.
To write an account of Gould's career in Wall.
street would be equal to the task of writing a history
of Wall street itself, and besides, his important Wall
street operations were closely allied with his outside;:
enterprises, of which a full account has been given.
There remain only two or three incidents of com
manding interest out of the mass of material whicha
could be used.
The most dramatic of these was the pommelling of
Jay Gould by Major A. A. Selover in August, 1877.;
Selover was a Californian, a six-footer, a blond, mus
cular and vigorous. He first attained prominence in
Wall street when James R. Keene came East-after^
his successful mining operations in San Francisco, by
which he achieved a fortune of $8,000,000.
Keene was a daring, almost foolhardy stock gamri
bier. He always played for big stakes and took
enormous chances. His success in San Franciscoj
had been so great that he entered Wall street with the:;
idea of clearing all before him. He tackled Gould as
the biggest animal in the arena, but found to his sorrovi
that he had to deal with a man more able than he,
scarcely less daring but far more cautious. In a few
(172)

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years Keene's wealth had dwindled away, and early in
1884 he failed, owing hundreds of thousands of dol
lars in the shape of " puts," "calls " and " straddles."
Loses $1,000,000 Yearly.
He dropped at the rate of about a million dollars a
year in Wall street, and no small proportion of this
found its way into the pockets of Gould. Yet Keehe
at one time was thought to have outmatched Gould.
Selover introduced Keene to Gould, and acted as go-
between for thejm in certain operations in which both
were interested. Early in 1877 the two men com
bined forces in one deal. That is to say, they joined
in one enterprise and fought each other behind each
other's back. It was a case of diamond cut diamond.
Keene formed a big pool, and beginning to fight
Gould, finally went over to him ; being led into
this change largely through the instrumentality of
Selover. Both Keene and Selover then operated on an un
derstanding with Gould, but soon found, as they
charged, that Gould was secretly selling them out.
Gould and Keene had a stormy scene in Russell
Sage's office, when Keene is said to have bran
dished a pistol in Gould's face. The deal had been
mainly in Western Union, which Gould did not then
control, and Atlantic and Pacific, which he did control.
Gould's double-dealing not only made Keene very
mad, but made Selover very desperate. He had
placed reliance in Gould's statements and had suffered-
loss, and resolved upon revenge.

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN GOULD'S CAREER. 175
Selover Assaults Gould.
Accordingly, on the 2d of August, 1877, while walk
ing down Exchange place from Broadway, Selover,
meeting Gould walking up to the office of Belden &
Co., No. 80 Broadway, of which he was then a part
ner, first engaged him in what appeared to be an
amicable conversation but soon resulted in an assault.
Selover first struck Gould in the face and then
dropped him over an areaway at No. 65 Exchange
place which was seven or eight feet deep.
Mr Gould was a good deal shaken up,_but not
seriously injured. Selover left to go to his brokers
and Gould proceeded to transact his business as
usual. He was assisted from the areaway, singularly
enough, by George Crouch, who has been identified
with several incidents in Gould's career from the
days of Erie and Black Friday to the Kansas Pacific
criminal prosecution, and who was one-third artist,
one-third newspaper man and one-third speculator.
The Selover incident created an immense sensa
tion at the time and the newspapers printed* columns
about it. Selover became quite a hero, for while there
was nothing very courageous in his assault from a
physical point of view, as he was more thari a match
for timid little Mr. Gould, yet to attack Gould was
considered by many an act of moral bravery.
Reason for the Attack.
Selover declared that he had attacked Gould be
cause Gould had been guilty of fraud, lying and
duplicity. Gould, he said, had made arrangements

176 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
with him to go short on Western Union, and while, he
(Selover) was selling accordingly in good faith he
discovered that Gould was buying heavily. When he
learned of this he determined to punish him the first.
time he met him, and so he had charged him with the\
fraud and slapped his face. " I attacked him on my
own account alone," he added, "and regardless ofthe
fact that he had played Jim Keene the same trick.
He is notoriously treacherous, and this is not the
first time he has been punished for the same offence."
Poor Mr. Selover never amounted to very much in
Wall street after this, though he continued to be seen
there daily. Gould after this incident rarely appeared
in the street unless accompanied by stalwart G. P.
Morosini. It is related that not long after this Keene came
near getting his revenge on Gould. The latter was
putting all his energies into Union Pacific and carry-,
ing $22,000,000 of tlie stock, mostly in margins.
Keene organized an opposition party and nearly suc
ceeded in breaking Gould. Sage, however, came to
the latter's assistance with $2,000,000 of much-needed
cash and Gould was saved. Keene's" purpose was to
drive Gould from the street forever, but he not only
failed, but in a few years he was himself a bankrupt,;
with Gould more powerful and richer than ever.
Startling Rumors in Wall Street.
Rumors of Gould's death and of his impending
bankruptcy were not unfrequently circulated in Wall
street. Rumors of death could be easily disproved,

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN GOULD'S CAREER. 177
but once, at least, the street was firmly convinced that
Gould was in financial difficulties, and Gould was
obliged to exhibit his wealth in order to prove that he
was solvent.
On March 13, 1882, Gould exhibited to Sage, Field
and Frank Work his box of securities to show that he
was not only solid, but also had not been a seller of
stocks. He exhibited to the astonished vision of
these associates $23,000,000 of Western Union, $12,-
000,000 of Missouri Pacific, and $19,000,000 of other
stocks. Russell Sage said : " There is not another
man in America except Vanderbilt who could make
such a display of stock as that." In 1 884 Gould made
another exhibition of his securities to John T. Terry
and others, and the display was even bigger than two
years before.
The panic of 1884 is believed to have caused Mr.
Gould much anxiety. It came suddenly and without
warning. There had been, earlier in the year, it is
true, the collapse and resignation of Henry Villard,
soon followed by the failure of James R. Keene, but
these disasters would not have produced the financial
earthquake that shook Wall street in May.
Grant and Ward.
The failure Oi the Marine Bank and Grant & Ward,
with the revelations which followed of embezzlement
on a scale never before witnessed in the street, and
the suspension on the memorable 13th and 14th of
the month of the Metropolitan Bank, George I. Seney
and seven or eight prominent banking-houses in New

178 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
York and two banks in Brooklyn and Newark, caused
a panic like that of 1869 and 1873, and from the de:
pressing effects of which the street did not rally for
several years. Gould's fortune melted like snow in
the decline of values which accompanied this panic.
He came out of it probably $20,000,000 poorer than
when it began.
But this loss, it is true, was chiefly on paper. He
was able to hold most of his securities, the value of
which afterwards increased. But it is believed that
he was at one time very hotly pressed. His associate,
Russell Sage, lost millions in the decline by his opera
tions in puts and calls. His office was besieged by a
mob clamorous for their profits. The old man reluc
tantly paid up, and, badly scared and sick at heart,
retired from the street for a while, hoarding the $40,-
000,000 or $45,000,000 which was still left to solace
him. Two Ifotahle Men.
The men who chiefly profited by the great decline
were Charles F.Woerishoffer and Addison Cammack,
the leaders of a small but powerful bear party, which
for several^years had been preparing for this depres
sion, and by all the bear tactics, of which they were
masters, assisting in the downward movement. They
were two men of mark. Woerishoffer was the supe
rior in mind and nerve. When he died in 1886, while,
under forty years of age, he was worth, it is said,
$8,000,000 to $10,000,000, the result of his daring
speculation. He was probably the ablest stock specu-.

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN GOULD'S CAREER. 179
lator Wall street has ever seen, not excepting Gould,
whose principal success, it should be remembered,
was in operations outside of the street.
Woerishoffer was by birth a German, and was the
son-in-law of Oswald Ottendorfer. Some of the most
successful men in Wall street, it may be remarked, are
Germans or of German descent, as for -instance, Vil-
lard, who after his collapse in 1884 had recovered in
1888 the ground he had lost; August Belmont, the
banker, the Wormsers and the Seligmans. Cammack
was a man of much coarser nature than Woerishoffer.
He came originally from the South, and the Wall
street tradition was that he had been a slave-driver
by profession. Gould Reported to be in Straits.
Gruff in his manners, uncouth in his language, he
yet had qualities as a speculator which made him a
power in the street. These two men, with their fol
lowing, are believed to have very nearly driven Gould
to the wall in 1884, and the story is that Gould might
have gone down if Cammack — of all men: — had not
relented. This story, like many others told in Wall
street, probably has a mixture of truth and fiction. In
1887 and 1888 Cammack was very evidently in al
liance with Gould in stock operations.
Gould was not a member of the Stock Exchange,
though he was often the biggest customer the institu
tion had. He was, however, almost always in general
•or special partnership with some member of the Ex
change and thus obtained all the advantages of

180 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
personal membership. After the dissolution of the
house of Smith, Gould and Martin, Gould became the
silent partner in the firm of W7illiam Belden & Co.
This was succeeded by the famous house of W. E.
Connor & Co., which lasted about ten years and which
engineered some of Mr. Gould's most successful
deals. At the time Mr. Gould retired from the firm, in
1886, it was composed of himself as special partner,
and of Washington E. Connor, G. P. Morosini and
George J. Gould, the great operator's eldest son.
Mr. Connor was the ideal broker and perhaps the
most valuable lieutenant Mr. Gould ever had. Very
enterprising in carrying out the interests of his master,
he was faithful to the last minute to him.
Always True to his Chief.
Tempting offers were made to buy him off at various
times, and he might have made several fortunes in be
traying the confidences of his chief, but it is believed
he was always true. Like Morosini, he allied his in
terests to those of Gould and profited by the connec
tion. When the firm dissolved, Gould said of his
partners : " Both are very rich men. Mr. Connor is
worth at least a million, and Mr. Morosini two or three
times as much. The new firm will have my heartiest
good will in whatever it undertakes. Between Mr.
Connor, Mr. Morosini and myself there has never
been an interruption of good feeling."
Mr. Connor was not only faithful, but quick and
shrewd in his judgments. Upon him rested nearly

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN GOULD'S CAREER. 181
all the details of the best operations of the house.
These operations often required the assistance of fifty
or sixty brokers. Often these brokers did not know
that they were working for the same client. Some
times they were ignorant even of the fact that Gould
was their- client.
The prime necessity in great stock operations is to
conceal one's movements. Sometimes a part of the
brokers might be selling and a part might be buying.
Gould and Connor alone held the strings of the intri
cate operations. Ten Millions by One Operation.
One of the first great successful movements the
house undertook was in Kansas Pacific in 1879. The
stock within a period of a few months shot up from 8
to 97, and the bonds from 10 to no. Gould cleared
nearly $10,000,000 by this operation. The most bril
liant feat accomplished by the house was performed
when Gould acquired Western Union. Mr. Gould for
a long time, as has been related, had been an uncom
promising bear on the stock. The whole street was
aware that he and his firm were heavily short of the
stock. Suddenly the stock began to rush up. Gould
was caught for once, it was said. The truth was that
Connor had engineered the movement and Gould had
not only bought in all his shorts but purchased enough
stock to give him control of the company. It was
also this house that pushed Western Union up from
78 to 91 and pushed Henry Smith and other bears to

182 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
cover their shorts at a heavy loss. It also handled
the elevated railway deals.
While Gould and the Beldens were in partnership
at No. 80 Broadway, Connor had a small office in the
rear. He was bright, sharp, sagacious, reticent, and
nearly as" well informed as Gould himself. Gould was
drawn to Connor naturally, and, when the former fell
out with the Beldens, he and Connor formed a co-part
nership. Mr. Morosini for many years had been Mr.
Gould's man Friday, and was invariably seen with a
large canvas bag following his employer to the safe
deposit vaults and protecting him against any repe
tition of the Selover attack.
Immense Capital.
Morosini went into the new firm, whose limitation
only ran from year to year. Connor and Morosini
put in $100,000 each, and Gould, as special partner,
$250,000. George Gould was admitted in 1881, but
without paying in a cent. Although the nominal cap
ital of the house at all times has been $450,000, the
actual capital at times of great activity on " Change "
ran up into the millions.
But Mr. Connor was not Gould's only broker.
Charles J. Osborn was for years one of Gould's
closest lieutenants and associates, and a more dashing.
broker never stepped into the Stock Exchange.
William Heath, " the antelope of Wall street," as he
was called because of his long legs and slender body,
was also long a favorite with Gould. Heath was a
master at keeping secrets. None of his customers

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN- GOULD'S CAREER. 183
could ever learn what his other customers were doing.
— o
His faithfulness, experience and ability, however,
availed him little in the end.
He assisted Gould on Black Friday and helped him
in many a risky transaction. When Heath failed with
Henry N. Smith in 1885, Mr. Gould, though, with Mr.
Morosini, the principal creditor, did not come to his
assistance. It was thought that Gould would put him
on his feet again, but he did not do so, and Heath — ,
alone, broken in spirit and in fortune — died shortly
after in Staten Island, but not until he had been lodged
for a while in Ludlow street jail, a prisoner for debt.
On the dissolution of W. E. Connor & Co., Dec.
31, 1885, Mr. Gould announced his permanent retire
ment from the street. That perhaps was his intention
(though he was as prolific in retirements as Patti), but
it was not long before his presence was again felt 1
the Stock Exchange.

CHAPTER XIII.
The Great Union Pacific Deal.
The greatest financial transaction ever Consummated
in America is believed by many people to have been
the creation of the Union Pacific Railway Company by
Jay Gould. By a stroke of financial genius at once
bold and adroit, he consolidated into that corporation
iother great railroad companies, assuming control of
all. It will be remembered that the Union Pacific
Railroad Company and Union Pacific Railway Com
pany are two distinct corporations. The former was
the original company.
It was in 1873 that Gould went into Union Pacific.
He bought about $10,000,000 of the stock, had it
bound into a book and put it in a safe, as he told a
friend at the time, " for his wife and family as an in
vestment." In 1878 Gould conceived the idea of a
grand coup, and this was carried out so successfully
that in sixty days he" had made terms which netted him
about $21,000,000 in profits.
He first ran over to Amsterdam from London, ar
riving there late in the morning. At 10 a. m. that day
he notified the Dutch bondholders of the Denver Pa
cific that he would be pleased to meet them at 1 1
o'clock. Promptly at that hour he met them, and at
(184) '

US"

- Jill

INDIANS WATCHING THE FIRST TRAIN ON THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.

186 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
12 ht left Amsterdam with his gripsack full of the
securities of the Dutch bondholders. By this means
he captured control of the Denver Pacific, Inside of
ten hours he bought out Commodore Garrison's in
terest in the Missouri Pacific. He bought out ex-Gov
ernor Ames's interest in the Central Branch of the
Union Pacific, and he had previously formed a pool by
which he acquired control of the Kansas Pacific*
It Alarmed the Directors.
One day the Union Pacific directors awoke to the
alarming discovery that Mr. Gould had dropped out
of their organization, and was surveying a line from
Denver to Salt Lake City. The Kansas Pacific was
utterly worthless, the Central branch had not earned
any money for years, the Denver Pacific had been in
very bad shape ; but when the Union Pacific directors
discovered the extent of Mr. Gould's combinations,
they lost no time in boarding a" special car in Boston
and rushing over to New York to see him about it.
They went up to Mr. Gould's house and were there
gathered in by him on the consolidation of the three
roads, all of their stocks being exchanged at par and
merged into the new Union Pacific Railway Company ;
as distinguished from the Union Pacific Railroad
Company. This incident formed one of the subjects of inquiry
committed to the Pacific Railroad Commission in 1887.
The members of the commission appointed by Presi-,
dent Cleveland consisted of Governor Pattison, of

THE GREAT UNION PACIFIC DEAL. 187
Pennsylvania ; E. Ellery Anderson, of New York, and
David Littler, of Illinois.
Congress Wants to Know About It.
The Union Pacific Railroad and the Kansas Pacific
Railroad companies had received Government subsi
dies in bonds and lands. The bonds were received
upon the stipulation that the companies would pay at
par and accumulated interest upon their maturity,
The first of these bonds will mature in 1895. An
application had been made by the Pacific railroads to
Congress to extend the time of payment, and this
commission was appointed to report upon that matter
and incidentally to furnish Congress with information
relative to these deals which had affected the status
of the corporations.
The Commission began its sittings in New York at
No. 10 Wall street. A large number "of railway
magnates intimately connected with the Pacific Rail
roads were first examined, including Russell Sage and
Sidney Dillon. They were examined particularly with
a view to finding out exactly what had taken place
when the Union Pacific Railway was created. They
seemed to know nothing about the matter. At every
point the well-directed questions of the inquirers were
adroitly turned aside. The witnesses did not know
or could not remember.
No light had yet been thrown upon the subject
under examination. But the great witness of all was
reserved for the last. This was Jay Gould. He
knew it all, but the great question was, " Would he

188 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
tell?" Nobody believed that he would tell volun
tarily the facts relating to his connection with the
Government interest in the matter, but it was believed
that a severe and searching cross-examination would
compel him to divulge some of the facts.
Gould Fooled Them All.
An immense amount of labor was gone through
with in anticipation of the time when Jay Gould
should take his- seat in the witness chair. Men on
the inside and familiar with the lines along which the
inquiry should be directed devoted weeks to the
study of figures and the procurement of papers upon
which to base the questions which should be asked of
Mr. Gould. Dozens of questions on the same sub
ject were prepared. If he answered one question
one way he was to be asked a certain question, and
if he answered another way he was to be asked an
other question. In this way it was believed when Mr.
Gould took his seat that the beginning of a long
struggle was at hand.
That was on May 17, 1887. Mr. Gould wore a plain
pepper-and-salt suit and a shabby silk hat. The ex
aminers, all ready to level their batteries of questions
at him, were dumb-founded when the first questions
were asked and Mr. Gould blandly stated his willing
ness and desire to afford all the information in his
power. He seemed anxioUs to withhold no facts, to
evade no questions and to help the members of the
commission in their work.

THE GREAT UNION PACIFIC DEAL. 189
A Little Memorandum.
There being some uncertainty as to the exact route
of some of the roads in question, Mr. Gould even
took out of his pocket a little map and kindly en
lightened the members of the commission as to the
various localities, and said : " I had anticipated that
possibly you might want to know what had been my
holdings of various securities relating to this trans
action and so I instruced my bookkeeper to draw off
a statement, which I now submit to you." He then
produced a little memorandum covering about sixteen
lines of writing which covered all the facts and gave
the cue to every feature of the transaction. Mr. Gould
said he had kept books of all his transactions.
Q. Where are the books ?
A. I have them.
- Q. Where?
A. In my possession.
Q. Are they at the service of the commission ?
A. If they desire them, with the greatest of pleas
ure. This willingness to show the books created a pro
found sensation. Railway magnates worth millions
and controlling thousands of miles of road had one
after another followed each other to the stand only to
show that Gould was the one who pulled the strings,
that they did not know what his intentions were in re
gard to the commission, and that he made up his mind
upon a certain line of policy without consulting them.
Many of these magnates were in the room and

190 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
they sat with open mouths and plainly evinced their
astonishment which they saw Mr. Gould giving up
the hitherto carefully guarded facts. Nothing more
plainly showed the absolute mastery of Jay Gould
over all the other railway magnates of the country.
Railway Magnates Afraid of Him.
, Throughout the whole inquiry gentlemen not In
the habit of associating with railway millionaires, but
shrewd observers of the phenomena of life, remarked
as singular the talk and manner of these plutocrats in
regard to Jay Gould. They spoke of him with defer
ence verging on awe. The little man with the pepper-
and-salt clothes and the snappy black eyes was re
garded by them in the light of a fountain of all knowl
edge and power, and the big magnates made their
obeisance before him like Spanish grandees in the
presence of an infant king.
Mr. Gould was asked why he had bought certain
stock and he said that the books would show.
Q. Will your books show who the broker was ? A.
Oh yes ; certainly, certainly.
Q. Did you not buy some of your securities
abroad ? A. I bought $2,000,000 of Denver Pacific at
74 cents, I think, from some Amsterdam people. I
was in London and heard they wanted to sell. I was
afraid to go over because I had very little time, and
thought that they would probably take a couple of
days to .smoke before finding out whether they would
sell or not. But I was mistaken. I went over and
got to Amsterdam in the morning, washed and had

THE GREAT UNION PACIFIC DEAL. 191
my breakfast. I saw them at eleven, had bought them
out at twelve and started back.
None Could Forget It.
E. Ellery Anderson asked Mr. Gould why he re
membered a certain conversation so well. He re
plied that he " had it impressed upon his mind."
Q. How was that ? A. Well, I remember parting
with a lot of stock at 10 cents for which I could have
got par a few days afterwards. Wouldn't that im
press the occasion on your memory, Mr. Anderson ?
Mr. Gould and everybody else in the room laughed
at this retort.
Q. According to the ethics of Wall street, do you
consider it absolutely within the limits of your duty
while a director of the Union Pacific to purchase
another property and to design an extension of the
road, which would perhaps ruin the Union Pacific?
A. I don't think it would have been proper. That's
the reason I let it go.
Q. Did you consider your duty to. the Govern
ment ? A. I had considered it.
Q. How would the Government claim have been
affected by building a parallel line? A. It would have
been wiped out.
From the testimony it appeared that after the
Thurman bill had been sustained by the Supreme
Court Mr. Gould had a plan to build a road from
Omaha to Ogden, just outside the right of way of the
Union Pacific, and to give the road back to the Gov
ernment. It would give others, he said, " a chance to

192 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
work;" that the Government had tried to squeeze
more out of the turnip than was in it, and that for
$15,000,000 a road could be built where it had cost
the Union Pacific $75,000,000.
A Smooth Explanation Throughout.
Q. You were not devoted to the interests of the
Government? A. I wanted to protect them. Their
legislative action hurt their own interests and put
those of the stockholders in jeopardy. The Govern
ment repudiated their own contracts. Cash was
offered to pay the Government the Union Pacific
debt. I had the debt reckoned up and offered to pay
it. In 1877 or 1878 I made the offer to the Judiciary
Committee, of which Mr. Edmunds was chairman. I
made that offer myself. The debt was estimated at
$15,000,000 or $17,000,000. But, the Government
would not concede that interest terminated with the
bonds. No action was taken on the proposition.
Mr. Gould said that he had bought the Central
Branch of the Union Pacific from Oliver Ames and
President Pomeroy, who came on from Boston to
New York and induced him to go and look at the
property. It had cost him $1,826,500.
" I thought it was doing a big business,"'said the
witness. "Afterwards I learned that they had kept
the freight back for a week to impress me. So I saw
.1 freight train at every station when Igot there. 1
bought the road anyway."
He was asked about the dividends. " Stock doesn't
always depend upon dividends," said Mr. Gould, "I

THE GREAT UNION PACIFIC DEAL. 193
paid 750 for my Missouri Pacific — 4,000 at that figure.
You pay more for rubies than for diamonds, and more
for diamonds than for glass."
Asked in regard to some difference in the accounts
in these large transactions Mr. Gould said he did not
know where it went exactly; "but it is safe to say
the lawyers got the difference," he said, with a
chuckle. " Now I'm showing you my whole hand."
He was asked if he had ever gone to Washington
in connection with the road, and Jay Gould said : '' Yes,
and I always paid my own hotel bills." '
Q. Do you know whether anything was spent to
influence legislation ? A. No, sir, I know of no such
expenditure. Q. Where could we find records of such trans
actions ? A. I don't think such transactions exist.
Many other witnesses gave their testimony before
the commission, but that of Mr. Gould was by far the
most important of all as regarded disclosures. He
spoke in low and indistinct tones, but at times when
worked up to a high pitch of interest emphasized his
remarks with quick and nervous gestures.
13

CHAPTER XIV.
How the Millionaire Lived.
As has already been said, in all his domestic rela
tions Mr. Gould was a model man. He had no habits
but that of hard work and home enjoyments. He did
not use tobacco in any form. He rarely, if ever, sipped
a glass of wine. Social scandal never attached to his
name. He loved his home. When not in his office
he was with his family. He owned a box at the opera,
but when he attended his family always accompanied
him. He belonged to no social clubs. He did not
add the excitement of the turf to the excitement of
the Stock Exchange.
On his return from a journey his first questions
were of the welfare of his family. He made his home
as beautiful as wealth, refinement and purity could
make it. He loved his children, the sweet discourse
of the fireside, and the companionship of books and
flowers. There was no attempt at display, but every
thing he possessed was the best. Neither he nor his
wife had any ambition for society distinction. They
gave no great balls and rarely were they present at
" society events." They had none of the vulgar traits
of the parvenu or prejudices of the aristocrat.
When his son wished to marry an actress, Mr.
(194)

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 195
Gould interposed no objection, and even approved the
choice, declaring his pleasure that his son had selected
a respectable woman who was able to earn her own
living. Perhaps his devotion to his family was due in
part to the fact that his public career placed him apart
from other men, and made him an object of fear and
hatred. He was an exile from the sympathies of his
fellow-men. But he uttered no complaint, and found
in his family full solace for any loss of friendships he
may have incurred. The members of his family were
his only intimate friends. An Estimable Wife.
Mr. Gould's wife was Miss Ellen Miller, whose
father, a wealthy New York merchant, was a member
of the grocery house of Philip Dater & Co. As
already stated, Mr. Gould met his wife while living at
the Everett House, before the war. She lived in a
house across the street, and a delightful flirtation with
the charming young lady, whose pretty face appeared
at the window of the house across the way, preceded,
it is related, the formal acquaintance and betrothal.
She proved a most estimable wife.
She made her home her life, and gave her best
thought to the rearing of her children. Her death
was a severe blow to Mr. Gould. Their union was
blessed with six children, four boys and two girls. Of
the children the eldest boy, George J. Gould, is the
best known, because he has entered into man's estate
and become the husiness associate of his father.
Mr. Gould is fortunate in this son. Whether he

196 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
possesses the great ability of his father is a question
which only the future can decide, but he is industrious,
sober and faithful. More than that, he has shown
himself capable of caring for large interests. He has
many of the physical and mental traits of his father.
He loves a fast horse, a good play and a swift yacht,
but the first law of his being is devotion to business.
Mr. Gould early began to introduce his son to the
manifold affairs of his extensive interests. He bought
him a seat in the Stock Exchange, made him his com
panion in his tours of inspection- over his railroads,
made him a partner in his broker's firm, and eventually
a director in all his companies. Another son, Edwin,
has shown unmistakable talent for speculation and is
following in his father's footsteps.
A Domestic Man.
Jay Gould had no social ambition whatever. He
was the most domestic of men, and his affection and
attention to his own immediate family was so deep as
to apparently leave no place for outside social influ
ences. That both he and his wife desired that their
eldest son make a match that would be considered
socially good is a well-known fact, but they accepted
the marriage, and Mrs. George Gould was admitted
to the affections of her husband's relatives. The
death of Mrs. Gould set aside all plans for social
diversions, just as the eldest daughter, Miss Helen
Gould, was of an age to be brought forward.
Mr. Jay Gould was one of the box owners of the
Metropolitan Opera-House, and he and his daughter

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 197
were regular attendants during the season. Miss
Gould, as a rule, was quietly attired, very often in pale
gray gowns, which were always well made.
About a year ago cards were sent out by Mr. Jay
Gould, which read simply :

Mr. Jay Gould
and
Miss Gould
At Home
Saturday, Dec. 26, from 3 until 7.

As many as 3,000 of these were sent out, and every
person in the social set was asked. This was nothing
very unusual, as general invitations are frequently ex
tended by people of personal prominence in this way.
During the first couple of hours of the "at home"
there were but few callers at the Gould house,- but
later they came in a steady stream.
Sensible View of Matrimony.
The mothers of marriageable youths were very
kindly disposed towards Miss Gould. Whether she
was to achieve a social success has never yet been de
termined, for almost immediately after the coming out
reception she left town with her father, who went away
for his health. Social leaders say that with his great
wealth Mr. Gould might easily have arranged for his
daughter's marriage to a man of great social rank.
But Mr. Gould didn't care to encourage the quest for

198 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
his daughter's hand on the part of men of great
social rank. This was evidenced by the hearty con
sent he gave to the recent marriage of his son Edwin
to Miss Shrady, the adopted daughter of Dr. Shrady.
His Residences.
Mr. Gould had four residences, two stationary and
two movable — namely, his Fifth avenue mansion, his
country seat on the Hudson, his steam yacht and his
private palace car. In these he spent the latter and
best years of his life.
His Fifth avenue residence is a massive edifice oh
the corner of Forty-seventh street, opposite the Wind
sor Hotel. It was formerly the home of ex-Mayor
Opdyke, himself once a prominent Wall Street man.
It is furnished in sumptuous style, with splendid pic
tures and other works of art and books in abundance.
The pictures include masterpieces by Rosa Bonheur
and other famous artists. Back of this house is the
residence of George J. Gould and his wife, who was
formerly Miss Edith Kingdon, a member of Daly's
theatrical company.
Mr. Gould's principal residence, however, was his
magnificent country seat on the Hudson between
Irvington and Tarrytown. This comprises 500 acres,
commanding a splendid panorama of the Hudson.
Besides the large and richly furnished mansion con
taining a costly library of about eight thousand vol
umes, there is a conservatory which ranks with the
best which this world contains. It is probably the
largest private conservatory in this country, and is

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 199
equalled in England only by that of the Duke of
Westminster, at Chester. There are public conserva
tories which equal or surpass it, but none private.
Bewildering Floral Beauty.
In this conservatory may be found every variety of
flower, orchid, plant and fruit in bewildering quantity
and beauty. A few years ago the writer had the
privilege of a view of this splendid horticultural collec
tion, his conductor being Mr. Gould himself. The
great speculator did not own this collection simply for
the pride of saying that he possessed it, but for the
real pleasure he took in flowers and plants. He
knew the names of the different varieties and could
point out the beauties and characteristics of an orchid
as well as could his high-priced gardener.
The conservatory was burned in 1880, but another
larger and more costly soon rose from the ashes.
This is 400 feet long and 32 feet wide. There are
also two wings, 80 feet long and 25 feet wide. An
other building, 250 feet long and 18 feet wide, is de
voted to similar purposes. Several years ago there
were over four thousand different varieties of plants in
the conservatory, and nearly as many more on the
grounds, andxthe collection has been added to every
year. Every country and every climate is represented
in this splendid collection. Famous Steam Yacht.
The great steam yacht Atalanta, which cost as much
as a first-class ocean steamer and required an annual
expenditure nearly equal to the salary of the Presi-

200 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
dent of the United States, was Mr. Gould's third
home. He took the greatest -pleasure in this magnifi
cent plaything. When, during the summer, he lived
at Irvington, it carried him to and from the city every
day. On this yacht also he made frequent ocean voy
ages to the West Indies, across the Atlantic, and in
the waters of the Mediterranean. It was, in fact, a
floating palace, but was built not simply for luxury but
for speed, and not another steam yacht afloat could
distance it in a trial of speed. Mr. Gould was a
member of the American Yacht Club, the only or
ganization, by the way, of which he was a member,
and of this he was practically the founder.
Mr. Gould also owned a private railroad car. He
used for many years the Union Pacific car Convoy;
but in 1887 na^ a new car especially constructed for
his use by the Pullman Company. It was the longest
car ever constructed by that Company, being seventy
feet in length, and containing an observation-room, a
parlor, a dining hall and sleeping-rooms, besides the
porter's quarters and the kitchen.
Mr. Gould's Pleasures.
The pleasures of Jay Gould's life were simple and
few. With vast wealth at his command, he seldom
sought recreation away from his immediate home. To
a certain extent money-getting seemed to be a pleasure
to him. In the many deals engineered by his master
hand he felt the thrill of a nervy speculator who stakes
his money on the turn of a transaction. , It was not
making money that worried him. It was keeping-

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 201
what he made and holding his own in the thousand
and one schemes concocted to get the better of him.
His life was a continual game of chance, and in this
game for many years he found his chief enjoyment in
existence. It is not recorded that in the earlier years
of his career Mr. Gould ever sought any physical
relaxation in the way of sport or pastime. * His whole
mind, heart and soul lay between Wall street and his
uptown home.
Finally, however, money-making became an old
story. Time and again he had milked Wall street
dry, and his fortune had rolled up into the tens of
millions. Buys a Country Residence.
Then, observing an occasional smile on the faces
of other millionaires, and hearing the laughter of light
hearts all about him, he began to wonder if there were
not other pleasures in the world outside of cent per
cent and the dull, eternal rows of figures that stood for
stocks and bonds.
So one day he turned his back on the dingy office
that represented his paradise and took a New York
Central train for Irvington. Here he met Mr. Merritt
and was driven to the residence of the latter, a mile or
so north of the old river town and close to the shore.
Mr. Gould was very quiet and very reserved, but his
keen eye .took in all the possibilities of the place at a
glance. When he returned to New York on the
evening train he had closed a bargain with Mr. Merritt

202 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
by which the estate became his for a consideration of
a quarter of a million of dollars.
The Home at Irvington.
A small army of builders and decorators and glaziers
was employed, and out of the general chaos of bush
and bramble arose the minarets of a modern palace,
with wide, well-ordered grounds and every comfort
one could wish for. Mr. Gould seemed to take great
pleasure in planning the arrangements for his future
country residence. For a while all but the general
detail of his business was put in the background.
Every few days he would journey up to Irvington to
see how matters were progressing. It may be safely
said that these were the first leisure days of Mr. Gould's
life. His eyes grew brighter, his step more buoyant
and he began to look upon these little excursions as a
pleasant diversion.
Sometimes he would take his younger children with
him, and their unaffected happiness was another source
of relaxation for the care-worn millionaire.' Previous
to this time money-making had been Mr. Gould's ex
clusive thought. Thereafter it became to a certain de
gree intermittent.
He named his new residence Lyndhurst, and erected
a short distance away one of the largest and most
handsomely equipped conservatories in the country.
It covers nearly four acres, and from a distance looks
like the fabled palace of Kubla Khan. Here there
was another source of pleasure for the weary financier.
He employed Ferdinand Mangold, Mr. Merritt's for-

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 203
mer gardener, to take charge of the conservatory, and
gave him carte blanche to procure the rarest flowers
and exotics from all over the world. Mangold per
formed his work well. When the leaves grew yellow
around Lyndhurst the autumn following, the conser
vatory contained the finest palm garden on the West
ern hemisphere. The Garden of Rare Palms.
There are over 250 varieties, from the size of a
maidenhair fern to great shadowy trees, thirty feet
high, and with leaves as wide as the jib of a pilot
boat. They range in value from $20 to $500; but
what is money to a millionaire in pursuit ofthe butter
fly of pleasure? These palms were brought from
Africa, Central and South America, Samoa, the Sand
wich Islands, the heart of India, and from beyond
Trebizonde, for the simple purpose of wooing Mr.
Gould's pale face into a smile. There were Viridi-
folium, Hyopkorbe Americanlis, and Plecocomio Assam-
tea palms without number, and Mr. Gould knew every
one of them by name.
In another apartment was a wilderness of roses,
pink and white, and gold and guelder, Burgundy
and Austrian in an endless tangle of color, and a
delirious, odorous atmosphere that would have enrap
tured the soul of a lotus eater. No wonder that Mr.
Gould abandoned care when he entered the portals
of his conservatory. He did not have many personal
friends, yet surely a man cannot be altogether bad
who is a friend of the roses. There must be some

204 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
good in the heart of a man whose eyes grow tender
as he bends over a lily.
The conservatory became a hobby with Mr. Gould.
Every morning after breakfast he would pay a visit to
the big glass house to wander for an hour or so among
the plants and flowers. While there he would seem
to forget everything but the green, tropical tangle
about him. In the evening, on his return from the
city, he would again stroll through the shadowy aisles
of palm and vine, sometimes alone, and at others ac
companied by the members of his family.
Orchids Were his Hobby.
Orchids were Mr. Gould's especial hobby. Ih this
department of his conservatory he had nearly 8,000
orchid plants and over 1 50 varieties. For some of these
delicate air-fed and angel-painted blossoms Mr. Gould
had paid $300 — half the amount of a poor man's
wages for a year of toil. In another apartment were
nearly 2,000 azaleas, little bits of sunset sky cut into
the shape of bells. In the fernery were 600 varieties
of ferns, giving the entire place the appearance of a
soft green cloud hemmed in glass walls. Just the
place for Titania and her fairies.
It is strange that this appreciation of pure and poet
ical things should exist in the soul of a man of such
financial grimness. But it was doubtless in Mr. Gould's
nature before his life took on its acquired thirst for
gold. When that thirst was in a measure satiated he
turned again to his fundamental instincts and his great
conservatory was the result. I

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 205
Luxuries of Country Life.
Yet in the summer months Mr. Gould found much
pleasure in his open-air garden. It was a big affair,
guiltless of weeds, yet it is doubtful if Mr. Gould ever
weeded his own potato patch or hoed his own turnips.
There were beds for cantaloupes and watermelon,
cucumbers, peas, beans, parsley, spinach, carrots,
beets, lettuce and cauliflower, and Mr. Gould knew
just where to find everything.
For a short time every day he would walk through
the garden, and doubtless dream of his old barefoot
boyhood days when he looked after'his mother's gar
den, in Delaware county. He was a sort of intermit
tent farmer, and seemed to find a transitory pleasure
in everything that pertained to a farm. There was
nothing in common, however, between Mr. Gould's
luxurious- style of farming and that of the everyday,
horny-handed knight of the pitchfork and plough.
Blooded Stock on the Farm.
His barnyards and meadows, situated some distance
from the conservatory, contained innumerable blooded
stock. There were 50 cows, 25 horses, a span of
oxen, 3 bulls, over 1,000 chickens, 200 ducks and 500
pigeons, besides half a dozen deer. This gave the
entire estate a farm-like aspect that was very pleasing
to Mr. Gould. Over 250 tons of hay were harvested
in the fields of Lyndhurst every year. Mr. Gould
took great pleasure in going out to the fields on sum
mer afternoons to lie under the trees and watch the
haying. The far-off drone of the flying sickle came

206 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to his brain as a soporific balm, and the sight of the
sun-worn toilers heaving away at the great, slow wag
ons, and the distant songs of the reapers, lulled him
to slumber.
In Mr. Gould's stables there were fifteen or twenty
carriages and conveyances of one kind or another,
many of which were not used once a year. To get
rid of malaria, Mr. Gould filled in over one hundred
and twenty acres of swamp land. Mr. Merritt spent
over $1,250,000 in improving the place, and Mr. Gould
spent about $1,500,000 in the same endeavor.
' An Art Lover, Too.
Mr. Gould was a great lover of art, and was con
tinually purchasing statuary and paintings. Beyond
the carriage archway leading to the outer hall ofthe
Gould castle is a bust of Lafayette ; on the other side
is one of Washington. On the right of the inner hall
is a bronze Ethiopian woman and a painting by Per-
rault. There are many marble busts and statues on
onyx pedestals scattered throughout the house, most
of which were purchased by Mr. Gould. In the
picture gallery are innumerable rare paintings.
Among them are "A Forest Scene," by Rousseau ;
"A River Scene," by Ziem ; "Evening Antique
Dance," by Corot ; "A Girl," by Fleury; "A Storm
on the Farm," by Jacque ; " Priest and Cavalier," by
Meissonier, and "Le Loup dans la berguerie,'' by
Loustaunau. Then there are Vernets, Simonettis, Kaemmerers,
Constants, Bouguereaus and Troyons innumerable, all

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 207
of which were purchased, either directly or indirectly,
by Mr. Gould. This was in the earlier^stages of his
home-making and before he had the fever of the farm
and conservatory upon him.
Mr. Gould was not a great admirer of the drama,
but he was rather fond of opera, and this formed
almost his only public diversion during the winter
months. He was seen very often at the Metropolitan
during the opera season with his daughter and
daughter-in-law. His Yacht Atalanta.
In the summer of 1882 a new idea in the way of
diversion struck Mr. Gpuld. It came upon him as he
sat in front of his Irvington castle gazing on the broad
Hudson. Why not build a yacht ? Why not have a
flyer that would make the distance from the city in
almost as fast time as the New York Central trains ?
Mr. Gould was not overfond of the sea, but he knew
that the salt air would do him good, and besides he
was partial to privacy when it came to travelling.
Therefore the yacht idea was adopted without delay.
The next year he received from the Cramps, of
Philadelphia, the steam yacht Atalanta, whose fame as
an ocean flyer has since become world-wide. Mr.
Gould was delighted and for a time conservatory, gar
dens, live-stock and art were -minor considerations.
He took on a nautical air and it made his heart glad
to tell him that his face looked weather-beaten. He
made several trips abroad on the yacht with his family
and enjoyed himself hugely.

208 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Everybody who saw the international yacht races of
1885 and 1886 remembers the long black hull of the
Atalanta sliding along on the outer edge of the great
fleet like a black ghost, with Mr. Gould on the
bridge, holding a big pair of marine glasses to his
eyes. A Marine Curiosity.
The big yacht was almost as much of a curiosity as
the racers. Day after day Mr. Gould was out for the
races with his heavy coat and big glasses. That part
of his face not covered by his heavy black beard grew
absolutely red from the stinging winds and the salt
spray. On one occasion the little Stiletto, the Herres-
hoff flyer, steamed around and around the Atalanta as
if to challenge her for a trial of speed, but Mr. Gould
only laughed. He is reported to have shouted to the
pilot of the Stiletto :
"Choose somebody of your own size; we are too
big for you."
Physically Mr. Gould was not a courageous man.
He hated to have the newspapers expatiate upon the
ease with which he could be abducted. He was afraid
that somebody might be tempted to try it. This feel
ing finally robbed his life of much of its pleasure.
After the Norcross dynamite episode he grew more
than ever ill at ease, and it is thought to have been
this feeling that finally prompted the sale of his yacht.
At any rate, it was advertised in the papers for severa.1
months.

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 209
No Pleasure in Travelling.
Travelling, which to ordinary men would be a rec
reation, was scarcely a pleasure to Mr. Gould. It is
true that he enjoyed scenery in a quiet way, but he
enjoyed it most from his car window. He had a
horror of Indians and cowboys and rough characters.
Only on one occasion is he known to have fired a gun.
On one of his southern trips through the Indian Ter
ritory he stopped over night in his car at a little soli
tary side-track, miles from all human habitation. Of
course the wolves made merry around the sleeper,
and the coyotes chased each other under the trucks,
fighting over the remnants of Mr. Gould's supper.
He did not sleep much, because he was not used to
wolf music, and then again a camp fire over in the
neighboring hills worried him. Somebody had told
him the country was full of robbers. It was, but
somehow they always missed Mr. Gould. Early in
the morning a slashing, rip-roaring cowboy road up
and, sticking the nose of his bronco through the
sleeping-car door, informed Mr. Gould's party that a
big gang of deer were "just over the hill." Two or
three Indian police were in the baggage-car, and Mr.
Gould was not afraid. He made up his mind to have
a shot at the deer. A Shot at a Beer.
Accompanied by several of his party and flanked
by the Indian police, he ascended the hill with all the
stealth of an old scout, armed with a big Hotchkiss
rifle. Now, anybody who understands anything about
14

210 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
rifles knows how an old-fashioned Hotchkiss can kick.
Mr. Gould peeped over the hill, and, sure enough,
eight or ten deer were grazing out on the prairie about
200 yards distant.
Mr. Gould scorned to take a rest for the gun. He
lifted It slowly to his shoulder, almost after the fashion
of a girl, with the Indian police looking on in amuse
ment. They knew what the gun would do with a man
of Mr. Gould's weight. It wobbled a good deal, but
that made no difference. He would not have hit any
living thing even if it had not wobbled. The slant of
the hill behind Mr. Gould was pretty steep, but he did
not notice it.
" Whang !" roared the gun, and the next instant
Mr. Gould was flying down the hill, first on his back
and then on all-fours. The Indians did not smile.
They were too busy killing deer. While Mr. Gould's
friends were running to his rescue the Indians had
bagged two, one of which they tried to persuade Mr.
Gould was his. But the wily financier knew better,
because, as he put it, " the gun had shot backwards
and kicked him twice after it had got him down."
Consequently hunting could not be considered one of
his pleasures. His Horses and Carriages.
Mr. Gould once attended a horse show, but this
was the only occasion he ever publicly exhibited any
particular liking for horses. His city stable was one
of a row on West Forty-fourth street, between the
Berkeley School building and Fifth avenue. It is a

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 211
two-story, twenty-foot-front brick building trimmed
with granite. It is No. 14 West Forty-fourth street.
It is a neatly arranged stable of the old-fashioned oak-
trimmed pattern common in the neighborhood. Mr.
Gould kept only three pairs of horses at the time of
his death, and they were all quartered in the building.
Four of the horses were cobby bays, two with docked
and two with banged tails. The other two were long-
tailed black roadsters, and the most valuable of the
lot. None of the horses would bring a fancy price if
put up at auction, but they were all of the good plain
sort that will stand plenty of work.
Old Style Vehicles.
Simplicity was the chief characteristic of the car
riages used by Mr. Gould. He always bought the
best and paid the prices asked without cavilling, but
the first outlay was all the carriages ever cost him.
He was careless in the extreme regarding repairs or
fresh trimmings, seldom having any work done on any
of his vehicles! Mr. Gould always selected his car
riages personally, and always bought from the same
firm. He was easy to suit, always telling just what he
wanted and taking the first carriage that met his ideas.
The carriages at the stable ready for use were a
brougham, landau, victoria and a hunting wagon. The
last was gaudy in yellow and black and was the newest
of the vehicles. The others were plain in coloring
and were what driving people call old style. Jay
Gould's livery was a dark green, and was worn on the
usual occasions by both coachman and footman.

212 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
His Drives in the Park.
For a while Mrs. George Gould was in the habit of
giving her father-in-law early morning drives in Cen
tral Park, calling for him daily in a neat trap of her
own. With this exception he seldom drove for pleas
ure in the city. At Irvington he was occasionally seen
driving on the roads near his residence. Until the
purchase of his yacht Mr. Gould drove to and from
the railroad station daily, but after that he took drives
at infrequent intervals.
None of the Gould family is especially devoted to
riding or driving. Edwin Gould is a capital rider, and
until his promotion to a captaincy andTthe post of In
spector of Rifle Practice in the Seventy-first Regiment,
was an active member of Troop A. He always rode
a long-tailed gray thoroughbred, for which he paid a
high price. Edwin Gould was very proficient at
wrestling on horseback and few of the cavalrymen
could unseat him. The Misses Gould drive daily dur
ing their stay at Irvington, using the family carriages
or else handling the reins in the hunting wagon or in
a mail phaeton. Didn't Like Showy Trappings.
An uptown harness dealer said of Jay Gould : " Mr.
Gould was a regular customer for small articles. He
seldom bought a new harness, preferring instead to
have his old ones patched up from year to year. He
is the only millionaire I ever saw who did not care
about showy trappings for his horses. I could never
persuade him to try the new fads. Once he called fpr

HOW THE MILLIONAIRE LIVED. 213
a harness I had been repairing. I showed him how
nicely the work had been done, and said incidentally
it was as good as new. Before he left I tried to sell
him another harness. ' No,' said Mr. Gould, ' wrap
up my old harness and I will take it home. You say
it is as good as new, so I can't waste money by buying
still another brand new set. I could not use two new
harnesses if I had them.' "

CHAPTER XV.
Mr. Gould's Charities.
Jay Gould was not what is called a religious man.
He was a pewholder in the Presbyterian Church at
Irvington and in the Rev. Dr. Paxton's Church on
West Forty-second street,. New York, but not a com
municant. If he ever expressed any religious views
it was to the Rev. Dr. Paxton. Certainly he did not
to the Rev. Dr. Henry M. McCracken, chancellor of
the University, nor to the Rev. Roderick Terry, with
whom he was on intimate terms of friendship. Dr.
Terry said :
"There was no pretense about Mr. Gould. He
never made any public profession of Christianity that
I know of. On the subject of religion, as on so many
others, he was extremely reticent, unless he unbosomed
himself to his pastor, Dr. Paxton. He certainly never
talked with me about his feelings on the subject of
religion, though the opportunity offered more than
once." Mr. Gould's wife was a member of the South Re
formed Church for many years, but afterwards became
a Presbyterian. The millionaire of late years had
been a frequent attendant at the Rev. Dr. Paxton's
Church and at the Presbyterian. Church at Irvfngton-
(214)

:1P8|H °u:

INSIDE VIEW OF A NEW YORK TENEMENT HOUSE.
(215)

216 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
on-the-Hudson, near his country place. An old friend
of the family said that when a very young man Jay
Gould became converted at a Methodist revival meet
ing. In a Methodist Revival.
This gentleman said :
"When Jay Gould was a young man he was con
verted in a Methodist Church at Roxbury, Delaware
County, N. Y. The Rev. Mr. Dutcher, father of Rev.
E. C. Dutcher, now pastor of the Methodist Episcopal
Church in Nyack, Newark Conference, was pastor in
charge of the Roxbury Church. The elder Mr.
Dutcher was holding a series of revival meetings. The
little Delaware County Church was crowded night
after night.
"Atone ofthe meetings, after, a specially earnest
appeal by the venerable preacher, young Gould went
forward to the altar and professed conversion. He
subsequently connected himself with the Presbyterians.
The late Rev. Dr. Jacob West, then Corresponding
Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Dutch Reformed Church, preached a number of times
in the Roxbury Reformed Church. Gould always at
tended, and the Rev. Dr. West frequently said Gould
was always a remarkably attentive listener."
Mr. Gould's name was discussed most prominently
in connection with church work in February, 1892,
when he gave his check for $10,000 to the Rev. Dr.
John Hall. The circumstances aroused much com
ment and considerable unfavorable criticism.

mr. gould's charities. 217
On Tuesday evening, February 23d, the Gould
mansion was handsomely lighted up. Over one hun
dred invitations had been issued by Mr. Gould and
his daughter, Miss Helen Gould, to prominent Pres
byterians and members of the Presbyterian Board of
Church Extension. It was understood by those re
ceiving the invitations that the reception was solely
for the purpose of raising funds. Mr. and Miss Gould
received the guests. They were assisted by Mrs.
Russell Sage and Mrs. J. P. Munn. The Rev. Dr.
Paxton said, in the course of his opening address to
the guests : -
" When I asked Mr. Gould about opening his home
for a meeting of the friends of Presbyterian Church
extension, without hesitation or deliberation he and
Miss Gould said at once, and said it cordially : ' Cer
tainly, with great pleasure.'.and Mr. Gould added:
T believe in church extension on Manhattan Island.'
But Mr. Gould has taken another step in the right
direction, for since he asked us here — Mr. Sage told
me this— Mr. Gould, who is superficial in nothing,
wanted to know what church extension is, and what
church ought to be extended, and so he read our
confession of faith. Favors Church Extension.
"I am not certain of that, for he and the Revision
and new creed people would not agree ; he is old
school ; he believes in obeying marching orders, like
Wellington ; in walking in the old paths, like the New
York Observer. But one thing, Mr. Sage told me,

218 Life of jay gould.
our host has made up his mind on, and that was that
our form of church government was the most just, the
most republican, the best in the world. Therefore,
our host is not only in favor of church extension but
of Presbyterian Church extension. I am sure this in
formation will warm Dr. Hall's heart antd impart to
his speech increased forver when he speaks to-night.
" We are here to face the foe, to take heart and
hope, to give our money, our prayers, our tribute, our
toil, knowing no such word as fail, to this good cause
of extending, as Mr. Gould says, the only true, holy,
catholic, American Church — our old blue-bordered
Presbyterian denomination."
" I have never met Mr. Gould but once before," said
the Rev. Dr. Hall, " and that was many years ago.
A gentleman in Chicago wrote me regarding a mis
sionary, who had been called back from China by the
illness of his wife. The wife had recovered after the
missionary's return, and the couple wanted to return
to China again. The Chicago gentleman wanted to
know if I could not secure a free pass for the man. I
went to the railroad authorities, and was referred to
Mr. Gould.
" I entered the room with fear and trembling and
with many misgivings. I had never seen Mr. Gould,
and you can all sympathize with my feelings. He re
ceived me cordially and listened to all I had to say.
He said he thought it was a very deserving case and
asked me to leave a memorandum of it. The next
day I received a communication from him containing

mr. gould's gharities. 219
a ticket for the railway journey and another for the
missionary's passage to his destination."
Gives $10,000.
About $20,000 was subscribed at this reception,
and Jay Gould gave his check for $10,000. The Rev.
Dr. Parkhurst was among those who criticised the
affair as an ostentatious display of wealth in the name
of religion. He wanted to know where Mr. Gould
got that $10,000.
The religious side of Mr. Gould's life, so far as the
public knew anything of it, was fully told at this
church-extension reception.
Mr. Gould was interested in the extension of the
University of the City of New York. Chancellor
McCracken said :
" Mr. Gould was very much interested in the uni
versity from his interest in telegraphy and telegraph
lines and the fact that in this building the first tele
graph had its home. Prof. Morse labored here fifty-
five years ago, and was assisted by two of the uni
versity's professors, Profs. Gail and Vail.
"I had known Mr. Gould for five years and from
the beginning of our acquaintance he evinced an in
terest in the clcjse relation between the university and
telegraphy, and he made it a favorite subject of con
versation. He made the largest single subscription
towards our purchase of the uptown grounds, $25,000,
and he gave an additional conditional pledge which I
have never made public and shall not yet."

220 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Credited with Generous Giving.
In his active, tempestuous business career one might
infer that Jay Gould had little time and less inclina
tion to take up charitable work to any extent. As a
matter of fact, what little is known of him in this con
nection became public only a short time before his
death. His friends say he gave largely and was gen
erous to a degree when he was assured of the genuine
ness of a reported case of distress. He never, so far
as can be learned, made use of any public organiza
tion iii the disbursement of funds for any charitable
object. Whatever he did he preferred to do with his
characteristic secrecy.
He was very greatly influenced by his family in
giving, and through his children quite a large number
of institutions were aided by the money of the finan
cier. For instance, his daughter Helen, of whom he
was exceedingly fond, is interested in many organiza
tions engaged in charity work. Through her Jay
Gould has given frequently and largely.
A Story of the Breakfast Table.
A pretty story is told of the charity organization
society that existed in Mr. Gould's own household.
Its sessions were held each morning after breakfast.
Like other rich men, he was assailed constantly with
showers of begging letters. These were regularly
sorted out every morning, and each member of the
family chose as many from the pile as desired until
none were left. If a letter appeared to describe a case

mr. gould's charities. 221
of real need it was placed in the centre of the. table.
The others were burned. _
Then ensued quiet investigation, conducted as
secretly as the operations of the closest detective
bureau. People in want were given aid commen
surate with the needs of the particular case, but were
never able to thank the donor, for the identity of the
giver was never disclosed. In this way, it is said,
many hundreds of poor people were relieved.
Another method employed was to look up cases of
distress independent of the petitions poured in by
mail. To just what extent this charitable work was
carried on will never be known, for those conversant
with it will not speak of it.
Mr. Gould's name is unidentified with any great
public benefactions. Astor and Tilden founded li
braries, Drew established a theological seminary,
George I. Seney distributed millions, and Vanderbilt
endowed a hospital, but Gould's purse was never
opened by any such generous ambition. He was kind
to his relatives, gave his brother a good position in
the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and built his sisters a
school in Camden. He gave liberally to alleviate the
suffering by the Chicago fire and by the Memphis yel
low-fever plague, made big subscriptions to the Grant
and Garfield funds, and added eighty acres to the
Mount Vernon property. This was nearly all he did
in a public way.
In their private charities Mr. and Mrs. Gould and
Miss Helen Gould are said to have distributed a large

222 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
amount of money, and every Christmas Mr. Gould
made presents to his clerks.
Mr. Gould's treatment of the widow of the late
James Fisk, Jr., has often been criticised.
In 1 88 1 this letter appeared in the New York
Herald: No. 1 654 Washington street,
Boston, Mass., Nov. 14, 1881.
To the Editor of the Herald: —
Knowing your paper has the widest circulation in
New York, I desire to say a few words in defence of
my great friend Mr. Gould, the only friend of Mr.
Fisk who has responded to my actual needs and
wants since his death. He may be interested in his
own interests when in business, but he never has
proved unmindful to the needs of those deserving his
charity. I write these few lines after reading assaults
on his charity to-day. , Lucy D. Fisk.

CHAPTER XVI.
Stories About the Money King.
In his " Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street " Henry
Clews tells a humorous story of Mr. Gould. In 1853,
soon after Gould had failed in the tanning business, a
son of Schuyler Livingston, who held a lease from the
Cruger family to a vast brick field on the banks of the
Hudson River, advertised for a partner, and Jay
Gould presented himself as a speculator looking for
an investment. He remained the guest of the family
for three or four days. One day the Cruger young
men proposed a sail in their yacht to Newburgh, and
induced Gould to accompany them. He was a natty,
dapper, precise little man with swarthy complexion.
The sun's rays were hot and the pitch in the seams of
the deck began to boil, and the paint to peel off and
powder. •
The guest "fidgeted about a good deal, and when
pressed for an explanation of his evident distress ac
knowledged that it arose from the knowledge that his
nether garments were being spoiled by sitting upon
the deck. The yacht put into Peekskill and Eugene
Cruger hurried ashore and purchased a pair of blue
jeans for three shillings. With these on Gould.
breathed more freely. On the return from Newburg,
(223)

224 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the party decided to go ashore again at Peekskill and
get some refreshments, but Gould decided to stay on
board, so he told his hosts.
When the young men left the hotel and started to
ward the yacht they passed the ship chandler's shop
and saw the proprietor chuckling heartily to himself.
Eugene Cruger had never seen the chandler smile
before, so stopped and asked the reason.
He learned that, while they were eating and drink
ing at the hotel Gould had slipped ashore and sold
back to the chandler for two shillings the blue jeans
for which young Mr. Cruger had paid three shillings.
When the party boarded the yacht they found Gould
sitting upon his outspread handkerchief.
They got even with him the next day, when he
started for New York to keep an important engage
ment, after telling Cruger that he thought he did not
care to invest in the brick field. Gould wanted to
catch a certain train, but was induced to take a sail
first. When off Sing Sing they saw the train some
two miles away and Gould excitedly requested the
Crugers to run in and land him. They purposely ran
the boat upon a sand bar, and, with deep apparent re
gret, informed Gould that he must let that train go or
else swim or wade ashore.
Quick as a flash he took off his doeskin suit and
stood up in a suit of red flannel underwear. Hoisting
the doeskins over his head he sprang overboard and
waded ashore just as the train had pulled up. It had,
started again before he caught it, and two brakemen

(225)

226 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
hauled him up on the rear platform amid the laughter
and cheers of scores of passengers and residents of
Sing Sing. He wrung out his flannels, drew on his
doeskins and then calmly entered the car without a
word or a smile. Only a Butter Churn.
Mr. Morosini, his partner in many deals, says:
" Mr. Gould could enjoy immensely anything funny or
ludicrous. We used to have a small window in the
office through which I would talk to some of the un-
important callers, and through which Mr. Gould would
also talk to people whom it was not necessary to
bring into the inner room. One day a man came to
the window and said : ' I want to see Mr. Gould.' L
told him he could not see Mr. Gould unless he told
me what he wanted. He replied ' I have an invention
here, and there's millions to be made out of it.' Mr.
Gould was in the next room, arid he said: ' Morosini,
what is it the man wants ? ' and I told him, whereupon
he got up and came to the window to talk to the man.
" When Mr. Gould appeared the man put his hand
under his coat as if to pull something out. I saw it
glisten, and thinking it was a blunderbuss, I dodged
down under the counter, and Mr. Gould, seeing me
go down, dropped down also. ' Shoot high, you son of
gun,' I yelled out. Then the man laughed and said
there was nothing to fear, and he began to explain the
nature of his invention. We got up and looked at it,
and what do you think it was ? He had a sort of a
brass cylinder* and he said, it was a patent portable

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 227
churn. I said to the man when he had explained
what the thing was : T will give you thirty days in the
penitentiary,' and you ought to see him get out. It
would have done you good to see Mr. Gould laugh
over our dropping down behind the counter at the
sight of that portable churn."
Mr. Gould is said to have been cruising on a vessel
when a storm came up and an unusually rough sea
gave him a violent attack of mal de mer. Mr. Gould
was hanging over the rail, acknowledging at the same
time his own weakness and the mightiness of Nep
tune, when a fellow voyager accosted him : —
"Sorry, Mr. Gould, to see you so ill."
Mr. Gould, without changing his position over the
rail, and not forgetting his duty when there is any
rumor out affecting his health, replied: —
" It's no such thing, sir, I'm perfectly well — excuse
me (here a tribute to Neptune). I haven't been so
well — excuse me (here another) — in a long time, as
I'm this winter — excuse me " (Still another and more
of the same).
It frequently happens that a very rich man finds
himself a long distance from his home without money
enough to pay his car fare. Mr. Gould had been in
this position after he became very rich, and he used to
laugh about it. But there was one occasion in his life
when all the money he had in the world was a ten cent
piece, and that was in his pocket. It was during his
early struggles, and to him the dime stood between
him and hunger. Before it became necessary for him

228 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to spend it he " made a raise," to use his own expres
sion, and he resolved never to part with- the dime. He
never did, but carried it in his pocket up to the hour
of his death. $20,000 to Impersonate Gould.
Broker Sam Leopold, of No. 84 Broadway, for
several years was known as Gould's double, but after
a while he got tired of the distinttion, and had his_
beard cut to a point. During the campaign of 1884
he was offered $20,000 to impersonate Mr. Gould.
Conspiring brokers proposed that he smear blood on
his face and roll on the sidewalk near the corner of
Brqad and Wall streets. Confederates were to be on
hand to keep the crowd back till an ambulance ar
rived, and to say at intervals: "That's Jay Gould;
he's fatally injured."
Further details of the plan were to have a carriage
near Chambers street hospital for the purpose of taking
"Mr. Gould" to his house. Of course, Leopold's re
markably close resemblance to Gould would be suf
ficient to make the scheme work well, especially as a
man was to have been posted at Irvington to telegraph-
that the millionaire was in his country home. Then
the telegraph wires were to be "grounded " for a few
hours. The tremendous excitement would naturally.
depress the Gould stocks, and, in sympathy, about
everything would go down with a rush. The schemers
were to take advantage of this by selling short, and
they expected to have at least from 10 to 2 o'clock in

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 229
which to work this peculiarly daring manipulation of
the market.
Sam reluctantly declined the tempting offer. Al
though he wanted the $20,000 awfully bad, he feared
that he might be mobbed after the fright was over,
and so the scheme fell through. Leopold knew Gould
very well, and they delighted to meet and look at each
other. It is related that whenever Sam discovered a
new gray hair in his whiskers he would hurry to Mr-
Gould only to find that the millionaire was also keeping
tab on his white hairs, and the two accounts tallied
exactly. There are two other men in Wall street, either of
whom would be picked out by a stranger for Mr.
Gould as quickly as Mr. Gould himself. Both of these
men are curbstone brokers, and both are called Gould.
by the people with whom they deal. It was the fact
of their looking like Mr. Gould that took them into
Wall street. Guarded by the Police.
Few' men in New York had closer confidential re
lations with Jay Gould in recent years than those sus
tained by Thomas Byrnes, the Superintendent of
Police. When Mr. Byrnes was Chief Inspector, in
charge of the Detective Bureau, he performed valuable
services for the millionaire in the line of police duty
and gained his lasting respect and friendship. The
advice of the police official was sought on several
occasions when Mr. Gould was beset by " cranks " and
by other strangers who tried to blackmail him or im-

230 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
pose upon him by means of threatening letters or
appeals for financial aid.
Mr. Byrnes was consulted also on other subjects of
importance, and he became a frequent visitor at Mr.
Gould's house. Superintendent Byrnes is said to
have made many thousands of dollars in stock specu
lations in Wall street by following the advice of Mr.
Gould. He refused to talk about his relations with
the great financier, saying that they had been almost
wholly of a private nature.
An Important Service.
One important service which Mr. Byrnes, as Chief
Inspector, gave to the millionaire was the capture of
Colonel J. Howard Wells. Wells was a broken-down
speculator, with good social relations, and he conceived
a plan to frighten Mr. Gould into aiding him to recover
the money which he had lost. He at first wrote
anonymous threatening letters to Mrs. Gould, thinking
that she would show them to her husband.
On October 15, 1881, he sent an anonymous letter
to Mr. Qould, beginning thus: "Sir: It is my painful
duty to inform you that within six days from the date
of this letter your body will have returned to the dust
from whence it came. I therefore entreat you to
make your peace with God and prepare for the fate
which awaits you." The letter further declared that
Mr. Gould's death would be painless, as he would be
shot through the heart. " Victim " was the signature
to the letter.
Mr. Byrnes was consulted by W. E. Connor, Mr.

STORIES ABOuu' THE MONEY KING. 231
Gould's broker, and plans were laid to capture the
writer of tbe letter. With the consent of Mr. Gould
personal notices were published, requesting " Victim "
to write again and offering him assistance. Wells
Ivrote other letters asking Mr. Gould to assist him by
giving " tips " on stocks. He insisted that the corre
spondence on the part of Mr. Gould should be con
ducted through personal notices, and he sent a cipher
code by which the directions, about buying or selling
.stocks, could be conveyed in the notices without in
forming the public. Nicely Caught.
Later a number of notices giving the " tips " asked
for were published, and Wells continued to write letters.
It was ascertained that all of the letters were mailed
at street -letter boxes in the district of Post-office
Station E. With the aid of Postmaster James, Mr.
Byrnes set a watch upon each of the letter boxes in
the district of Station E, on Sunday, November 13,
1881.
. As soon as a letter was placed in a box a letter-
carrier went to the box and looked at the address of
the letter, while a detective kept watch of the person
who had deposited the letter, until a signal was given
by the carrier. At 3 p. m. Wells went to the box at
Seventh avenue and Thirty-fourth street and dropped
into it a letter addressed to Mr. Gould. He was
arrested by Detective-Sergeant Reilly as he was walk
ing away. Finding himself fairly caught, Wells con
fessed that his letters~had been written to compel Mr.

232 iJFE OF JAY GOULD.
Gould to give the " tips " on stocks. He, however,
expressed sorrow that he had not killed Mr. Gould
and then committed suicide, and his conduct as a
prisoner in the Tombs led to his commitment as an
insane person.
The correspondence which led to the capture of
Wells and the manipulation of the stock market
which was necessary to keep the correspondence
going, cost Mr. Gould a large sum of money, it was
said. Mr. Byrnes's reputation as a detective was
increased by the arrest of Wells.
A Subject for Newspapers.
No man in the country had a wider audience than
Gould. Whatever he had to say was sure of publica
tion in every newspaper in the land. Journals that
continually denounced him would print everything he
had to say as a matter of news. Gould was always
an interesting figure. The public never tired of read
ing about him, his operations, his yacht, his home, his-
daily life. Every word he uttered was eagerly re
ported and his movements were watched as closely as
the President's. In his later years he was quite ac
cessible to newspaper men, and they found him not
averse to the process of interviewing if he had any
thing to say.
The Tribune and Sun were his favorite mediums of
communication with the public, because they seldom
attacked and often defended Gould. Indeed, they
were looked upon as his personal organs during a
part of his life. But Gould would frequently give in-

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 233
terviews to other papers. He recognized the fact that
the papers which opposed him were of the widest cir
culation and influence, and that if he had anything
to say it was time to give it to the largest circula
tion. A Good Talker.
The World was foremost in denouncing his opera
tions, but he was often pleased to reach the public
through its columns, even if his words were accom
panied with severe editorial criticism. Mr. Gould was
a good talker ; he possessed the art of saying little or
much, as he pleased. The most skilful interviewers
could not trap him into saying something which he
did not wish to say. When he got through he would
stop, and no amount of ingenuity could induce him to
continue. Mr. Gould was fond of testifying to the
honesty and good faith of newspaper men. When he
knew his man he said he could trust him not to betray
him. But Gould almost invariably insisted on see
ing the proof-sheets of the interview before pub
lication. When in Marseilles, France, in 1887, Gould was in
terviewed by a correspondent.
" What do you think of railway comforts and prices
in France ?'' he was asked.
"Half a century behind America," was his reply.
"Take our journey down here. Twenty-one dollars
for a ticket and $11 for a berth in a sleeping-car — $32
for a ride of 500 miles between the capital of France
and her principal seaport. I could not sleep a wink.

234 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
The car was too hot. We could not get any one to
ventilate it, and the comfort of passengers was
the last thing uniformed officials on board seemed
to think of.
" We have got some things yet to learn from the
Old World," he added, further on, when speaking of
the splendid docks at Marseilles, " but in all essential
respects, in the form of government, of national char
acter, resources and opportunities we have the great,
country of the future, and the more I see of foreign
countries the better American I am."
Defence of Corporations.
Early in 1881 Gould gave the Herald a four-column
interview which created great interest, for up to that
time Gould had not cared, apparently, much to culti
vate friendly relations with the public. In this inter
view he touched upon a great variety of subjects.
" Corporations," he said, "are going, we are told, to
destroy the country. But what would this country be
but for corporations? Who have developed it? Cor
porations. Who transact the most marvellous busi
ness the world has ever seen ? Corporations."
Again: "My theory of investments is this: "To go
into everything that promises profit. For me busi
ness possesses a very great fascination. I believei in
this country, in its future. Unfortunately I do not
always succeed. I have been in a score, a hundred
speculations from which I would gladly have with
drawn. " But once in an enterprise it is very hard to leave it.

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 235
We are all slaves, and the man who owns $1,000,000
is the greatest slave of all, except him who owns
$2,000,000." Still again : " I am a mere passenger in
all my undertakings. I am interested not with one or
a dozen men, but with thousands. Any man to-day
can buy anything I have got."
" But you dictate the price ? "
" In other words, I control Wall street ? "
"Yes." " Nonsense ! No man can control Wall street.
Wall street is like the ocean. No man can govern it.
It is too vast. Wall street is full of eddies and cur
rents. The thing to do is to watch them, to exercise
a little common sense, and on the wane of specula
tion, or whatever you please to call it, to come in on
top." "Do you read-the newspapers much, Mr. Gould?"
" Oh yes."
"And see all the cartoons of you ? "
"Yes, some of them are very funny, and I enjoyed
them immensely. I suppose I am something of a
public character and that I must bear my contribution
to the fun of the time. I do not object to criticism,
^provided it -is only fair. Sometimes, however, I get,
as I think, some unfair knocks. I asked a certain
editor once why he abused me so. He replied that
there were only three or four men in the country
worth abusing, and that I was one of them. ' Well,'
said I, 'go ahead, but I hope you will change your
mind some day.' I am sorry to say he is of the same

236 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
opinion still." " No man in this country, outside of
a lunatic asylum, whom I know, imagines for a moment
that he could control the press or mould the opinion
of this country."
Extracts innumerable could be given from -his
interviews, but these give a fair idea of his ability as a
talker as well as reveal something of his personality.
Manag-er at $500 a Year.
A broker of Syracuse has in his possession articles
of copartnership between himself and Jay Gould, the
instrument being in Gould's handwriting and dated
Feb. 22, 1859, before Gould was twenty-three years old.
The copartnership \vas to be in the running of a
tannery, near Fonda, Montgomery county. Jay Gould
was to be manager at $500 a year. A quick sale of the
tannery by Gould brought the partnership to naught.
The Courier, of Syracuse, relates an anecdote show
ing Commodore Vanderbilt's estimate of Gould.
The Commodore happened to be in this city when
Gould obtained control of the Erie Railway. Being
asked his opinion of. Gould the Commodore, replied,
" He's the smartest man in America."
Mr. Gould and Educational A flairs.
The Rev. Dr. Henry M. MacCracken, chancellor of
die University of the city of New York, was a per
sonal friend of Mr. Gould.
"I knew Mr. Gould for several years," he said.
"My usual intercourse with him has been almost en
tirely directed toward the discussion of either scien
tific or educational topics, concerning both of which

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 237
he manifested a great deal of interest. In the first
conversation that ever occurred between us he dis
cussed his connection with the telegraph. He took a
lively interest in the relation of the University with
the invention of the telegraph, which was first brought
to a practical result by Professor Morse in his room in
the University fifty-five years ago, the first public ex
hibition taking place in the University building fifty-
five years ago next January. I think the relation of
the University with the invention of the telegraph had
the chief part to do in Mr. Gould's friendliness to the
University. Still, he manifested a broad interest in
public education, and had plans in his mind of an in
teresting character, not relating to the university work,
but to work of a more elementary kind. He was of
such a quick, comprehensive, bright, mental constitu
tion that he seemed to master with ease whatever new
outlines were presented to him in connection with the
scientific and educational progress of the day, and was
especially interested in conversation about his travels.
"When the University grounds were purchased up
town, Mr. Gould gave $25,000 towards increasing the
fund for the purchase of the property, and Dr. Mac-
Cracken also says the millionaire made a further con
ditional subscription.
"Did he intimate or say that he would make further
provision for the University in his will ? " the chancel
lor was asked.
Dr. MacCracken's reply was to the effect that he
did not care to talk further about the subject.

238 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"He made a further conditional subscription, and
that is all I care to say," he replied.
Help for a Poor Family.
" Durino- the big strike troubles in the Missouri
Pacific," said one broker, "one of the. employes who
stood by the company was shot and killed. I entered
Mr. Gould's office a few days later and found him
making out a check. As I approached the desk I saw
that the check was for $5000, drawn to the order of
the widow of the murdered man. Mr. Gould quickly
turned the paper face downward.
" 'You are too late, Mr. Gould,' I said. ' I uninten
tionally read the check.'
"He smiled a little as he quietly remarked, 'We
must look out for those who stand by us.'"
" I saw a good deal of the Gould family," said the
same broker, " and had been more than once struck
by the spirit of affection which seemed to animate it.
One evening, when I had dined with Mr. Gould, I saw
his sons, then just entering into manhood, kiss their
father before they went out for the evening. It wasn't
much, perhaps, but it seemed to me decidedly out of
the ordinary." Field was the Step-father.
Mr. Gould used to be very fond of telling a story
about Cyrus Field and Prof. Morse, which, he would,
relate, was told him by the inventor of the telegraph
himself. The story was to the effect that immediately
after the successful completion of the first transatlantic
cable and the consequent celebrations, in which, of

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING.

239

course, Mr. Field bore a prominent part, Prof. Morse
had occasion to send a telegram from a small town in
Ohio to his home in New York. He wrote out his

IMwiii

^h L
- JllSs^lfllitllJ fewiffl

IhrP', 1;
IU. ^1% iptiiSiilSIs^

¦w-^.  ,J

FIFTH AVENUE, NEAR TWENTY-FIRST STREET, NEW YORK.
message, presented it to the operator, who rapidly
checked it off with his pencil and curtly demanded $i.
"But," said the venerable inventor, "I never pay for
messages," and seeing an inquiring look in the opera-

240 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
tor's eyes, added: "I am, in fact, the father of the
telegraph." "Then," said the operator, firmly convinced that he
was being imposed upon, " why don't you sign your
own name, Cyrus W. Field ? "
At this point Mr. Gould used to laugh and tell how
greatly humiliated Prof. Morse was when he told the
story in his presence.
" Now, Would he ha' Writ that Air Pass ? "
An old neighbor of the Goulds at Roxbury, Dela
ware county, told a story about the millionaire's visit
to his old home in the midst of one of his busiest
financial seasons.
"Jay and 1 was always good friends," said the old
man, "which is more'n I can say for him and most of
the other folks here. You see, old John Gould mar
ried my sister for his second wife, and there wasalways
more or less of a family feeling between the Goulds"
and us. Says I to Jay: ' Why don't you come arid see
us once in a while? You're always goin' to get the
best we have, yo' know.' Jay said suthin' 'bout bein'
always hayin' season with him and couldn't spare the
time. There wasn't anythin' he'd like as much as to
visit up here, for he liked the old folks, he said.
"He asked me how I'd like to go down to York. I
said farming was not so good as it was and money was
mighty scarce. He said that was all right, 'n then he
fumbled around his pockets for something, but it was
not there. He explained that«he thought he had his
book with him so that he could give me a pass for my-

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. ' 241
self and my wife down to York ; but he must have
forgotten it and left it at home. He said he'd send
the pass to me, but if he sent it some other one must
have got it, for I never did. I was a-speakin' 'bout it
afterward down at the hotel, and the boys said it was
most likely Jay Gould never sent it. One thing, any
how, I'm certain of — that is, ef he had that air book
with him that time we met he'd a writ out. that air
pass." About the Elder Gould.
The old man became enthusiastic in talking about
Mr. Gould, and said he always liked Jay better than
any other man in the village did. One day up at the
farm Jay's father told him not to take out a colt which
was in the barn. Jay thought that colt was aching for
a drive, and so, notwithstanding the orders of his
father, just hitched up the colt. As a result the ani
mal ran away and smashed things -generally. The
colt was about ruined and young Jay did not dare to
go home.
"Jay came over to my house," said his old bene
factor, "and got me to go over and break the news to
his father. The old man stormed around like mad,
and finally said :
" 'Let the devilish young cub come here if he dares.
I know what I'll do; I'll take his horse for the colt.'
"The storm blew over and Jay went back. The
old man appropriated Jay's horse, for he was a man
of his word.
"Another time, when Father Gould was keeping
16

242 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
store down in the village," continued the historian,
" the old man was coming down the steps and fell in
the cellar-way. He lay groaning there when some
one happening to pass by heard him. This man went
into the store and called Jay, who was busy counting
the cash. Jay brought a light and found his father
doubled up on the cellar steps. Would you believe
it, some folks was so full of pizen that they said over
at the tavern, that it was Jay that pushed his father
into the cellar."
Mr. Travers Had Some Fun Out of Mr. Gould.
William R. Travers, so celebrated as a wit, perpe
trated a joke about Jay Gould that the old-time brokers
still remember. One day, although his office in the
street was filled with customers and friends, business
was dull and Mr. Travers strolled over to the window
and looked out. Of a sudden he yelled loudly and
excitedly : " C-come h-h-here, b-b-boys ! L-look,
1-look ! "
Every one rushed to the window, falling over each
other in their eager hurry. They looked and saw
nothing but Jay Gould on the opposite side of the-
street, whispering in the ear of one of his, brokers.
But that did not explain Travers's excitement.
" Well, what is it ? " everybody asked ; " what are
you raising such a deuce of a row about ? "
" L-look, 1-look," returned Travers ; " did-don't
y-you se-see ? There's Je-Jay Ge-Gould with h-his
h-hands in h-is o-o-own per-per-pockets."

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 243
A Wall Street man once associated with Mr. Gould
told an interesting bit of history. " It was several
months, possibly a year ago," he said, " that jay Gould
came to the conclusion that his life on this earth was
about spanned. So he decided to set his household
to rights before the summons came. He took his
four boys into his study one night, and as a preface
told them the history of his life — of all the hardships
and struggles of his youth up to the time that he be
gan to know men and to turn that knowledge to
profit. To Perpetuate the House of Gould.
" He explained the method of his great railroad
operations, the keystone of which was to buy railroad
stocks, when the road was run down and the stock
was cheap. He would" then develop the road, boom
the stock and get out with a handsome profit. He
gave illustrations of these methods and urged his sons
to follow in his footsteps, keep on building up the
great property that he would leave them and thus
maintain the name of Gould as a great power in the
financial world. He urged them to emulate the ex-
ample of the Vanderbilts.
" He told the boys," the Wall street man continued,
" the amount of his wealth, and that it would probably
be left in trust so as to obviate the necessity of making
a will. The boys listened to this story of the great
financier, whose fears were to be so soon realized, and
gave their promises to keep up the name and estate
of Gould, but I doubt if they will succeed, and I don't

244 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
think Jay Gould had much faith in their power to do
so either.
" But I would have liked to have heard that story
of Jay Gould's life. It would be better than a fairy
tale, and would make the fortune of any man."
How he Saw the School-boys' Parade.
On the morning of the school children's parade,
during the Columbian celebration, Jay Gould watched
the procession from the little balcony on top of the
brownstone portico over the front steps of his resi
dence. As everybody remembers, Fifth Avenue was
crowded as it never was before, and nowhere were
the throngs on the Avenue denser than between the
arch at Fifty-eighth street, and the grand stand at
the reservoir, between Fortieth and Forty-second
streets. Every window in the Windsor Hotel and in
the private houses thereabouts was filled with specta
tors, the sidewalks overflowed with them. The tem
porary reviewing stands, erected with hospitable or
speculative purpose, were crowded when the second-
story window that opens unto Mr. Gould's little bal
cony opened and he stepped out upon the top of
the portico. He was followed by his son, Howard.
It was a sunshiny, crisp morning. Jay Gould wore
a heavy overcoat and a derby hat that was pulled
down over his eyes to shield them from the glare. He
seated himself on the stone railing of the balcony so
that he could look north, up the Avenue. His hands
were stuck deep in his overcoat pockets, and his over
coat collar was 'way up around his ears.

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 245
Before him spread file after file of rosy-cheeked,
bright-faced, well-dressed boys, marching with the
sturdiness of youth and the precision of veterans.
The sight seemed to please Mr. Gould immensely.
He was very fond of children. He doted on George's
children. He smiled frequently and nodded to this
passing company or that that tickled his fancy, to at
tract his son's attention to it. But Mr. Gould kept
his hands in his pockets, as if he was cold. He stayed
on the balcony for three-quarters of an hour. Then
a passing cloud obscured the sun, the air grew chillier,
and he went into the house through the window which
His son raised for him.
" The Man Who Got a Pointer."
Every friend and acquaintance of Jay Gould knew
the story of " the man who got a pointer." The story
was as follows : Gould was very seldom uncertain
or uncivil with his employees, and while he made no
promises, he was rather desirous to see those who
served him thrive and feel on good terms with the
world. Mr. Gould on one occasion told a faithful
man in his employment about some things he was
going to do. His object was to have the man apply
the information in his own way and get the benefit of
it. Some time afterwards he asked this man if he had
bettered himself, as he had been shown the oppor
tunity. The man said no, that he was afraid that if
he wbuld act on the information it would seem like
using Mr. Gould's confidence to his own advantage.

246 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Mr. Gould for the first time suspected his faithful
subordinate to be wanting in quality.
Humorous Features of the Erie Fight.
G. P. Morosini, who for over eighteen years was
closely associated in business with Mr. Gould, was per
haps as much grieved as any one over the financier's
death. Until very recently he and Mr. Gould had ad
joining desks at No. 71 Broadway. Mr. Gould made
Mr. Morosini his confidant in many of his private as
well as business affairs, and no man was perhaps more
familiar than the latter with Mr. Gould's personal
characteristics. Seated in his office on one occasion,'
Mr. Morosini pointed out the plain stained-wood
table and leather-bottomed chair which Mr. Gould was
accustomed to occupy.
" There sat a man," said Mr. Morosini, " who was
more misunderstood and more causelessly maligned
than any I have ever known. I was the auditor of
the Erie Company at the time Mr. Gould assumed
control, and I continued in that capacity until after
Gen. John A. Dix became President of it in 1872.
Mr. Gould was brought into Erie in 1868 by Col. Jim
Fisk. " Mr. Gould became President of the company.
Immediately the road bounded into popularity. Its
stock increased in value and there were many who
begged for blocks but could not get them. Among
those who saw a great future for the road was Com
modore Vanderbilt. He saw in it a powerful rival
to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 247
and determined if he could to gobble it up. He tried
at first to purchase a majority of its stock. He failed.
Then he declared a freiget war.
The Commodore Outwitted.
At the time cattle were brought from Buffalo to this
city at $125 a carload. The Commodore reduced the
rate to $100. Fisk and Gould made a cut of $25 less.
The Commodore went to $50. Erie then offered to
bring cattle here at $25 per carload, and when the
Erie put the rate still lower Vanderbilt issued an
order to bring cattle over the Central at $1 a carload.
The Commodore thought this would ruin the. Erie's
freight traffic. He waited to see what card Fisk and
Gould would next play. Just as he was congratulat
ing himself that not a steer was being carried over the
Erie, while the Central was compelled to refuse busi
ness, he discovered that as in previous contests he had
been outwitted. Maddest Man in America.
"When the Commodore reduced the rate to$i per
carload, Fisk and Gould purchased every cow and
steer to be had west-of Buffalo. They shipped them,
not by the Erie, but by the Central, at the Commodore's
own rate. They had sold enough in the city to make
a fortune before Vanderbilt found out ' where he was
at' I am told the air was very blue in Vanderbiltdom
when the Commodore learned how he had been
tricked. He swore revenge, but first put the rate back
on the transportation, of cattle."
Mr. Morosini laughed heartily while relating this

248 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
incident. Continuing, he said : " Commodore Vander
bilt still ached to get control of Erie, and he went to
buying up all the stock not held by Fisk and Gould.
Having partially succeeded he offered to relieve them
of their holdings. Fisk said, 'All right; we will give
you $10,000,000 worth.' The Colonel issued a lot of
stock, which, of qourse, was not worth the paper on
which it was printed. Vanderbilt bit and thought he
now possessed supreme power over Erie. When he
discovered that Fisk and Gould still held the majority
of legitimate stock in Erie, while his purchase at a big
price was worthless, the Commodore was the maddest
man in America. Then there were interminable suits,
interrupted by the killing of Fisk by Stokes.
" I am not defending Fisk's trickery, but Vander.
bilt had to be fought with his own weapons or he
would have had a monopoly of all the railroads in the
State." ^
Young Harding's Quick Promotion.
Jay Gould travelled every year in his private car
over the branches of his railroad systems in Kansas.
The Missouri Pacific is the largest of these Kansas
systems, and is under the. superintendency of one
man, Russell Harding, of Wichita. Mr. Harding is
a young man, but he has been an especial favorite of
Mr. Gould. The latter, as often with young railroad
men to whom he took a liking, advanced Harding
rapidly. Harding was in a subordinate capacity upon
a little road in Southern Texas over which Mr. Gould
at one time passed.

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 249
Young Harding was alert and vigorous in clearing
the way, with meagre facilities for doing it, to let the
Gould train pass. The financier saw the situation
and remembered how cleverly the difficulty was solved.
He said nothing at the time, but Mr. Harding was as
tonished a few weeks later to receive an offer from the
Missouri Pacific Railroad which quickly led him to its
superintendency. Since then Mr. Harding has always
been a passenger in Mr. Gould's car when travelling
over those lines. He had exceptional facilities for
observing him.
Mr. Harding was speaking one day of these ex
periences. A Close Observer.
"I was continually surprised," he said, "at the exact
and technical knowledge which Mr. Gould had about
some of the most obscure conditions affecting the
branches over which I have charge. It was not so
much a knowledge of road-bed or construction,
although he was observant of these things even to
details, but it was of the subtler and broader condi
tions which combined to affect the prosperity of com
munities, their wants and necessities, and consequently
the prosperity of his railroads. He seemed to know
all about every cross-road and way station, just what
kind of soil the locality had and the character of the
crops raised. He seemed to know not only what
branches ought to be built but where towns ought to
be placed1. This question of locating towns in a new

250 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
territory requires far-sighted knowledge as well as
observation. How Gould Gathered Information.
"Citizens in little Kansas towns always knew when
Mr. Gould was coming through. Quite often commit
tees of their boards of trade, which are simply organ
izations to boom towns, came to Mr. Gould's car.
They were generally received. Of course, the spokes
man liked to talk and laud his town, and evidently Mr.
Gould liked to hear him, for he would sit quietly,
rarely speaking, and his black eyes would twinkle with
interest. He was always asked to indicate what ex
tensions might be made, or what he thought of the
town, but his answer, which was apparently satisfying,
did nothing but draw out the speaker a little more.
None of the information was lost on Mr. Gould. He
seemed to weigh it all and treasure up all that was
valuable. This personal contact with this class of men
he seemed to like, but in the larger places, of which
he could gain knowledge in other ways, interviews
with him were hard to get.
"There was always curiosity to see Mr. Gould when
the car stopped. There seemed to be a universal
impression that he was big and imposing in appear
ance. So when he would step off the forward end of
the baggage-car he was seldom recognized. Occasion
ally, at a way station on the prairie, where there was
a store or two and half a dozen farmers standing
around, we would stop a few minutes to allow a train
to pass. Mr. Gould would occasionally chat with a

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 251
farmer about the crops of the county. The rustic, in
ignorance of his identity, would talk glibly, while he
would have been dumb with embarrassment if he had
known he was speaking to Jay Gould. It was often
amusing to watch these incidents.
"Stuck Up? " Not a bit of it.
"I remember once a stop in Butler county. The
afternoon was awfully hot, but as that always-present
breeze was blowing over the prairie, Mr. Gould
stepped out for some air. He stood in the shade at
one end of the depot talking with an old farmer. The
farmer looked longingly at the private car and finally
said to Mr. Gould :
'"Be you ridin' in that car?'
" ' Yes,' replied Mr. Gould.
" ' Course you see Jay Gould, then ? '
" ' Yes, sometimes.'
" ' I s'pose he keeps purty select and don't mix much.
What kind of a lookin' feller is he ? '
" Mr. Gould evasively inquired if his questioner
had not seen Jay Gould, as he had been through there
several times.
" ' No, I never seen him,' continued the farmer. 'But
I'd just like to. D'ye s'pose he'd give a feller a
chance to speak to him ? Ain't he stuck up ? '
"The anxious man was assured that Mr. Gould
often talked to citizens along his road.
"'Can't yer fix it fer me ?' earnestly inquired the
man. Mr. Gould smiled a little at this, but he did not have

252 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the disposition to carry out the joke and reveal him
self. Our train was ready to leave, and he excused
himself and stepped on the platform. He shook
hands with his new acquaintance.
"The station agent knew Mr. Gould, and as soon
as the train moved he told the man to whom he had
been talking. Mr. Gould disappeared in the car with
just a faint smile on his face. I watched the station.
I never saw a more dumfounded man than that far
mer. He stepped into the centre of the track, and
with both hands in his pockets, legs spread apart,
mouth open, and hat on the back of his head, he gazed
in amazement at the departing train.
" The station agent afterwards told me that for miles
around that man's talk with Jay Gould was a house
hold story." Jason and he Found the Golden Fleece.
Jay Gould was one of several prominent men not
known to the public by their real names. His Chris
tian name was really Jason Gould. He dropped the
Jason and took up Jay because itwas more euphonious.
In this manner Grover Cleveland dropped his first
name, which was Stephen, and Whitelaw Reid dropped
his, which was James.
Did not Love to Sit Before the Camera.
The announcement made that Jay-Gould would sit
for his portrait in oil to the French artist, Benjamin
Constant, created considerable surprise among Wall
street men who knew something of Gould's charao
teristics and his disinclination to have his features re-

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 253
produced. It was only recently that his family were
able to induce him to sit for a photograph, and the
photographer he patronized was in the immediate
neighborhood of the Grand Central Depot, and was
selected because that location represented less loss of
time thari any other in the city. The result was very
satisfactory, and the photographer obtained Mr.
Gould's permission to put the photographs on sale.
A few years ago there was no such thing as a pho
tograph of Mr. Gould, at least as New York knew
him, in existence. Some of his associates wanted his
picture to put on a telegraph bond, and he would give
them no assistance whatever. In fact he good-natur
edly opposed the idea, and they were as good-natur
edly intent on carrying it out. Finally a photograph
of Mr. Gould was secured, showing him a very young
man with a flowing tie and an old-fashioned coat. An
artist got to work on this, and it was fixed up in shape
so that it could be used. There was a picture of Mr.
Gould extant which shows him with an abundance of
curly black hair and a very large quantity of black
beard. This was contained in a flashy volume on New
York life and New York men, which was printed for
country sale and circulation.
A Model Young Man.
James H. Woolhiser, who worked with Jay Gould
in the general store in Roxbury, Delaware county,
N. Y., tells an interesting story of the great financier's
life in the town where both were born. Mr. Wool-

254 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
hiser lived there until a few years ago, when he moved
to Brooklyn.
"Jay Gould," said Mr. Woolhiser, "worked on his
father's farm, which was about six miles out of town.
He tended cattle. I first heard of him when he
started to go to the Roxbury High School. He
walked from his home to the school and back again
every day. His desire to acquire a good education
was the talk of the town, and in this way I first heard
of him. He was pointed out to me by my father as a
model young man. He made but few friends among
his schoolmates, evidently preferring to be by himself.
"When I was sixteen years old," continued Mr.
Woolhiser, " I went to work in the store of J. E.
Burnham. You could buy almost everything from a
postage stamp to a mowing-machine in that store. I
had been working there but a short time when one
fine morning I was surprised to see young Gould
enter the store and ask Mr. Burnham for a position.
He was hired at a salary of $5 per week.
" The following Monday morning he went to work as
a clerk and assistant book-keeper. He did all kinds
of work. Upon several occasions I have seen him
sweep the floor of the old store. He worked hard
and, although always very pleasant, was never very
talkative. During the leisure time of the day he
would grab a book and begin to study. For a long
time after he had been employed he would leave the
store as soon as the day's work was finished and
walk home.

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 255
"As time moved on, however, he became more
friendly and in the evenings after the work was done
he would sit with us around the stove. Those were
happy days. We would take turns at telling stories.
We would also eat hard-boiled eggs, which we cooked
ourselves, and drink cider. Jay was not at all back
ward in telling stories when it came to his turn, and
could drink and eat as much as any of us. . His ab
stracted air at times led me to the impression that he
had something on his mind, and one day I asked him
if he had. any trouble. He laughed at me.
What was on Young Gould's Mind.
" I remember quite well an incident "that happened
in the store one day while Jay was waiting upon a
customer and that settled in my mind what was troub
ling him. He was serving a regular customer when
he suddenly stopped while in the act of wrapping up
a bundle and said : ' I don't think it is any trouble to
become a millionaire if one sets out to make himself
one.' The man addressed laughed and said that he
had set out to become a millionaire, but saw no hopes
'of ever arriving at the mark. Gould did not reply,
and the man went out saying that he would wait
patiently for Gould to become' a millionaire.
" Often after that we chaffed Gould about his state
ment and asked him what his plans were for becom
ing rich.
"'Why,' replied Gould, 'it's as easy as can be.
Work hard and don't be foolish. When you get a
little money put it where it will double itself. Keep

256 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
doubling all your money and the result will be satis
factory.' " Burnham had a pretty daughter named Maria,"
continued Mr. Woolhiser, "and Gould had been work
ing in the store but a short time when he became very
attentive to her. She was a pretty blonde and all the
boys of the town fairly worshiped her, and when it
became generally known that Gould was calling
steadily on her he was envied by all the young fellows.
He attended a party with her one night, and barely
escaped getting into a fight with one of Miss Burn-
ham's admirers." • Old Knives for New.
To show Mr, Gould's shrewd business tact Mr.
Woolhiser said :
" Jay proved himself a sharp business boy. He had
a habit of getting old pocket knives, much the worse
for wear, and going to a person whom he knew to
own a fairly good knife he would say, ' I'll swap knives
" unsight, unseen" with you.' If the man or lad did
not know Gould he would trade and in nine cases out
of ten would get much the worst of the bargain.
"Gould had been working in the store about two
years when Burnham was elected to the Legislature,
and Jay was left in charge of the store. While in
Albany Burnham received a letter from a man in
Margaretville telling him that some property in the
latter place could be bought at a bargain. In some
unaccountable way Gould learned ofthe bargain and
bought the property himself without tellinp- his em-

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 257
ployer a word about it. He made the purchase while
Burnham was negotiating for it.
" The day that Burnham arrived in Roxbury Jay left
the store, saying that he was going fishing. He went
direct to Margaretville and bought the tract of land
a couple of hours before his employer arrived at the
place. When Burnham learned of Jay's act he became
angry, and driving back to his store discharged him
with but few words. To cap the climax, Maria Burn
ham entered the store just as Jay was about to leave
and told him never to call upon or speak to her again.
That was the beginning of his business career, and
the end of his first love affair. t
At Once Engineer and Cowboy.
"Jay knocked about Roxbury for some time after
his discharge, and then took up surveying, of which
he had learned a little. In a few months he had sur
veyed and made a map of Delaware county and wrote
a history of the anti-rent wars. Both the map and
history sold well. Buoyed up by the success of his
work Jay next published a map and history of Ulster
county. He next engaged in the cattle raising indus
try, and to save the expense of help he would drive
his cattle to the market, a distance of sixty miles.
He kept at this for some time and then secured a po
sition with an engineer to survey the Adirondack
Mountains. While in these mountains he met Col.
Pratt, with whom he afterwards, went into partner-
ship." 17

258 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
From that time Mr. Woolhiser saw nothing more
of Jay Gould until he moved to Brooklyn.
"At one time," said Mr. Woolhiser, "while Gould
was still in the employ of Burnham he fell sick. My
father, who was a general nurse and something of a
doctor, attended him and brought him around all right.
Not long after he recovered he met my father and
said: 'You saved my life, and if at any time you are
in need and I can help you, I shall do so with pleas
ure.' Fortune has not smiled on my poor old father
of late, and being in absolute need he wrote to Mr.
Gould, telling him of his condition and asking for
help. No reply was ever received. I think that our
letters never reached Mr. Gould or he would surely
have helped us. I wrote to him only a few days ago
for the fourth or fifth time. Gould was always a good
boy, and for a while we slept together in the same bed
in the old store in Roxbury. Jay never missed saying
his nightly prayers before retiring."
Mr. Gould Objected to the "Pool."
Jay Gould was a frequent patron of the Turkish
baths. For a long while he went, three or four times
a week, to a well-equipped establishment near his
residence. It was his custom to give the man who
attended him a personal fee of $2. There were half
a dozen male attendants in this particular establish
ment, and they agreed among themselves to take
turns in waiting upon Mr. Gould in order that each
man might have an equal chance to get the $2 fee.
This arrangement worked smoothly enough until

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 259
one day Mr. Gould appeared at the baths earlier than
usual. The man whose turn it was to attend to him
was just then busy with another customer. But Mr.
Gould was not allowed to wait. The attendant who
was to have treated him at the next visit stepped for
ward, and soon the prime factor of Wall street was
undergoing a vigorous scrubbing.
In the mean time the man who was entitled to this
" turn " on Mr. Gould finished his other job and pro
ceeded to claim possession of Mr. Gould's recumbent
figure. His demand was refused and a quarrel en
sued. The two were about to come to blows when
Mr. Gould indignantly remonstrated against their
making such a scene in his presence. He declared
emphatically that he would have nothing more to do
with either of them, and, furthermore, in order to
break up their combination, he said that he would dis
continue the practice of giving each man $2.
" Hereafter," said Mr. Gould, " I will not give more
than $1 to an attendant at any one time, and unless
the attendance is perfectly satisfactory I will not give
as much as that."
Mr. Gould continued his visits to this same estab
lishment. The same attendants were there, and they
steamed and scrubbed him with all the skill and tact
they could muster, trying to win him back to the $2
idea. "Altvays Keep Up Your Credit."
A favorite general officer of one of Gould's West-

260 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ern railroads was called to New York a few years ago
and jumped on by the financier thus:
"They tell me you are broke and don't pay your
debts. What is the matter ? "
The officer sputtered and stammered :
"It costs me a great deal to live," he replied. "My
family is large, rents are high, and doctors' bills have
been considerable, but things are not so bad as you
seem to think."
"I'll see," said Gould, handing out a check for $1000.
"Take this over to Connor and tell him to put it in
the market as he sees fit. Come back here when he
tells you to."
The man obeyed. It was an exciting day in Wa
bash, and he returned to Gould with $6000.
" So you've been speculating," exclaimed Gould.
" Don't do it again. That's what ails you fellows who
don't know what you are about. You better go home
now." The fortunate speculator bade Gould good-by with
profuse thanks and started.
" Haven't you forgotten something ? " called Gould.
" I don't know."
"Where's that $1000 I lent you this morning? It
seems to be true that you don't pay your debts. Re
member, my boy, the essential thing in business is to
keep up your credit."
The embarrassed officer paid the $1000, and it has
never been necessary to dun him for anything since.

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 261
Silent he Was and Almost Invisible, Too.,
One ofthe most striking peculiarities of Mr. Gould's
daily life was his remarkable ability to avoid personal
observation. At least 200 days of each year were
spent in whole or in part in his office in the Western
Union Building. He went in and out without making
any apparent effort to keep from being seen, his face
was perfectly familiar to everybody in New York, and
yet among the thousand or more persons who were
erriployed in and about the Western Union Building,
and whose duties called them there every day in the
year, more than 90 per cent, of them never saw Mr.
Gould in their lives.
If seen at any time by one of the little knots of tele
graph operators who always gathered about the door
of the big building the fact created as much of a stir
as if they had just caught a glimpse of the Czar of
Russia or the wild man of Borneo.
Out of the hundreds of thousands of theatre-goers
in New York city few remember ever having seen
him at a place of amusement, and this was not because
he did not go often, but from his ability to keep from
attracting observation, coupled with the other fact that
there were so many men who resembled him that a
man was never quite certain whether he was looking
at Mr. Gould or one of his many doubles.
How he Hid his Illness.
Jay Gould's battle against disease and death was
in every way characteristic of the man. Secretive in
all his business relations, he was consistently so about

262 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
his health. He had been seriously ill for a long
time, but he kept his trouble sedulously to him
self. For several years occasional reports were circulated
that the marvellous juggler in stocks was extremely
ill, and in each instance they were denied. In the last
two years these reports gained more credence, chiefly
from the fact that Mr. Gould was seen less and less in
public. It was generally suspected that his health
was poor, but as he never complained to even his
most intimate friends there was no way of ascertaining
the facts. Insidious Disease.
The fact that he had hemorrhages was published
almost periodically and was admitted, but they were
ascribed to the stomach or throat. Mr. Gould knew
then that he had consumption. He had confided to
his physician that early in life he had had a severe at
tack of pneumonia. He did not think he had entirely
recovered, and twinges in the lungs reminded him
that they were affected. Still he would never give in.
His long sea voyages in Southern waters on his
palatial yacht, the Atalanta, were taken with a view
to building up his constitution and strengthening his
lungs. It was no use. The insidious disease had obtained
a firm hold and it was ineradicable. Latterly he was
unable to stand the sea breezes, and his tours on the
Atalanta had to be abandoned. From that time he

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 263
practically engaged the exclusive attendance of Dr.
John P. Munn.
" Consumption's ghastly form " was ever present
with him. ln his palace car with no one but his phy
sician, enjoying the balmy air of Florida or the ozone
of Colorado and New Mexico, the spectre of a wasting
disease attended him. He was told that his life
could be prolonged by a residence in the pure air of
New Mexico, but he would not live there. Continued
residence in the city, especially in the spring, he was
told, was practically suicidal, and he conformed to
his physician's injunctions by leaving there in the
spring. Would Not Insure his Life.
Although he looked to be a man of solemn thoughts,
he was not gloorpy, and he took a cheerful view of the
future even with the cankerous germs gnawing at his
vitals. He -could not leave his immense interests
centred in New York even to insure a longer lease
of life. In this connection it may be pertinent to say
that Jay Gould never took out an insurance policy
upon his life. Perhaps he might have feared publicity
in regard to his condition, or he may have believed
himself liable to rejection, an affront his nature
would not permit him to court. An almost lifelong
friend is authority for the statement that Jay Gould
would never entertain a proposition to insure his
life. When Dr. Munn became attached to him as his
personal physician in continuous attendance Mr.

264 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Gould was still able to cloud his real condition from
the world. Possibly the immediate members of his
family were acquainted with the truth, or they sur
mised it. In either case they kept their knowledge
to themselves. They inherited their father's secre-
tiveness. An example of this was related by Dr. Norvin
Green, President of the Western Union Telegraph
Company. " Mr. Gould was in the habit of attending the meet
ings of the directors, and when he was in the city and
feeling well he always came down to the office. I
knew that he was ill by his failure to come down, and
though I saw George every day he gave no hint of
his father's condition. In answer to inquiries he
would merely say that his father was not feeling well.
On Wednesday, the day before Mr. Gould's death,
George came down and said, ' Father is very ill.' "
Fighting Death.
Even to his intimate friends, and the business as
sociates who were his lieutenants, he would never
admit the nature of his illness, or even refer to his
being sick. The last time he was down-town to at
tend to business was a few days before his death. It
was a meeting of the directors of Union Pacific which
brought him down, and at its close he returned
home. " He looked well then," said ex-Judge John F. Dil
lon. " I next saw him at his house, when I stopped in
on my way down-town. He was sitting in his library,

STORIES ABOUT THE MONEY KING. 265
and I thought he was looking reasonably well. I re
marked to him then that though I was an older man
than he I never felt any illness or inconvenience ex
cept pain in the bottom of my feet when I walked
much. I couldn't explain this, as I had never had
rheumatism or gout.
" Mr. Gould smiled and replied : ' Well, I am only
bothered by a little sciatica, I think. That troubles
me sometimes.' As he said this he rubbed his legs
and hips, repeating the word sciatica. Three days
afterwards, when I called again, he was confined to his
bed, and I don't think he ever got up again."
To the man who was attending to his law business,
the man who probably drew his will, Mr. Gould would
not confide the nature of his illness nor even say how
sick he was. He guarded his secret as jealously as
he had guarded his plans for the coups which netted
him so much wealth and notoriety.
Wonderful Nerve.
It is said by one who knows that for months and
months Mr. Gould would never leave his house and
the privacy of his own room until he had conquered
his daily fit of coughing in the morning. Like all
consumptives, this coughing came on at night and
in the morning. Dr. Munn did what he could to stop
it, and when assured of a couple of hours or more of
relief the financier would go down to business. His
doctor would go with him, though, to watch for any
premonitory symptoms of weakness or a return of the
cough. Dr. Munn invariably carried the necessary

266 LIFE OF JAY GOULD
medicines with him to allay the cough and strengthen
his patient.
Never at one of these meetings did Mr. Gould utter
a syllable about his physical condition, nor did he be
tray himself in any other way. With wonderful nerve
and will power he sat among his associates cloaking
with imperturbability the pain he must have been en
during. He had schooled himself so well that, tor
tured as he might have been, no twitch in his face or
nervous motion indicated to others that he was suf
fering. Some of those who sat with him ih these meetings
might have wished for a sign upon which they could
predicate the near approach of the inevitable. They
knew he was somewhat hoarse, but it was seldom that
they heard him cough. No sooner would a fit of
coughing appear to be imminent than the consumptive
would hurry to the seclusion of his home.
It was by these precautionary and heroic measures
that Jay Gould kept from the public the intelligence
that he was dying. Even when he took to his death
bed the family and those in audiority to speak for him
denied that he was seriously ill. It was not until the
evening of the day before he died that the admission
was made of his critical condition.
He kept his secret from the world as long as he
had strength and consciousness.

CHAPTER XVII.
Remarkable Characteristics of the Wall Street
Napoleon.
G. P. Morosini was associated with Mr. Gould for
a longer period, and perhaps more continuously and
in some respects more intimately, than any other man
in New York. Mr. Gould first met Mr. Morosini in
the Erie railway service when- the former entered
upon his famous career in connection with the affairs
of that corporation in the year 1867. Mr. Morosini
was at that time chief clerk in the auditor's office,
and the manner in which he found his way originally
into the service of the company illustrates the influence
of circumstance over the destinies of individuals.
In the year 1855 Morosini was an Italian sailor,
temporarily living in New York. He was a youth of
splendid build, great muscular strength and a courage
corresponding with both. One day while walking
along the streets his attention was attracted to a group
near the curbstone in which there were signs of an
exciting struggle. He hastened to the scene, and
there saw a crowd of a dozen or more boys against
whom one boy was defending himself, but who was
being rapidly overpowered by the numbers against
which he was contending. (267)

268 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Morosini, taking the situation in at a glance, forced
his tall figure through the crowd to the side of the
boy, who had already been knocked to the ground.
Immediately the entire pack of young contestants
turned upon' Morosini, who, in obedience to native
and professional instincts, drew forth a large knife,
and holding it conspicuously in front of him drove
back his assailants and rescued the prostrate boy at
his feet. Helping him to rise, at the lad's solicitation
Morosini accompanied him home, followed a part of
the way by the yelling mob of youngsters. Seeing
his young charge safely landed under his father's roof
the sailor youth went his way.
The Italian Rewarded.
About a week later he had been traced through the
instrumentality of the father of the boy. This was
Nathaniel Marsh, then Secretary of the Erie Railway
Company. Mr. Marsh was grateful to the sailor who
had come to the rescue of his son in a moment of
peril, and wanted to press upon the young man money
in the way of reward. This Morosini refused to ac
cept. Mr. Marsh asked the young man if there was
anything else he could do for him.
Morosini replied that he had been leading the life
of a sailor, that he was tired of the sea, and that if he
could find suitable employment he would be glad to
remain in New York. On May 29th, 1855, young
Morosini entered the service of the Erie Company,
first as a sort of office-boy. Soon he was placed in
the auditor's office, where he rose to the place of chief"

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 269
clerk, but at the time of Mr. Gould's assumption of
the presidency he was practically filling the functions
of his superior.
Six months after Mr. Gould's retirement from the
Erie, Mr. Morosini followed him and entered his em
ploy, and in that service he remained until about
three years ago, when, it is said, Mr. Gould practically
discontinued his large speculative operations in Wall
street. Speaking of his dead friend and former employer,
Mr. Morosini said :
" Mr. Gould was one of the most lovable men I ever
,knew. It was a pleasure to serve him. He was very
appreciative, and never imposed a needless task upon
any one. In the office he always took things easily
and coolly. There was never any hurry or confu
sion. Idolized his Famijy.
" In his family he was the best of husbands, and I
never knew a man who loved his children with such
intensity as he did. He seemed to worship them all.
He was a very companionable man, and there was a
great deal of humor in his disposition. While he was
not given to telling stories or cracking jokes himself,
he enjoyed hearing others do so and would laugh as
heartily as the rest.
" He was very abstemious in his habits, but was ex
ceptionally fond of coffee. Now and then he would
sip a little wine, but he rarely took more than a spoon
ful at any time. My opinion is that his system gave

270 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
way under the great strain resulting from the con
sciousness of his immense wealth. It was a tremendous
care, and he was always weighed down with the
anxiety and excitement of protecting his properties.
" Mr. Gould was the most generous of men, and he
made a great many other men rich by his own gener
osity. I could give you hundreds of instances where
in return for some slight service to him he has started
men in the way of making fortunes.
" There is one which just comes to mind while I am
talking which is a good illustration. Once there was
a man out West who did some little work for Mr.
Gould in a railroad matter there. The man was of the
ordinary type of the Westerner on the frontier. Mr
Gould said to me: ' I ought to do something for him ;
what would you suggest ? ' I replied, ' Buy him a
thousand shares of stock for a rise.' He said ' All
right,' and ordered. the purchase of 1,000 shares of
Denver and Rio Grande.
" The stock was then about 29. We carried it
along until it reached a very high point and looked
like going off, and ' then we sold it. The profit was
$65,000, and I paid that money, all of it, sixty-five bills
of $1,000 each, to that man myself. Mr. Gould had
ordered that transaction for -that particular purpose.
He took none of the profit himself, but directed that
the man should have it all.
Bagging the Cat.
" There were many instances," continued Mr. Moro
sini, " of just that sort, and many in which he greatly

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 271
helped men here in Wall street from going down —
men whom he was under no obligation to help, but he
assisted them under an impulse of generosity."
In regard Jo Mr. Gould's business methods, Mr.
Morosini said: "Of course he was very reserved.
He never let the left hand know what the right hand
did. His motto was never to say ' cat ' until you had
him in the bag. For instance, he asked me one day to
call in about $8,000,000 which we had loaned out. I
followed his instructions ; the money was collected ; he
said nothing to anybody about why he had called it in.
" I kept the money for nearly a month, when one day
he told me that I might loan it out again, as he had no
more use for it ; that he had intended it for use in
buying the Reading road, but the deal had fallen
through and therefore it might as well be drawing in
terest. That was the first I knew of what he had in
contemplation when he called the money in. Then
again when he bought the Missouri Pacific. His ne
gotiations with Commodore Garrison were carried on
for three months, and it was only when he asked me
to draw checks and told me to whom they should be
drawn that the whole thing came out."
Mr. Morosini illustrated Mr. Gould's peculiar tactics
in operations in some particular stocks in the Ex
change with another anecdote. Said he :
"At one time Mr. Gould was short in Pacific Mail,
and he bought and sold, bought and sold, bought and
sold until the commissions paid brokers amounted to
about $36,000. Then the account was finally made

272 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
up and showed to the credit of Mr. Gould on the en
tire transaction the sum of fourteen cents. A rumor
was in circulation that Mr. Gould had made a great
deal of money in the stock. One afternoon just
about that time I was at Mr. Gould's house when
William H. Vanderbilt called to see him about some
matter of business. He congratulated Mr. Gould on
having made so much money on the stock. Mr. Gould
turned to me and said, ' Morosini, how much have we
made on that deal in Pacific Mail ? '
" I answered, ' $i 40,000.'
" ' What,' he exclaimed, and looked at me in a queer
way. After Mr. Vanderbilt had gone Mr. Gould said,
' When I asked you what we had made on that Pacific
Mail transaction, why did you say we had made
$140,000?' I answered, 'Did we want to disgrace
ourselves by saying fourteen cents? Why not let
them know that we can make money as well as they
can?' Mr. Gould was very much amused."
Two Great Speculators.
One of the most important incidents in Mr. Gould's
life was the transaction by which- the control of Man:
hattan came into his hands. There had long been a
feeling among Mr. Gould's friends that great injustice
was done to him in the popular view of the matter.
John T. Terry, of E. D. Morgan & Co., was for years
one of Mr. Gould's most trusted counsellors. While
Mr. Terry was not as intimate as other men in the
stock operations of Mr. Gould, he knew of many of
the investment policies pursued by the dead capitalist,

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS, .273
and his sound judgment and high reputation in the
mercantile and banking world were frequently availed
of by Mr. Gould in important affairs.
In the case of the sale of, Mr. Field's Manhattan
stock to Mr. Gould, Mr. Terry was the medium through
which Mr. Field was able effectively to appeal to Mr.
Gould's resources to assist Mr. Field in the time of
his need. Mr. Terry's friends say that the confidential
nature of his relations to the negotiations at that time
forbade him to tell much of the secret history. But
Mr. Terry made the following statement in regard to
the Field-Gould transaction: ,
" Mr. Gould has been for years the subject of much
misrepresentation and unreasonable abuse, partly from
misapprehension and partly from malice. Even those
of his transactions which have been beneficent in their
character, and which have been prompted by the best
motives, have been turned and twisted by attributing
the worst possible motives to him.
Immense Loans.
"Take for example the case of Mr. Field and the
Manhattan Railway. Mr. Gould was applied to for
aid, and he generously loaned $1,000,000 of bonds,
taking therefor no security whatever. This not being
sufficient he purchased most reluctantly and at much
personal inconvenience $5,000,000 of the stock of the
Manhattan Elevated road at 120. A few days later
he stated to me that he feared this was not sufficient
to afford all relief needed, and he thought he would
be obliged to take the remaining $2,800,000, which he
18

274 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
did take at the same price and distributed all or the
greater portion of it among his friends.'
" But this was not the end. A few days later I was
again asked to his office, when he said to me, the
parties being present and he having been summoned
to the city by telegraph at their request, although in
wretched health : ' More assistance is needed, but I
have declined to go any further. Won't you please
look at their papers and see if you can suggest any
way for them to obtain the money ? '
False Accusations.
" After looking into the matter, I said : ' Mr. Gould,
you have already done more than could reasonably be
asked of any man, but I am assured that $300,000
rnore will be% sufficient, and I think you can loan it
safely, although the securities are not otherwise avail
able.' He replied : ' Very well, I will draw the check.' "
Here was assistance rendered of over $10,000,000
and although the stocks were purchased upon thirty
days' time, the necessities of the case required imme
diate payment, which Mr. Gould made at much per
sonal inconvenience.
" Now what was the view taken of this transaction
by the public press? We read in large print, 'Mr.
Gould has ruined Mr. Field,' and other phrases just
as false. This transaction riot only saved the parties,
but beyond question saved a panic in New York. I ,
will only add that the decline in the market value of
the stock named within a few succeeding weeks was
about $3,750,000, and yet there are probably thou-

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 275
sands and tens of thousands of persons here and abroad
who are still under the belief that Mr. Field was
wronged by Mr. Gould."
A Talk With his Broker.
Washington E. Connor knew Mr. Gould about
eighteen years. Mr. Gould's early practice in stock
operations was to employ a number of brokers in
order to conceal his transactions. Finally Mr. Connor
came to be the recognized broker of Mr. Gould, and
the relations between the two men were intimate. In
talking about his dead friend and associate Mr. Con
nor was cautious in avoiding an expression of opinion
as to Mr. Gould's probable wealth, though he did not
hesitate to say that it was not less than $60,000,000.
Speaking of the disposition of the estate, Mr. Con
nor said it was his belief that a trust had been created
for the bulk of the fortune. He added that during
the last two years Mr. Gould had committed to his
sons, by way of training them in the care of their busi
ness interests, the management of the properties in
which his money was chiefly invested, the father acting
only in an advisory capacity. " George Gould, since
he was sixteen years old," said Mr. Connor, " has been
undergoing a thorough business training and has
proved himself fully capable of taking care of the in
terests intrusted to his care. He promises to be
very conservative, and not likely to engage in any
thing bold or rash." Mr. Connor also said that
ever since Mr. Gould retired from active operations
in the Street there have been people ready to pay

276 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
him much above the market price for any of his hold
ings. Referring to Mr. Gould's personal characteristics
Mr. Connor said :
" Mr. Gould was a very quiet unassuming man of
kindly impulses. People who might meet him for
the first time would be likely to misjudge him, and
perhaps not give him credit for the ability he pos
sessed." Men who Knew Great Secrets.
" Frequently men would come into the office and
sit down and talk to Mr. Gould, and tell him some
story of their knowledge of operations going on in the
street, and try to impress him with the fact that they
knew the whole inside of such deals, when in truth
they would be telling Mr. Gould of a deal in which he
was at the bottom and they were giving somebody
else the credit for. But he never would betray him
self at such times, but would always listen to the
stories, and they would leave him with the impression
that they had convinced him of the truth of their state
ments. " He had a great gift of self-control. During the
whole time I have known him I have never seen him
give way to his temper but twice, and then under very
great provocation. He never had his equal for
ability in Wall street, and probably his equal will
never be seen. His success was not a matter of luck,
but of energy and good judgment. He had a wonder
ful memory for details and knew more about the

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 277
inside oi the various corporations he was associated
with than the officers who had direct control.
" You will find that every man who has had intimate
-business relations with Mr. Gould will tell you that
his word was safe for them to enter into any opera
tion, no matter of what magnitude, and that he was
never known either to break his word or attempt to
alter his verbal agreements. He was perfectly loyal to
the men with whom he was associated, and they were
perfectly loyal to him. I think you will find the most
of the men who condemned Mr. Gould had really
never met him, did riot know him when they saw
him, and had no business relations with him either
directly or indirectly." A Changed Man.
Mr. Connor briefly referred to the social side of
Mr. Gould. " In business he was reticent," said Mr.
Connor, " but I have frequently been out with him
when there was just a small party taking dinner
together or going to the theatre. On such occasions
he would seem to change completely. He would
become talkative, indulge in reminiscence and often
entertain the entire party. This, however, was unu
sual, and it was only among those whom he knew
very intimately that he would thus let himself out."
Mr. Connor also testified to the generosity of Mr.
Gould, and gave instances in which he had protected
men in whom he had no real interest from bankruptcy,
or assisted them when they were struggling against
adverse conditions.

278 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Ex-Judge John F. Dillon knew Mr. Gould intimately.
He first met the financier in 1879, and was his legal
adviser in many of his undertakings.
"There were many distinct characteristics about
Mr. Gould," said Mr. Dillon. " I never knew him to
utter a profane word, and he was as delicate and sen
sitive in temperament as a woman. Mr. Gould wrote
and spoke capital English, but he never wrote a word
that was not necessary.
Master of the English Language.
" Judge Usher, who was Secretary of the Interior
under Lincoln, an able and great lawyer, once said to
me that he had bought a railroad for Mr. Gould, or in
his interest, and had written out a contract covering
two or three pages of foolscap. The Judge, in telling
of the incident, said : ' I sent the contract, which I con
sidered a thorough document, to Mr. Gould, and he
almost immediately returned it written out on a half
page of paper of the same size. When I got the doc
ument and found it perfect in its condensed form, I
felt ashamed of myself."
Mr. Gould was so self-reliant that he had little use
for lawyers. He was his own negotiator and contract
maker. When he bought the Iron Mountain road he
showed me, the next day, a contract for that great
purchase. It was a contract written out in his own
handwriting on less than two pages of social note
paper. " He concluded the contract of the purchase of the
Missouri Pacific without consulting his lawyers. When

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 279
shown the contract the next day, his counsel told
him he had bought a big lawsuit, and that title to the
whole property was in question in the Supreme Court
of the United States. He simply said, ' I have given
my check for $3,700,000, and the thing is closed. The
seller would laugh at me if I went back and expressed
a desire to rescind.' He thereupon directed his at
torneys to take charge of the case and try to sustain
the title of the property bought, which after years of
litigation they did. A Natural Lawyer.
"But great as Mr. Gould was as a financier and
railway manager, he would, if bred to the bar, have
made a greater lawyer. That is a fact. I have seen
him greatly provoked, but never saw him lose his
temper or utter a threat. Nevertheless, he had a good
memory, both for benefits received and injuries done.
He was probably, in the language of Dr. Johnson, • a
good hater without loquacity and pomposity.' "
"What do you consider the cardinal points in Mr.
Gould's character ? " was asked.
" Courage, self-reliance, clear perception, an intimate
knowledge of his business and untiring industry. It
is a great mistake to suppose that Mr. Gould was a
mere speculator in properties. He was the most con
summate railway manager that the country has ever
produced. He knew everything about a railway from
the rails to the locomotive, and from the brakeman's
duty to that of the general manager. He could sit
down and write a traffic contract, which is perhaps the

280 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
supreme test for a railway manager. He knew enough
not to lose himself in details. He was too wise to
lose himself in long details.
A Superb Executive Officer.
"He was a superb executive officer. He applied
the military rule to his subordinates. 'I do not want
processes, but results,' was his doctrine. His great
genius consisted in a knowledge of the value of cor
porate properties, arid in perception of possibilities of
profitable consolidation. When he acquired properties
he bent his energies to develop them, and he had
both the will and the strength to defend and protect
them. Every successful railway manager must be a
militant, and Mr. Gould may be, perhaps, fitly sym
bolized as standing armed on the borders of his rail
road territories ready to give battle to all who invaded
or threatened to invade them.
"In some respects Mr. Gould has failed to get the
credit to which he is justly entitled in many things.
And he was blamed for many things, for which, in
reality, he was entitled to praise. He was also blamed
for many things in which he had no concern. I will not
attempt to go into details. To those who knew him,
Mr. Gould was a man of intense activity. He kept
his money invested in active enterprises, which gave
employment to thousands and thousands of men. He
frequently engaged in enterprises without any im
mediate reward, relying on his efforts and upon his
faith in the future value of properties for his compen
sation or profit.

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 281
Believed in America.
"In fact, I think Mr. Gould's well-founded faith in
the constant and steady growth of the country, and
the consequent prosperity of all legitimate and well-
directed enterprises — that was the main cause of his
almost unexampled success. A less enterprising man
would be tempted to sit down idly and take his ease
in receiving the income from rent rolls or Govern
ment bonds, or purchasing established securities. Mr.
Gould never seemed to be content except in directing
the management of active properties requiring con
stant supervision and good management to make them
successful. . He has probably wielded more power
than any other man in the country, but with all this
he was destitute of the least ostentation or display.
He seemed to have no ambition beyond the success
of his business enterprises, and though capable of
and having strong friendships, his heart and his af
fections were with his family. He was an example
of all the parental and domestic virtues."
Mr. Dillon when asked if he knew who drew Mr.
Gould's will said : " I cannot give you any details in
that direction." *•
An Estimate by Henry Clews.
Henry Clews said: "Jay Gould's death is not sud
den, as it has long been expected, owing to his frail
and weak physical condition. Death is the natural
end of all, and it should not be in this case to Wall
street much of a shock under the circumstances.
Gould has undoubtedly been one of the wonders of

282 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the world — abnormally great among men of affairs.
He had many good qualities, he was generous to a
fault, and was invariably true to his friends, but bitter
and unforgiving to his enemies.
" Much of the spread of the railroad transportation
system over our vast country is due to his remark
able enterprise, sagacity and organizing ability.
Thereby great distances have been narrowed and
people living at far-off points of our big acreaged land
have been brought in touch for business undertakings
through his telegraph and railroad schemes ; there
fore what Jay Gould has accomplished for the
benefit of the country must be placed to his credit,
and will be by most people, and it will, in my judg
ment, outweigh his' shortcomings in the recollections^
of the man.
" I was one of the few men in Wall street openly
to criticise Jay Gould harshly at times when he de
served it while living. I will not do so now he is dead,
as he has left behind him much that is good and of
great benefit to the nation, as a result of his marvel-
lous ability and active life."
"How would you estimate Mr. Gould's wealth?"
was asked.
"I should place it at $60,000,000 to $75,000,000,
largely in railroad bonds, with a 'good sprinkling of
stocks, and some valuable land and coal properties,
particularly in the West, along the line of roads with
which he was identified. In this city, as I understand
it, he has never held . much real estate, although, of

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 283
i
course, his house at Forty-seventh street and Fifth
avenue and his estate at Irvington are both valuable.
His city house he bought at a bargain from ex-Mayor
Opdyke some ten or twelve years ago for $300,000."
Like Father, Like Son.
"What disposition do you suppose Mr. Gould has
made of his property ? "
" Mr. Gould had great faith in his son George, and
I do not doubf, judging from my knowledge of the
man, that he has made most careful provision for his
•property in his will, and that it will be found to have
been left largely in George's control. George has
worked with his father for years. He has been in
dustrious and careful, and has shown a large grasp on
affairs, and has in every way acted in a manner that
tended to create confidence in his ability. I do not
doubt that he will succeed his father in the manage
ment of the properties that Mr. Gould has controlled.
I think the change will not be for the worse, for the
reason that George has never manifested his father's
speculative disposition, and the financial world will
feel that the properties will be managed upon a stabler
and more conservative basis. Jay Gould was a spec
ulator, and no one knew which way he would turn
next." " Did Mr. Gould make his money in speculation ?"
"No.- Mr. Gould's fortune was not gathered by
speculation in the Street. He generally lost at that,
and sometimes in large amounts. He.made his profits
by the manipulation of large ' deals.' He would buy

284 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
up two roads at a low figure, consolidate them into
one, issue securities and assure the public that the
property was a valuable one. Then he would sell out
at a high figure and pocket his profits. This opera
tion he repeated over and over again.
A Born Speculator.
" As a speculator he was tenacious. His great
characteristic was patience. When he had started on
a 'bear' campaign, he was the last man to realize that
the market had gone against him. He was almost
the only great ' bear ' operator who did not run to
cover just as soon as prices began to go up, and the
fact that he was a ' stayer ' often cost him millions of
dollars. After the panic of 1873 he was^a persistent
' bear,' and he stayed on that side of the market long
enough for the 'bulls' to get full control and to pinch
him badly. After the ' good times ' that followed the
resumption of specie payments got well under way,
he was forced to make three separate settlements with
the 'bull ring.' In the last he sold them 50,000 shares
of Union Pacific at 55 and gave an option on 50,000
shares more at 65.
"Within sixty days he was called on for the stock,
and the rise never stopped until Union Pacific touched
120. But he followed up those losses by the manipu
lation of Kansas Pacific, and when he had got that
stock up to the level of Union Pacific, he made an
exchange, share for share, and pocketed $8,000,000 as
the profits of the transaction. At one time he was a

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 285
heavy speculator, and as we watched the market we
could see the effect of his manipulations.
"We knew his brokers, and he was a general target
for everybody and seemed to enjoy being one. In
later years his dealings were not so open and mysti
fied the Street. More recently still he became a buyer
or a seller at favorable times, but did not figure in a
speculative sense. For that reason the market is not
affected by his death."
C. P. Huntington's Views.
C. P. Huntington, when asked what he thought of
Mr. Gould as a man and a financier, said :
'"Well, I have always thought very well of Mr.
Gould, though I know there are many people who
did not like him. I have had a great deal of dealing
with Mr. Gould in the thirty years during which I
have known him, and I will say that I always found
that he would do just as he had agreed to do. Of
his ability as a financier his success is the best
evidence." " There were published recently dispatches from the
Southwest, announcing a contemplated meeting shortly
between yourself and Mr. Gould at El Paso. Had
you arranged to meet Mr. Gould in Texas ? "
" No ; there was no truth in the statement. I have
had no correspondence on such a subject with Mr.
Gould. I have not been closely associated with him
for some time. He was on one side of the line and I
was on the other. I neVer hit with him on prices, for
I knew that the market would go up or down just as

286 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
he wanted it. We were never in ' cahoots,' as the
boys say. It is true I was in Western Union with him,
but I only owned a few shares and I went in there at
his request." Fond of a Good Story.
"When did you see Mr, Gould last?"
" I saw him last in El Paso last March. No, I have
seen him since that. I saw him two or three times
last August in connection with the meetings of fhe
Western Traffic Association in this city. As a man,
personally, in private conversation, Mr. Gould was a
genial, good fellow, fond of telling a nice story,, and a
man whose personal traits one would like. In fact? I
can truly say it was with genuine sorrow that I heard
of his death. I did not think the end would come so
soon, and, in fact, called at his house to inquire about
him." "What do you think is a good estimate of Mr,
Gould's wealth ? "
" Oh, I could not begin to tell. He was a man of
very large affairs and was undoubtedly very rich, but
as to how many millions he possessed I do not know
any more than the man in the moon."
"What do you think will be the effect of Mr. Gould's
death on the properties he owned and controlled? "
" I do not think there will be any great effect. His
boys, who are really very able, will continue his work.
George has had a great deal of experience in the run
ning of these properties, and they will doubtless go '
along about as they have done.

REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTICS. 287
" I remember one little incident of my dealings with
Mr. Gould," continued Mr. Huntington, " which will
show you to some extent what manner of man he was.
He and I had entered into an arrangement for the
pooling of traffic earnings of the Texas Pacific and
Southern Pacific between New Orleans and El Paso.
Well, his road, the Texas Pacific, could not do the
work. Its service was 'way behind the Southern
Pacific in point of celerity. When the time came to
divide the proceeds of the pool Mr. Gould was en
titled, under the terms of the agreement, to something
like $750,000. But his road had not done the work,
and in settling I' called attention to the fact, leaving to
him the fixing of the sum which might be proper as
the share belonging to his road. If it had been left
to me I should have fixed it at about $40,000. Well,
he studied over the matter a while and then drew his
pencil through the contract, taking nothing at all.,
Perhaps, though, you had better not publish this story
for the reason that it will impose too great a strain on
the credulity of the public."

CHAPTER XVIII.
Cranks and Crazy Men.
Jay Gould was oftentimes afraid that he would meet
with a violent death. For years cranks had threatened
his life and blackmailers had hinted to him of a sudden
taking off. A walk in Wall street any day would re
veal a score of men who were his sworn enemies —
men whom he had squeezed at one time or another
during some of his gigantic operations. Strange visi
tors were forever calling at his office, just as the bomb-
thrower, Norcross, called on Russell Sage. They
waited in the hallways to meet him and frequently
rang the door-bell of his residence at night. The but-
ler learned to be careful whom he admitted.
Strangely enough it was the first Friday in Decem
ber, 1 89 1, just fifty-two weeks before the millionaire's
death, that his old friend and associate, Russell Sage,
was so nearly blown into fragments by the Norcross
bomb. This fact was recalled by many Wall street
people when the news of Jay Gould's death was being
shouted about the streets by the newsboys.
Mr. Gould was in town at that time and the occur
rence gave him a painful shock. There was supposed
to be an organized gang of assassins in existence,, and
the houses of all the prominent millionaires were un-
(288)

CRANKS AND CRAZY MEN. 289
der surveillance. Mr. Gould promptly started off on
a trip to El Paso, where he would be out of the way
of cranks and dynamite. Kept Himself Secluded.
For some time before his death Mr. Gould had no
personal encounter with an antagonist. The attacks
were made up of bitter denunciations or in legal suits.
That is because he was so seldom seen about the
streets. In. Wall street he was pointed out as a curi
osity whenever he appeared, and even the brokers
turned to look .at him. He generally went directly to
his office in the Western Union building on coming
down town in the morning and remained there till he
started for home.
While there it was almost impossible to gain access
to him. He entered through a private door opening
on the main hall of the first story, which is opened
from within upon a peculiar knock on the glass panel.
If any one followed him up and knocked in what he
believed to be precisely the same way, no attention
whatever was paid to him. If a card was sent in to
Mr. Gould through the general office there was simply
a pretense of sending it, and word was brought back
that he was either too busy to see the visitor or that
he had just stepped out.
But when Gould was really operating in the stock
market, he came regularly down to the office of Belden
& Co., at No. 80 Broadway, every morning, and
during the day was to be seen constantly passing from
this office to the office of Work, Strong & Co., in
,19 r

290 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Broad street, which did a great deal of his brokerage
business, and thence to the office of the Union Pacific,
at No. 23 Nassau street, in whose securities Mr. Gould
was at that time heavily interested.
The opportunities therefore among men who were
not Mr. Gould's admirers and well-wishers were not
confined to denouncing him to one another. They
had the man himself, and his passage from point to
point in the neighborhood of Wall street was not only
followed by black looks and muttered curses, but he
was not infrequently addressed on the street and un
pleasant epithets hurled at him in passing.
A Violent Assault.
One day Mr. Gould was violently assaulted. He
was hit in the mouth while eating lunch at Delmon-
ico's with the late Charles Osborne, at that time one
of the most brilliant and successful operators in the
street. The assailant was a young lawyer whose
name did not come out at the time, but who, it was
said, had been seeking a settlement with Mr. Gould
for some months without success. He had been
goaded beyond the point of endurance by Mr. Gould's
indifferent manner of treating his claim. Mr. Gould
made no attempt to retaliate or strike back, neither
did he have the young lawyer arrested. Mr. Osborne
persuaded the lawyer to go away and leave the little
man alone.
Cranks often called at Mr. Gould's office or his
residence, and they caused him great uneasiness.
The sight of a man with a small satchel or a mys-

CRANKS AND CRAZY MEN. 291
terious package of an)' kind always reminded Mr.
Gould of the Norcross affair. For weeks after that
occurrence he had a man located in the Windsor
Hotel to do nothing but keep a watch for prowlers
about his residence across the way. The month of
January brought two cranks, both of whom had de
cided to elope with Miss Helen Gould, or if necessary
to kidnap her and hold her for ransom. One of
them called himself Prince Von Michaels and gave
his residence as Brooklyn. Wanted $1,500,000.
Many will remember the episode of Ephraim Pines,
who lived four miles from Millville, N. J. He sta
tioned himself inside the main entrance to the Western
Union Building one morning in the beginning of Feb-
ruary, 1892. He was a big, burly fellow about fifty
years' old, and in addition to a small satchel slung
over his shoulder, carried two large handbags. There
was a Bible protruding from his coat pocket. The
janitor of the building noticed the stranger and asked
him his business. Ephraim went away but came back
the next morning, bag and baggage. The janitor in
sisted on knowing his business. He opened the two
big bags he carried in his hands and showed they
were empty. He declined to say what was in the
satchel swung over his shoulder. The big bags, he
said, were to take away $1,500,000 which he expected
to get from Mr. Gould as soon as he had talked with
him. The man was finally persuaded to return to New

292 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Jersey and negotiate with Mr. Gould through the
mails. About the same time a crank went into Judge
Walter Q. Gresham's court, in Chicago, and demanded
$5,000, which he said had been sent him by Jay Gould.
He gave the name of Martin McCinahay. He made
a fight before he could be overpowered. He was
sent to an asylum. The Cbampion Crank.
"Vice-President No. 71 " was the champion danger
ous crank. He called on Dr. Munn, Mr. Gould's
physician, one evening. He said he belonged to the
organization of " Christ's Followers," which was very
strong in this country at the present time and was
steadily growing. The object of the organization, he
said, was an equal distribution of the wealth and
property of the country. Among the first property to
be distributed was that of Jay Gould, and if any diffi
culty was to be encountered in carrying out that ob
ject, Gould would have to die.
Dr. Munn arranged for the man to call the follow-
ing evening. He called as agreed and found Inspec
tor Byrnes waiting for him, with Detective Sergeants
Frink and McCloskey. He was taken to headquar
ters, where he claimed that a former employer had
sent him some weeks before to a place known as
Owl's Head, on the Canadian border, near Buffalo.
There he was to meet friends and receive instructions.
Arriving at the appointed rendezvous in the night
time he was surrounded by a band of about fifty men,

CRANKS AND CRAZY MEN. 293
all heavily masked, who compelled him to kneel in
their midst, the band forming a circle around him.
While in a kneeling attitude he was compelled to
take a solemn oath, which was administered with
much pomp and ceremony, and he from that time
forth was a member of the order of " Christ's Fol
lowers." What was Demanded.
The object of the order was explained to him, and
after various business transactions, which he decliried
to explain, he was finally ordered by the Arch Council
of the organization to come to New York. His mis
sion was to obtain an interview with the money king,
Jay Gould, or with some of his most intimate friends,
and through them to lay the decree of the order be
fore Gould. He was instructed to say to Gould that
the order demanded that $5,000,000 of his money be
set apart and sent at once to the headquarters of
Christ's Followers. Then, within the next ten years,
$15,000,000 more was to be sent to the same destina
tion, and at his death the will must be so fnade that
only $1,000,000 was to go to each of his sons, and
$1,000,000 to the widow. All the rest of the vast
property was to be set aside for charitable pur
poses, or for such other purposes as the order might
decree. This crank went to an asylum.
Another of Mr. Gould's visitors who got into trouble
for calling was Master James Sullivan, of Edinburgh,
Scotland. But of all the schemes of cranks and

294 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
crooks to beat Gould one of the few to prove success
ful was carried out in February, 1881. There had
been a great war between the uptown and downtown
brokers. Heading the uptown boys were Messrs. Cammack,
Osborne and Travers, who made their headquarters
about the Windsor. They used often to watch the
telegraph wires running into Gould's house, across
the way, and wonder what they were saying to the
crafty little man. A Cat in the Meal.
During the Western Union Telegraph manipula
tions the uptown boys were shut out of the deal.
The stock was selling in the neighborhood of 80 and
the " points " were thick to go " short " of the stock,
that the bottom would soon fall out of it. All the
verdant ones' quickly sold the stock, but the older
heads of Twenty-third street suspected that there was
a cat under the wheel.
Now it happened that the great storm occurred at
this time and TVIr. Gould's private wires went down
with the rest, despite the owner's apparent omnipo
tence. It was absolutely necessary that Gould should
continue in communication with his downtown people,
and for that purpose he made arrangements with the
American District Telegraph Company to furnish him
with a number of their very best messengers. The
boys came and the gang at the Windsor watched the
proceedings with no little interest.
Among the messengers was a tall, slender lad, nearly

CRANKS AND CRAZY MEN. 295
grown to manhood. The brokers were struck with a
happy thought. They got him into the hotel, bribed
him to lend them his messenger uniform, and into it
they placed a very bright clerk in their employ. The
messenger was given a private room at the hotel and
fed on the fat of the land.
In the meantime the bright clerk was playing mes
senger and all the messages he took to Mr. Gould
were first opened and read in the Windsor. The boy
kept his eyes and ears open while at Mr. Gould's
house, too, and nothing escaped him.
The conspirators at first thought that their trick
would only be for a day, but owing to the power and
duration of the storm, their clerk was enabled to play
his part for four days. For Mr. Gould had engaged
the boys until the wires should again be put up, and
had especially arranged that they should not be
changed until that time.
Successful Trick.
Mr. Gould and his friends never suspected what
was beneath that tall boy's uniform. The bright clerk
was entirely familiar with everything pertaining to
stocks, and faithfully transmitted his knowledge thus
acquired to his employer. In this way the Twenty-
third streeters became convinced that a great " bull "
was about to be made in Western Union, and they
consequently covered and bought in all the stock
they could from 80 to 85. The stock advanced rap
idly to 120, and the conspirators not only recovered
their former losses, but cleared more than $500,000.

296 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
The real telegraph boy was kept in the Windsor
Hotel for four days, while his place was filled by the
stock clerk. The outside clique presented the mes
senger with $500 cash and got him a good appoint
ment, Operators say this is the cleverest trick ever
recorded in the annals of the street. And for the
first time the boys got to the windward of Jay
Gould. Some of the old-timers in Wall street remember
how a bogus " Duke of Aberdeen " got the best of
Jay Gould about the year 1870. He brought forged
letters of introduction to prominent bankers and busi
ness men in this country, and got into Mr. Gould to
the extent of $300,000. A greater part of this was
recovered, but Mr. Gould was about $60,000 out on
the transaction.
Mr. Gould was much annoyed a few months before
his death by the persecutions of a crank named
Joseph P. Megler, who went about insisting upon con
tracting an alliance with the daughters of various
prominent millionaires throughout the country. This
fellow insisted upon his right to the hand of one of
Mrs. W. H. Vanderbilt's granddaughters, and wrote
numerous letters to Mrs. Vanderbilt demanding that
she give him one of her granddaughters in marriage.
He also wrote the following letter to Miss Helen
Gould : —
Dear Miss — I have gone into the matrimonial
market, and your name is on my catalogue. Should

CRANKS AND CRAZY MEN. 297
this information command your fancy, be kind enough
to write me of your approval at once.
Very respectfully,
Joseph P. Megler.
It is remarkable that Mr. Gould and his family
escaped all the plots and assaults that were laid
against their lives and property. They lived in con
stant apprehension and were compelled to adopt the
most effective measures for self-protection.

CHAPTER XIX.
Stories of Interviews With Mr. Gould by
Newspaper Reporters.
Says a newspaper representative : It was about
a week after the elevated railroad hearing in the Court
of Common Pleas, in November, 1883, that 1 had a
funny experience interviewing Jay Gould. He had
been on the witness stand two consecutive days, stand
ing the legal firing as calmly as if questioned by one
of his clerks. The court-room was packed to suffoca
tion by persons brought there through curiosity to see
Gould. Several times he passed his hand over his
brow, and the Judge ordered the windows lowered to
give more air, particularly as it seemed at one time
that the witness would faint.
A couple of days later rumor had it that Mr. Gould
was sick, but all reporters were met by George Gould,
who gave-the assurance that his father was quite well,
I called at the Fifth Avenue mansion the following
afternoon, having been cautioned by my city editor
not to come back without positive information.
I was shown into the reception-room on th^ left of
the hall and the servant took up my card. Presently
George Gould entered and said his father was dress
ing to go out, asking if he could be of service to me.
(298)

STORIES by reporters. 299
Telling him of the disquieting rumors concerning
his father, he said they were false, absolutely false.
" But," said I, " if Mr. Gould is not sick cannot I see
him, just to convince myself?".
" I'll see ; excuse me a moment," said George, and
he ran upstairs. Was he 111?
About five minutes later in walked Mr. Gould, and,
extending his hand, which I took, he gave mine a
gentle shake, and in a modulated voice asked :
" Do I look as if I were ill ? "
George had apprised his father of my mission, and
he came charged. He didn't look like a sick man.
Bidding me be seated, he let himself down gingerly
upon a small straw-bottomed chair.
Mr. Gould sat with his side to the window a little
to my right facing me, so that I could observe every
play of his countenance. Crossing his legs, one foot
resting squarely on a fox skin, he ran both thumbs
over his gold watch chain, and said :
" Well, what can I do for you ? "
Telling him the object of my call, which so far had
been satisfactory, I asked him if it was true that he
had been squeezed to the extent of millions in Wall
street, as reported.
" Haven't heard of it," he replied in the same low
tone and slowly.
"But there are rumors that you lost heavily."
" Yes ? "
" Is that true ? "

300 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" I can't say," and he dropped one hand on his knee,
while with the other he toyed incessantly with the
small charm suspended from his watch-chain.
"What is your opinion of the course of the stock
market within the next fortnight ? " I then ventured,
" I can't say," he replied, as his black eyes darted
from the floor into my face as if he intended reading
me through.
" Do you anticipate a large grain movement this
fall ? "
" Perhaps, yes."
"And that will, of course, advance the granger
stocks, won't it ? "
"Yes." A Dry Pump.
Seeing that he was not disposed to let himself out
to any great extent on finances — not that he need
have feared my taking advantage of his information —
I went on another tack and said it was rumored that
he was about to go away on a cruise aboard the yacht.
"Yes? " he answered, with an attempt at a smile.
"Then you do contemplate going? "
"No." And he twirled the little charm around his
thumb with increased vigor.
"You do not intend leaving the city?"
" No."
Then his right foot apparently got asleep, for he
stood up suddenly, stamped the foot a couple of times
and resumed his seat, crossing his left leg over the
righ* this time.

STOKIES BY REPORTERS. 301
"Mr. Gould," I then said in desperation, as I was
getting tired of doing all the talking, " then I can safely
report you as quite well, and that you do not intend to
take a trip on your yacht."
" Yes ; " and he inclined his head gently while
closing his eyes.
"Are you going down town to-morrow? ''
" Perhaps."
Being asked where his yacht then was, he dropped
his watch charm, and exclaimed :
" Well, ask George."
We arose simultaneously, and Mr. Gould made a
step forward, I suppose to open the reception-room
door. The door was ajar about six inches. I under
stood he never allowed a door to be closed while alone
in a room with a stranger. As he stepped forward
his foot caught in the fox-skin rug, which had been
turned up, and he stumbled.
Before he could recover himself he went forward,
but he quickly raised both hands to protect himself
and came with full force against the door, which closed
with a bang that reverberated throughout the house.
I don't exactly know what the people in the house
thought had happened, but in an instant George came
running across the hallway from the parlor, the foot
man rushed forward, and a small dog raised such a
din barking upstairs that it looked as if a riot might
be going on.
When the door was opened George and the foot
man stood there open-mouthed, thinking, no doubt, I

302 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
had assaulted Mr. Gould, but the latter gave a sickly
smile, and in a few words assured his son that it was
all right and explained the circumstance. That was
my last interview with Jay Gould.
How a Reporter Interviewed him ou a Mountain Side
in Colorado.
Mr. Jay Gould came out of the office door leading
to the veranda of the Iron Springs Hotel at Manitou,
Colorado, one morning in July, 1888, accompanied by
his physician, Dr. Munn. The two stood at the head
of the stairway overlooking the canyon on the iron
springs for a few minutes, and I had an opportunity to
note the great change in the Wizard's appearance
since the last time I had seen him, two years before.
His face bore the impress of suffering, the lines in it
were drawn, the eyes heavy, and, when he started
down the stairway, his steps were slow and his body
swayed slightly as if his strength were not sufficient
to encourage vigor of movement.
Dr. Munn told me a few minutes later that Mr.
Gould was not in very robust health.
" He has come here to rest and I don't think he
would like to be interviewed," said the doctor. I
argued that I had come a long ways to secure from
Mr. Gould an expression of opinion on two matters
of the greatest importance to the West — the rumored
extension of the Union Pacific Railway from Denver
into the Southwestern country, and the amalgamation
of that road with the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth
Railway, which was then nearing completion. I re-

SCENE IN FRONT OF THE GOULD MANSION ON FIFTH AVENUE.

304 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
quested the doctor's permission to ask Mr. Gould one
or two questions which would serve the double pur
pose of setting at rest doubt as to the Union Pacific's
intentions and relieving Mr. Gould of much future an
noyance. I think the last suggestion influenced Dr.
Munn's negative permission : " Well, I don't think you
will get anything out of him."
He Smiled Once or Twice.
Mr. Gould was walking slowly up the bridle path
that led to the old Pike's Peak trail, his hands clasped
behind him and his attention riveted on the snow
capped summit of the Peak, fifteen miles away up in
the air as you looked to the southeast.
He did not see me until I had made a misstep a few
yards behind him and sent the gravel and loose earth
scattering down the mountain. Then he turned and
peered at me under the half-drawn lids of his beady
eyes. He remained standing perfectly still in the
same attitude until I had come up with him.
I stopped a few feet from him and stated my mission
in these words, as nearly as I can recall them : " Mr-
Gould, the Denver News has sent me to secure, if
possible, a confirmation or denial of the reports cur
rent in New York and Chicago concerning the plans
for extending the Union Pacific south from Denver,
and also amalgamating with the Denver, Texas and
Fort Worth Road. I hope this explanation will serve
as ari apology for intruding upon your privacy."
Mr. Gould listened patiently, and then looking up
ward again at the snow-capped Peak, said : " I don't

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 305
know that I can give you the information you seek.
I have been away from the East — from business I
mean — so long that I am not familiar with the projects
you speak of. I should like to tell you something
worth your journey, but I am not well enough informed
to do so." ?
" Perhaps you could tell me enough in a general
way to stop these reports," I suggested.
" What do they say I am going to do ? " he asked,
turning his eyes on me again, as I briefly retailed the
gossip concerning the future of the Union Pacific, of
which Mr. Gould was supposed to be seeking the con
trol. He smiled once or twice, that is his. eyes lighted
up a trifle, though his face lost none of its" haggard-
ness. Others Knew More than he Did.
When I had concluded he said : " Well, they must
talk about something. They appear to be much better
informed than I am on these subjects. Do you know
this country out here?" he said, abruptly changing
the subject.
I told him that I had visited Manitou and Pike's
Peak and had been up the range to the cascades. He
started to ask me a question, but I anticipated by say
ing : " Mr. Gould, I think you would be saved much
annoyance for the next week or two if these reports
about your railway plans and also this sensational
statement about your health could be disposed of now.
A number of newspaper reporters are on their way to
20

306 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
investigate them. They could be easily turned back
if you denied the reports."
I held out to him a telegram from Chicago, which
stated that he was seriously ill. He eyed it, but didn't
take it.
"So they're talking about my health, too, are they?
Well, I'm used to being talked about. If I denied all
the rumors circulated about me and my affairs I would
not have time to visit so charming a place as this.
About that report concerning my health, you see that
I am still alive. It is true that I have been slightly
troubled with my face. That has interfered with my
sleep, but my appetite is very good. I am not as sick
as some people hope. About the railway stories I
have nothing to say. What place is that ? "
A Mountain Grave.
He pointed up a trend in the valley leading to
Cheyenne Canyon, one of the most picturesque spots
in the Colorado mountains. I told him, and indicated
as nearly as our remote position would allow, the
location of the grave of Helen Hunt Jackson — " H.
H." He asked many more questions about the points
of interest in the vicinity of the Peak, and said :
" I should like to go up there, but it is too difficult.
My son (he didn't mention which, although I had seen
the name of Edwin in the register) went up this
morning early. I may go up some day when the rail
road is built. They will build one pretty soon."
We had walked slowly along as we talked, but when
we reached the steep part of the trail he turned and

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 307
we retraced our steps. His attention was attracted
by a fragment of pyrites that some one had dropped
to the ground. He indicated it with the toe of his
boot and said :
" There are many chances to make money in this
Western country. That rock may contain valuable
mineral. A little money and perseverance will make
any man rich. I came very near coming West when
I was a young man. A friend named Miller (it was
either Miller or Muller) wanted me to accompany
him in 1854 or '55- I was half inclined to do it, but
I changed my mind. I was always sorry that I did
not come until I heard, four or five years later, that
my friend was killed in Nevada. I guess it's just as
well that I remained in the East. I might have been
killed, too. Easy to Get Rich.
"Yes, a man will get rich in this Western country,
and there has never been a time when so many op
portunities abounded as now. A little money and
hard work will make any man independent, particu
larly in the West. There are so many undeveloped
resources to be developed. I have always had great
confidence in the West."
By this time we had reached the hotel again. Mr.
Gould turned, as he placed his foot on the step above,
and said:'" It is too bad you came so far for nothing,
but I suppose you will write an article anyway. I
hope you will be accurate."
As I turned to go down the trail toward the station,

308 LD7E OF JAY GOULD.
half a mile away, I thanked Mr. Gould for his courtesy
and volunteered the information that an excursion
party of 200 Boston school teachers was to arrive
that afternoon.
" I'm sorry for that," said he. " I hoped to have all
this grand scenery to myself. But I can assure you
that they won't get any more information than you;''
Mr. Gould Enjoyed this Interview at his Irvington Sum
mer Home.
The excitement attending the elopement of the
daughter of Giovanni P. Morosini with Coachman
Schilling had pretty nearly died away, when there
came a rumor that Mr. Gould had determined to
carry Mrs. Schilling to Europe in his steam yacht.
The rumor said that the misguided girl was even then
on board of the yacht, which lay in the Hudson a mile
south of Irvington. I had been engaged in trying to
solve the seeming mystery of Mrs. Schilling's disap
pearance, and this rumor sent me hurrying up to
Irvington to ask Mr. Gould about it.
A warm afternoon was dying when I reached the
puzzling structure known as Mr. Gould's summer
home. It was my first visit and I looked in vain for a
door pretentious enough to indicate that it opened
into some room not occupied by the servants. I
finally came to a ginger-bread door that was half
glass. I rapped on the glass, and pretty soon the
door opened about an inch. Before I saw who was on
the other side I asked :
" Is Mr. Gould in ? "

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 309
The door slowly opened wider, finally disclosing
Mr. Gould himself. He wore a shabby coat and had
on slippers. His eyes twinkled merrily as he looked
cautiously around and then said:
." I don't believe he is in ! "
This surprised me very much, but as it seemed to
tickle' Mr. Gould I gave no sign that I had ever met
him before and asked :
" Do you expect him in before long?"
"I really cannot say," replied Mr. Gould, with a
brighter twinkle than ever in his eyes. " What did
you want to see him for?" . ^
I explained the object of my errand and Mr. Gould
said: "I am sure that Mr. Gould doesn't know anything
about Mrs. Schilling and that he' has no intention of
taking her to Europe or anywhere else."
"I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Gould," I
said. He started abruptly and then laughed right out
and said, " You are perfectly welcome, young man, I'm
sure."
How-the Railway Magnate Fooled a Collection of Chicago
Reporters.
Jay Gould arrived at the Grand Pacific Hotel in
Chicago one Sunday afternoon in the autumn of 1882.
It was one of his regular tours of inspection across the
continent, and on this occasion he was in a particularly
good humor.
A small horde of railroad reporters was gathered in

310 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the corridor awaiting his coming, and when he entered
and saw them a merry twinkle came in his eye, and
with an expression that almost approached a smile he
said cheerily : " Well, boys, are you waiting to see
me?" The reply came in a chorus of "Yeses." I
was a member of that small horde and was pushed
forward to act as spokesman.
There was a flurry in railroad circles at that time,
and many stockholders feared that Gould's tour
through the West meant more than appeared on its
face. I told Mr. Gould of this feeling and urged him
to give the newspaper men an interview on the gen
eral railroad situation. The twinkle in his eye
became more perceptible than when he first en
tered. "Well," he said, contemplatively, "if you will wait
until I make a short toilet I will -come down and see
you.'' Curious Twinkle in his Eye.
I thought there was something ominous in that un-
wonted twinkle in his eye, and the older men in that
group of reporters were astounded. They had never
seen Jay Gould in such a complaisant mood before,
although they had seen him scores of times. Mr.
Gould came down stairs on schedule time and headed
the procession to a- reception-room in which there
was a long table. Mr. Gould took the head of the
table and the reporters surrounded the other three
sides. " Now, then, boys, when you're ready crack away,"

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 311
said the magnate in a tone of voice that was as hearty
as though he were really a good fellow. Then fol
lowed a fusillade of questions that would have stag
gered and confused any man but Jay Gould. The
questions were fired in solid and scattering volleys,
but not one missed the keen ear of Gould and the an
swer came back as rapidly as the questions were
asked, and each answer was unerringly directed to the
man who had asked it.
The boys were amazed and delighted. They cov
ered page after page with notes, and thought they
were getting the biggest interview the " silent man "
had ever given out. The questions and answers came
so thick and fast that they had no time to think —
they simply put down the answers and felt that they
were good and sufficient. At last the firing of ques
tions became desultory and finally ceased altogether.
The reporters' ammunition was exhausted. They
leaned back in their chairs, and with great beads of
perspiration on their faces. . But there was a look of
joy in their eyes. They felt the ineffable satisfaction
that they had secured the greatest interview ever
vouchsafed by the sphynx of Wall street.
The Reporters Duped.
"Are you all through, boys?" asked Mr. Gould
cheerfully, and looking fresher than when he began.
"All through : we thank you, Mr. Gould."
The twinkle in his eye was almost as scintillant as
the evening star, as he left the room, and there was a
ghost of a smile under his black mustache.

312 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Then we all sat down to compare notes. We went
over the questions and answers carefully. They were
all there, but to the horror of every one, the " answers "
did not answer the questions. The notes were gone
over carefully again and again, but always with the
same result. Then it dawned on the bewildered re
porters that in their haste they had allowed the wily
railroader to "play ihem." He had actually not given
a word of new information, and the next morning
there was not a newspaper in Chicago that had a
" stickful " of interview with Jay Gould.
All of which accounted for the twinkle in his eye.
Said he Hadn't Time to Deny all the Lies Told About
him.
If Jay Gould knew and trusted him, a newspaper
reporter rarely failed to secure an interview with him.
I had perhaps a half-dozen talks with the dead finan
cier, and in each instance Mr. Gould conversed freely
upon a variety of subjects.
The first time I was assigned to see Mr. Gould was
during the exciting days succeeding the election of
1884. It had been charged that he was* instrumental
in holding back the Presidential election returns, which
were passed over the Western Union wires, either in
the interest of James G. Blaine, the Republican can
didate for the Presidency, or to secure himself from
loss in the stock market should a raid be made upon
his holdings alter the declaration of Mr. Cleveland's
triumph. While a maddened crowd was threatening to sack

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 313
the Tribune building and was hooting Gould's name,
the financier was reported to be under guard in the
Western Union Building, apprehensive of mob vio
lence. Being unable to secure any satisfaction as to
his whereabouts at the Western Union offices, I called
at his house at Fifth Avenue and Forty-seventh street.
The butler told me Mr. Gould was not in, and prob
ably was out of the city. I suspected that the butler
was fibbing. On entering the Windsor I happened
to meet a broker who had large business dealings
with Mr. Gould and, besides, was his personal friend.
I explained to him the situation. He gave me a note
of introduction to the Wizard. It got to Mr. Gould
and word came back that he would see me in the re
ception-room. ' How he Was Dressed.
I was ushered into a richly furnished but small
apartment on the left of the hall. It was just after
seven p. m., and the gas burned brightly from a cut-
glass chandelier. Soon there appeared at the door
a man of exceedingly small stature, with very black
hair, beard and mustache, dressed in dark trousers
and vest and wearing a modest smoking-jacket. Slip
pers which looked like Russian leather incased his
very small feet.- He wore a plain, white collar, with
a little black bow tucked under it. He said quietly :
" You wish to see Mr. Gould. I am he. What can
I do for you ? "
As he spoke Mr. Gould rolled an easy-chair to the

314 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
grate and rested his feet on the tender, behind which
a fire was blazing brightly.
" Mr. Gould,"- I said, " they are saying downtown
that you are holding back the election returns. Crowds
have gathered in front of the Western Union and
Tribune buildings and are singing ' Hang Jay Gould
to a sour apple tree.' "
Mr. Gould smiled rather coldly, and then fixing his
eyes upon me, said quietly : " If I denied all the lies
circulated about me I should have no time to attend
10 business. Of course there is no truth in this. I
i In not care one rap of my finger whether Cleveland,
Blaine, Butler or any one else has been elected. I
doubt if the administration of either would imperil the
prosperity ofthe country." A Convenient Cold.
Then Mr. Gould proceeded, to explain that all the
time he had been reported to be guarded by police
officers in the Western Union Building he had been
at his home nursing a slight cold. There followed a
brief conversation on the startling events of the pre
ceding days, and as I retired Mr. Gould indicated to
me just what I should quote him as saying and what
not. Apparently Mr. Gould was pleased with the man
ner in which the interview was treated, for when on
several occasions thereafter I asked information from
him be never failed to furnish it if the request was
reasonable. Mr. Gould was not an easy man for a newspaper

STORIES BY REPORTERS. 315
man to get at. Nor yet was he a difficult one to reach.
It all depended on the subject matter, and this Mr.
Gould always posted himself about before an inter
view was granted. In his active speculative days there
were times when a dozen words coming from him
were of more weight than a column from any one else,
evqn the closest of his assumed associates.
When it was finally decided that it was for the inter
est of Mr. Gould to answer the query to be put or to
give his views on the subject matter proposed, he
would come sidling to the window or into the outer
office where the reporter had been ushered, and with
a single glance and the merest suggestion of a nod
wait for the questioner to put in words just what he
desired to know. If there was a ticker near, Mr.
Gould would reach in a mechanical way for the tape ;
if there was a chairback or a desk or anythingfor him
to lean up against he would utilize it, and his hands
would be sure to be fumbling a gold pencil, a rolled-up
bit of paper, or something of that sort.
His Interviews Served his own Interests.
The reporter, if he was a down-town expert, did not
haul out a note-book and turn the talk into a dictation
exercise. If anything of that sort was attempted, or
if it was evident by the question that the interrogator
did not understand the subject and was floundering
out of his depth, the irritation on the part of Mr.
Gould was plainly shown, and the interview cut very
short. He could be drawn out, but it was only by one
weif up in the subject, and then the drawing out was

316 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
of answers intended to hide Mr. Gould's knowledge
of and position on the subject talked about.
He did not impress one as speaking the truth.
Being a little man, he was generally shorter than his
vis-a-vis, and did not look up to meet eye to eye. In
stead, Mr. Gould would fix his gaze on the watch-
charm, or vest button, or even the shoes of his ques
tioner, but every now and then, particularly after some
remark he had himself made, his eyes might be caught
taking a sharp glance upward by the upturning ofthe
eyebrows, but not by the upturning of the face.
He knew few reporters by name, a few more by
face, but after a satisfactory printed report on some
subject on which Mr. Gould was interested, the re
porter might detect in another visit a shadow of ap
preciation and a disposition to talk more freely. That
is, if Mr. Gould had anything which he wished to
have the public read and believe just at that time. If
he did not there was the same turning down of the
news-seeker, with the formal " Mr. Gould begs to. be
excused." Some people will appreciate the fact that the public
expects them to say something on a given subject at
a given time. Not so Mr. Gould. The public heard
from him only when he, not the public, would profit by
the utterance.

CHAPTER XX.
Incidents in Jay Gould's Life.
In his youth Mr. Gould's vaulting ambition was to
be an editor. He ventured over the hills from Rox
bury up to Stamford, the beauty spot of Delaware
county, while he was yet in his teens, to get the chance
to learn the printing business. Venerable S. B.
Champion, then a hustling journalist hardly much older
than young Gould, gave the lad the chance he sought.
Mr. Gould tied on his apron, rolled up his sleeves, and
went at it.
Champion is full of anecdotes of that apprenticeship
time. There is a tradition that in addition to setting
type, the apprentice was permitted to look somewhat
after the editorial side of the paper.
Early in Mr. Gould's career Mr. Champion's journal
was able, for one week at least, to attract considerable
and rather unusual attention. " Champ " went one
day to a political convention, held over in an adjoining
town, and young Mr. Jason Gould was left in charge
on publication day to close up the forms and generally
look after such important matters as addressing wrap
pers and seeing to it that the office towel was kept
standing safely in its accustomed corner.
But the future master of the railway world was am-
(317)

318 LIFE. OF JAY GOULD.
bitious. He bethought himself to scan the editorial,
more or less fervid, in which" Champ " was extolling
the party's nominees. Somehow it seemed to the bud-
dino- genius that that editorial lacked something.
After consideration he came to the conclusion that
he ought to round the rhetoric out; that he ought to
supply the virtues that were lacking. He did. Mr.
Champion came home to find his eulogistic periods
slightly changed. Only slightly. Mr. Gould had only
taken the liberty of writing in an occasional "not"
here and there.
That was the week that " Champ " learned to swear.
It was also the week that Mr. Jay Gould became an
ex-editor. A Contract to Teach.
After Mr. Gould had discovered that joy was not
all unconfined in journalism, he rather inclined to look
for a career as a pedagogue. Old Squire Burhans,
who had taught Mr. Gould the necessary " r's," was
of the opinion that he ought to be a great success as
a school teacher, and he encouraged the young man's
ambition. In this is said to have appeared Mr. Gould's
first opportunity for speculation. A country "deestrict"
concluded to gamble on his knowing enough to te.ach
the Catskill boys and girls, and the committeemen went
so far as to sign a contract authorizing young Mr.
Gould to begin teaching at something like $40 a month,
the teacher to "board around."
But the appointment did not come without a contest,
for one faction in the district was anxious to retain the

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 319
old teacher. Just after the contract with Mr. Gould
had been signed, somebody began to circulate reports
to the effect that Mr. Gould had spoken disparagingly
of the intellectual calibre of the committee which had
engaged him. Now, up in Delaware county in those
days that sort of thing was unforgivable. The com
mittee notified Mr. Gould that his engagement was
-cancelled. The old teacher was to be retained.
Equal to the Occasion.
"Oh, I guess not," quoth Mr. Gould, but he could
not, or, at least, did not show that he was innocent of
the awful crime attributed to him by current rumor,
and the old teacher went to work.
Mr. Gould, when school opened, went over and
tendered his services. The mighty men of the School
Board were unswervable. Later that week each mem
ber of the board was called upon by a lawyer. The
signatures to the contract were shown. Suits were
going to be begun. Mr. Gould had been misrepre
sented. He had never entertained any but the highest"
opinions of the excellent Trustees. It was not so
much the loss of his job that pained him as it was the
dreadful revelation that he could have been suspected
of entertaining for the dignitaries of the district aught
but the most distinguished consideration.
When somebody cynically suggested that perhaps
the originator of the rumors which had resulted in
Mr. Gould's losing his school might have been young
Mr. Gould himself, that young gentleman was much
too forgiving to do aught but smile with a cheerfulness

320 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
that might have been assent or might have been merely
a show of affection for the crisp $100 which his lawyer
had handed him. Strange Superstitions.
Mr. Gould was superstitious. He did not bother,
perhaps, over beginning things on Friday, and the new;
moon over his left shoulder may not have disturbed
him. But he once admitted his superstitious weakness.
He was on his way down town, when he came across
a Wall Street friend, with whom he kept up conversa
tion down the avenue. In the course of the chat Mr.
Gould expressed himself as feeling physically much
stronger than for a long time. His eyes were clear,
his countenance was ruddy ; he did not look like a sick
man. " I am getting along famously," he said. " My
appetite has come back. I feel like a new man. Why,
last night I ate two bowls of bread and milk, went to
bed at 8 o'clock, and slept through till 8 this morn-
ing." There was as much enthusiasm in the tone as if a
record was being made of some stock market transac
tion with a million profit in it. But the cheerfulness
disappeared when Mr. Gould's companion asked:
" How old are you, Mr. Gould?"
"Oh, I'm a young man yet," answered the million
aire. The evasion was noticed, and for politeness' sake-
the questioner remarked blandly : " Pardon my in
quiry, I only happened to be thinking of an odd thing

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 321
I heard yesterday. Did you ever hear, Mr. Gould,
that once every seven years a man runs extraordinary
risks, and that whenever a man has a birthday divisible
by seven he is in danger ? "
" No — I never heard of that," said Mr. Gould. Then
he turned to his morning paper. The elevated train
ran down two or three blocks further. Mr. Gould
was scanning the death notice column.
" The stock market looks well," remarked the other
gentleman. " How strange ! " quoth Mr. Gould. His gaze went
on through the death notices.
" I think stocks are going a good deal higher," was
further remarked.
" It's really true," said Mr. Gould.
"Still," went on Mr. Gould's companion, "the bears
are well organized and they are confident."
" My gracious, it's so," said Mr. Gould.
His neighbor looked at him a little astonished. Mr.
Gould had finished the death notices and was looking
out of the window. There was not much glisten in his
eye. The countenance wasn't ruddy. He had been
dividing by seven the ages recorded in those death
notices. "Western Union ought to go a good deal higher,
oughtn't it, Mr. Gould ? " said the other man.
And Mr. Gould's answer was: "It may be odd,
but really, I never heard before about this dividing your
age by seven."

322 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"Oh, that's only a foolish superstition," was the
soothing reply.
" Oh, of course," said Mr. Gould ; " of course ! "
Then the chat went on of stocks, of money rates, of
all the fol-de-rol of Wall Street.
" Cortlandt next ! " yelled the elevated railroad
guard. " It's odd, isn't it," said Mr. Gould, as if in a reverie,
and he arose to leave the train. " Do you know,"
said he, " eight sevens make fifty-six — and fifty-six, sir,
is just my age."
No Comments on Early Struggles.
Mr. Gould was not given to the affectation of tell
ing folks how he started out as a poor boy and had
made all his millions himself. On this account down
in Wall Street he was rather lonesome. All the rich
fellows down there like to tell how they earned the
first dollar they ever had. That sort of thing, in fact,
seemed somehow to appeal to Mr. Gould's sense of
humor. Said he to the writer one day : " Do you know that
my father's poverty was never worth a single thousand
dollars to me ? " By which remark he wished it to be
understood probably that he didn't have much of a
liking for trafficking upon early struggles.
A Good Forgetter.
Of course, Mr. Gould had lots of enemies. Some
how or other he never seemed to pay much attention
to personalities. He was probably the best forgetter
the world ever knew. He never treasured ill-feeling

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 323
against the man who may have maligned him or at
tempted to injure him yesterday, provided that man
was going to be of any use to him to-day or to
morrow. A newspaper man once wrote a little chapter of
Mr. Gould's life, in the course of which were recounted
some of the incidents in which people had trusted to
Mr. Gould and been sorry for it. Perhaps the re
porter was young ; perhaps he was not conservative ;
anyhow, according to his recital, Mr. Gould was a very
wicked person, and responsible for shipwrecking Wall
Street careers galore.
Perhaps Mr. Gould never saw that article. The
writer, though, suspected he did, for when, under
orders from his managing editor only a fortnight later,
he had to call upon Mr. Gould for an interview, that
article itself lay stretched across the top of Mr.
Gould's desk. The interview was obtained. Mr.
Gould was chatty.
" I only give you the suggestions," he said. " You
write them out as you think they ought to be," he
went on, " and then we will go over the proofs to
gether." The reporter modestly suggested that perhaps Mr.
Gould was trusting too much to the judgment of a
lesser mortal, but Mr. Gould, with a more or less sig
nificant glance at the newspaper column stretched
across the desk, replied: "Oh, I can trust you — you'll
do it all right. I, have heard that you have a very
nimble pen, my boy."

324 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Gould and the Newspapers.
On his way up to Irvington one day Mr. Gould had
a party of friends aboard the Atalanta, when some
body in the party became very much agitated because
one of the important newspapers of the city was
arraigning Mr. Gould on some account or other.
" It's a shame ! a shame ! a shame ! " gasped the
ireful one. Others of the party assented. Only ihe
host was quiet. His calm remark was:
" Well, gentlemen, what worries me isn't half as
much the newspapers that are against me as the news
papers that are for me."
People who have had an insight into Mr. Gould's
journalistic career are likely to appreciate what he
meant. The Retort Courteous.
Mr. Gould did not have any of that quality which
descriptive persons call " presence." No stranger
would have ever been impressed by any mere look
at him that he was much of a man. He was courte
ous always. In public he was never known to get
mad, or, indeed, even to say a rude thing, except it be
on one occasion, when, with more or less quietness,
he remarked to an ambitious young gentleman who
more recently became a figure in Wall Street:
" You make me feel very sorry that I am so busy.
If I had time I'd really enjoy taking a day off to send
you to State prison."
Of course Mr. Gould was in many scenes where pas
sion ran high. Everybody in Wall street recalls the

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 325
historic day after Black Friday when Mr. Gould's old
partner, Henry N. Smith, shaking his finger in Mr.
Gould's face, shouted :
" I'll live to see the day, sir, when you have to earn
a living by going around this street with a hand organ
and a monkey."
"Maybe you will, Henry, maybe"you will," was the
soothing response. " And when I want a monkey,
Henry, I'll send for you.''
Generous to Others.
Among the brokers of Wall street Jay Gould had
long been renowned as the most liberal payer of com
missions the street had ever known. He never dis
puted a broker's account, being satisfied with the
broker's work.
Mr. Gould didn't distribute gifts for public scrutiny,
but none the less, he was big in his generosities. His
wife and his daughter were provided with funds in
abundance wherewith to do good. But they always
acted on his wish that publicity be avoided.
Many brokers and speculators who have come to
grief in Wall street have proclaimed that their ill"
fortune was directly traceable to the wickedness of
Mr. Gould ; but there are other instances, not a few,
that go upon the other side of the Wall street ledger.
One of the former figures of the street for whom Jay
Gould, with the rest of folks, had an especial liking,
was "Tommy" Warner. It was that financier who
bewailed to Mr. Gould once upon a time that a slump
in the stock market had just desolated him.

326 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"Why," said he, "I've lost $20,000 — and $62.50 of
it was my own money." ,
His Secret of Success.
It was once suggested to Mr. Gould that he had
been fairly successful in life, and the inquirer wanted
to know if Mr. Gould wouldn't tell the secret of it.
" There isn't any secret,'' said Mr. Gould. " I avoid
bad luck by being patient. Whenever I am obliged
to get into a fight I always wait and let the other fel
low get tired first."
Any student of the history of Mr. Gould's career
in the corporation world will appreciate how again and
again he found this quality of patience a prime invest
ment. He never seemed to be in a hurry about any
thing. One of his enemies has remarked that during
his last twenty years Jay Gould spent $1,000,000
hiring lawyers and paying court fees to accomplish
nothing except to have lawsuits postponed.
Leonard Jerome's Ruins.
Pacific Mail was always one of Mr. Gould's specula
tive favorites. He had been more or less directly iden
tified with it ever since the time when A. B. Stockwell
was its picturesque controller. Stockwell is the his
toric gentleman who, in reciting the story of his Wall
street career, has graphically put it in this way:
"When I first came to Wall street I had $10,000,
and the brokers called me 'Stockwell.' I scooped
some profits, and it was ' Mr. Stockwell.' I got to
dealing in a thousand shares at a time, and they hailed
me as ' Captain Stockwell.' I went heavily into Pacific

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE.

327

Mail, and folks lifted their hats to ' Commodore Stock-
well.' "Then 'one day Jay Gould came along. Smash
went Pacific Mail, and I went with it. They did not
call me ' Commodore
Stockwell' after that.
Then it was the ' red
headed son of a gun
from Ohio.' "
In the course of his
Pacific Mail campaign
ing Mr. Gould was
much more frequently
a bear than a bull. He
used to say he had
never found but one un
erring bull point on
Pacific Mail, and that
was to report that the
company had lost one
of its ships. Perhaps george j. gould.
his biggest drive at this stock was when he discomfited
Leonard Jerome and played smash with the up-town
corps of speculators who made up what was once
"the Fifth Avenue Hotel party."
Just after that famous clean-out Leonard Jerome
went abroad. In the course of his meanderings he
came upon the famed Temple of Karnak.
"There, Mr. Jerome," quoth a companion, "are the
most remarkable ruins in the world."

328 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" No, oh no ; don't tell that to me," answered
Leonard Jerome feelingly : " you ought just to have
seen Pacific Mail last summer ! " _
In his Father's Place.
It will be disclosed that Mr. Gould some time before
his death put much of his property into the hands of
trustees. It is likely to be found, however, that this
means much less than on the surface it seems. Mr.
Gould's eldest son, George J. Gould, is to be in a strict
sense his father's successor. Co-trustees may help him
manage certain properties, but George Gould none
the less becomes masterful.
He is likely, too, to grow upon Wall street. • Men
of affairs who have been close to him respect his
ability. Conservative opinion upon this score was
reflected in a dispatch which Mr. Henry Allen ofthe
Stock Exchange house of Henry Allen & Co. sent to
a Chicago bank president. The dispatch said :
"George Gould has the opportunity to make a
great business record for himself, and business men
who know him best believe he will speedily make it.
He is already an experienced man of affairs. He is
used to handling big questions. He is an intelligent
worker, and he works all the time. All the Gould
stocks, in being strong to-day, testify to the public faith
that George Gould's management will be able and
safe, prudent and progressive."
Not a Heartless Man.
For the financiers and speculators who bestow their
ample selves in the easy-chairs of the Windsor Hotel
lobby in the evening and placidly discuss the possi-

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE.

329

bilities of early dividends there was practically only
one topic on the evening after Mr. Gould's death.
Mostly those who debated the subject were men
beyond the middle age, and mostly, also, they were
disposed to speak kindly of the dead millionaire.
" Oh ! " one of them said, when the experiences of
Mr. Gould with Erie 
Railroad affairs and
gold were touched up
on, " it is undoubtedly
true that he did not
exercise then the same
calm discretion and the
s a m e conservative
judgment which in
later years character
ized his course."
It was interesting to
hear acts which have
often been denounced
as unscrupulous and
unlawful thus described
,., ,. f . MRS. GEORGE T. GOULD.
as the result of the
lack of discretion, but it indicated how death may
dull the edge of the axe of recrimination.
" Gould," said another speculator, " was a most
gentle and kindly man personally. He never spoke
loudly, and I think that few will recall any public
display of anger or even annoyance by him. His
smile was ready and his frown rare. Of course,

330

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

I can speak only of his demeanor before people.
How he conducted himself when alone if disappointed
or hindered I don't know, but publicly he was
admirably self-contained under all conditions.
"And I do not believe that he was heartless, as he
was often accused of being. I know of men who
have been his stanch and loyal friends for years, and
I am sure he was a most affectionate father. I dined
at his house one evening, and after the dinner his two
boys, George and Eddie — they were both full grown
— when they said good-night to him kissed him, which
seemed to please him."
"What Gould did," said a third gentleman, " that
was susceptible of criticism was always known. I
may say that few of his acts that warranted praise
were ever published. Now I recall that during the
great Missouri Pacific strike a man who was guarding
the railroad property was shot and killed. The day
after I walked into Mr. Gould's private office in the
Western Union Building. He was sitting at his desk
and had just signed a check.
" Without thinking of what I was doing, I glanced
at it and saw that it was for $5,000, and that it was
drawn to the order of the widow of the murdered
watchman. Mr. Gould, noticing that I was observing
it, smiled at me and turned the check face down.
" ' You're too late,' I said, ' I saw it.'
" ' Well,' he said, still smiling, ' we must look after
the families of those who stand by us, you know.' "
As indicating that Mr. Gould was aware some years

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 331
ago that his lungs" were weak and his stomach unreli
able, this gentleman said that one morning as he was
leaving the Windsor Hotel he saw Mr. Gould, to
whom he wished to speak, walking down town very
rapidly. Mr. Gould was about a half block from him,
and although he hurried he did not catch the railroad
king until Forty-second street was reached. There
he complimented hiin on his abilities as a pedestrian.
"Ah!" he replied, "if the upper half of me were
as good as the lower half I should be all right."
It was said by persons in the Windsor Hotel that
Mr. Gould had told a few friends that he had in a tin
box $10,000,000 or $11,000,000 worth of Manhattan
Elevated Railway stock, and that the box was not to
be opened until after his death. As to Mr. Gould's
holdings of Western Union and Missouri Pacific, it
was estimated that he owned $20,000,000 worth of
the securities of the former and that his investments
in the latter were fully $50,000,000.
The Comforts of Life.
Although personally unpretentious in his mode of
living, Jay Gould took great satisfaction in providing
for the use of his family all of the comforts and
luxuries money could buy. He spared no expense
in making his town and country residences attractive.
The Gould mansion on the northeast corner of
Fifth Avenue and Forty-seventh Street is one of the
most handsomely furnished homes in New York.
Compared with some of the modern city palaces, this
house, of course, presents a very modest appearance.

332! LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
It is a plain brownstone building, double the ordinary
width and three stories in height. Considering the
fact that the Goulds have never attempted to figure
in fashionable society, the mansion has abundantly
supplied all of their needs and desires of home. Its
interior has been decorated by artists of note, and the
rooms are full of choice tapestries, quaint furniture,
rich and rare, and some oil paintings of great value
and unquestioned merit. Mr. Gould was'an intelligent
and liberal collectorof paintings, books, and bric-a-brac.
The Gould house at Irvington-on-the-Hudson,
which, by the way, stands near the Tarrytown line, is
one of the finest places on the river. The grounds,
which contain about 200 acres, are unsurpassed for
picturesque beauty in that vicinity. The house,
although plain in style, is a large and handsome struc
ture of granite, with a veranda overlooking the river,
which flows a quarter of a mile distant.
Beautiful and Rich Furniture.
This house also is richly and tastefully furnished
and supplied with every known modern convenience.
Mr. Gould is said to have expended $200,000 on the
building after he purchased it.
A notable feature of the Gould estate at Irvington
is the magnificent conservatory, with its hothouse.
The conservatory is an eighth of a mile long and its
contents embrace the choicest specimens of floriculture.
A few years ago Mr. Gould proudly exhibited what
he declared to be the finest collection of orchids in
this vicinity. In recent years his gardener has paid

INCIDENTS IN HIS LIFE. 333
much attention to chrysanthemums. In the hothouse
a variety of choice fruits and vegetables is raised out
of season.
It was Mr.Gould's desire to give his family and his
friends pleasure that induced him several years ago to
build what at that time was the largest and costliest
steam yacht afloat. The Atalanta was and is still a
palatial steamship, and to keep it in commission cost
Mr. Gould a small fortune each year.
The fittings and furnishings of the vessel were of
the most modern and expensive kind, and the hos
pitality dispensed on board was also of a lavish char
acter. Mr. Gould and his family tired of their luxurious
yacht after a few years of enjoyment, and for the past
two years the Atalanta has been out of commission. It
is now in the market for sale.
Mr. Gould's private car, the Atalanta, is very much
like the private cars of other railroad Presidents, with
the possible exception that it is more homelike and
comfortable than most of the cars of this kind. A
fine library, luxurious couches, and an unsurpassed
culinary department are conspicuous features of Mr.
Gould's car.

CHAPTER XXI.
A Many-Sided Man.
In downright dramatic interest, in its exhibition of
results achieved through the exercise of intellectual
qualities which were themselves an achievement, and
in the examples which it furnishes of the consistent
development of traits which can scarcely be consid
ered as the dowe,r of heredity and yet were already
apparent at the outset, the life story of Jay Gould sur
passes by far the histories of any of the great finan
ciers, speculators and railway managers with whom he
was either directly or remotely associated in a career
which practically embraced the whole modern phase
of financial operations.
Like Drew, Vanderbilt and Fisk he was of humble
origin and began at an early age to carve out his for
tune on lines which lay far from those to which his
youthful surroundings seemed to direct him. But his
first exhibitions of independent and original activity
were directed toward the acquiring of an intellectual
equipment of an entirely different order to that which
his great rivals in Wall street boasted.
Nothing is plainer than that he was a born money
maker, but it is easily possible that if early success in
this direction had not encouraged him to bend his en-
(334)

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 335
ergies solely to the acquisition of wealth, he might
have devoted himself not only successfully but much
to his own satisfaction to higher pursuits. Though
he was an absolutely tireless worker in the field of
money-getting, one can scarcely study his operations,
whether as a mere speculator or as the creator and
developer of great industrial enterprises, without be
coming convinced that the incitement to many of his
colossal operations was quite as much love for a intel
lectual application as for money.
He had a I lobby.
He himself said as much when testifying before the
U. S. Senate Committee on Education and Labor in
September, 1883. He said (speaking of his purchase
of the control of the Missouri Pacific Railway) :
" Railroads had got to be sort of a hobby with me ; — I
didn't care about the money I made, I took the road
more as a plaything to see what I could do with it ; I
had passed the time when I cared about mere money-
making. My object in taking the road (if you can
appreciate that) was more to show that I could make
a combination and make it a success."
One need not subscribe to a declaration of general
belief in Jay Gould's truthfulness in giving credence
to such a statement. Human nature is generally set
down as a universal possession, and Mr. Gould was
yet a young man when the scope of his financial
operations was such as to give clear evidence that the
material things of this world were abundantly cared
for in his possessions. He had, of course, the instincts

336 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
of a born speculator, yet his was not the disposition to
let results depend simply on the accidental fall of the"
dice or the turn of a card.
A Maker of Chances.
He loved hazard, but he loved better to compel
chance to enter the channels he had dug for it. It
would be folly to deny the vast value of his work in
the development of the Western and Southwestern
States, but perhaps as great a folly to attribute a
philanthropic or patriotic motive to it.
The education which he acquired through his own
energies as a youth found its best application in this
work of development ; in his purely speculative ven
tures he was aided by a disposition whose traits, as
has already been intimated, were formed in his youth
or early manhood. It is impossible to contemplate
without astonishment and even admiration the spec
tacle of so stable a character as one must admit Mr.
Gould's to have been, fixed in boyhood and remain
ing unchanged all through a career which extended
from a condition of the most modest kind (not to call
it absolute poverty) to a position from which practi
cally he ruled the financial world of this continent
and materially affected the fortunes of the other.
With untold wealth at his command he was as
simple in tastes, as unaffected in manner, as abstemi
ous in habits, as industrious, as self-dependent and
self-reliant as when he set out in boyhood to make
himself a rich man. Nor did any of his less amiable
characteristics undergo a change.

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 337
Too Deep to be Fathomed.
In some of his first business ventures can be read
the same " disposition for silent intrigue," the same
secretiveness touching his intentions, the same sub
tlety and elaborateness of plan, and the same indif
ference to the feelings or the comments of others, as
marked the tremendous operations which are the
climaxes of his purely speculative career — the war
over Erie and the gold operations which culminated
in that memorable and deplorable day in September,
1869, which is written in history as " Black Friday."
The striking features of Mr. Gould's personal ap
pearance were those which vindicated his mental
equipment. Physically he was a small man save as
to his head. He had a remarkably high and broad
forehead, and though his dark eyes sparkled con
tinually, there was yet a deeply thoughtful look in
them. His nose was large and Hebraic in mould.
His manner was exceedingly modest, the tone of his
voice low and modulated in accents of gentleness.
He was generally approachable, always courteous and
unaffected. For society outside of his own family circle he
cared nothing, but at home he was genial, kind, in
dulgent, affectionate. It was not until the strain of
ceaseless mental toil began to tell upon his physical
powers, many years after he had won almost undis
puted dominion over the financial world, that he gave
any thought to rest or diversion in the directions
usually sought by men of vast wealth. Prior to that
22

338 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
time books were his chief sources of recreation.
When he put his steam yacht Atalanta in commission
he created a sensation among yachtsmen, but it is
doubtful whether he evex enjoyed his superb plaything
with the spirit of a sportsman.
Untold Wealth.
There was perhaps never a time in Jay Gould's
career when it was possible to estimate his wealth
with anything approaching correctness. His secretive
disposition stood in the way of a general acquaintance
with the outcome of his many ventures. Long after
he had gained control of the Wabash system of rail
ways, the Manhattan Elevated and the Western Union
Telegraph Company, during a little flurry in Wall
street in which everybody thought the finger of Jay
Gould was hidden but nobody knew, a broker sagely
observed : " Mr. Gould has many properties, but a
brass band is not one of them." He never went forth
trumpeting his affairs.
Moreover, his wealth always consisted of stocks
and bonds which were subject to the fluctuations of
the market and which unquestionably derived a con
siderable proportion of their value from the fact that
he controlled the property which they represented.
Mr. Gould's secretiveness was exhibited quite as
strikingly in his benefactions as his speculations. He
never achieved a reputation as one in the habit of
doing good to his fellow-man, and yet few rich men
were more charitable than he. Only once did he
forego his customary reticence and then it was in a

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 339
time of great public calamity. Yellow fever was rag
ing in Memphis and subscriptions were raising in all
the large cities of the country. Gould did not wait
but telegraphed to the authorities of Memphis to
draw on him for all the money they needed.
Gratefully Remembered in Memphis.
A dispatch of the Associated Press from Memphis,
Tenn., December 2, 1892, reads as follows: "The in
telligence of the death of Jay Gould was bulletined
here this morning, and there were general expressions
of regret from leading merchants and citizens. The
people of Memphis have not forgotten that in 1879,
when Memphis, after having been scourged with yel
low fever in 1878, was again visited by an epidemic
of the same disease, Mr. Gould, hearing of the ex
hausted condition of the treasury of the Howard As
sociation of Memphis, sent by telegraph $5000, and
authorized the association to draw on him for as much
more as was needed to aid the association in its work
of nursing the sick and burying the dead.
"Mr. Gould came to Memphis on October 21, 1886,
and a public reception was tendered to him on the
floor of the Memphis Merchants' Exchange. On the
large blackboard of the Exchange was written in
chalk his memorable telegram, and as he entered the
room his eyes caught the few brief words his gener
ous nature had prompted him to send, and which have
ever since been held in grateful remembrance."
As a rule, like William H. Vanderbilt, Mr. Gould
dispensed his benefactions through a trustee. This

340 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
during the last few years of his own life was Thuriow
Weed. "I am Mr. Gould's philanthropic adviser,"
said this remarkable man on one occasion in 1879;
" whenever a really deserving charity is brought to
my attention, I explain it to Mr. Gould. He always
takes my word as to when and how much to con
tribute. I have never known him to disregard my
advice in such matters. His only condition is that
there shall be no public blazonry of his benefactions.
He is a constant and liberal giver, but doesn't let his
right hand know what his left hand is doing. Oh, there
will be a full page to his credit when the record is
opened above." The Boy's View of Honesty.
There has been preserved by his teacher a little
composition, which is in Mr. Gould's own handwriting,
find which, in the light of subsequent events, is per
haps worth reproducing. The composition, as handed
in to the principal and approved by him, was as fol
lows: composition.
Jason Gould.
BEECHWOOD SEMINARY, April 9, 185O.
" Honesty is the Best Policy." \
" By this proposition we mean that to be honest, to
think honest, and to have all our actions honestly per
formed, is the best way, and most accords with the
precepts of reason. Honesty is of a self-denying

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 34l
nature ; to become honest it requires self-denial ; it
requires that we should not acquaint ourselves too
much with the world ; that we should not associate
with those of vulgar habits ; also, that we should obey
the warnings of conscience.
"If we are about to perform a dishonest act, the
warnings of conscience exert their utmost influence
to persuade us that it is wrong, and we should not do
it, and after we have performed the act, this faithful
agent upbraids us for it ; this voice of conscience is
not the voice of thunder, but a voice gentle and im
pressive ; it does not force us to comply with its re
quests, while at the same time, it reasons with us and
brings forth arguments in favor of right.
" Since no theory of reasoning can be sustained
without illustration, it will not be unbecoming for us
to cite one of the many instances that have occurred,
whose names stand high upon the scroll of fame, and.
whose names are recorded on the pages of history —
' George Washington, the man 'who never told a lie
in all his life.'
"In youth he subdued his idle passions, cherished
truth, obeyed the teachings of conscience, and ' never
told a lie.' An anecdote which is much related, and
which occurred when he was a boy, goes to show his
sincerity. Alexander Pope, in his ' Essay on Man,'
says ' an honest man is the noblest work of God.'
"And again we find numerous passages in the
Scriptures which have an immediate connection to

342 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
this, and summing up the whole we cannot but say
" Honesty is the best policy.' Jason Gould."
His Work as an Author.
During his vacations young Gould was always busy
and managed generally to do something by which he
made money. As a civil engineer he made surveys
of land for his neighbors and did some work for the
country when he was a very young man. This led to
his only work as an author, which was a history of
Delaware County, New York, of some 400 pages,
of which the following was the title : " A Sketch of
the early Settlement in the County and a History of
the Anti-Rent Difficulties in Delaware County, with
Miscellaneous Matter Never Before Published."
The book was printed in 1856 and now, by reason
of its author's achievements, possesses some value
among lovers of rare books, and it is sold at auction
at from $25 to $30. The copy belonging to the State
of Pennsylvania was purchased at auction in New
York and cost $24.
Few very great men are willing to have the books
of their youth treasured up against them. Here is
one extract from his history of Delaware County.
Blood-Curdling Description.
In describing an attack upon his father's house by a
lot of white men disguised as Indians he says:
"The savage horde sprang from their hiding places
and with demon-like yells rushed up and surrounded
Mr. Gould, who was standing with his little son in the
open air in front of the house. We were that son,

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 343
and how bright a picture is still retained upon the
memory of the frightful appearance they presented as
they surrounded that parent with fifteen guns poised
within a few feet of his head, while the chief stood
over him with fierce gesticulations and sword drawn.
Oh ! the agony of my youthful mind as I expected
every moment to behold him prostrated a lifeless
corpse upon the ground ! "
A former friend and neighbor of the Goulds, now a
successful business man in Cleveland, in an interview
had this to say of the boy and his family :
" I was well acquainted with the whole family, and
they were very nice people. Mr. Gould was small in
stature, like his son, and lame. He took great in
terest in local politics, attending every town meeting
and electioneering with the greatest earnestness. The
male members of the Gould family were remarkable
for their precocity. They came into manhood much
earlier than most boys, and at 15 Jay was as sharp as
most young men at 22. Jay's mother and sisters were
all intelligent, refined women.
He was a Tinner.
"Young Jay had a desire to attend the village
school, so he offered to work for me for his board,
and I kept him all winter. He was an excellent boy.
His habits were all good and he devoted most of his
evenings to study. He was always the first one up in
the morning, and he had the fire burning and the tea
kettle boiling by the time my wife was ready to pre
pare breakfast.

344 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" The next spring I moved to the farm and Jay's
father took possession of my house in town. I was
running a tin shop, and, as I could not very well at
tend to that and the farm, Jay bought me out, and for
a year turned his attention to selling pans and milk
pails and doing jobs of tinkering. The business did
not suit his tastes, however, and lie disposed of the
shop. He was a fine penman and a first-class ac
countant, and he soon secured a position as confi
dential clerk to a merchant, who combined the real
estate business with his mercantile pursuits quite ex
tensively." Mr. Gould an Affable Man.
Mr. Gould's manner, even to strangers, was as
gentle as a woman's. He was never in a hurry, and
was quiet and refined, with an entire absence of the
brusque and hustling wealthy man. His voice was
low and pleasantly modulated, and he betrayed his
Yankee origin in his speech. During business hours,
when in active business, Mr. Gould always stood or
sat where he could look at the tape on which stock
quotations were recorded, but after 1884 he took less
interest in the ups and downs of the market.
During his whole life Mr. Gould seemed to avoid
rather than seek observation. At his office, on the
street, and even in his own house, he was never ob
trusive, and at a meeting of the railway presidents he
generally slid into an out-of-the-way corner, and very
rarely took part in the proceedings.
This shyness was not born of an effort to avoid re-

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 345
sponsibility, for Mr. Gould was a very courageous
little man, and he was always at the front in a contest,
forcing the fighting and bearing the brunt and the
odium. His methodical daily movements began at
about 7.30 o'clock, at which hour he arose. He ate
his breakfast at eight o'clock and then attended to his
correspondence with the aid of a secretary. At 9.30
o'clock Mr. Gould generally entered a Sixth Avenue
elevated train and arrived at his office a few minutes
before ten o'clock. He was often accompanied in the
cars by his son, George J. Gould, and Mr. Sage, or
Mr. Sloan or Sydney Dillon.
Daily Habits.
A veracious chronicler of Mr. Gould's habits says:
" About noon or a little after, Dr. Norvin Green,
president of the Western Union, came down for a half
hour's chat with his principal. There were no two
men on earth more exactly unlike than Norvin Green
and Jay Gould, yet Dr. Green was the only one with
whom Mr. Gould seemed to be upon entirely cordial
terms. After these two gentlemen discussed the af
fairs of the Western Union Company they nearly
always locked arms and went to lunch together, either
in the lunch-room of the Western Union building, the
Astor House, or the Cafe Savarin.
" It was at the latter place that Mr. Gould contracted
his fondness for snails, a taste which he gratified to
such an extent once as to contract a severe case of
dyspepsia, which in turn threatened him with apoplexy,
and bid fair at one time to end his career. Afterward

346 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
he ate no more snails, his lunch consisting, as a rule,
of a light soup, a broiled fowl, a chop or a piece of
steak, a salad, with a bottle of claret or Burgundy,
and, when he and the doctor felt in a specially jovial
mood, a small bottle of champagne. Mr. Gould
usually took a short drive in the afternoon behind a
very ordinary pair of coach horses, and immediately
after dinner joined his family in the library. He gen
erally retired before eleven o'clock."
As already stated, Mr. Gould was exceedingly fond
of flowers, and his conservatory was one of the finest
in the country. It was greatly damaged by fire, a
circumstance which gave rise to the following capti
vating poem : The Flower of Flame.
Written by Minna Irving on the Burning of Gould's Greenhouses, 1881.
{From the Century, January, 1882.]
At Lyndhurst of the tall white towers
Was built a Palace of the Flowers,
That in the time of frost and snow
The children of the sun might blow.
And there, upon a winter's night,
A strange plant blossomed into light.
An elfin flower it was, in truth —
No human eye had watched its growth.
When all the world was still as death
It burst its bonds and broke its sheath,
And climbed upon the crystal tower,
Unfolding in a gorgeous flower.
A running rose with burning briers,
And leaflets tipped with its own fire*.

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 347
A living light shone from it, far
More bright than beam of moon or star.
Oil naked hill and barren dell
And leafless wood its glory fell,
And on the kingly Hudson's flood,
Red with a.redriess like to blood.
But soon this wonder, that had made
The stars grow pale, began to fade.
Its crimson petals fell as fast
As leaves before an autumn blast.
Thus, ere the dawning of the day,
It sprang to life and passed away.
And still we know not whence it came,
Or whither went the Flower of Flame.
In 1883 Mr. Gould built the big steam yacht Ata
lanta, and for several years he was well known in
yachting circles. He was elected a member of the
Eastern and Larchmopt Yacht Clubs, and applied for
membership in the New- York Yacht Club. The op
position to his name which was developed in the club
was so strong, however, that his friends withdrew his
name. This furnished a sensation at the time.
George J. Gould, who had for some time taken an
active interest in yachting, and was a member of the
club, at once resigned. Mr. Gould at one time had
an idea of makinga cruise around the world in the
Atalanta, but abandoned it. «
Fastest Yacht Afloat.
Soon after the launching of the Atalanta Mr. Gould
and others formed the American Steam Yacht Club.
The Atalanta developed remarkable speed and is

548 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to-day the fastest large steam yacht afloat. Mr.
Gould had her built because he felt his health to be
failing, and thought yachting would be beneficial to
him. Until within the last two years of his life he
spent much time on board of her. She was used
principally as a means of transportation between
Lyndhurst, his home on the Hudson, and New York,
though he made several extended cruises in her. It
was not often that Mr. Gould would allow the
Atalanta to be raced, but on the occasions when he
did permit this she made records.
Mr. Gould presented to the Larchmont Club a cup
called the Gould Cup, which is raced for every year.
He also contributed largely to the International Chal
lenge Cup, offered by the American Yacht Club for
competition by steam yachts of different nations. He
was always anxious to see a challenge for this cup,
but so far no nation has challenged, owing to the
O ' O
great superiority in point of speed of the American
steam yachts.
Mr. Gould seldom entertained people on board the
Atalanta, but when he did entertain, his hospitality
was perfect. He had the happy faculty of making
his guests feel that the yacht was theirs and he him
self was a guest on board. There was an excellently
well selected library on the yacht and the craft was
fitted throughout with quiet and substantial elegance.
The Atalanta is 243 feet long, 26^ feet beam and
1 5/4 feet deep. She is built of iron and was designed
and constructed by W. Cramp & Son, of Philadelphia.

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 349
In June of 1886 she ran over the 85-knot course of the
American Yacht Club, from Milton Point to New
London, in 4 hours 34 minutes and 57 seconds.
Jay Gould's Travels.
Measured in miles, perhaps no man ever travelled
more than Jay Gould. He was on the go a large
part of the year. While he was in Europe many
times, yet by far the greater part of his travelling was
done in the United States. It is also safe to say
that rarely, if ever, was a man who travelled through
a country catching a car-window glimpse of it more
capable than he of forming a correct judgment as to
its wealth and resources.
He looked at the country through which he travelled
with an eye single to its railroad usefulness. Its
topographical features impressed themselves upon his
mind in a similar manner. A river would be reached,
and casting his eye from bank to bank, he estimated
what itwould cost to throw a bridge across, how many
spans would be necessary, what, if any, engineering
difficulties would be met within the foundations, and
the distance from the nearest rolling mill as an element
in affecting the transportation of the material.
If he passed through a hilly country he looked at
it with the eye of an engineer. He knew every pass
through the Rocky Mountains, and exactly what en
gineering difficulties would be met with in putting
through another Pacific railroad, and the- various
routes that were possible for such an enterprise were
present in his mind as on a map.

860 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Tours of Inspection.
Similarly, in travelling over his own lines Mr. Gould
had an accurate eye for the way in which his property
was being managed. He relied more upon what he
saw in this manner than upon what people told
him, and that explains in a measure the great amount
of railroad travelling he did. Although the office of
the general manager of his system was in St. Louis,
in the Gould Building, and although none of the
Gould roads run east of the Mississippi, nothing of
importance was transacted there without his knowl
edge. Private wires ran to the Western Union
Building in this city and into Mr. Gould's private
office, where he spent some hours each day at a cheap
wooden desk. St. Louis, however, was the starting
point of all his tours of inspection, and they occupied
generally a period of about three weeks.
Mr. Gould travelled many times over every mile
of his railroads. His special car was named the
Convoy. When word was flashed over the wires of
the Gould system that the Convoy had started on one
of her trips, every official of the system packed his
head full of information, and there was unwonted
activity from Omaha to Galveston and from Fort
Worth to San Antonio. On these trips he was
generally accompanied by General-Superintendent
Kerrigan, born in New York, but bred in the South
west. He was supposed to know everything about
the Gould system and to be a walking railroad ency
clopedia. He had the topographical features of the

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 351
Southwest at his fingers' ends, and had been employed
on railroads there for over thirty years.
Always an Object of Curiosity.
Upon arriving at a station at which it had been de
cided to make an inspection Mr. Gould would ask
how long a stop was to be made. The answer might
be "an hour." Mr. Gould would look at his watch.
Then he would accompany the superintendent on a
part of his rounds, listening quietly to his talk with the
railroad officials of the place, and having heard all he
cared to listen to would wander around by himself
while the superintendent picked up the information
which later he would give to his chief. Mr. Gould
would manifest no impatience until the full hour had
been exhausted. Then if the engineer was not ready
to start on the minute and all hands in their places
in the car, he would begin to fidget and would be rest-
' o o
less until a fresh start was made.
Mr. Gould was a strong advocate of methodical
work. The day's work was all laid out in the morn
ing, and almost before the train started he had settled
how many stops could be made during the day and
where the night should be spent. He-would dine and
sleep on the car from the start to the finish of the
three weeks' trip. At night the Convoy would be run
to the quietest part of the yard, as Mr. Gould objected
to more noise than was absolutely necessary.
In some parts of the country through which his
roads ran Mr. Gould was quite as much of a curiosity
in the eyes of the country folks as a circus. Occasion-

£52 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ally he stood upon the back platform likea statesman
on a campaign trip, and thus had his photograph
taken. He never, however, courted popularity of this
kind. Singular Kind of Exercise.
Mr. Gould travelled like a rocket while inspecting
his roads. He often travelled in the Convoy at a fifty
mile gait, and during such a trip has been_known to
be thrown from one side of the car to the other.
When somebody asked him once if he did not object
to this he said, " Oh no, it gives me a kind of exercise."
If the trip was undertaken during the spring Mr.
Gould would keep a sharp eye out for the condition
and prospects of the crops. In every county he would
secure accurate figures as to the number of acres
planted with the different cereals, and these were all
entered on tables prepared for the purpose.
Then whqn the trip would be finished he would
have absolute data upon which to base his estimates
of the probable earnings of his road for the year, and
no one better knew the intimate relationship between
rrops and coupons and the influence of one upon the
Dther. In his later years he used in addition to the Convoy,
» private car bearing the same name as his yacht, the
Atalanta. Dr. Munn, with George or other of his sons,
would generally be along, but Dr. Munn invariably.
In his trip during the fall of 1891, which extended over
10,000 miles, Mr. Gould had also aboard the car his
son Howard and his daughters Helen and Anna. In

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 353
July of 1892 Mr. Gould walked from Boise, Idaho, over
to Halley Hot Springs and back again. He was fond
of the mountain air, which he believed was much
better for him with his lung trouble than the sea,
and this is one reason why his yacht was not more
used. Many people could not understand how Mr. Gould,
with a beautiful yacht capable of taking him to any
part of the world, could prefer travelling in the wilder
sections of the West. One reason was, however, that
he had become thoroughly accustomed to railroad
travelling, and found no more inconvenience about it
than if he were in his own house in the city. The con
stant variety and opportunity for speculative reflection
was, moreover, diverting. Operations in St. Louis.
Jay Gould was essentially a man whose business
was his amusement. He found the report of the earn
ings of a railroad more interesting than any work of
, fiction, and it has been said that his nimble mind ran
through the tables of statistics like mercury through a
bag of emery. He saw many more opportunities for
gaining wealth than he was ever able to take ad
vantage of, and he had absolute confidence in the
steady advance and growth of all the Western country.
This he knew could hot but enure to the enhance
ment of his own fortune, but beyond that he fre
quently forecasted in his mind the probable lines of
development for many generations to come.
Jay Gould was a distinctively St. Louis man. His
23

354 LIFE OF JAY GOULD,
aim was to centre his railroad interests in that city,
and he failed only when he met with such powerful
opposition as to make it practically impossible for him
to carry out his project without entailing disastrous
loss. That this is true is shown in his heavy holdings
in Missouri Pacific and Iron Mountain, Wabash, Cot
ton Belt, 'Frisco, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, and
other St. Louis lines, in his efforts to construct an ele
vated railroad into the city of St. Louis, that the Pop
lar street surface track might be removed, and in
many other ways.
The new Union Depot project was one of Mr.
Gould's ambitions for many years. He was a fighter,
and if he could not have his way to a certain extent,
nothing in the world could turn him. He named his
terms on a dozen or more propositions, the considera
tion of which would have benefited St. Louis, and even
made concessions, but would never accept the terms
dictated, which he considered meant heavy losses for
him. He made no complaint — simply abandoned the
project. Jay Gould's holdings in St. Louis were numerous
and extensive. He owned a controlling interest in
the Eads Bridge and the terminal Company, and also
owned a large personal interest in the, Union Pacific
Company. He had full control, practically, of the Western
Union Telegraph Company, and had extensive hold
ings of real estate, most of which is in trust for the
Iron Mountain and Missouri Pacific systems. The

A MANY-SIDED MAN. 355
Equitable Building, in which the offices of the latter
are situated, was a part of this valuable property. In
addition to these properties, there are many other
valuable parcels of ground in different parts of the'
city ahd contiguous to his railroad properties which
belonged to Mr. Gould.
The "Wizard" was never at ease unless engaged
in devising schemes for the acquisition of new lines
and territory, but in his last great deal secured control
of the Wabash system, with its immense and extensive
ramifications. Gould was also interested in the Mis
souri, Kansas, and Texas, and the Cotton Belt. Be
sides the properties above mentioned he was the
owner of a vast amount of stocks and bonds of St.
Louis corporations.

CHAPTER XXII.
In the Valley of Death.
In the purple glow of a perfect December morning
the soul of Jay Gould went to the Undiscovered
Country, whither it had been trending for many
months. He died not as he hadfeared to die, by the hand of
the assassin or the dynamite crank, but as peacefully
as any babe whose lamp of life has dwindled to a
spark ere it flickers and goes out. He died surrounded
by his children in the plain, rear extension bed-room,
with a window looking down upon the conservatory and
the Windsor Hotel, across the way. It was the room
in which his wife died before him and which he after
ward occupied always whenever he was in the city, and
which led to the little study where only his most inti
mate friends were admitted. And here, on December
2, 1892, the last remnant of his strength ebbed away,
and even while an attendant turned him he was gone,
and more than $70,000,000 were without a master.
For two years or more the great financial manipu
lator had been battling with the knowledge that in his
system lurked the seeds of man's most insidious foe —
consumption. He had phthisis pulmonaris in both
lungs. He battled with the knowledge, and he took
(356)

IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 357
no man into his confidence besides his private physi
cian, who became a sort of trained body-servant to
him, and was always within easy call to watch him
when he had acute attacks, and his two elder sons,
George J. Gould and Edwin.
Unbroken Silence.
A very master of silence himself, he imposed silence
upon these confidants, and it became their bounden
duty to deceive all others as to the giant which had
laid its grip upon his life.
And so the story went forth that Jay Gould was
afflicted with nervous dyspepsia merely, and every
now and then he had a bilious attack which " was not
dangerous," a cry which was repeated even when he
had entered the shadow of the dark valley. Up to
within twelve hours of his death the same cry was re
peated. And even after death there were strenuous
efforts made for some inexplicable reason to shroud
the cause in mystery — a mystery which could havr.
wrought no good to the dead man's peace and that of
his surviving family.
But it was not dyspepsia which sent him to the
South of France, in the Atalanta, under the watchful
eye of his medical guardian, Dr. John P. Munn. It
was not dyspepsia which sent him to Florida ancl
Southern California, and El Paso, and the grand re
sorts of Colorado, nor which caused him two weeks
before his death, to plan a trip to Mexico — for he did
not think he was going to die, even then, and no man

358 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ever clung to life more fiercely than this frail and
silent embodiment of intellect.
The Truth Not Known.
He knew the truth, but he bit his teeth upon it.
He would not let men into the secret, and sometimes
put himself to actual pain in order to conceal the truth,
as when, on October 26, he appeared among the guests
at Dr. Shrady's house and took a quiet part in the
Gould-Shrady wedding, which had been somewhat
hurried at his request.
This was his last appearance in public, unless you
can count a visit or two to the Western Union Build
ing, to which he went from his home in a closed car
riage, and dodged in by way of the basement office
before any one could see him. No one who saw him
at the wedding would have suspected that he was so
near to death, and perhaps he would not have been
had not an injudicious ride, in company with Dr.
Munn, on the day before Thanksgiving, caused a cold
which settled on his lungs, brought on a hemorrhage
and paved the way to death.
Ready for Death.
The story of Mr. Gould's last night on earth is
one easily told. It was as simple as any tale could
be. He was prepared, and so were all the members
of his family. His going off was merely a question
of time. All understood how it would be. He had
laid his earthly house in order, had explained to his
older sons exactly what his property was, how he had

IN. TDE VALLEY OF DEATH. 359-
made it, and what he should do to develop.it if he
lived. He had passed the distressing stage of his disease
and he coughed but little, and that weakly. The
beard upon his face hid to some extent the terrible
emaciation, but the chalky pallor of the swarthy skin
was sharp and startling. He dozed at times, but
never seemed to lose consciousness. He did not
suffer physically. There was nothing to fight against
now but the lassitude of utter exhaustion, and this
the doctors — Munn and Janeway — did with the most
powerful stimulants, thus prolonging life by a few
hours, but doing no good that could be measured.
' - O O
Several times during the night it was thought that
o o o
he was going, and the family were hastily summoned
to the bedside. But he rallied each time with won
derful vitality, and his will remained strong and under
control to the last.
' Surrounded by his Family.
Those in the house besides the medical attendants
and nurses were the children — George J. Gould, who
is already enthroned as his father's successor in busi
ness ; Edwin, the second son ; Helen Miller Gould,
the young heiress, who was the apple of her father's
eye ; Howard, who is just coming to manhood ; the
schoolgirl daughter Anne and the youthful Frank,
with Mrs. George Gould, Mrs. Edwin Gould and a
O '
lady intimately connected with the family.
Daylight brought an apparent renewal of the lease
of life. It was not much of a rally, but it was enough

360 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to give hope that the invalid would struggle along
through a great part of the day. Windows were
raised and curtains drawn in parts of the house, giving
it an animated and lively look which it had not worn
when all the shades were down.
The Coming- of Death.
Shortly after the night watch of newspaper men
had gone away young Mrs. Gould appeared and drove
away in her carriage for a brief stay. She said that
her father-in-law was much the same as he had been
and perfectly conscious. An early caller was General
Manager Hain, of the Elevated road system. He
stayed but a moment, and when he resumed his trip
down-town he little realized that the message of death,
which was to be followed by the draping of all the
Elevated road engines, would reach the office almost
as soon as he.
The December sun came up and gilded the roof
of the extension in which the multi-millionaire lay'
gasping out the remnant of his life. It caught in the
glass of the conservatory and sent baffling lights into
the eyes of passers gazing curiously up at the win
dows which shrouded the drama of life and death
within. Audacious, it trickled in between the shutters
until a hand closed them tight, and it saw, what few
have seen, the great magician of Wall street bent low
by a power greater than his own.
The Shades Drawn.
Just then, as if moved by some sympathetic force,
all of the raised shades were lowered and the great

IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 361
house assumed a sombre aspect. This was just after
nine o'clock in the morning. A few moments later a
messenger boy came out of the house bearing a tele
phone message from Dr. Munn to his wife stating that
Mr. Gould had died at a quarter past nine o'clock. And
thus the news that a king was dead trickled out un
willingly, as it were, through the massive oaken doors
that front his palace. If Jay Gould's secret could
have been longer kept it doubtless would have been,
but Death sounds a tocsin which even a master of
silence cannot muffle.'
In all the spacious palace where this rich man died
there was no room more plain and simple than his
own. There was nothing garish, nothing to attract
or astonish the eye, none of the rare: and beautiful
bric-a-brac or articles of toilet which have made Miss
Helen's boudoir famous in the social world. The
furniture was massive, but simple ; the colors were
subdued. Through the open door the railroad man
ipulator could see his beloved study — a study, indeed,
where he has pored with such relentless zeal by day
and night over law books and other weighty tomes,
planning the campaigns which made him a Napoleon
in his line, and which were so disastrous to those who
opposed him. They were fading now from his sight.
He should plan no more.
The Light Goes Out.
He indicated with a whisper and a gesture that he
was glad his children were all there. And then he
showed a wish to change his position, and, as the at-

362 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
tendant turned him over, the spark of his life went
out as if some breath had blown it.
With the slightest echo of a rattle in his throat Jay
Gould was dead.
As soon as all was over George and Edwin took
charge of matters and began to prepare for the fu
neral. Messages were sent to Mrs. Northrup, of Cam
den, N. J., and Mrs. Palen, of Philadelphia, Mr. Gould's
sisters, and to other friends, apprising them of the
death, and a telephone message summoned the under
taker and assistants who had been waiting the word
from their headquarters in Forty-fourth street. Vice-
President Clark, of the Union Pacific road, who had
been waiting for a week at the Windsor to confer with
his chief, dropped over to the hotel and sent a num
ber of messages. Symbols of Mourning.
Then a huge cravat of black crape was placed upon
the door-bell to warn passers by that Death had en
tered at the door. One by one the flags on the hotels
of the city, on the Western Union, and some other
buildings were raised to half-mast. The Elevated
road engines were draped in black, and soon the
voices of the newsboys crying their extras spread the
tidings through the city.
Persons loitered about the house where death was
master and gazed up curiously at the windows. There
was but one Jay Gould, and in his going out lay an
infinity of food for curiosity and comment.
The Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton, pastor of the church

IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 363
attended by the Gould family, called at about n
o'clock, but did not stay long in the house. When
asked later in the day he said that he could tell all he
knew in a very few words.
"Mr. Gould died peacefully," he said, "without
struggle or pain. He was conscious during the night,
and recognized his sons and daughters and physicians
around his bed until within a short time of his death.
The funeral services would be conducted by himself,
assisted by Chancellor McCracken, and be of the
simplest possible character. The interment would be
private and at the convenience of the family."
Interment in Woodlawn.
It was learned from the undertaker that the body
would be laid beside that of Mrs. Gould in the great
marble sarcophagus at Woodlawn Cemetery. The
tomb is a massive structure and as large as a good-
o o
sized house. The casket would be a fac-simile of that
which holds the remains of Mrs. Gould. It would be
of oak, with rounded corners, covered with black
broadcloth and with silver handles — at once the
strongest and simplest style of wooden casket made,
All day long a stream of callers left their cards at
the door, nine-tenths of whom were women. Few
sought to enter, not even those who were intimate
friends of Miss Helen Gould, who was looked upon as
chief mourner. Few of the Wall street associates of
the dead man called at all. Even Mr. Sage kept
away from the house, and said that he knew nothing,

364 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
absolutely nothing, of what had transpired at the
house. Dr. John P. Munn, who as Mr. Gould's physician
successfully fooled the world for two years as to the
nature and seriousness of the great financier's ailment,
seemed to think it necessary to continue to surround
the case with a halo of mystery and to all requests
for information sent forth a stereotyped reply : — " I
have nothing to say."
Dr. Janeway was equally reticent as to the cause of
death, and already the ugly tongue of rumor was
beginning to ask the reason for the mystery when
wiser counsel prevailed and the secret was officially
given out. It would have crept out any way through
the death certificate, which had to be filed with the
Bureau of Vital Statistics. Prostrated by Grief.
It was learned that Dr. Munn had considerable on
his hands in taking care of some members of the
family who were overcome by long watching and grief.
Miss Helen Gould was greatly prostrated. She was
ill when her father was taken sick and the blow fell "
upon her with crushing force. Her love for her
father, who was always kind and indulgent to her, was
very great.
Fully one hundred ladies left their cards at the door
and hastened away. Telegraphic messages of condo
lence were received over the private wires which run
into the Gould residence, and the ticker in the study,
which had been stopped in the morning, was allowed

IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 365
to run again and brought the tidings of his death into
the house, together with its effect, or strange lack of
effect, upon the securities which have long borne his
name. Faced Death jGalmly.
" Jay Gould," said an old friend, " possessed but
little physical courage, and, indeed, his physique was
scarcely fitted for it. But when it came his time to
die he looked death quietly in the face. He called
his children about his bedside and told them the secret
he had been harboring — told it to them quietly and
steadily — bidding them keep the secret to the end, as
he should do, and bear up bravely, as he should do,
when it came his time to die. He kept his promise,
and it seems that it took courage to do so."
The certificate of Mr. Gould's death was filed with
General Emmons Clark, secretary of the Board of
Health. It was signed by Dr. Munn, who gave the
cause of death as phthisis pulmonaris. It was taken
to General Clark by an undertaker and was duly
placed on file in the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
The hush of death brooded next day over what was
the city residence of the king of finance. The massive
door of oak and glass, somehow suggestive of a
burial casket even without the huge cravat of crape
which hung upon the silver handle of the bell, was
softly opened many times, and quickly, but as softly,
shut to by the sleek butler, who was not above selling
news of his dying master for good American money,
as the friends of the big Gould, circle came to leave

366 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
their cards and messages, and sometimes great gifts
of flowers, as if it were possible with radiant and liv
ing blooms to soften the black shadows that must
needs surround the rich man dead.
Profound Mourning.
A house of mourning? No tenement in all the
city wailing the loss of its bread winner could be more
truly so. That was the blossom which bloomed most
brightly in the character, of Jay Gould. He loved his
children tenderly, and he taught them to love him.
On the side he turned toward the world he wore a
steely armor, but with his children, his flowers and his
books he could unbuckle his cuirass and bare his heart
with no fear of a deadly blow. And he did so, too,
and made them his joy and his recreation.
And so they mourned him — the young men who had
kissed him good night after they had come to man
hood's estate, and the fair heiresses to fortunes who
had known only his gentler side.
The body lay in a patent rosewood ice casket in
the chamber where Mr. Gould had died, and flowers
were heaped upon it in prodigal profusion. There
was a strange commingling of asceticism and luxury
in the room, and yet it was in harmony with the life
of the man who had so many millions that they seemed
to be a mist in his system of arithmetic. He had
always lived a simple life, apart from the splendor
with which, for the sake of others, he surrounded him
self. He, who could command the luxuries of princes, ,

' IN THE VALLEY- OF DEATH. 367
had been joyful over bread and milk when appetite
went with them.
So he lay in death, amid the simplest furnishings,
while, loving hands piled regal flowers upon him and
. sought to hide him amid their super-abundance and
profusion. Ah, futile task, that seeks to blot out the
presence and the atmosphere of death !
The House Guarded.
Besides ministering to the physical wants of the
mourning household Dr. Munn took a leading part in
arranging for the funeral, and it was by his request
that Superintendent Byrnes detailed a number of de
tective sergeants to watch the house, day and night,
until the obsequies were ended, and fend off objection
able characters, crank or beggar, who might cause
danger or annoyance to the inmates.
It was a happy thought and all day there was an
alert looking man upon the corner of Fifth avenue and
Forty-seventh street, keeping watch and ward upon
the stately edifice. A uniformed policeman was de
tailed to assist in keeping off suspicious characters,
and altogether Jay Gould was better guarded in death
than he had ever been in life, though he never went
abroad unprotected.
The detectives reported that they had had no signs
of trouble. Thousands of people paused to look up
at the shaded windows, the only one open being the
silent bedroom wherein lay the dead, and one old*
negro woman went up the steps under the impression
that the Gould mansion was the Windsor Hotel, but

368 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
no one looking like a crank appeared upon the scene
or disturbed the even tenor of life upon the avenue.
The mystery as to the nature of the ailment which
wrecked Mr. Gould's health was one of the features
of his last illness. It may be stated as a peculiar fact
that his most trusted friends and even the members
of his family were not aware of the disease from which
he was suffering until, it became evident that he could
only a little longer withstand its ravages.
The Fatal Disease.
Mr. Gould was variously reported as a victim of
neuralgia, of nervous dyspepsia, and of severe bilious
attacks, and the announcement that what caused his
death was consumption will be received with a great
deal of surprise. But the statement is true. '
It is further said that the disease was of several
years' standing ; that Mr. Gould was aware that he
had it and that his instructions to his physician, Dr.
Munn, were that it should be kept a secret between.
them as long as possible. When, therefore, inquiries,
no matter by whom, were made of Dr. Munn as to
Mr. Gould's ailment, he replied that it was nervous
dyspepsia, and truthfully, for all consumptives suffer
more or less from that complaint.
To aid his physician in concealing all signs of the
disease the somewhat extravagant assertion is made
that Mr. Gould was able to prevent himself, by an ef
fort, from coughing.
The secret was well kept, and Mr. Gould is said to
have had confidence that Dr. Munn's efforts to delay

IN TIJE VALLEY OF DEATH. 369
the progress of the disease would be attended with
some measure of success, and that he would be able
to keep up and get around for some years. But when
he came down from Irvington some weeks before his
death he was not so confident. A slight hemorrhage
was followed by several more severe.
His Physician.
Dr. John P. Munn, Mr. Gould's physician, is prob
ably the one man in the world who knew Mr. Gould
really well.
There is a story that Dr. Munn's acquaintance with
Mr. Gould was the result of accident. He had come
to New York to practice after graduating from a
medical schoolin the interior ofthe State, and put up
his sign near Mr. Gould's house. One day Mr. Gould
was taken ill, and, his family physician not being at
home, the young Dr. Munn was called in. His treat
ment was quickly efficacious, and Mr. Gould, liking
him, a few months later made him a flattering offer
to look after his physical welfare all the time. The
doctor agreed, and had not, therefore, a very extensive
general practice. But as compensation for that loss,
he has seen many parts of the world from the bridge
of Mr. Gould's yacht, and by following hints dropped
from the lips of the great manipulator he acquired a
beautiful home on West Fifty-eighth street and a
handsome income to keep it going.
Mr. Gould had every confidence in Dr. Munn and
liked him personally, and had him made a Director
in the Western Union Telegraph Company.
24

CHAPTER XXIII.
Effect of Mr. Gould's Death.
Causing scarcely a tremor in the stock market,
where his name had for so many years been alter
nately a terror and an inspiration, the news of the
death of Jay Gould came to public knowledge sud
den tly. The end was reached of a life unparalleled in
the history of this country in its picture of the possi
bility of what may be accomplished here in the accu
mulation of wealth by individual effort, in the control
and direction of great business enterprises and in the
attainment of position in spite of the hostile arrows of
enemies made in a long career of speculative con
test. In Mr. Gould's death a career was closed of a man
whose stamp on the railroad and telegraph history of
the United States may never be effaced, but about
whom there will probably be long controversy over
the methods involved in most of the sensational events
with which his name was identified. And the closing
of his life found alive a generous judgment as to his
achievements and character that will help history
in the making up of its story of his personality.
There had been no expectation of Mr. Gould's death
until within a few days before it occurred. For more
(370) -

EFFECT OF MR. GOULD'S DEATH. 371
than two years his physical decline was apparent to
his friends, but numerous sensations in Wall street
were based on his attacks of illness without sufficient
justification through that period.
The Financial World Prepared.
The sudden' death of a man like Mr. Gould, identi
fied with many important properties, and, still more,
the central figure of stories, theories and disputes,
founded upon the remarkable sides of his varied char
acter, might have been a severe shock to the financial
situation. But the last fatal illness of Mr. Gould fol
lowed premonitions which had fully prepared his
friends for the end, and Mr. Gould himself had been
putting his affairs into such an order that death
would bring about no important disturbance in any
of the interests with which he was even indirectly con
nected. The death of Mr. Gould gave no shock to the stock
market. The speculative traders on his illness were
disappointed, as they were when William H. Vander
bilt died. It was noted as something of a coincidence
that the two men, giants in the speculative and invest
ment world, both died in December, Mr. Vanderbilt's
end preceding Mr. Gould's only by seven years, less
six days.
But different as were the circumstances attending
the death of the two men, there is some resemblance
in the fact that both of them had secured their estates
in such a manner as to baffle the work of the specu-

372 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
lators who sought to trade upon the death oi each of
the two men. Great Properties Secure.
It was understood that Mr. Gould had left his estate
in such a form that it would involve no menace to the
properties from which most had been feared in a
mortuary liquidation. Facing the possibilities of his
end, Mr. Gould put the bulk of his holdings in securi
ties in trust, with a flexibility, of course, required by
the circumstances, but with restrictions that will pre
vent the disintegration of the properties left as his in
heritance and will avert the danger of sales for a long
time. It is a great estate which is tied up.
There is a fortune which was born out of the work
of one inspiring personality ; an accumulation that
represents an average acquirement in the twenty-five
years of Mr. Gould's active operations in the financial
and. railroad world of $3,000,000 a year. When it is
considered that this wealth does not represent a
dollar of inheritance, when it is realized that only a
fraction can have come from " unearned increment "
in real estate ; when it is appreciated that the figures
stand for investment in stocks and bonds, it may
safely be said that Mr. Gould's fortune stands for
the largest sum of money ever accumulated by a
single individual. No Radical Change's.
Nor is it believed that Mr. Gould's death will result
in any radical change in the management of the prop
erties with which he has so long been identified.
o

EFFECT OF MR. GOULD'S DEATH. 373
His oldest sons are young men, but they have been
put in places of trust where they have become
thoroughly familiar with their duties. Their holdings,
undisturbed to any material extent by the terms of
their father's will, must remain a bulwark upon which
they can lean for support, while the two men have
shown qualities of mind and character which will
retain for them the advice, guidance and instruction
of older and more experienced men who are also
identified with the Gould -properties. Modifications
may come in the course of time in the control of the
great properties that owed their direction to the
genius of Jay Gould, but in none of them is it evident
that there will be a change of importance.
There was much sympathetic comment on the
passing away of Jay Gould. His friends had only one
word to say as to the qualities in the dead man which
commanded a tribute from them — his ability, his fore
sight, his wonderful patience in the working out of
his aims, his fidelity to friends, his good faith with his
business associates, and his generosity to subordinate
O^ -
workers. Not so White or Black as Painted.
The name of this great financier has been so long
associated with the ups and downs of stocks that even
those who consider themselves in the inner circle ex
pected at least a temporary disturbance of prices.
That this expectation was not realized was a matter
of sincere congratulation to every one interested
directly or indirectly in the world of finance. This

374 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
can be said without the least reflection on ekher the
methods or the character of Mr. Gould, for now that
he is gone there are many who will begin to see
the good that was in the man.
In this hurrying, hustling world when a person once
secures a reputation, that reputation, whether it be
good or bad, is apt to cling to him until death. The
truth of the matter is that few men are either quite
as white or quite as black as they are painted. For
this reason a great many thoughtless things are said
and done and a great many mistakes are made that
are rarely, if ever, corrected.
However, the day seems to be past when a panic
can be precipitated on the individuality of one person,
and that is where the cause for general congratulation
comes in. There is no man who fills the peculiar
position held so long by Mr. Gould, and for that rea
son investors and others can place their money with
more confidence and breathe more freely while waiting
for the results of their investments.
Easily Scared.
There seems to be no class of men who allow
themselves to be so frightened by shadows and carried
away by myths as a certain portion of those who
deal in stocks. It has been stated, and there is no
reason for discrediting the statement, that Mr. Gould
was not actively in the market for nearly six years
before his death, and yet during that time men allowed
themselves to be carried away by countless stories of
his operations and machinations in this and that direc-

EFFECT OF MR. GOULD'S DEATH. 375
tion. Now that the bears are deprived ofthe cloud of
mystery wherein they were wont to clothe the man of
.millions, they ought to have a hard road to travel.
The Effect on Wall Street.
Half an hour before the Stock Exchange opened on
the morning of December 2d, it was known in Wall
street that Jay Gould was dead. The information was
-first received from the Western Union building, and
while no doubt was entertained that it was true, con
firmations were secured before the Stock Exchange
was opened. A larger number of brokers than usual
was gathered on the floor to watch the effect of the
news. Some of them appeared to be anxious. A
feeling of general confidence, however, prevailed, al
though it was believed that there would be a bear raid
from some quarter.
There was some excitement at the opening, and for
a few minutes it appeared as if a stampede might re
sult. Most of the interest at the opening of the Ex
change was concentrated in Missouri Pacific, which
was regarded as the key to all the Gould stocks. It
had closed the night before at 551. The first bid
made for Missouri Pacific was for 500 shares at 54.
This was sold at once by a commission broker, but
at the same time an offer of stock at 55 was taken.
Then the first seller wanted to cancel his transaction,
but was not allowed to do so.
About the other Gould stocks there were many
brokers, but few transactions were made. The de
clines in Wabash and Western Union were of only %

376 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
per cent. The general list was not affected by the
announcement of Mr. Gould's death. Surprise was
expressed that the Gould stocks were affected so
little. Effect in Washington.
The death of Jay Gould, which was bulletined in
Washington, made a great stir in financial circles,
though it did not appear to have any appreciable effect
on stocks. Secretary Foster, of the Treasury Depart
ment, in discussing Mr. Gould's death, said: "The ac
counts of Mr. Gould's illness served to discount the
effect of his death on the money market.
" In preparation for the end Mr. Gould's affairs had
been placed in the hands of his son, George, and other
persons who can be relied upon, and such good judg
ment has been shown in delegating these various
o o
trusts that there can be no danger of anything going
wrong. I do not believe Mr. Gould's death will have
any marked effect in financial circles anywhere."
Mr. Gould is kindly remembered for a public-
spirited act which, but for the , formalities necessarily
attending it, might never have been made public.
While on a visit to Washington in his yacht he landed
at Mount Vernon and inspected the old home of
Washington and the restorations made in recent years
by the Association of Regents having charge of the
place. He was greatly impressed with what he saw,
and, upon learning that the association was very
anxious to secure a considerable tract of land which

EFFECT OF MR. GOULD'S DEATH. 377
had formerly belonged to Washington, drew his check
for $17,500 and presented the tract to the Regents.
No Panic Caused in Chicago.
The announcement of Jay Gould's death created
great excitement in Chicago, but there -was no panic
in speculative circles. The general opinion seemed
to be that Mr. Gould long before disposed of his most
sensitive stocks of all kinds.
"In my opinion the death of Mr. Gould will have
little effect upon the railroads," said R. R. Cable,
president of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific
Railroad. "Mr. Gould has been ill a long time and
has taken no really active part in railroad matters, so
his death is not likely to cause any disturbance of ex
isting arrangements.
" Besides, there is no doubt that his estate will be
kept intact and managed by the sons, who are fully
competent to take charge of affairs, and have been
carefully trained with such an end in view. Stocks in
which he was interested are likely to go down, but
such action will be temporary, and recovery will follow
soon. Of course, if the property should be divided
among the heirs the effect would be more serious, but
such action would lessen the value of the estate, and
Mr. Gould was too good a business man to allow that.
Even if he has made no provision for keeping the
estate intact, his sons would do so, for they are capa
ble of looking out for their own interests."
How it Affected Union Pacific.
"Jay Gould is dead" was the message which Mr.

378 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Orr, chief factotum in the ofifice of the president, and
assistant general manager of the Union Pacific system,
received by telegraph at Omaha, shortly after the
death of Mr. Gould, and the old flag, which has
heralded the death of Union Pacific officials many
times, was hoisted half way up the staff. Little groups
of clerks and heads of departments gathered in the
offices of the system and discussed the death of the
railroad king and the effect it would have upon the
property to which they were attached. The opinions
were varied. When work was resumed it was in a
rather perfunctory manner. The workers were seem
ingly wondering what changes would occur, and in
what manner they would affect those who are now in
authority. It was agreed that the policy of the Union
Pacific management would be little affected by Mr.
Gould's death.
On the other hand, the death of Mr. Gould may
bring an entire reversal of the Union Pacific policy
and change of the management. Yet there was
perfect unanimity among the employees that his
death was most untimely, particularly as he was so
intent upon some important combinations in the West
that would have resulted in the development of much
railroad property now regarded as of little impor
tance. Thomas L. Kimball, one of Gould's oldest associates
in the West, said : " Those people who have an idea
that Gould's relation with the Union Pacific was that
ofthe mere speculator do not know the calibre of the

EFFECT OF MR. GOULD'S DEATH. 379
man. While he always said he was purely a specula
tor, still he was vitally interested in the improvement
of the system, and I know he had a dream of some
day seeing the railroad free of the Government debt
which now hangs over it."
The News in London.
The announcement of the death of Jay Gould stirred
the pulses of the dealers, both inside and outside of
the London Stock Exchange. Although the news had
no notable influence on prices at the close, the first
momentary tendency in the American department was
to sell, but it was soon checked by New York orders
to buy. The progress of dealings in nowise repre
sented the immense interest felt in Mr. Gould's death.
Business was interrupted in the Stock Exchange by
members grouping to talk of Mr. Gould, and the bear
ing of his death on the Gould stocks.
A mob of people blocked the approaches to the
Exchange, all talking on the same theme and waiting
o ' o o
to see how the news affected prices. The scene in
Throgmorton street after the Stock Exchange closed
was as lively and exciting as if a speculative crisis was
impending. A representative of the Associated Press, in glean
ing the opinions of several dealers in the American
market and some prominent street operators, found
that they concurred in expecting a boom in the stock
of all American railroads except Gould roads. Re
garding the future of Gould stocks, few cared to
hazard a prediction. " Probably," said one dealer,

380 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"Mr. Gould's death will benefit all Western roads,
greatly enhance Manhattan Elevated in the opinion
of the public, and vastly improve the position of West
ern Union Telegraph."

CHAPTER XXIV.
Tributes to the King of Wall Street.
Upon the announcement of Mn Gould's death,
formal action was taken by several of the great stock
companies of which he was the most conspicuous
member and the ruling spirit.
Dr. Norvin Green presided at the meeting of the
Western Union Executive Committee. The other
members present were General T. W. Eckert, John
Van Home, John G. Moore, John T. Terry, Russell
Sage, and Sam Sloan.
Mr. Sloan proposed the resolutions, which were
adopted. They were as follows :
In Memoriam.
Jay Gould died at his residence in the city of New York,
on Friday, December 2, 1892, in the fifty-seventh year of his
age. He has been a director of this company for about twelve
years and was such at the time of his death. It is fitting,
therefore, that it shall place upon its records its estimate of
Mr. Gould's character and services, and its sorrowful sense of
its great loss in his death.
Familiarity with him acquired through years of constant
intercourse enables the members of its directory to speak con
cerning him with knowledge and confidence. What follow
(381)

382 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
are words not of eulogy, but of just and considerate estimate.
Among the eminent men who in the history of this com
pany have had a place in its counsels, Mr. Gould was in some
respects the most remarkable. The intellectual qualities to
which he owed his almost unexampled success are not far to
seek. Underlying all was his faith in the continued growth,
advancement, and prosperity of our country. He forecast the
future with confidence and saw in their earlier stages the com
ing values of. such great properties as the Union Pacific, Kan
sas Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Manhattan Railway, and Western
Union. An Unrivalled Genius.
He boldly risked all on the soundness of his judgment.
His judgment concerning the values of corporate properties
singly and of their possibilities for profitable combination
amounted to positive genius — a genius in these lines probably
never surpassed if equalled. Acquiring these properties, he
gave his energies to their development.
This was not the hasty work of a day, but the slow work
of years, as he died in the ownership of the large interests in
these properties to the growth and development of which he
had so largely contributed. He was not merely or chiefly a
speculator. He was a practical and expert manager of rail
ways. He was at home in every department of the service.
He knew his properties intimately. He could instantly detect
anything wrong. He inspected them in person regularly.
He gave to his properties the benefit not only of his genius,
but of his diligence and industry, which, until his health gave
way, never tired.
He did not always receive the praise to which he was en
titled. He did not invest his wealth in lands, or buildings, or
governments, or established securities, and content himself
with idly receiving their income. His industries gave daily

TRIBUTES TO THE KING OF WALL STREET. 383
employment to more than one hundred thousand men and
support to their families. His enterprise contributed more
largely to the opening and development of the Western and
Southwestern parts of our country than that of any other
man;- "His Word was Law."
At his death probably no man in the United States possessed
more power His word was law throughout the vast interests
in his control established in many States and Territories almost
from ocean to ocean. But with all this he ever bore himself
modestly, without any ostentation or vulgar display of wealth
or power. He was a model of parental and domestic virtue.
So much is known of all men.
But the members of this body desire to record their knowl
edge of the warmth and steadiness of Mr. Gould's friendship,
of his noble impulses and disinterested and generous deeds,
some of which without murmur or complaint from him were
popularly distorted so as to become matters of blame instead
of praise.
Resolved, That in the death of a counsellor so wise, saga
cious, and faithful as Mr. Gould ever proved himself to be, this
company feels it has sustained not only a deep but an irrepara
ble loss; that it tenders its sincerest sympathy to his surviving
sons and daughters ; that its directors will attend his funeral
in a body ; that this minute be spread upon its records, and
that a copy thereof suitably engrossed and authenticated be
sent to his children. Missouri Pacific's Action.
The gentlemen present at the meeting of the Mis
souri Pacific's directors were A. H. Calef, General
Eckert, ex-Judge Dillon, J. W. Clendinnin, J. T. Terry,
Russell Sage, and Sam Sloan. In the absence of any
higher official Mr. Calef, who is the secretary and

384 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
treasurer of the company, presided. Upon motion
Messrs. Calef and Dillon were appointed a committee
to draw up a series of resolutions. These were as
follows :
The Board of Directors of the Missouri Pacific Railway
Company, assembled this day upon the announcement of the
death of the president, recalling with grateful sensibility his
long and eminent services and his distinguished achievements
in the interest of this company, conscious of its irreparable
loss, and sensible of their own personal bereavement, desiring
to leave a lasting tribute to the memory.of the able and faith
ful officer, the beloved associate and friend, and the great man
who has passed away, do hereby make this record :
In Memory of Jay Gould.
On the 17th day of November, 1879, Jay Gould became the
President of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. From
that time until his death, on Friday last, the history of this
company has illustrated the sagacity and loyal zeal of thiswise
and devoted executive. In a little more than a decade, under
the impulse of his energy and the' spell of his genius, a prop
erty of small proportions has expanded into a vast and majes
tic system.
But the energy and genius of this remarkable man were
bounded by the fortunes of no single enterprise. His has been
one ofthe foremost figures in the great enterprises which have
marked the age in which he lived. The career of no other
one man lias borne such a relation as his to the growth and
material prosperity of the country and to the development of
its great resources.
Of the personal qualities of Mr. Gould we may record the
just estimate of those who by long and intimate association
with him have been made, as we believe, fit judges.

TRBUTES TO THE KING OF WALL STREET. 385'
Mr. Gould's Attributes.
Mr. Gould was a man of tried personal and moral courage,
a kind, considerate and generous friend, modest and gentle in
demeanor, moderate in speech, judicial and just in 'his judg
ments. To those whose business and personal relationship
to him had been longest and closest he was most endeared.
History will record a judgment of those qualities which, are
known to the world, and which in the estimate ofthe world
distinguished him as a great man. To us he was known as
a man with these other and higher personal qualities. This is
the estimate which we make and which we hand down to such
as may in future desire to consult the judgment of those
among his contemporaries who were also his associates.
To the members who are present to-day the death of Mr.
Gould comes as the loss of a friend, associate and adviser. To
those of our Board whose relationship to him was nearer and
who to-day lament the loss of a loving father the affliction is
one to which we can do no more than refer in words of in
adequate condolence.
Resolved, that the foregoing record be spread on the
minutes of this Board, and that copies, suitably engrossed
and signed by members of the Board, be transmitted to the
family. A. H. Calef, Secretary.
Manhattan Tribute.
The resolutions adopted by the Board of Direc
tors of the Manhattan Railway Company are as fol
lows: At a special meeting ofthe Board of Directors of the Man
hattan Railway Company, .held on Saturday, December 3, the
following action was taken.
The president of this company has been taken from it.
Elected on November 9, 1 881, to be its official head, Jay Gould
25

386 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
has uninterruptedly from that time to this given to the service
of this company a large part of his thoughts and of his inter
est. No one ofthe many other great enterprises in which he was
concerned enlisted to a greater degree his close attention and
best energies. Although in many States of the Union loco
motives rode on railways he had contributed to construct, the
corporation that furnished him with the means of daily access
to his home had no superior in its rank in his mind. In the
management of its affairs he displayed the qualities to which
he owed his success in many fields.
Remarkable Business Qualifications.
He was clear in his perceptions, swift in judgment and
prompt in action. Patient in investigation and in the accu
mulation of details, his mastery of them was complete and his
memory accurate and tenacious. He was self-reliant, yet ever
seeking information and correction of his views from others.
While disposed to adhere strongly to his own plans and ideas
he was always ready to yield his judgment to a superior rea
son. He expected full performance of his duty from each one
who undertook responsibility, but he fully trusted those who
were engaged in the duties of execution and left them large
latitude in the discharge of their functions. Never elated by
success, he was cool and courageous in defeat. He acted in
accordance with well considered and far reaching plans and
possessed the strength of will to adhere to his purpose through
difficulties and apparent repulses.
Kind and Considerate.
In his personal intercourse with those who were associated
with him in his great endeavors he was kind, considerate, a
good listener and willing to modify his plans to serve the com
mon interest.
He found the Manhattan Railway Company in the hands

TRIBUTES TO THE KING OF WALL STREET. 387
of receivers, substantially bankrupt and in a condition where it
was doubtful whether or not its system was to be disintegrated
and resolved into its original elements. He leaves it pros
perous, in excellent physical condition, its different lines con
solidated and indissolubly bound together, performing an
indispensable service to the public in the city of his business
life. In his home life and in his relations to his children he found
his happiness. As fellow directors with him he insured the
companionship and the affectionate support of his sons in his
business hours. To his sorrowing family, and especially to
those members of this Board who have not only lost their
president but an affectionate and tender father whose domestic
circle furnished him with his only solace amid responsibilities
greater than those that have been borne by many rulers of
empires, the sympathy of this Board is tendered.
Resolved, that the foregoing minute be adopted and in
scribed on the minutes of this Board of Directors, and that a
copy thereof duly certified be sent by the secretary to the
family ofthe deceased president.
Resolved, That the general offices of the company be closed
on the day ofthe funeral, Monday, December 5, 1892.
A true copy. D. W. McWILLIAMS, Secretary.
The Manhattan Elevated Railroad showed its sense
of mourning for Mr. Gould's demise by draping all the
engines on its lines with black and white. Knots of
black and white streamers floated from the cab of
every locomotive as it bore its load of humanity down
to business, while many of them had their standing
rods and headlights twisted and draped in similar
fashion.

388 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Gould's Art Instinct.
Many of the men in the financial quarter of the city
devoted their time to forming accurate estimates of
Mr. Gould's character as a man and relating anecdotes
of his life. In reference to the general subject under
discussion, Colonel Henry T. Chapman, the art con
noisseur of the Stock Exchange, said :
" Gould's art collection was little known, for he
rarely ever figured personally in buying pictures and
went so little into social life that the public had no
knowledge of his gallery. It is very choice, however,
consisting of about one hundred paintings. Many of
them are representative works of the Barbizon and
modern French school. He has one of the finest
examples of Corot in the country, and masterpieces
by Rousseau, De Neufville and others.
" I purchased for him at the Stewart sale the finest
example of Knaus in the country. It is a famous
work, known as ' Knaus' children,' and cost $25,000.
Works by that artist have brought higher prices in
this country, but no one has a finer example. This
illustrates one thing that I would like to say about Mr.
Gould. He did not buy a painting on account of its
price, but because he appreciated its beauties. He
had a fine, highly cultivated artistic sense and showed
a wonderful appreciation of color, tone and treatment
in a picture.
'' He knew the inspirational works of an artist from
the mediocre productions, and showed a nice discrim
ination in his selections. He never bought a picture

TRIBUTES TO THE KING OF WALL STREET. 389
for a household decoration nor to fit a recess in the
wall, but for the love of the art it displayed and the
enjoyment it gave him. His was the true artistic
spirit." Condolence and Sympathy.
All day long after Mr. Gould's death a procession
of messenger boys mounted the steps with telegrams
of condolence and sympathy. Many of them came
from railroad men in the West connected with Gould
roads or from relatives and personal friends. One was
from ex-Governor Buckner, one of the government
directors of the Union Pacific. Some were of a
nature to warrant publication. The higher officers
of the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific who would
be able to reach. New York in time for the funeral tele
graphed that they would come on.
Vice-President Clark, of the Union Pacific, was
accorded a view of Mr. Gould's face. He came out
of his house wiping his eyes and seemed to be con
siderably affected. Insured his Family's Fortunes.
"I have just seen the remains," he said, "and I
found that the face looked quite natural and much
more full than I had been led to expect. Indeed it
was hardly any thinner than when I last saw him
alive. The expression on the face is peaceful. I
think his consumption was not an inherited disease,
but that he caught it as a result of an attack of pneu
monia from which he suffered five or six years ago."
"There is one act in the life of Jay Gould which I

390 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
do not think has ever yet been made public," said an
old Wall street man, who paused at the corner of
Forty-seventh street and looked up at the many
windows with gray shades drawn. " It shows how
careful he was for the welfare of his family and how
determined to make their future assured, no matter
what the vicissitudes of his own fortune might be.
Some years ago he got caught in a squeeze, and
had a great fright lest his fortune should take wings
and fly away. If Russell. Sage, who always believed
in Gould's genius, had not come to his rescue with
several millions of dollars he would most certainly
have gone to the wall. When Gould got upon his
feet again he remembered the danger which he had
passed through, and determined to lay aside a penny
for a rainy day. He took a lot of Manhattan railway
and Missouri Pacific — I am told this amount was
eleven millions — and locked them up in a safe deposit
vault, and he made a vow that that vault was not to
be opened until he was dead. That vow has been
kept. This story comes to me from one who knows
Gould well, and I have every reason in the world to
believe that it is true.
A Great General in Finance.
"Yonder window," said the gentleman, pointing to
the rear extension on the second floor, " has furnished
the light for some of the greatest campaigns ever
planned in the battles of finance. You may not know
it, but Jay Gould was not only the greatest purchaser
of legal talent who ever lived, but he himself was a

TRIBUTES TO THE KING OF WALL STREET. 391
great lawyer. When he had any enterprise on foot
he delved, deep into the law books, and he knew just-
how far he could go with safety and what loopholes
of the law were open to him. He knew it all before
he took a step, and often while the other side were
getting hold of their lawyers and the lawyers were
digging into the books Gould was getting away with
the prize and distancing them in the race. That is a
small room over there, but many millions have been
coined there."
Ex-Governor John P. St John wrote the following
to a Kansas newspaper :
" In the midst of all that is being published against
Jay Gould, please allow me space to say that in 1880,
when settlers in Western Kansas were penniless and
threatened with starvation, I wrote to this much abused
man about it. He promptly sent me $5,000 which
was invested in bread and meat for their relief."

CHAPTER XXV.
Preparations for the Obsequies.
It was arranged that the funeral of Jay Gould
should be private. The public was not invited to at
tend. Its presence would have been deemed an- in
trusion on the family's privacy. Such was the word
which came from the stately palace in Fifth avenue
after all preparations had been made to give all who
wished a view of the dead millionaire's face.
What wonder is it that brings so many out upon
the avenue? What is it that draws so great a multi
tude, as if it were a mighty lodestone, to a corner of
the city crowned by a stately mansion marked with
the black habiliment of woe — which sends swollen
streams of curious humanity up and down Fifth
avenue, and causes it to swell and eddy about that
corner and to look up with eager curiosity at dark
ened windows and unspeaking walls ?
Only a little man who has died in what should have
been the prime of life, and who has left behind for the
founding of a vast estate or the scattering to the four
winds of heaven, as the future may determine, a pro
digious fortune which he had gathered with marvel
lous skill and success.
What men had tried in vain to do — divorce him
(392)

PREPARATIONS FOR THE OBSEQUIES. 393
from his millions — Death with one cut of his keen
scythe had accomplished. Poor as the Poorest.
And though the thousands and tens of thousands
who went out of their way to look upon the mansion
which was his temporary mausoleum knew that they
could see nothing more than they had been able to
see any day they went there, nevertheless, they seemed
to take a sort of satisfaction in realizing that the great
field-marshal of finance, the shrewdest and most strat
egic general who ever came into that tragic battlefield
which we call speculation, lay helpless — poor as the
poorest — behind those walls.
All daylong the mighty current swirled and eddied,
swirled and eddied about this common centre, and
gaped up at the black bow upon the bell and passed
its varied comments upon the event which was making
the nations ring for a nine days' wonder.
All sorts and conditions of men and women were
in the throne, from the millionaire railroad kino-; the
stock operator whose name was a familiar one to
- newspaper readers, and who had fought in the ranks
with Gbuld, or against him ; the great banker who
had sneered at him and been only too glad to honor
his signature for vast amounts, down through the
yamut of success and failure to the clerks, the laborers
.and the eamins of the street, who rolled his millions
under their tongues like sweet morsels, and talked of
them as they would of Aladdin's cave, or heaven, or
any other unknown quantity which appealed to their

394 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
imaginations and gave promise of unknown de
lights. A common impulse moved them all — curiosity.
Imps at the Door.
When Russell Sage, the-gray-bearded friend of the
dead man, mounted the steps and touched the bell a
quartet of small boys crept up behind him on tiptoe
of expectation. As he turned to allow the crystal
outer door to swing open he nearly knocked them
down, and turned toward them with an expression of
impatience. But this did not diminish their ardor
nor their audacity, and as he passed in through the
oaken doorway — a solid piece of timbering stout
enough to resist the blows of a battering-ram — they
flattened their noses against the glass and eagerly
drank in the quick vanishing sight of the rich in
terior. Many who saw the incident and commented roughly
on the rudepess of the gamins would have given
money for their fleeting glimpse. Earlier in the day
those who were in the neighborhood saw a middle
aged man, well dressed and of well to do appearance,
and evidently on a footing of acquaintance with the
Goulds, trot up the steps and fumble for the bell as if
he thought it was a handle to be pulled instead of an
electric button. The Crape Drops.
Suddenly the big bow of crape became unloosed
and fell to the flagging. The caller looked at it
aghast. He- had evidently heard the superstition re-.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE OBSEQUIES. 395
garding the knocking down of crape and the ill for
tune it is supposed to bring to him who does the act.
He started to ring the bell a second time, paused with
his finger in the air and fled incontinently down the
steps, followed by the derisive laughter of some of
those who witnessed the incident.
In such petty fashion as this did humanity's waves
lap the door of the dead master of silence, while the
Arabs of the street peeped in at the opened door as
if some great spectacle awaited their unmannerly en
terprise. Happily the mourners within knew nothing
of the motley drama which was enacting outside their
door, for the kindly shades were drawn and the thick
walls shut out the sounds which would ill comport
with the grief of those to whom the dead was not the
multi-millionaire, but the gentle and generous father.
In the Chamber of Death.
The body of Jay Gould still lay in the chamber
whence its spirit fled. Night and day a sleepless
watcher guarded it. A black pall covered the casket
in which it rested upon a bed of ice, and flowers were
heaped high upon the bier. Now and then a member
of the family came into the room, but for the most
part it was untenanted save by the watchers and the
watched. The hours dragged by with leaden feet to
the occupants, for there are few hours more long and
dreary than those between a death and burial.
The silence of the room was broken in. the after
noon by the entrance of George Gould, accompanied
by Russell Sage, who had asked permission to see the

396 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
face of his friend of many years, the man he had be
friended in the time of trouble and distress, when the
latter's gigantic fortune was trembling in the balance,
and who believed that Jay Gould was a man worthy
of respect and esteem.
The pall was gently pulled aside and the living
millionaire gazed through the glass at the features
of the dead one. He looked long and earnestly with
compressed lips and moistened eyes. At length he
turned aside with a sigh.
"How natural he looks!" he said. "You would
almost think he was asleep."
The Features Natural and Peaceful.
Mr. Sage said afterward that death had left no
trace upon the face unless it were the unusual pallor
of the skin. There was not a wrinkle in it. The
sallow, bilious look which Mr. Gould had worn in life
was gone, and the color, though there was the waxen
hue of death, was exceedingly good. The features
were natural and peaceful, and there was almost a
smile upon them, as if his last glimpse of his children
had sent him away to the undiscovered country with
pleasure in his heart.
" There will be many friends here from out of town
— from Boston and the West," said Mr. Sage, "who
will be anxious to take a farewell look at the remains.
I have arranged matters with George so that all of
them will have an opportunity after the brief services
to enjoy this privilege. Indeed, I may say that it has
been decided to give all who come to the house de-

PREPARATIONS FOR THE OBSEQUIES. 397
cently garbed a similar opportunity. As the burial
will not take place until Tuesday morning there will
be plenty of time to accommodate all comers. Even
if the crowd be great it will be given a chance to see
Mr. Gould's remains. We have arranged for plenty
of police protection in case there should be a crowd."
Mr. Sage, Mr. S. H. H. Clark, of the Union Pacific,
and General Samuel Thomas held^a whispered confer
ence in the Windsor Hotel, and when they parted the
former said he thought the arrangements for the
funeral were as complete as they could possibly be
made. Few Callers.
There we're few callers at the house, whose late
master was such a universal theme not only on the
popular tongue but in the pulpit and in the press.
Save for those who came on business connected with
the simple ceremonies the friends and acquaintances-
held aloof and permitted the family, who for the next
few months, and until their future status is fixed, were
to occupy a position in the fierce light of publicity, to
be alone with their sorrow. The oaken door was not
opened so often as it had been, and the Central Office
detectives who were on duty on the sidewalk in front
and opposite had no special call upon their services.
No crime greater than curiosity — if that be a crime
—besieged the door of the great Gould mansion, and
that was harmless and not arrestable.
Telegrams were received from Mr. Abraham Gould,
the only brother of the deceased, and from two of

398 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
his sisters, Mrs. Northrup, of Camden, and Mrs.
Palen, of Tuckgunk, Pa., that they would reach New
York in time for the obsequies. Mrs. Haugh, the
sister who lives in California, was too far away to
reach New York in time for the funeral.
Mr. Abraham Gould, who holds the modest office
of the purchasing agent of the Missouri Pacific Rail
road, with headquarters at St. Louis, is a good natured,
generous man and immensely popular along the line.
Came to the Rescue.
Mrs. Northrup is the elder sister. She lives in a
handsome house in the city of Camden, which her
brother Jay is credited with having given her. Many
years ago she married Northrup, a poor tanner in the
Pennsylvania hills. He was a widower, with six
young children. When his wife had added five boys
and three girls to the number Nordirup gave up the
battle of life and killed himself.
Lt was then that the wealthy brother came to the
rescue and gave the overburdened widow a helping
hand and educated her children.
The kindness of Jay Gould toward his oldest sister
was not wholly in the nature of charity. Gratitude.
entered into it also. They had been almost insepa
rable companions when they were young, and to her
he owed his first knowledge of figures and much
of the shrewd sense with which he started out to buck
the tigerish world.
The following officers of the Missouri Pacific Rail
road telegraphed their intention of attending' the

PREPARATIONS FOR THE" OBSEQUIES. 399
funeral : — Assistant-General Manager Smith, General
Auditor Warner, Local Treasurer Smith, General
Solicitor Cockran and Assistant General Solicitor
Waggeman. Director of the Union Pacific Millard,
of Omaha, was the only Western representative of that
road, besides Mr. S. H. H. Clark, who would be able
to reach the city in time for the obsequies. Most of
these named held confidential relations toward Mr.
Gould. The final preparations for the funeral were com
pleted, there being only one or two points left unsettled,
as, for instance, whether the entire top of the coffin
should be removed when the body is exposed for
viewing, and some minor question as to the style of
top to be employed. The undertaker's assistant said
that he had had pictures taken of the casket, but that
_ until the latter questions were settled no one was to
be permitted to see them.
Strictly Private.
No one not personally acquainted with the Goulds
would be expected or permitted to enter the house
for the funeral services. This was the final conclusion
reached by the family after carefully canvassing all the
possibilities. The casket would be placed in position
in the morning between the two side windows in the
front parlor nearest to Fifth avenue. Camp chairs
would be placed as close together as possible through
out the halls and rooms of the parlor floor. It was
expected that there would be seating accommodations
for between two and three hundred persons.

400 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. *
The clergymen, Drs. Paxton, MacCracken and
Terry, were to stand in the hall beside the foot ofthe
stairs and the quartet choir would be near the door
of the parlor. An organ, played by the organist of
the West Presbyterian Church, would furnish the
accompaniment. The services would begin promptly at four o'clock
in the afternoon of December 5th, .and the programme
would be as follows :
Anthem by choir.
Hymn, " Lead, Kindly Light."
Presbyterian Burial Service.
Hymn, " Nearer My God to Thee."
Prayers.
Benediction.
The friends would then be permitted to pass in
review beside the casket, and then the family would
descend from the upper floor and bid farewell to the
remains of the father, brother and grandfather, and
the coffin would be sealed.

CHAPTER XXVI.
" Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes."

»

On the 5th of December, in the kindly presence of
men and women who had known him in the business
and social walks of life and amid the hushed splendors
of his stately home in Fifth Avenue, the simplest of
funeral rites were practised over the clay of the dead
Jay Gould, and it was sealed away forever from the
sight of man.
All that was decorous and seemly marked that fu
neral of the millionaire. The shaded rooms were lit
by incandescent globes, which threw a rich and gem
erous gl,ow upon the magnificent furniture, the tapes
tries, the walls clothed in silk and velvet, and blossom
ing with paintings from great masters, the sombre
silver mounted casket buried in a magnificent mass
of flowers from which looked forth a strong and peace
ful face.
From out the solemn hush, with just the echo of a
roar sounding from the street through padded walls
and doors, came the notes of rich and solemn music,
and the tones of clergymen in invocation and the read
ing of solemn lessons of hope and admonition from
the Scriptures. And when all the seemly service was
ended the seemly company passed out into the street
26 (401)

40tf

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

once more and left the dust ot tne deal to tne care
and tears of those who loved it.
Thus was the funeral of Jay Gould.
A Motley Drama.
But what a drama it was which was being enacted
on the stage without the house ! No seemliness here,
and no decorum ! No solemnity nor hush. The worst
elements of our poor human nature seemed to have

?HK FAMILY TOMB AT WOODLAWN.

coucen crated on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-
seventh ofri-^^i-. ?nd it required an actual show of force
to keep tne crowd in bounds.
Like bees abo'" ~ "'igar Karrel the horde of the un
washed buzzed around this palace of the rich man
dead. Here was as motley a crowd as that of the
Mother Goose rhyme when the " beggars have come
to town."

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 403
" It jeems as if an impression had gone abroad
throughout the slums that there was to be a grand
distribution of the dollars at Jay Gould's funeral, for
nothing else, assuredly, could have brought together
such a ragtag and bobtail ofthe city's population.
Men out at elbow stood shoulder to shoulder with
men literally walking on their uppers. Women with
hooded shawls about their heads whispered together
as to " when they'd be let in to see the corpse," and
men with villanous countenances dodged restively
about or betoqk themselves to discretion and retreat
when they saw the sharp eyes of Inspector McLough-
lin's men fixed intently upon them. The carrion birds
of prey had gathered at the rich man's door, hoping
perchance to find an opportunity to get away with
plunder when the stout doors were unloosed.
But they reckoned without their host, every one.
Woman's Curiosity.
Shoulder to shoulder with these foul gutter birds
were men and' women decently apparelled wno seemed
to be overcome with a mad frenzy of curiosity. ±ne
women especially were determined to get in, and the
way their tongues wagged fables as they sought to
pass the guardians at the door was amusing as well
as somewhat disgusting. Some of them were so per
sistent in their efforts that it needed forceful persua
sion to dislodge them from the vestibule, and if ever
Dr. Munn passed a bad sixty minutes it was during
the hour that he stood guard before the great door
which opened only at his knock.

404 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
A big policeman was the Horatius who kept the
steps, and life became a burden to him. He was
filled with the milk of human kindness when Captain
Reilly set him the task of sifting out the sheep from
the goats, but the unwashed adventurers quickly
soured it, and he developed into a first class cynic .
before the day was spent.
Once, when one of the five Central Office detectives
who stood between the gutter birds ahd possible loot
ing, came out upon the steps, the crowd took it for a
sign that they were to be allowed to snter and satisfy
their curiosity. A hundred women broke the bounds
and streamed up the steps and clogged the vestibule;
Others followed them, until the sidewalk in front of
the Gould residence was packed with a struggling
crowd, and not until the police massed their forces
and charged down the steps was a way cleared for
more welcome guests. Arrayed in Rod.
Police Captain Reilly had a large force ot reserves
ready for an emergency, but he wisely kept them out
of sight until their services were needed, so as not to
inflame the crowd and turn a good-natured throng
into a mob. He recognized vthe self-evident fact that
there were dangerous spirits in the throng, and he
made no more show of force than was necessary to
handle the obstreperous women.
There was one man in the crowd on whom the
detectives kept a close and wary watch. He seemed
to be a full-fledged anarchist. He wore a pair of

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES.

405

skin-tight trousers and flaunted the socialistic colors
in a huge red handkerchief about his neck. He was
unwashed, unshaved and as scurvy a looking fellow
as you could find in Fifth street or Avenue A. He
scowled upon the big house, but made no other

SCENE IN THE PARLOR AT T.HE FUNERAL.
demonsti ation until a reporter asked him if he spoke
English, and then he broke out into a string of shock
ing language and retreated up the avenue snarling
like a dog of evil temper.
As he was shambling across the avenue this unmis
takably bad citizen was nearly ridden down by a

406 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
carriage in which John Jacob Astor and his young
wife were riding. He turned and cursed them, too,
but he would have cursed them a thousand times
more bitterly if he had known that it was the wheels
of the As'tors which so narrowly missed him.
Of the two thousand or more who sought to gain
entrance perhaps one hundred and fifty were passed.
Many of those refused admission were well-dressed
men and women. Some were gray haired and
pleaded that they were old friends. A number came
armed with, the visiting cards of Edwin Gould, and it;
looked as if some one had engaged in a profitable
speculation. Friends and Foes.
Most of those who entered were men well known
in financial and railroad circles, whose faces alone
were passports. And no one who had any real busi-^
ness to be in the house was refused admittance.
Bankers and brokers, high officials of the Gould
roads, and the Vanderbilt roads also, of the Pacific
Mail and the Western Union, millionaires and multi
millionaires — men who had fought side by side with
Gould and fought against him — these and their ladies
made up the funeral company.
Some of them, perhaps, were just as full of curiosity
as those who beat upon the door without the pass
word, but if they were they hid their curiosity under
the cold cloak of -decorum. But the bulk, un
doubtedly, were personal friends and acquaintances
either of the man or his family, and their presence

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 407
was animated by a desire to pay a meed of respect
to his remains.
The first comers were ushered into the spacious
dining hall, sentinelled by a fine portrait of Jay Gould
in his prime of life. Here they were seated until the
room was full. Notables Who Were Present.
Among those in the room was the following dele-
gation from the Gould roads in the West :
B. B. Wagner, Western general attorney of the
Missouri Pacific, of St. Louis ; E. T. Atkins, vice-
president of the Union Pacific, of Boston ; Oliver P.
Mink, controller Union Pacific, of Boston ; Alexander
Millar, secretary of the Union Pacific ; Joseph T.
Harris, treasurer of the Union Pacific ; Joseph H.
Millard, Western director of the Union Pacific, of St.
Louis, and John C. Ward, director of the Union
Pacific, and John C. Wands, director of the Union
Pacific, from St. Louis.
When the dining-room was filled the late comers
were placed in the back parlor and the spacious hall.
turned for the nonce into a sanctuary, and a few were
placed in the front parlor beside the coffin and its
splendid facade of flowers.
Collis P. Huntington took a seat beside the coffin,
but changed it by request and was given a front seat
near the clergymen and next to Chauncey M. Depew,
who, with H. Walter Webb, came partly to represent
the absent Vanderbilts. Judge Rufus B. Cowing took
the chair he vacated. Mr. Whitelaw Reid sat near

408 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the remains of his old time friend and his face during
the simple services showed much emotion.
The broad hallway was well adapted for the pur
poses to which it was put. The stairs ran at right
angles to it, halfway between the front and rear, and
in the recess beside them was plenty of room for a
cabinet organ and the quartet choir, composed of Mrs.
Charles Herbert Clarke, who took the place of Mrs.
Clementine de Vere Sapio, who will not sing at
funerals: Mrs. Carl Alves and Messrs. Clark and
Bushnell. Organist P. A. Schuecker, of Dr. Paxton's
church, presided at the organ. The clergymen stood
at the foot of the stairs, where their voices could be
heard in all parts of the house, while the mourning
family with Dr. and Mrs. Munn, Mrs. Northrop, Mrs.
Palen and their children, Mrs. Shrady and Mr. Abra--
ham Gould sat at the head of the stairs and out of
sight of those below. Profusion of Flowers.
What pen can do justice to the wealth of flowers
whicn surrounded the casket of the Man of Silence,
siient iorever more? He was a lover of flowers, and
they buried him in them. Their radiance and their
redolence tilled the room. There were in all nearly
forty pieces.
From Mr. and Mrs. George Gould came a floral
broken column, which stood on a floral pedestal at the
head of the casket. The column proper was about
four feet high and a foot and a half thick. It was one
mass of beautiful full white roses, white carnations,

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES.

409

Roman hyacinths and delicate ferns. Springing from
the pedestal at the base were pink hued orchids&of the

SCENE IN FRONT OF THE GOULD MANSION.
Cattleya, Laelia and Cypripedium varieties. A bed of
beautiful Parma violets formed the broken top of the
column. The supporting pedestal was of white roses

410' LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
and Roman hyacinths, interspersed with ferns, and
palm leaves and palms were grouped around the
entire supporting base. Across the upper portion of
the pedestal, on a ground of white roses, in letters
formed of Parma violets, was the word, " Father."
Miss Helen Gould's offering was a large cross of
magnificent, delicately hued orchids. The cross stood
about three feet high, with broad arms of proportionate
dimensions. The beautiful exotics of which it was
formed were set in a background of green moss and
fern tips.
A wreath, fully four feet in diameter, and constructed
mainly of white roses and lilies of the valley, was sent
by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Gould. A ground of maiden
hair ferns backed the flowers, and clustered together
at one part of the wreath,- near the broad, white satin
ribbon, was- a bunch of purple orchids.
Simply Beautiful.
Miss Anna Gould's offering was beautiful in its
simplicity. It was probably the most expensive
tribute among the many there, and was composed of
rare white orchids. The varieties represented in the
bunch included the Phalvenopsis, Dendrobium, Cat-
tleya, Laelia and others of extreme rarity. For two
days a florist had been engaged in collecting the
flowers, which were gathered from private as well as
florists' conservatories. The bunch was tied with a
white satin ribbon.
Another simple, though exquisite, gift was a large

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 411
bunch of beautiful, fragrant white roses, the token of
Howard Gould.
A cluster of lilies of the valley nearly five feet in
length and with more than five hundred separate
sprays was the offering of Master Frank Gould.
Resting against the coffin was a bank of rare flowers
nearly four feet long and a foot and a half wide. It
bore the name of " Grandpa " worked in violets upon
a ground of W'hite.
And here it lay, amid the friends and flowers, the
chastened lights, the works of art, the Bouguereaus
and Benjamin Constants, the Munkacsys, the Gustave
Racquets, the Adolph Schreyers, and all the rest — the
empty casket which had held a mighty and puissant
genius ! Surely, if a funeral could be happy this man's
ought to be ! Last Sad Rites.
A merry little French clock in the dining-hall sounded
the hour of four. Anon the deep voice of a cathedral
clock in the parlor repeated the call more funereally.
Then Dr. Paxton, of the silver hair, followed by
Chancellor McCrackin, whom some mistook for
Edmund Clarence Stedman, and the florid Dr. Terry,
took their stations in the hallway and the brief services
began. Mr. Schnecker's arrangement ofthe anthem, " There
Is a Land Immortal," with solos for soprano and
contralto, was touchingly and beautifully sung. As
the sweet and tender notes went through the hall the
sound of weeping was heard up-stairs. But few of

412

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

the auditors below were visibly affected by the pathetic
suggestions of the scene or the melting music.
Dr. Paxton followed with an eloquent invocation,
which was as follows : —
"O eloquent, just and mighty death! whom none

TAKING THE BODY FROM THE HOUSE.

couldst outwit. Thou takest in thy toils, whom none
could convince. Thou persuadeth, whom none could
overthrow. Thou subdueth. Mighty death !
"Dire discouragement of human end, we bless God
for our Christian faith in which Jesus Christ hath abol-

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 4131
ished death. We bless Thee that He plucked the
stain from sin, that He robbed the grave of its victory
and that He filled the heavens with the ministrations
of our heavenly hope in His splendor, where we hope
to renew life beyond the tomb.
"We bless our Heavenly Father for Thy Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, for our knowledge that the grave
is not a dungeon, but a door opening into other worlds
and a new and higher life. We bless Thee that the
grave is not a terminal, the final resting place, the be
all and end all of man, but that it is only the stopping
place, an inn where we humble travellers sleep the long,
sweet sleep on the way to our new Jerusalem.
" May the Divine Spirit be present with us in these"
sad, solemn services, and may the light of the resur
rection morn shine into this darkened and bereaved
house, and may comfort that which God comforteth
His own touch with heavenly and helpful grace the
hearts of our friends here wounded, sore and bleeding
still for the loss of him they all loved so well."
Service for the Dead.
Dr. Paxton then read the Presbyterian modification
of the Episcopal service for the dead, including the
thirty-ninth Psalm, while Dr. Terry read the ninetieth
Psalm, and Chancellor McCracken offered a solemn
prayer, calling upon God to comfort those who .were
both fatherless and motherless and begging for " such
peace as the riches of this world cannot give."
Two more numbers, "Lead, kindly light," and

414 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
" Nearer, my God, to Thee," were sung by the choir
and the services were ended.
As the mourners filed out of the house many of
them stopped to look at the silent face in the coffin.
It was as Mr. Russell Sage had represented it to be
the day before. It was full and fair to look upon. It
bore none of the pinching finger marks usual in death
by consumption. The electric light cast quite a ruddy
tint upon It and it lacked the ashen pallor of death.
It was a strong face, a determined face, and yet some
how there was a kindly look in the eagle-like features.
" He was as kind a man as you ever met," said Dr.
Munn, looking down into, the coffin.
When all had departed from the house the members
of the family came down the stairs and sat with the
dead and told pleasant things about him. What bet
ter can we do than leave him in such loving company ?
Where Gould Rests.
On the highest point of beautiful Woodlawn Ceme
tery, overlooking Woodlawn Lake, is the Gould mau
soleum. The Ionic. temple of the dead was ready for
him who had been its master. The massive bronze
doors stood wide to receive the clay of the millionaire.
In the hall between the double tiers of niches or
spaces which are to receive the Goulds a scaffolding
had been erected. Upon and under this workmen
polished the marble and granite and burnished the
bronze. There is room for twenty caskets in the tomb, two
tiers of five on each side of the hall. In the second

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 415
space from the floor on the left, further from the door,
is the casket containing the remains of Jay Gould's
wife. The dead millionaire rests in the same space on
the right.
Each space is covered by a great slab of light
shaded marble. In the bronze disks fixed in the stone
are attached bronze rings, which serve as handles in
removing the slabs. On one of these was traced for
the direction of the marble cutter's chisel the inscrip
tion : —

JAY GOULD,
Born May 27, 1836.
Died December 2, 1892.

Outside laborers cleared away the show from the
paths leading from Central avenue to the mausoleum
and drained off the water. Few Visitors.
, There were few visitors to the tomb on the day be
fore the interment. A carriage passing along Central
avenue stopped for a moment and a woman, heavily
veiled, its only occupant, gazed for a moment upon
the tomb and then drove on. The workmen said that
only a few persons had been there during the morn
ing, though the tomb was open to the inspection of all
who wished to see.
Inquiry, was made whether any precautions were to
be taken to guard the tomb against grave-robbers,

416

LIFE OF JAY GOULD.

and it was ascertained that there would be none.
The mausoleum is as secure against desecration of
this kind as a safe deposit vault against the attack of
burglars. The two great granite blocks forming the
ceiling of the tomb weigh six tons each, while the
solid bronze doors are more than an inch thick. Mr.
Gould during life had more than once expressed his
horror of the outrage upon the body of A. T. Stewart,
and so when he asked for designs from the architects

SERVICES AT THE TOMB.
strength and security were the features which he par
ticularly demanded.
The Gould mausoleum is one of the most classical
specimens of mortuary architecture in the country.
The design is said to be derived from the famous
Maison Carre, at Nimes, France, built two thousand
years ago and to-day one of the best preserved and

EART^H TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 417
most beautiful specimens of Grecian architecture in
existence. Mr. Gould years ago owned a big plot in Wood
lawn near the entrance at the railroad station. He
sold this, however, and bought the present site of the
tomb, paying $50,000 therefor. It is a circular mound,
sloping gently, and takes in about an acre. It was
Mrs. Gould, it is said, who suggested the mausoleum,
and also that it be built somewhat after the style of
the old Parthenon.
The temple is built of Westerly (R. I.) granite.
Thirty columns support the roof, which consists of
granite slabs thirty-two feet long, each weighing fifteen
tons. The slabs are so joined as to be impervious to
water. The whole tomb weighs more than three
hundred tons, resting on a solid concrete foundation
eight feet thick. It was finished in December, 1 883,
each step of its progress having been carefully super
vised by an art committee. The cost of the tomb and
the plot amounted to nearly $150,000.
Jay Gould Entombed.
The road which all men must travel was travelled
on Tuesday, December 6th, by Jay Gould, and that
night he slept in the city of the dead, while men's
thoughts turned from his personality to the millions
that he left behind.
The burial was over. Now what of the last will
and testament? The man was dead; the puissant
intellect which had steered the bark of fortune amid
so many strong seas and dangerous shoals had ceased
27

418 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
to be among the things that be, but~the millions still.
remained to torment the world and weigh down the
shoulders of the possessors who, none the less, were
eager for the burden. How had those millions been
disposed ? That was the question on all lips. Had
Jay Gould, who has done so many surprising things,
done one more thing surprising and left some hand
some portion of his fortune to public or charitable
uses, or was it all left in the circle of his family ?
Perhaps it was not any of the public's business,
but the public, none the less, was interested mightily,
and so were the members of the family, too, until
they had heard the reading of the testamentary docu.
ment. But all things must be done decently and in order,
and it is not decent to think of monetary matters until
the ending of the funeral. Ready for Burial.
We can safely say that few mercenary thoughts
crept into the new Gould mansion in the early hours
when he who had been master — and such a kindly
one — was about to leave it forever.
For the last time the cover was removed from the
neat and tasteful little casket and the orphaned chil
dren gathered around in a solemn silence to take
their farewell look at features which were beloved to
them. Let us not intrude upon that parting. God
grant that the lesson in it sank deep in the hearts of
those who are to become stewards of so great wealth '

EARTH TO jsARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 419
and who can work ill or well with it in such great
measure. Only one or two of the most intimate friends out
side the immediate family — Dr. Munn, Russell Sage
and President Clarke — were permitted to share in the
last view, but all" of them were deeply and sincerely
affected. It is idle to say that Jay Gould did not have
real friends. It is also false and slanderous to say
that they did not truly mourn his death, albeit their
friendship may not have been wholly unselfish. Whose
is ? Ask of the winds !
Dr. Munn, faithful to the last, tried to throw the
public off the track regarding the time when the re
mains would be borne out upon the universal journey.
He said on Monday that it was to be at one p. m.,
though, strange to say, the detectives were ordered to
be at the house at nine in the morning. At the latter
hour he fixed the time of departure at noon, and
later at eleven or half-past the hour. Yet ten o'clock
was the hour set. Beginning of the End.
The first sign of preparation which fell upon the
public eye was at nine a. m., when Sexton Main's
supply wagon drew up at the house and the gorgeous
floral offerings were brought down and loaded on
board. The broken column, the pillows, the great
banks of roses and orchids filled the wagon to the
cover, and the crowd, which had been attracted to the
scene, breathed great " Ohs ! " and "Ahs ! " of satis-

420 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
faction and envy. It was almost worth dying for, to
ihave such a fortune of flowers laid upon your
coffin !
Of the ten carriages sent the last was turned
away, as it was not needed. The others were filled
as follows : —
In the first Chancellor MacCracken and the under
taker. In the second Mr. and Mrs. George Gould, Miss
Helen Gould and Harold Gould.
In the third Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Gould, Miss Anna
Gould and Frank Gould.
The fourth carriage was filled by the two sisters
and brother of the deceased and one of the daughters
of Mrs. Northrup, and the remainder by nephews
and nieces, Dr. and Mrs. Munn and Mr. S. H. H.
Clark. Journey to the Cemetery.
The long ride to the cemetery was marked by no
striking incidents save when about a mile below Wil-
liamsbridge a battery of about twenty huge dynamite
charges was exploded. The horses drawing the hearse
began to dance with excitement, and some of the
occupants of the carriages became very nervous lest
some catastrophe should follow, but the driver held
them with a stout rein and they arrived in safety at
the chapel entrance, from which the pure outlines of
the Grecian temple on Lakeview Hill could be plainly
seen. Four strokes upon the silvery bell marked the pass-

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 421
ing of the millionaire from the land of living man to
the monumental land of the dead. His body had
passed forever from the world where poor men come
and go, for on the tidy heights where it lies now none
but the rich are welcome.
All was ready at the beautiful tomb. The door was
opened, and on either side were shedlike tents to pro
tect the mourners from the cold. The outer box of
oak, zinc lined, and with a double cover, stood on a
bier between the tents. A tinker's stove, with its
blazing charcoal fire, a set bf soldering tools and a
new bar of silver solder stood beside it. For in the
modern form of burial there is no mingling of dust
with dust, but the dead are hermetically sealed and
locked away in vaults of marble and of granite.
The wind blew chill as the mourners gathered about
the casket, but the men bared their heads while Chan
cellor McCracken read the committal. Then with a
sonorous voice he prayed peace upon the dead and
peace to the living. Cemetery guards and a mounted
policeman kept back the crowd, which numbered fifty
persons. The following appropriate and beautiful prayer
will have an interest to many readers of this volume:
O mighty Father of mercy, thou only art perfectly
wise and kind ancl just and true and good. Therefore
it is our hearts turn to thee in every trying hour.
Strengthen us now as thou dost make us feel how
short a time thou dost grant for us to live.
O kindly light, lead" thou us on, that we may be

422 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
more like thee ; quicken our hearts in faith that we
may strive to be like thee : make us to castan anchor
in that land beyond death that we may not drift away
nor be very greatly tossed in the direction and con
duct of our business and our lives. Make us as thou
hast commanded us in the words of that holy apostle
which we have heard, to be steadfast and immovable
and always abounding in the work of the Lord. {
Our. Father in Heaven, pity those that mourn, have
special compassion upon the children of this home
whom thou hast sorely grieved. As a father pitieth
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
And because thou hast taken from the children of this
family in their early life both mother and father, do
thou now comfort them, O divine Comforter, as one
whom his mother comforts; pity them as one whom
the loving father pitieth ; grant unto them faith and
hope and love, thine abiding and most precious gifts.
Saviour and Father of grace, who wast here at one
time in this earth, the human image of the eternal
Father ; speak thou such words as thou didst speak to
one and another of thy children when thou wert here
among them. " Brother, be of good cheer, thy faith
hath saved thee. Son, be of good cheer. To the
little children, a new commandment I give unto you,
love one another."
Grant unto the bereaved ones of this household
that peace which this world with all its treasures does
not give, that good part which cannot be taken away,
and grant to us that after this life we may be united
with those whom we have loved and who have gone
before in the life immortal, in the heavenly city by the
river of life and the tree of life, where God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes, where there shall be no

EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO ASHES. 423
more sorrow, neither crying, neither shall there be any
more pain.
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy
name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as
it is in Heaven ; give us this day our daily bread ancl
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that tres
pass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen.
Committal to the Tomb.
When the Chancellor had finished the service a
cover of zinc was placed upon the lining and the un
dertaker's man began the tedious process of soldering
it on. It was a long operation.
George Gould broke down ancTwept into his hand
kerchief. Time and again he turned away, overcome
by his emotion, and peered out through a crevice in
the tent while mastering his emotion. The rest of the
children were more or less overcome.
At length the work was done and the oaken cover
screwed tightly down. Then the coffin was borne in
side and placed in the cell reserved for it, the one
opposite that wherein lies the body of " Helen Miller
Gould, wife of Jay Gould." A beautiful resting place !
A palace of the dead !
Gathered about the door were the mourners, who
watched the placing of the coffin, the swinging of the
slab and the piling up against it of the commemora
tive flowers. A brief benediction followed and the
thing was done. Jay Gould was history ; he was in>
mured for time and eternity.

CHAPTER XXVII.
Mr. Gould's Last Will and Testament.
A full abstract of the last will and testament of Jay
Gould, which was read to his family on Tuesday night
at No. 579 Fifth Avenue by Judge Dillon, was given
to the press the same afternoon by order of the ex
ecutors, George J., Edwin, Howard, and Helen M.
Gould. The lion's share of the vast estate goes to
-George J. Gould. He gets a round $5,000,000 in
cash and securities, an equal share of the residuary
estate, and is expressly given the control of the
proxies of all the securities. George's eldest boy,
little Jay Gould, is the only grandchild put down for
a bequest. He gets $500,000 in cash.
In the special bequests Miss Helen Gould gets the
family residence, No. 579 Fifth Avenue, and its con
tents, and also has the use of the place at Irvington,
with $6,000 a month to keep it up. She is expected
to keep a home for Anna, Frank and Howard, until
the youngest comes of age, when " Lyndhurst " will go
into the general estate.
Edwin is the only other child to have a special be
quest. He gets the house No. 1 East Forty-seventh
street, with its contents. Mr. Gould's sisters and
(424)

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 425
brother get $25,000 apiece in cash and an annual in
come of $2,000 each for their lives.
Very Strict Provisions.
The remainder of the great property is to be divided
into six equal parts, and George, Edwin, Helen, Ho
ward, Frank and Anna Gould will receive the income
for their lives. They cannot dispose of it, except by
will to their issue, and if one should die without issue
the share will be divided among the remaining chil
dren. George, Edwin, Howard and Helen are appointed
executors and trustees of the will, and in case of
death the- vacancy shall be filled by Frank or Anna
when they become of age. A curious provision is
that any child marrying without the consent of a ma
jority of the other children shall forfeit half of his or
her share of the estate to them.
Abstract of the Will.
The full text of the abstract given out by Judge
Dillon yesterday is here given :
The original will is dated December 24th, 1885,
during the lifetime of his wife, Helen D. Gould. It
made various provisions for her benefit, which failed
in effect by reason of her death before the death of
her husband. After and in consequence of her death
Mr. Gould, on the 16th day of February, 1889, exe
cuted the first codicil to his will, making such changes
as became necessary by the death of his wife. A
second and a third codicil to his will were executed on
the 21st of November, 1892. Taking the will and

426 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
codicil together, the following is an accurate ai.d full
summary of the provisions thereof:
First, the specific legacies. There is given to his
sister, Mrs. Northrup, and her daughters the three
lots of ground in Camden, N. J., on which his sister
lives. There is also a specific bequest to Mrs. North
rup of $25,000 and the further sum of $2,000 annually
to be paid to her during her life in equal quarterly
payments. To his sisters, Mrs. Anna G. Hough and Mrs.
Elizabeth Palen, and to his brother, Abraham Gould,
there is given the sum of $25,000 each and also the
further sum of $2,000 annually during their lives, pay
able in equal quarterly payments. To his daughter,
Helen M. Gould, he gives in fee simple absolute the
house in which he lived, No. 579 Fifth Avenue, and
all of the. furniture, books, paintings, statuary, silver
plate and household contents therein.
Providing for the Children.
To his son Edwin he gives in fee simple absolute
the house No. 1 East Forty-seventh street, with all the
furniture and household contents therein. To his
daughter Helen he made a special bequest of his por
trait painted by Herkomer. „ He also gives to his
daughter Helen, until his youngest child shall arrive
at age, the use of his residence at Irvington, commonly
called " Lyndhurst," free of taxes, with the use of all of
the furniture, books, paintings and household contents
therein ; and also the sum of $6,000 per month, stat
ing that this was done in the expectation that his

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 427
minor children, Anna and Frank, as well as his son
Howard, will, during the period above provided for,
make their home with his daughter Helen.
To his namesake and grandson, Jay Gould, son of
George J. Gould, he gives the sum of $500,000, to be
held in trust for the said grandson by George J.
Gould, with "authority to apply the same to the sup
port and education of the said grandson, and to pay
one-fourth of the same to him at the age of twenty-
five, one-fourth at the age of thirty and the remaining
half at thirty-five, with power to pay the same at ear
lier periods in the discretion of his father.
The Lion's Share.
To his son, George J. Gould, he makes a bequest
substantially in the following words :
" My beloved son, George J. Gould, having devel
oped a remarkable business ability and having for
twelve years devoted himself entirely to my business
and during the past five years taken entire charge of
all my difficult interests, I hereby fix the value of his
services at $5,000,000, payable as follows : — $500,000
in cash, less the amount advanced by me for the pur
chase of a house for him in Fifth avenue, New York
city; $500,000 in Missouri Pacific six per cent, mort
gage bonds ; $500,000 in St. Louis, Iron Mountain and
Southern Railway Company's consolidated five per
pent, bonds ; $500,000 in Missouri Pacific Railway
trust five per cent, bonds ; 10,600 shares of Manhat
tan Railway stock ; 10,000 shares of Western Union

428 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
stock, and 10,000 shares of Missouri Pacific stock, all
to be taken and treated as worth par."
He appoints as executors ancl trustees of his will
his sons George J. Gould, Edwin Gould and Howard
Gould, and his daughter Helen M. Gould, with a pro
vision that in case a vacancy shall happen by death or
otherwise his son Frank J. Gould is to be an executor
and trustee when he shall have reached the age of
twenty-one years, and in case of another vacancy he
appoints his daughter Anna Gould to fill such
vacancy when she shall have reached the age of
twenty-one years ; no bonds to be required of the
executors and trustees.
George J. Gould and Helen M. Gould are appointed
guardians of Anna Gould and Frank J. Gould during
their minority. All in Trust.
All the rest of his estate is devised and bequeathed
to the said executors and trustees in trust, first to
divide the same into six equal parts or shares and to
hold and invest one of such shares for each of his
said children — George J. Gould, Edwin Gould, How
ard Gould, Frank J. Gould, Helen M. Gould and Anna
Gould — with authority to collect and receive, pay and
apply the income thereof to each child for life, with
power to each to dispose of the same by will in favor
of issue and in case of death without issue the share
of the one so dying to go to the surviving brothers-
and sisters and to the issue of any deceased child,
share and share alike per stirpes and not per capita.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 429
He directs that these trusts shall be kept separate and
distinct and that the accounts thereof shall be sepa
rately kept ; that no deductions shall be made by rea
son of any gifts or advancements heretofore made to
or for any-of his children.
In case of differences of opinion among the execu
tors and trustees as to holding and retaining securi
ties or investments in managing the estate, he directs
that so long as there shall be five executors and trus
tees the decision of four shall be conclusive, and
when four that the decision of three shall be conclu
sive, with a further provision in the codicil of Novem
ber 21, 1892, as follows:
"His Judgment Shall Control."
"The better to protect and conserve the values of
my properties it is my desire, and I so direct and pro
vide, that the shares of any railway or other incor
porated companies at any time held by my executors
and trustees or my said trustees shall always be voted
by them or by their proxies at all corporate meetings
as an unit ; and in case my said executors and trustees
or my said trustees do not concur as to how such stock
shall be voted, then, in view of the fact that my son,
-George J. Gould, has for years had the management
of my said properties and is familiar with them and
with other like properties, I direct and provide that in
such an event his judgment shall control, and he is
hereby authorized and empowered to vote the said
shares in person or by proxy in such manner as his
judgment shall dictate."

430 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
There is the usual provision in the will that the
property of his daughters is for their sole and separate
use, free from any estate or control of their husbands,
and prohibiting all dispositions or charges by any of
the legatees by way of anticipation or otherwise.
There is a provision that if any of his children
marry without the consent of a majority of the exe
cutors and trustees then the share allotted to such
child shall be reduced one-half/and the other half shall
be transferred to such persons as, under the laws of
the State of New York, would take the same if the
testator had died intestate.
Judge Dillon refused absolutely, and so did George
and Edwin Gould, to give any further particulars of
the will. They would not even give the names of its
three witnesses, and professed to have no idea as to
when or where the will would be probated. They
also refused to give any idea of the amount of income
which each of the Gould children will enjoy, and would
not tell what the provisions in Mrs. Gould's favor in
the body of the- will were.
But on Monday, December 12th, the will of the
great railroad king was admitted to probate and its
full provisions became known.
$72,000,000.
In an affidavit accompanying the will the total value
of the estate is estimated at $72,000,000 — $2,000,000-
in real estate and the remainder in personal property.
The collateral inheritance tax, which, will go to the
State, will amount to about $700,000. If paid within

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 431
six months the law allows a rebate of five per cent.,
or $35-°oo. The comptroller's fees for collecting the
tax wiA be about $10,000.
Ex-Judge Dillon, counsel for the executors, brought
the will and papers to Surrogate Ransom's chambers.
The Surrogate called ih a Probate Clerk and the docu
ments were turned over to him. The people interested
were cited to appear December 27th.
Where the Gould Millions Will Go.
The names of the heirs and the estimated amounts
they will receive are :
George Gould about $15,000,000.' Of this $5,000,-
000 is a specific bequest in payment for his services in
managing his father's business.
Edwin Gould, $10,000,000 and the house where he
lives, valued at $60,000.
Helen Gould, $10,000,000, besides the family
residence on Fifth Avenue, the use for life of the
country house and $6,000 a month for household ex
penses. Howard Gould, $10,000,006.
Anna Gould, $10,000,000.
Frank Gould, $10,000,000.
Jay Gould, son of George, $500,006.
Sarah Northrup, sister, $25,000 cash, a house vak
ued at $15,000 and a life annuity of $2,000.
Anna G. Hough, sister, $25,000 and a life annuity
of $2,000.
Elizabeth Palen, sister, $25,000 and a life annuity
of $2,000.

432 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Abraham Gould, brother, $25,000 and a life annu
ity of $2,000.
The will is dated Dec. 24, 1885. There are three
codicils, the first made shortly after the death of the tes
tator's wife. The others were added Nov. 21, 1892,
only a few days before Mr. Gou4d's death. Indications
are that they were prepared in a hurry. The will and
the first codicil evidently were drawn carefully by a
clerk from some rough draft. The last two codicils
were written roughly in Mr. Dillon's own hand, and
the signatures of Mr. Gould were scrawly and
almost illegible — very unlike his unvarying, well-
balanced autograph as attached to the will itself.
Codicils Drawn in a Hurry.
It is easy to imagine that on that day in November
Mr. Gould believed hi.s end was close at hand and
sent post haste for his lawyer. The disposition of his
entire estate had been made in the former codicil,
providing finally that the residuary estate be divided
between the sons and daughters. But as a farewell
token to his kinsmen, it would seem, Mr. Gould added
first an annuity of $2,000 each for his brother and
three sisters, and then came the bequests to his little
grandson and namesake and to George and Helen.
This codicil was signed and sealed, and the witnesses
were Mr. Dillon, the drawer; Dr. Munn, the family
physician and Margaret Terry, a servant.
Later in the day it must have occurred to Mr.
Gould that he had omitted something, for the second
codicil was drawn, leaving the contents of the Fifth

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 433
avenue house to. his daughter Helen, and giving his
son Edwin the house in Forty-seventh street.
Mrs. Gould, Brother-in-law Daniel S. Miller and
Thomas T. Eckert were to have been among the
executors under the original will. The dqath of
Mrs. Gould changed the disposition of the estate en
tirely. Certain provisions of the will occasioned much pub
lic comment, particularly those concerning the mar
riage of the younger children. The following is the
text of the document relating to the prospective hus
bands of the daughters :
The beneficial interest of each of my daughters in
the trust property and in the trusts hereby created is
hereby declared to be for her sole and separate use,
entirely free from any right, estate or control of her
husband, and her separate receipt and acquittances
shall be sufficient without the assent or joinder of her
husband. Bequest to a Grandson.
To my son George J. Gould I give and bequeath
the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000),
in trust, however, for the use and benefit of my name
sake, Jay Gould, son of the said George J. Gould.
Said George J. Gould, trustee, may apply the same,
in his discretion, to the support and education of my
said grandson during his minority, and when the said
grandchild shall attain the age of twenty-five (25)
years the said trustee shall pay over to him one-fourth
of the said bequest, and when he shall attain the age
28

434 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. J
of thirty (30) years another fourth, and when he"shall
attain the age of thirty-five (35) years the remaining
half thereof; but subject to a power in the "said trus
tee to pay over the same, or any proportion thereof,
at an earlier period or periods after my said grandson
shall attain his majority, if in the judgment of the
said George 1. Gould he deems it wise and best to do
so. "Jay II." it was remarked, "will have quite a fair
start when he is old enough to handle his own affairs.
If he shows any of the ability of his grandfather and
father in financial transactions, mark my word, he will
be the third ruler of the House of Gould."
No Contest Probable.
Jay Gould's will, so far as his nearest relatives are
concerned, will remain uncontested. Philadelphians
were waiting with natural interest to observe how
much his sisters, Mrs. Sarah B. Northrup, and Mrs.
Gilbert S. Palen, who lives very modestly, but with
cosy comfort in Germantown, would get out of their
dead brother's $72,000,000.
They were surprised, of course, that the ladies got
so little : only $25,000 each and an income of $2000
for life, with the lots on which Mrs. Northrup's resi
dence and school stands, thrown in with her share.
The cash legacy will not go far in either family, for Mrs.
Palen and her husband have two children, and Mrs.
Northrup, who is a struggling widow, has eight chil
dren, five sons and three daughters, to distribute the
money among. The income, of course, will be useless

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 435
so far as the sons and daughters are concerned, unless
their parents live long enough to save something out
of it, for it ends with the lives of the present legatees.
None of the children have received any specific lega-,
eies from their celebrated uncle.
The Sisters are Satisfied.
Nevertheless both of Mr. Gould's sisters are alto
gether satisfied with the way he has disposed of his
fortune. Mrs. Northrup gave this assurance so far as
she was concerned again and again, and deplored a
rumor which had been set afloat to the effect that she
purposed contesting the will.
"Such a rumor is more than annoying," she said
earnestly. "There is absolutely no foundation what-.
ever for it. I am satisfied with what has been done
for me, for really all that has been done is more than
the world will ever know. My brother was very dear
to me."
TVIrs. Northrup's relations with her dead brother
during his lifetime were of the most cordial character
and the news of his death caused her intense grief.
She has many of his characteristics, strong will, an
aversion to notoriety, a disinclination to depend on or
even seek favor, and a sturdy self-reliance that prefers
to make its own place in the world.
A Friend in Need.
-Her husband has been dead some years and as she
was left with so large a family of children her fight
for existence and place was naturally a hard one.
Jay Gould, who beneath his crust had a kind of admir-

436 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
ation for those who were willing to help themselves
and was himself willing to aid them, extended a sup
porting hand to his struggling sister, and built the
school, in Camden in which she, helped by her daugh
ters, has earned an independent livelihood. It was
always supposed indeed among their friends that Mr.
Gould had given this property to her outright, and
there was some little surprise manifest when it was
found that the lots must have remained in his possession
until death, as he bequeathed them to her by his will.
Dr. Gilbert S. Palen, Mr. Gould's brother-in-law,
was as positive as Mrs. Northrup in his expression of
satisfaction with the will. He said : " My wife is not
at all inclined to question her late brother's action to.
ward her. It is all right and there is no fault to be
found with what Mr. Gould has seen fit to order. The
discussion of the will is not a matter for the public,
though, unfortunately, the will had to be published."
Why Charities were Left Out.
The fact that Mr. Gould gives not a dollar to charity
in his will has awakened even wider comment than
the circumstance that relatives so near as his own
sister received so little. But his relatives are altogether
satisfied on that point too. Dr. Palen said : " Why
Mr. Gould did not leave any money to charities is not
known to us. He had his own way of dispensing
charity and no doubt his family will follow his example
in this respect. But he was a man who never let his
left hand know what his right hand did."
" But did his right hand ever do anything ? "

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 437
" Yes " — with some fire — "a great deal, but he did
not speak of his benevolences and it is not for his
friends to speak of them."
Mrs. Northrup, however, was not quite so vigorously
silent on this point. She said : " I do not know what
his charities were when he was alive. He wanted no
one to know about his doings in this respect. There
are no public bequests. But his children understand
what he was accustomed to do in a charitable way and
why should noj they do the same ? One thing is to
be considered in connection with the will. It is this:
Of the 100,000 men in the employ of interests con
trolled by my brother during, his lifetime, not one will
lose his position or be affected by Mr. Gould's death.
The estate will not be given into hands of people
whose plans might clash and disturb affairs. Many
people may not look on this as benevolence on the
part of Mr. Gould, but it certainly means much to the
men who were employed indirectly by him."
The 3Iarring-e Clause.
The marriage clause in the will was also a matter
of wide comment. The mind of the financier, after
determinino- the hard cash interests of his children,
turned to the heart impulses of his sons and daughters
who are still unmarried, and dictated a clause of his
will which, if violated, means a forfeiture of millions
on the part ot the son or daughter who marries with
out the consent of a majority of the other members
of the Gould family. There are four of Mr. Gould's

438 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
children affected by this codicil — Miss Helen Gould,
Miss Anna, Howard and Frank.
As both the marriages of George J. Gould and his
brother Edwin were said to be the result of love
matches, approved by their father, speculation is heard
on what possessed the elder Gould to act in such a
manner toward his unmarried children. That Jay
Gould had a definite , object in taking such a course
was learned from Mrs. Nuorthrp.
"I have no right to speak of the secrets which have
been intrusted to me in that respect," she said, when
the marriage of her brother's children was touched
on. "That is something the public have no right to
ask about. Mr. Gould had a reason but I cannot ex
plain it."
Mrs. Northrup's manner indicated that she was
thoroughly familiar with her brother's views on the
marriage of his offspring. The secret, however, which
she was given in confidence in her relation as a sister,
was held by her to be inviolable.
Dr. Palen, when interrogated on the same subject,
did not intimate that he was in possession of a knowl
edge of Mr. Gould's motive, but said : " The Gould
family is a sympathetic and a harmonious one. It is
not at all likely that a member of it would act con
trary to the judgment of the others. And to preserve
this feeling of mutual respect, Mr. Gould may have
thought it proper to make a provision in his will, cov
ering the point in question."

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 439
Many people were inclined to the opinion that the
codicil was added to keep the Gould millions as nearly
intact as possible. "The House of Gould has been
formed," said one man who was displeased with the
idea. " Gould has left his affairs in such a condition
that his son George is the dictator, the head of the
family, and the spirit who will rule with as strong a
hand as his father did before him, and everything has
been done to hold the Gould securities in one big
lump," Just Like Royalty.
The family council created by Gould was likened by
another observer to the restrictions by which royal
families marry, and the means taken to preserve the
succession to crowns without taint of plebeian blood.
" In the case of the Goulds," he said, " it is money
which is being watched more than a pedigree." The
members of the royal family of Great Britain, when
about to marry, have other interests to consult than
those of their own personalities.
Touching this matter a lawyer said, after delving
into Blackstone : " The king or queen has the right to
sanction or oppose marriage of royal personages.
There is one provision which states that when they
have passed beyond the age of twenty-five years they
niay appeal to the king's council, giving a notice of
twelve months, and should Parliament not interfere
the marriage may take place without the king's con
sent." In the case of the Goulds, however, unani
mous consent of the family council is required, or if any

440 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
member marries without it he or she forfeits one-half
of his or her inheritance. Gossip in Wall Street.
The lack of charitable bequests did not surprise
Wall street, but there was no dearth of comment on
the matrimonial board into which four of the children
have been constituted, with the two Mrs. Goulds as
ex-officio advisory members. Bets were offered that
¦if the other members of the household attempted to
act as a committee of the whole when an engagement
was to be announced that in some shape the interven
tion of lawyers would be necessary, and all the possi
bilities of this selection of bride and bridegroom by
arbitration were discussed. As it stands now an ob
stinate love match without family consent may cost
Howard or Frank, or Helen or Anna, a round sum of
nearly $8,000,000, and put this amount into the other
five pockets of the present sextette.
' In Wall street the Gould will is accepted with
something akin to a vote of thanks. The satisfaction
is in the fact that there is to be no partition sale, with
the flinging upon the market of such a batch of easily
affected stocks as Jay Gould had gathered. Even a
partition of the securities in the will would have made
many owners and possibly clashing of interests, where
now one hand will cast the vote represented by 'this
enormous aggregate of stocks. This voting power
rests absolutely and individually with George, and
makes him even more than his father a power in Wall
street, at least for a time.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 441
No Life Insurance.
The most magnificent block of life insurance that
mortal man ever carried was held by Jay Gould. The
financier may not have been aware of its existence,
but the chances are that he was. He could look a
great ways into the future, Mr. Gould could, if there
was any money in it. He had to pay no cash pre
miums on his insurance and no agents ever got com
missions on it. When he died the loss did not fall on
any of the companies with big office buildings down
town, and it was lucky for them, for Mr. Gould's
life insurance amounted to several million dollars.
Wall street people and those familiar with the
world of stocks and the ticker will understand this in
surance story more readily than those less sophisti
cated persons who do their speculating with cards and
chips and on green tables, or who do not speculate at
all, and know no more of finance than is required to
buy or sell groceries or draw a weekly salary for ser
vices rendered. For this latter class an explanation
is required. Immense Increase of Values.
Here it is: When Jay Gould died the bulk of his
estate consisted of the securities of three great cor
porations — the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, the
Western Union Telegraph Company and the Missouri
Pacific Railroad. These stocks had a certain value on
Thursday, Dec. 2, when Jay Gould lay on his death
bed. When he was no longer a living, breathing
speculator, but a mere lump of clay, incapable of in-

442 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
fluencing the stock market, these three stocks began
to increase in value.
Eight days after his death the actual cash value of all
the stock of these three corporations was $15,831,335
greater than on Dec. 2. The simple change from the
man Gould 'to Jay Gould's corpse carried with it the
enormous increase in the value of his securities which
lay undisturbed in his strong box, mere bits of printed
paper, all the while. If that isn't a princely sort of
life insurance, what is it ? It is certainly something
which takes a money value at death in fact, when be
fore it had only been in prospect.
Fluctuations in Stocks.
On the day the will was probated the Gould stocks .
started in for another climbing spell. The pace was
getting too brisk and was liable to break away into a
wild rush, so a sharp rap on the knuckles of the mar
ket, such as moneyed operators know how to adminis
ter, brought about a slump of a couple points in
Western Union and the upward movement was
checked. A lot of late buyers on small margins were
shaken out and a steadier tone given to the stock.
There was really no foundation for the rise.
Jay Gould was dead, therefore he was incapable of
harming the market. Operators who refused to sit
in boards where he occupied a chair are now willing;;
to become identified with the two really valuable prop-"
erties he had gathered in, and so both Western ;
Union and Manhattan come bobbing up like corks.:
released from some leaden sinker.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.' 443
The increase in Western Union, Manhattan and
Missouri Pacific was $16,952,710. -Of course all this
increase is not so much more wealth for the young
Goulds, since they do not , own all the stock of the
corporations named, but assume that a quarter or a
third is in the strong boxes of the dead millionaire,
now sealed by law, and the increment rises to over
$4,000,000 — a heap of life insurance such as no man
ever left before to enrich his sorrowing heirs.
As to the Inheritance Tax.
There was joy in the Comptroller's office when it
was learned that Jay Gould's will had been filed in
New York county, and that the personal estate sworn
to was $70,000,000.
Controller Myers said it was wholly discretionary
with the trustees under the will when they should
apply to the Surrogate for the appointment of ap
praisers to ascertain the taxable sum.
"But the law gives an incentive for prompt action
in that regard," he said ; " if the tax is paid within six
months there is a rebate of 5 per cent., which would
amount to $35,000. After six months a penalty of 6
percent, is added, running from the day of the de-
leedent's death. After eighteen months the penalty is
^increased to 10 per cent. As the trustees may save
$35,000 by paying the tax within six months they will
hardly miss the opportunity to do so."
Rights of the Heirs.
'¦''• The application to the Surrogate for the appoint
ment of appraisers to decide upon the value of the

444 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
estate is entirely separate from the proceedings to
appoint appraisers to ascertain the amount of the
inheritance tax. The former application must be made
within three months after the testator's death. The
Comptroller, or County Treasurer, as well as the
State and the heirs, has a right to be represented at
the proceedings before the appraisers ; he may even
appeal from the appraisers' judgment to the Surrogate,
and on questions of law to the Supreme Court, and
Court of Appeals.
The Comptroller's fee upon inheritance tax collected
for the State is 5 per cent, on the first $50,000, 6 per
cent, on the second $50,000 and 1 per cent, on all
sums additional. How his Enormous Fortune was Made.
Mr. Gould viewed life solely from the standpoint
of success, and no man in his line ever succeeded
more. Wither that success was worth the sacrifices
he made for it each must decide for himself. He.
began his career in Wall street with a mouoe trap and
ended it with a fortune of more than $70,600,000.
This is an achievement that commands a certain
amount of respect regardless of the methods by which
it was accomplished. Mr. Gould achieved his wealth
almost entirely by speculation ; he was successful far
beyond any other speculator that ever lived, and
earned the title of the Wizard of Wall street. Others
Vave amassed greater fortunes, as Commodore Van
derbilt through his combination of small railroads
into a mighty system, and Rockefeller through petro*

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 445
leum, but no man ever followed out Mr. Gould's
policy with such amazing results.
Mr. Gould very nearly resembled Napoleon in his
methods in that he used every means at hand to
achieve results ; both were exceedingly fertile in re
sources and both were audacious to a superlative de
gree. The difference lay in the fact that Gould never
undertook a Russian campaign nor fought a Water
loo ; neither did he spend his last years in philosoph
ical contemplation at St. Helena. As the character
of Napoleon was not without its excellent parts, so it
may be presumed that the arch-speculator was not
wholly bad, although it has never fallen to the lot of
any man in this country to meet with so much execra
tion and so little honest praise. When a certain point
was to be gained he spared neither friend nor foe ;
indeed, his foes were in by far the best position, for
' they counted on his enmity and respected his abilities.
And yet Mr. Gould differed from very many of his
craft only in degree. There were others who would
have done the same — indeed, tried it, only to fail or
to succeed moderately. A Shrewd Remark.
Many stories are told of his financial deeds, and
many, perhaps, apocryphal ; but the remark that he
made after he squeezed his life-long friend, Cyrus W.
Field, out of almost his entire fortune seems to be
authentic: "I left him his real estate," said Mr.
Gould. Mr. Gould was a. power.- No man has ever exer-

446 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
cised such control over speculation. He was feared
when he was actively engaged ; he was feared more
when he was not, for so Machiavelian was he in his
methods that no one believed what he said, even when
he told the truth, and so mysterious were his ways of
operating that he was accounted a factor at all times
in the speculative market, whether resting in New
Mexico or sailing the Caribbean in his yacht.
He was known and feared as much for what he did
not do as for what he accomplished. He was long
the banshee of Wall street. His methods were usually
aggressive, and every man who had a " bull " move
ment on hand feared him, often with good reason, and
more often without, for it would have been physically
impossible for one man to accomplish a tithe of what
was attributed to him.
Brilliant Successes.
Aside from his speculations Mr. Gould took a posi
tive course in regard to three or four great corporate
interests. The foundations of his great fortune were
laid in gold speculation, in which he was marvelously
successful. He made fortunes in Erie and other
stocks, but it was in the Missouri Pacific and the rail
roads connected with his Southwestern systems, in
Western Union and Manhattan elevated, and some
what less in Wabash, Pacific Mail- and Union Pacific
that he was directly interested in originating and build
ing up, although he speculated largely in these stocks
at the time he was in control of them.
In the first three he retained practically a con-

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 447
trolling interest until his death/and this control is to
be held intact by his children. The financial world
took his death very philosophically, and nearly all
stocks advanced. Time was not so long ago that his
death would have precipitated a panic ; but, partly
because he speculated very little just before his death,
partly because his interests are to be held together,
but, more than all, because this country is now infin
itely larger than even a Gould and his wealth, there
was scarcely a ripple on the sea of finance. Rather
there was from many quarters a sigh of relief that a
disturbing-element was removed from the street and
that the dreaded name of Gould would no longer be
one to conjure with. *
A Bugbear.
" I do not believe in ghosts, but I am awfully afraid
of them," said a brilliant woman.- This is something
of the feeling which the street has entertained towards
Mr. Gould for some time, for, although he did little
active speculation for some years, the name of Gould
was always one to conjure with and will not be for
gotten in this generation. Fortunate is it that the
fear of one man has passed and that his power to do
harm even by the magic of his name is gone.
Now that Mr. Gould is dead there will be an ava
lanche of unmeasured obloquy called down upon his
devoted head. It seems to us that this is scarcely
.called for now, since his life-work is ended. It is
rather the duty of every one to study his career and
reflect upon his character, to remember with satisfac-

448 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. i
tion that he was an extreme example of a type of men
who are not numerous, and to remember that he is
being borne to a premature grave because. he won
the success that others would have had if they could
have achieved it.
'Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we'll do more, Sempronius ; we'll deserve it.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
Who is to Succeed Jay Gould?
Who is the coming Jay Gould ? is the query now
frequently put in Wall street. Not the man with as
much money, not the man who will be a great power
because of that money, but the man who in methods
of planning and in carrying out those plans will take
the place left vacant by the great arch-millionaire.
No two agree upon a name ; in fact, it is doubtful
whether there will be a successor. Gould's methods
would not work now as when he carried them out.
Wall street has not now, as when Gould was in his
heyday, a great mob of lambs ready to follow any
clever bell-wether, about whose neck he had cleverly
tied the misleading bell. As a direct trader, or rather
as an operator on arid in the Exchange, Gould was
outwitted again and again. His schemes were "got
onto" almost every time, and professional operators,
such as Cammack, Woerishoeffer and Jim Keene,
were more clever than Gould in the sharp decep
tions and the bright bold ruses necessary to win in
such a battlefield as the Stock Exchange floor has
been for years.
Out in the open railroad world — allowing for the
tremendous difference between the men of brains,
29 (446)

450 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
pocket, and years — Henry S. Ives is the nearest pro
totype of Gould now in existence. They followed the
same code of morals, the same conception about meum
and tuum. They were both likely to strike at a time
and point very little expected,^ and while Ives has
already felt the arm of the law tapping him on the
shoulder, and is to that extent discounted in future
operations, he has the same plan of rigging the stock
market, while he is really playing for the control of
this or that property, the same plan of making big
bluff purchases and promises which marked Gould
when he was the active speculator instead of the
broken-down consumptive of the last few years.
No One to Wear the Mantle.
It is certain, so far as they can now be judged, that
neither of the sons will take the place of Gould, Sr.
The big fortune he made will grow. They could
hardly check its growth if thqy would, but the power
which that wealth gives will not be used to draw other
wealth to it. It is not thought that the Gould boys
could use it in such a way even if they would. Edwin
is the son of his father to a greater extent than George
in looks and in the secretive fashion of hiding his step
and doings. But he indulges in hobbies, and with a
young, ambitious wife will lose the one sole consuming
ambition to pile up money, which was the keynote to
the dead millionaire's life-work.
The coming Gould may come up out of the flock of
hustling young fellows who are crowding forward in

WHO IS TO SUCCEED JAY GOULD? 451
financial ranks, each anxious to strike the good thing
which is to make him a millionaire in a month.
An Era of New Methods.
The tendencies, however, are not to an extension or
repetition of the Gould methods. The modern method
is to the suppression of rivalry by the absorption of
the rivals, one by another. [This is the era of trusts.
It is seen just as clearly now as Gould, or Stewart, or
the elder Vanderbilt saw it that the big fortunes must
be taken out of the pockets of the people, and the
modern combiners say that that pocket is big and deep
enough to give a fortune to any one who will delve
deep enough into it. LWithout the opposition of a
healthful competition, protected by statute or by tariff
law the new monopoly magnates sit, a dozen little
Goulds, about a board room table instead of being a full
board, all in one, as Gould always -was in every enter
prise he appeared inj little as he was.
Russell Sage really knows more of Gould ways and
fashion of wealth gathering than any other man alive.
He has the inclination to continue them, but with Jay
Gould not about to consult it is doubtful whether Sage,
who so often did Gould a good turn as a backer, will
be heard of in speculative circles.
His Career Cannot be Repeated.
It is an open question, therefore, whether there is
any one who will take Mr. Gould's place and absorb
public attention as he has done for the past twenty-
five years, and the best informed men are inclined to
think that it would be impossible for a man even of

452 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Mr. Gould's ability to repeat his experience/ In the
first place the conditions are entirely different from
those which existed when he began his speculative
career. Then the country had just emerged from a
civil war which had been demoralizing to business
methods as it had to political life to some extent..
Moreover, when Gould began his career railway
speculation and development was in its infancy.
Commodore Vanderbilt had just discovered the essen
tial law of railway development, and had demonstrated
it by the consolidation of 'half a dozen small railroads
into one great corporation.
Wall street methods were quite different then from
those that exist to-day. The ticker was unknown, the
telegraph was not very greatly used, legislation was
entirely at the command of the operators of Wall
street, and the legal bars had not been put up to pre
vent certain movements then regarded as lawful,
although a very low standard of business morality
justified it then. The Chances Gone.
Moreover, the number 'of men of great ability en
gaged in speculative effort was comparatively less then
than now. Mr. Gould was therefore one of the first
in the field. He believed in the later years of his life
that it was impossible nowadays for any man or set
of men to engineer a great corner or to manipulate
the market as was done frequently between 1865 and
when last done in 1884. The Northwest corner out
of which Mr. Gould made so much money he believed

WHO IS TG SUCCEED JAY GOULD? 453
could not be again manipulated, even by the ablest
brokers with vast amounts of money at their com
mand. In addition to this, railroad building has reached its
climax, probably having touched that point in 1885.
The problems of to-day are rather those which con
cern the financiering of the obligations which were
entailed to pay for the building of these roads. New
ideas respecting some of these obligations prevail.
It is comparatively recently that owners of mortgage
securities have come to regard them, not as something
that can be foreclosed, nor as something that will evei
be paid, but as a permanent lien upon the property,
representing permanent obligations, something as the
stock does. The Problems of To-Day.
The problems of to-day are not so much how to get
control of railroads as how to command traffic which
yields the railroads their profits. Mr. McLeod, Pres-
ident of the Reading Railroad system, is coming to be
.. regarded as the later and in some respects the finest
example of this new development of the railways.
He is not seeking to control various systems so that
he may unload them on the market, or create new ob
ligations which may be used with speculative benefit,
but he is aiming to obtain for his parent system as
great an amount of traffic as is possible, or in other
words, to use a familiar Wall street term, to increase
its earning capacity.
Mr. Gould realized this later tendency at least ten

454 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
years before his death, for.it was about that time that
he abandoned speculative demonstration and changed
his methods so as to make the properties which
he controlled great and permanent profit earners.
The impression on Wall street is that there will be
no more great fortunes made swiftly through railroad
manipulation. Speculative endeavor must seek other
fields, and while the quality of the great speculator
must in the main resemble that which made Mr.
Gould's successes possible, yet it will have entirely
different problems to master. Some men think that
there will be great speculation in the industrials.
The Great Western Field.
Others believe that before the beginning of the
twentieth century speculation will be directed toward
the great lands of the West. (But the best impression
is that while the speculative element will always be
with us, the men of greater ability in the future will
be found operating iii the direction of colossal organi
zation, consolidation, the overcoming of competition,
and the mastery of different kinds of producing indus
tries^/ The impression is that while there are not
likely to be so many great fortunes created by any
one individual in his business career, a much larger
number of persons will nevertheless be able to make
sufficient fortunes.
As a great master of his peculiar methods in busi
ness, Mr. Gould leaves no successor. Many will at
tempt to imitate him in varied degrees, but there was
only one Jay Gould in the country as there was only

WHO IS TO SUCCEED JAY GOULD? 455
one Napoleon in Europe, and their methods perish
with them. The genius that created the great Gould
system out of next to nothing is not now a necessity
to perpetuate what he conceived and created ; and
under the direction of George Gould, conserved by
the liberal experience he has had under his father, the
Gould properties will doubtless be maintained to
the full measure of their intrinsic merits. Beyond
this there is little to discuss over the grave of Jay
Gould.

CHAPTER XXIX.
What was Said of the Railroad King.
Chauncey M. Depew passed the house of Mr.
Gould on the way to his office just after the announce
ment of the death had been made. Later in the day
Mr. Depew said :
"I first met Mr. Gould when he entered the railway
world by getting possession of the Erie road. The
New York Central and Erie were soon in such bitter
antagonism that Commodore Vanderbilt made up his
mind that the only way to protect his Central interest
was to control the Erie. , From that came the long
litigation and various laws which were passed by the
legislature, the history of which is so well known.
The interests which Mr. Gould acquired in Western
Union and in railroads more or 'less competitive with
the Vanderbilt system brought me in frequent con
tact with him, and gave me an opportunity of estimat
ing his powers and the elements of his success.
i " I have known very well all the great operators of
the last quarter of a century. They necessarily had
suggestiveness and quickness of resource ; but Mr.
Gould's peculiar power was in his courage and won
derful coolness under the most trying circumstances.
He had no faith in chance or luck in any enterprise
(456)

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD KING. 457
in which he was engaged or any cause which he was
fighting. He mastered not only the general conditions,
but every detail.
" He was like a general who has ascertained from
the most trustworthy sources the position and re
sources of the enemy, the defensive and offensive
opportunities of the territory, and had then made a
mathematical calculation of what can be accomplished
by the forces which he can bring into action.
Created Strong' Combinations.
"In determining upon a railway management which
should cover a large territory he selected a field where
he would not have to contest with old, well-established,
thoroughly equipped, and ably managed lines. In
stead of taking the ordinary course of risking his for
tune in fighting into the Pennsylvania, or the New York
Central, or the Baltimore and Ohio systems, he took
in hand the disorganized Southwest, created a combina
tion of great strength and covering very large territory,
and netted an enormous fortune from it.
" He possessed in a remarkable degree the genius
for making money and of making it without the
assistance of other people. If the matter upon which
you had an appointment with him was one which
could be adjusted, and both sides were willing, it was
a pleasure to transact the business.
"He was so clear and direct, so intelligent upon the
matter in hand that no time was wasted in useless
discussion on irrelevant facts, but the point was
arrived at at once and the possible concessions on

458 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
either side were considered and made. If the sub
ject, however, was one which he did not care to bring
to a head and his interests were adverse to the adjust
ment which you had called to bring about, he could
be as vague, and indefinite and unsatisfactory as any
man who ever lived.
Could Keep as Well as Get.
" That he has left one of the great fortunes of the
world demonstrates both his ability to accumulate and
the very much greater ability to keep.
" I met him about eight weeks ago. He struck me
then as being in feeble health, and he made no con
cealment of his apprehensions in regard to himself.
He said that he had trained his boys into familiarity
with every detail of his business, and had devolved
upon them responsibilities which had prepared them
for the event of his dying in a minute ; that if he
should so die — and from what he had been told it
might happen — his affairs would go on without dis
turbance or interruption under the management of
his sons, who knew what his ideas were, and in whom
he had confidence that they could carry them out.
"The death of a man like Mr. Gould, who owes no
debts and has great properties, creates no disturbance
in the financial world. The properties remain under
the guidance and control of the same mind, substan
tially, as before. The managers of the companies
continue in their places and power, and the sons step
so naturally into the father's place that the public never

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD KING. 459
discovers any halt or friction in the movement of the
well-appointed machinery.
" Had Mr. Gould died in the midst of one of his
great campaigns, there would have been a financial
revolution, because only the master mind who has
conceived can successfully carry out the scheme. But
of late years he had so far retired and become an
investor that the business world will not be disturbed
in any noticeable way by his death.
" Mr. Gould was socially a genial, pleasant man, a
good conversationalist, and singularly well up on
political questions and public men. He was well
" read in general literature, and talked like a specialist
upon some questions, such as the cultivation of flowers,
which interested him. He had a dry humor, with a
sarcastic tinge which came out unexpectedly and
struck like a burr. He will take his place among the
remarkable men of this generation."
Tribute from an Aiitag-onist.
E. Ellery Anderson had inmmate legal connections
with Mr. Gould, but always as an antangonist. He
was counsel in the suits of the holders of the
income bonds of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
Railroad and those in connection with the reorganiza
tion of that line. He was also one of the commission
appointed by President Cleveland to investigate the
Union Pacific's affairs in 1887.
" The developments before the Commission," said
Mr. Anderson, " were dramatic sometimes and always
intensely interesting. It gave me an insight into the

460 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
characteristics of Mr. Gould. Many intimate busi
ness connections with him have, as they continued,
intensified interest in the man. One thing always im
pressed me, and it is interesting in connection with
current statements and some popular impressions of
the man. It is this: I have always found, even to the
most trivial detail, that Mr. Gould lived up to the
whole nature of his obligations.
"Of course, he was always reticent and careful about
what he promised, but that promise was invariably
fulfilled. Not a Mere Speculator.
" Contrary to the popular impression, I do not think
that the basis of Mr. Gould's fortune was made as a
constructor or operator of railroads, or as a specula
tor, as we generally understand the terms. In that
sort of speculation I think he lost as often as he won.
But his successes were in an art which makes his
genius rank higher than those which are generally
recognized as his successes could do.
" Jay Gould was the absolute master of the art of
creating co-ordinate boards of directors that had com-
plete control of adverse interests. He persuaded
himself that it was just — to put it mildly — to allow his
representatives in both to vote upon both sides of
transactions in which interests were adverse.
"This characteristic was the kernel of the genius of
his successes, and his manipulations, first in the Erie;
then in the Wabash securities ; in the consolidation of
the Kansas and Denver Pacific with the Union Pacific;

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD KING. 461
in the deal between the Missouri Pacific and the Mis
souri, Kansas and Texas; in the International and
Great Northern, and also, but perhaps not so directly,
in the transactions with Manhattan Railway stocks
and bonds in this city proved it.
" These great business movements created no excite
ment in the outside world. The climaxes were not
dramatic outside of stock circles. Yet in these he
made fortunes. In some of them his profits aggre
gated from $10,000,000 to $ 1 5,000,000.
A Shrewd Motion.
"This financial art, of which he was such a master,
was best illustrated by the subsequent disclosures ofthe
proceedings by which the consolidation of the Kansas
Pacific and Union Pacific was accomplished. While
Gould was a director in the Union Pacific he acquired
the Kansas Pacific securities at 10 cents. With this
line and its adjuncts in his complete control he moved
at a meeting of the Union Pacific directors the con-
solidation upon equal terms of dollar for dollar.
" Boston men were in control of the directory, among
them Gordon Dexter. They objected to the proceed
ing and Gould's motion failed to carry. GouTd had
probably expected this refusal, and his foresight had
some useful plans. He came back to New York, and
within three weeks he had bought, at low prices, secu
rities of the Missouri Pacific, Kansas Central, and
minor roads with Western extensions. Then he an
nounced his intention of immediately building to the
Pacific by way of Salt Lake City.

462 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
"The Union Pacific people were startled at this
prospect of a parallel road and hurried to New York.
A meeting was held at Jay Gould's house. On half a
sheet of note paper, which I saw, were written the
terms of consolidation of the Kansas Pacific and
Union Pacific. By these terms not only, as was first
proposed by Gould, was Kansas Pacific and Denver
Pacific stock exchanged, dollar for dollar, for Union
Pacific stock, but the Union Pacific agreed to take
from Gould's hands, at the price he paid for them, the
Kansas Central and other securities he had secured as
his weapons.
" With this in mind Mr. Gould was asked during the
investigation, if it was in conformity with the ethics
of Wall street for the director of one road to build a
rival to the one in which he, with others, was inter
ested. " Mr. Gould hesitated perhaps twenty seconds and
then replied : ' No, that would have been wrong. I
gave up that plan and made other arrangements.'
" By those other arrangements, which I have ex
plained, he made a profit of $10,000,000.
Master of Men.
" This illustrated, too, Gould's capacity for managing
men, and playing them on the financial chess-board.'
He was always so far-sighted and adroit, that gener
ally unconsciously to those with whom he was asso
ciated, he made a combination of arrangements so
that it was to their interest to work with him. With
such conditions, cleverly planned, it was easy for

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD. KING. 463
Gould in a meeting to point out real advantages to be
gained by his propositions with roseate prospects of
success. " Mr. Gould knew every detail of the management
of his railroads and minute facts about obscure locali
ties which they traversedr I happened by chance to
call upon him once regarding the traffic of a little
way station. Mr. Gould just leaned forward in his
chair, extended the middle fingers towards some
neatly folded papers in a pigeon-hole, and from the
midst in a second drew out one which related to the
subject then of interest.
" He was always courteous in personal relation
ships, but not talkative. I think one of the most
pointed things he ever said was in answer to a ques
tion upon the tariff which was put to him regarding v
the increased cost of clothing as the result of the tariff
tax and what the workingman would do. That an
swer was that where the workingman used to have
two pair of trousers he would have to content himself
with one.
"That answer was printed in big letters upon
Cleveland posters during election, and I think that
it won a great many "thousand votes for tariff re
form." Gould Iiost Money in his Big Deals.
From the date of his earliest appearance in Wall
street, Mr. Gould was constantly engaged in litigation
concerning the interests with which he was identified.
His counsel has been varied because each of his mul-

464 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
titude of business interests was represented by its
own legal counsellor, and rarely in those cases in
which the public took some interest did the same
attorneys appear in more than one. For nearly ten
years prior to fifteen years before his death Thomas
G. Shearman was Mr. Gould's counsel.
Mr. Shearman was asked for his reminiscences
and impressions of the great financier. He said:
" Mr. Gould was, even with those intimately asso
ciated with him, a reticent, quiet-appearing man. He
was a very hard worker in point of application, and
worked a good deal. In times of financial excitement
or uneasiness he was at his desk by 8 o'clock each
morning, and often remained until 1 1 o'clock or mid
night. Power of Concentration.
"I have frequently known him to go with no more
than four or five hours sleep. When intensely inter
ested in any matter, he devoted his whole concentra
tion of thought upon that one thing, and would seem to
lose interest in things, often of greater pecuniary im
portance but of not so much commercial fascination.
Gould loved the intricacies and perplexities of finan
cial problems.
" While his success was owing, of course, to his
shrewdness and sagacity, it was because these quali
ties were applied to different efforts than those which
the world has generally credited as the source of his
success. I am satisfied that he lost money by some
of those speculations, pure and simple, which gave

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD KING. 465
him the widest prominence. All his gold specula
tions, his stock speculations — I speak of those which
were purely speculative as brokers use the term —
generally resulted in losses. This is the most mis
understood fact in Mr. Gould's career.
Foresight and Executive Ability.
" His shrewdness was in foresight and execution.
He possessed the art of building up, as well as pulling
down, a railroad. He had an eye for the future and
measured his plans by what he thought would be its
demands. It was along these lines that he made his
money. "One of the most important factors in his execution
of a deal was in concealing from others even an iffti-
mation of what he was going to do. Manipulation,
alone and unaided, of men and concerns was his
forte. " Mr. Gould was personally neither bold nor timid.
He was not extreme in any personal emotions or
habits. Russell Sage says Business.
Mr. Russell Sage was asked if he thought it likely
that the surviving members of the Gould family would
in any way alter their course of life ; whether the sons
would withdraw from the active prosecution of their
father's theories of business, and as to the likelihood of
the family cultivating the social side of New York life,
as the younger generations of the Vanderbilt and
other wealthy families had done.
"Not the slightest danger of that," remarked Mr.
30

466 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.,
Sage. " Mr. Gould was a wise man, a very wise man,
and his sons are wise young men — they, are their
father's sons. I know them all — George; Eddie and
Howard — and I see them every day.
"They are business men by instinct and training.
They have, that is the older boys, familiarized them
selves with every detail of their father's affairs and they
will carry out his ideas as nearly as they can. They
are all boys of good habits and fairly worshipped their
father. There is no nonsense about them, as there is
about some young men, sons of wealthy parents.
" Look at the power," continued Mr. Sage, "of ac
cumulated wealth retained in one family. Look at the
Rothschilds for an example of what one family can do
by continuing a successful course in banking and by
holding together. Now they are the wealthiest family ,
in the world, and kings and emperors and vast coun^-
tries have to come to them when they want to raise
large loans, either to carry on a war or develop home
improvements." Sage's Estimate of Gould.
Mr. Sage did not predict that the Gould family
would attain the power of the bankers of which he
spoke, but he was certainly convinced that they could
do so if they developed their enormous holdings in
common, and there was one thing certain, that he was
thoroughly convinced that no young Gould would ever
leave business to go into this " society nonsense."
Referring to Mr. Gould Mr. Sage said : — " He was
a wonderful man — sagacious, farseeing, considerate of

WHAT WAS SAID OF THE RAILROAD KING. 467
the opinions of others. If he was not so he and I
could never have gotten along so well together for
twenty years. I don't feel like talking about his char
acter now,-while he lies unburied in his home up the
street. Some time I'll do so. I'd like to let the peo
ple know what a great man has gone.
" It seems to me," he added, in a pessimistic vein,
" that all the great men are dying off. The young
men are bright and will take the places of the others,
but somehow I don't think that they can fill them as
their fathers did. But the world will get along with
out them, I suppose, in the future as it did in the
past." Aiding Men in Trouble.
Mr. Sage was visibly affected as he spoke of his
dead associate.
"The Mr. Gould of 1872," he remarked, " was a dif
ferent man from the Gould of 1892. He was mis
understood, misrepresented, maligned and abused.
People said he was a wrecker. On the contrary, he
was a developer, not only of his properties, but of the
whole country. People seem to have lost sight of
this. He has saved more men than any other man I
ever knew. He averted more panics than any one
else. " He carried many a large operator through the
panic of 1884 at great personal loss to himself, and
I know of countless other occasions when many of us,
thinking that the commercial interests of the country
were jeopardized, got together and relieved the money

468 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
market upon the suggestion of Mr. Gould. His judg
ment at such times was remarkable. He had a
wonderful faculty of solving difficult problems and of
extricating men and corporations from situations that
seemed hopeless. The same faculty led him to guard
against rocks in the current of events that would have
dashed any other person or corporation to pieces.
" His judgment of men was also most remarkable.
In selecting members for various boards he exercised
this, and with what result ? Why, in the various cor
porations that he controlled are to be found many of
the most prominent and wealthy, as well as some of
the most capable men in the country. It is an error
to believe that he drove men ; he was guided by them.
When he was convinced that he was in error he
always admitted it frankly, and he always invited the
most free expression of opinion or criticism."

CHAPTER XXX.
Views of the Press Concerning the Wizard.
Upon the announcement of Mr. Gould's death the
newspapers throughout the land published extended
notices and biographical sketches. The press of Great
Britain devoted large space to the event which startled
the whole financial world. Opinions respecting the
man and his achievements varied ; this was only to be
expected. Many severe criticisms expressed the con
demnation of those persons who looked upon Mr.
Gould as an unprincipled speculator, a wrecker of
other men's fortunes, a destroyer rather than one who
built up and benefited.
Yet many warm words of eulogy were written, and
the old adage that nothing except what is good should
be spoken of the dead was regarded by journals that
had frequently disapproved of the great financier's
schemes and methods.
'The reader will be interested in the following ex
tracts from the press. On the Verge of Ruin.
From the New York Herald.
Mr. Gould's feet were on the verge of ruin during
the second week of May, 1884, that period of wild
financial dread and distrust following the failure of
(469)

470 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Grant & Ward. He was nearer being "broken" then:
than at any period since Black Friday. Then he
threw the burden by wily manipulation on 'his oppo
nents and ruined them. Now he found those oppo
nents combined to compass his undoing, if it were pos
sible, and all things seemed possible in those days,
when the panics of 1857 and 1873 bade fair to find
their parallel in Wall street.
It was generally known that Gould was heavily in
volved in the smash of Grant & Ward, and he soon-
found arrayed against him every bear operator in the
"street." The events of Wednesday, May 15th, were
alarming. The Marine Bank had been dragged down
by Ward days before. The Metropolitan National
Bank closed its doors that day. There was panic in
the Stock Exchange. Seven commission houses had
been forced to suspend. There were runs on every
national and savings bank in town, and a run was just
beginning on Gould's close friend and business asso
ciate, Russell Sage.
A dead set was made on Gould. His enemies de
cided, if possible, to crush or cripple him or drive him
from the street. It did seem as if the ground was
giving way beneath his feet. His old-time rival, Cam
mack, expected to see him go to the wall. An effort
was made to buy off his partner, Washington E. Con
nor, who held the key to the situation. Had Connor
gone Gould would have been overwhelmed, but he
stood by his master.
Missouri Pacific had been beaten away down to 65

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 471
and his other stocks had fallen in proportion. He
could not go off as he did on Black Friday and seek
seclusion. He had to remain and " face the music."
He had to take his securities from the vaults of the
Mercantile Safe Deposit Company and put them up
as collateral. Then by a mighty effort he keyed Mis
souri Pacific up to par and ruined many of the men
who had sought to ruin him. To do it he had to throw
stocks overboard like men unloading a ship at sea.
At this time he was also seriously handicapped by the
effect the laying of the new Commercial Cable had on
' Western Union stock. For the first time the stock
sank to 49^, and $80,000,000 of stock was selling at
one-half its nominal value.
Before Mr. Gould extricated himself from his diffi
culties he sold out his entire holding of stock in the
Mercantile Trust Company. It was understood that
owing to the repeated rumors of Mr. Gould's strug
gles to keep his head above water the company had
refused to renew his loans. From company after com
pany Mr. Gould retired, and it was not until the sum
mer of 1884 was well advanced that he rested easily
and could look with complacency on the market and
call it his own.
During the year more than forty railroads had
passed into the hands of receivers, among them the
New York and New England road, in which Mr.
Gould had been particularly interested. The Wabash
system, which was at that time a Gould favorite and
which Mr. Gould was preparing to lease to the Iron

472 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
Mountain, then a part of the Missouri Pacific, also
reached a receivership. In common with other secu
rities all his properties had shrunk in value, and it is
probable that, while he was safe and secure, he was
worth at least a third less than when the year began.
The Irvington Residence.
From the New York Sun.
Of the two residences maintained by Mr. Gould
that at Irvington is worthy of more than a passing
description. The greater portion of his house and
grounds there were open to the inspection of the
public at all times. The visitor looking for the house
is told to ascend the hill as far as the road goes, then
turn to the left and pursue the avenue for a mile until
he comes to a pair of gate-posts of white stone which
mark the entrance to the grounds of the millionaire.
Endless gate-posts that are nearly white and that are
all of stone meet him on either hand as he passes
along the magnificent thoroughfare.
Handsome residences do not crowd, but follow one
upon another without interruption. The Episcopal
Church, which is not a third as lofty as the most mod
est Broadway edifice, will make anybody stop for five
minutes to look at it. The crest of the hill sweeping
up from the roadway and further inland is crowned
with stone mansions whose windows overlook the foli
age, the villas, and the churches below, and command
an uninterrupted view of the river.
At the mile's end the gate-posts which mark the
entrance to the Gould estate are reached. They are

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 473.
taller than those which have preceded them, but they
are not exactly white. They are of handsome granite.
Just beyond them is a porter's lodge built of stone.
A broad roadway, smooth and shining as the pave
ment of a Parisian boulevard, sweeps into what seems
to be a vast park.
The ground is undulating and covered with a rich
sward. Clumps of ancient trees break the smooth
ness of the surface here and there. A herd of cattle
of rare breed is permitted to roam without hindrance.
At one distant point a gossamer-like tower, surmounted
by a dome and a gilded ball, rises above a low white
structure an eighth of a mile in length. This is a hot
house, in which in midwinter are forced flowers and,
vegetables of every sort.
At another distant point a gray tower and a series
of slender minarets lift above a knoll in an opening
- among the trees. The road sweeps in great curves,
and, finally descending, gently leads through a dense
grove of evergreens and thence suddenly into an open
space in which stands the wonderful mansion that was
inhabited by Mr. Jay Gould in the summer season.
It is built of dark gray stone, which is shot with
bluish tints. The many parts which go to make it up
are picturesquely grouped together, and afford a mul
titude of graceful angles. Rich traceries cover it, and
the whole is like lacework cut in stone. The Gothic
double doors , are stone, even to the sashes in their
upper part, which are set with diamonds of glass, as
are the windows.

474 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
On one side a lawn -sweeps upward, ending in a
narrow vista between the trees. On the other side a
hill, in parts heavily wooded and in parts covered with
grass only, stretches far downward to the river. The
view takes in the stream, which at this point is broad
as a lake for miles to the north and to the south. The
Palisades are set forth in their full sweep and Nyack
glimmers like a toy city on the further shore.
Here Mr. Gould lived from May until December.
The stables are filled with fine horses. He had a
library that he bought as it stood from a gentleman
who had collected it in all the literary markets of the
world, and the house is filled with objects of art that
have been obtained in the same princely way and at
the cost of untold dollars.
Jay Gould's Closed Career.
From the New York Recorder.
One of the phenomenal men of his time has
just passed into history. Jay Gould is dead, and
there is no financial panic, nor is there any likelihood
of one. There was a time when the announcement of
his death would probably have been the signal for a
convulsion on Wall street which would have been
sympathetically echoed in all the stock exchanges of
the world. But that time has passed. The Jay
Gould properties are no longer in the creative and
speculative stage ; they are on a solid footing, and the
life of their creator is' not now essential, as it once
was, to their development.
Harsh things were said of this remarkable man

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 475
while he lived, and there will be a flood of severe
moralizing over his career now that it is closed. It is
easy to say that he was a man with but one all-absorb
ing passion — the acquisition of wealth for its own
sake and the sake of the power which it gave him
over the great material enterprises of his day. It will
have to be conceded, no doubt, that his character, as a"
whole, was not one to be held up for emulation and
imitation to the youth of America. There was not
enough of human sympathy and philanthropic impulse
in it for that.
Nevertheless there were strong lines of purpose
and faculty in the intellectual make-up of Jay Gould
which- gave him rank among really great men. He
had courage, grit, insight, foresight, tireless energy, in
domitable will — all great qualities. He conceived his
gigantic operations boldly and executed them with
consummate coolness and skill. He was the peculiar
and unprecedented product of a peculiar and unpre
cedented epoch of material growth, expansion, enter
prise and development.
No other country and time than the United States
during the past thirty years could have evolved him.
It was a period of colossal undertakings, of enormous
railroad construction, of vast telegraphic and telephonic
enterprises. Speculation was its key-note — bold, vast,
hazardous, and, to the losers, often enough ruinous
speculation. Jay Gould was the master mind of this
period. He won where others lost ; and those who
lost hated and denounced. The game was desperate

476 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
and merciless, and if the tables had been turned, and
the losers had been the winners, we should have
heard far less about Jay Gould's sordid and soulless
nature. It is eminently a case for the old proverb — De mor
tuis nil nisi bonum. Jay Gould played a great part in
a great age. He was neither a saint, a reformer, nor
a philanthropist, and he made no pretensions to be.
But at least it must be said of him that, with untold
wealth at his command, his private life was clean and
reputable, and his moral example as a husband and
parent was wholesome.
It has been widely insisted that the accumulation of
stupendous fortunes is one of the prime evils arid dan
gers of modern American life ; but, even if this be true,
Jay Gould was not alone in his offense. In common
fairness it may properly be borne in mind that he was
neither the first, the only, nor will he be the last, of
our multi-millionaires. Byron's line on Napoleon fits
him — " Neither the greatest nor the worst of men."
A Wonderful Career.
From the New York Tribune.
The death of Jay Gould ends a career which the
world unites in pronouncing wonderful. It ran its
course in channels widely different from those along
which the vast majority of human lives are directed,
This man was endowed with a genius for speculation
as eminent and obvious as the genius of Bonaparte
for war, of Talleyrand for diplomacy, and pf Pitt foi!
administration.

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 477
He discerned his own special aptitude at an early
age and thereafter was never tempted for a moment
to adventure in any other field than that to which
nature had assigned him. He suffered temporary
reverses, bur/ he possessed an amazing capacity for
arresting their normal consequences and extorting
from them the conditions of ultimate advantage.
Like many great masters of opportunity he possessed
only meagre physical resources. Penetrating intellect
and indomitable will are seldom in more striking con
trast with the material organism which they inhabit
and control. It is not the least amazing fact of Mr.
Gould's career that he could compel that feeble frame
to endure so much and so long.
However men may choose to agree or differ as to
the life which has ended in peace after multifarious
exploitsand mutations, there is no doubt that it was
profoundly interesting. Perhaps not more than half
a dozen persons have lived in our day whose names
and activities have been so familiar to the civilized
world, and who at the same time have been personally
known to so few of their fellow-beings. His persist
ent reticence, cultivated and applied for his own pur
poses, may have concealed traits and emotions which
actually existed in the man.
But though he truly loved his own family and fire
side and inspired a tender attachment in return, he
gave few signs of longing for the affection and praise
of mankind, or even of the community in which he
lived. It was his business to utilize for personal ends

478 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the follies and passions of his fellow-men, and he prob
ably accepted philosophically whatever penalties his
vocation imposed. He at.least preserved an outward
serenity which did not suggest the idea that he was
pained by obloquy, or shared in any degree either the
bitterness which he provoked or the suffering which
he sometimes inflicted.
And certainly, whatever feelings he may have in
dulged in private, he rarely permitted them to inter
fere with the execution of his designs. And yet,
though Mr. Gould was widely accused of failing to
keep faith, there were many among his harshest crit
ics who were ready to admit that he seldom if ever
turned upon an associate without having had previous
reason to believe that the associate was turning upon
-him. The man who set out to play that game with
Mr. Gould needed to move with lightning rapidity.
He gathered about him a large number of devoted
and faithful followers. They rarely failed to speak of
him as always courteous, always considerate and often
generous, and the friendship of many of them he
retained through numerous stormy periods and great
vicissitudes. He had also a few associates almost as
powerful pecuniarily as himself, with whom relations
of mutual support and unbroken confidence subsisted
for many years.
Mr. Gould accumulated enormous riches, but it is
easy to believe that he enjoyed their possession far
less than the acquisition of them. He loved to sur
mount and circumvent barriers, to make a conquest

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 479
of adverse forces, to conduct a complicated campaign,
to apply all his strategic powers to the resolution of
difficulties, to employ all the weapons of aggression
and defence in his armory, and finally to win a victory
which he thought worthy of his powers. And then
he loved to seclude himself from the public gaze
among flowers and books and pictures, with the few
whom he loved around him and the world at a dis
tance. He had cultivated tastes and varied information,
but he was not desirous of imposing or incurring so
cial obligations, nor solicitous of distinction in any
sphere of action except the one which he dominated.
He was apparently contented to be what he was — the
most daring, brilliant and triumphant speculator of the
age in the eyes of the world, and the most loyal and
devoted husband and father in the eyes of his wife and
children. Certainly this was not a career-which in many of its
aspects at least tended to make mankind better and
happier, or which the world can afford to exalt as a
model and an inspiration. But even those who put
the lowest estimate upon the character and work of
Mr. Gould are bound to acknowledge that in at least
one respect he set an example which some of his bit
terest censors might profitably imitate. He never
stooped to hypocrisy. He never sought to delude
himself or others with a show of counterfeit philan
thropy. His charities, there is reason to know, were
numerous. They certainly were unobtrusive. He

480 > LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
bought many things, but he never bought a eulogy.
He played the great game of speculative finance for
all it could be made to yield, without disguise or
apology. He has gone where he will be justly
judged. A Great Operator. j$
From the New York Times.
A career in the least comparable with that of Jay
Gould not only has never been run, but has never been
possible before our time. It is in our time that the
" operator " has been born, and Jay Gould was an
" operator " pure and simple^ although, in a general way
of speaking, he was as far as possible from pure and
as far as possible from simple. What we mean to say
is that he was nothing else but an operator, a trader
.in the values ofthe Stock Exchange. There were, of
course, men ofthe same ambitions and pretensions in
Wall Street before him, there have been such men
with' him, there will be such men after him.
But nobody has been so prodigiously successful in
the same line. No man has ever grasped the leader- '
ship of Wall Street anything like so firmly, nor held it
anything like so long. Nobody has ever escaped from
it, or been withdrawn from it by death, with anything
like the same amount of booty to his credit. The
total of his gains is currently estimated at something
like seventy millions. This is one ofthe great fortunes
of America, and there is no other great fortune com
parable to it in amount that has been attained by the
same means. The Astor fortune, originally acquired

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 481
in adventurous mercantile enterprise, has been in
creased during two generations by a safe and far-
sighted calculation of the probable growth of the city
of New York. The Vanderbilt fortune was built by a
similarly safe and far-sighted calculation ofthe future
increase of the traffic ofthe country and by the saga
cious taking of measures adapted to confirm and
secure its proper share of this increase to the route
that commanded the greatest natural advantages for
this traffic. The Gould fortune has not been acquired
by such means. It is simply the measure of the sue-,
cess that has attended the skill of its founder in inter
cepting the earnings of other people and diverting
from their natural destination.
The common term of reproach against an "operator"
is that he is a gambler, but it would be very unjust to
apply this term to Gould. It is not properly applicable
to a player who stocks the cards or loads the dice
beforehand. The effort of Gould throughout his
whole career was to eliminate the element of chance
from his operations. Of course, it entered more or
less, and from time to time, but in so far as it was al
lowed to enter at all it was a disappointment and a
grievance to him. What he aimed at, and what he
often attained, was as great a certainty in the opera
tions of the* Wall Street game as is attainable in the
most legitimate lines of business. Of course it" is
difficult to attain this degree of certitude, and the
difficulty is enhanced by the restrictions of the criminal
law. These restrictions he evaded with remarkable
31

482 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
success. Throughout his entire career he remained
at large, and this fact, considering the nature of his
operations, is a high tribute to his skill.
It ought not to pass unnoticed that Gould never
sought to propitiate public opinion. His spasmodic
efforts to affect it in favor of his interests in any one
of the newspapers which he from time to time owned
or controlled were singularly maladroit and uncouth,
and among all his investments those in these "organs
of opinion" were the least judicious or successful.
He never gave largely to any public and unselfish
cause. The one exception that he made in favor of the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was commonly
accepted as eccentric to the point of grotesqueness.
He seems to have relied upon the American worship
of money, however got, as sufficient to secure his
"position," and, at any rate, he never gave himself the
trouble of making any false pretenses. Accordingly,
any remarks upon him, now that he is dead, which
do not sharply distinguish him from men who have
acquired wealth in the pursuit of useful ends by honor
able means, must have a corrupting and demoralizing
effect upon the young men of the United States.
His Peculiar Genius.
From the Baltimore Sun. •
He was pre-eminent as a manipulator of the stock
market, and for many years was the controlling spirit
in Wall street. His operations in the stock of the
Erie Railroad first revealed the peculiar nature of his

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 483
genius for making the most of corporate properties
under his control. The fluctuation of values during
and for some years after the civil war gave him oppor
tunities he knew how to improve. His "corner "in
gold and the consequent panic of " Black Friday,"
Sept. 24, 1869, won for Mr. Gould the kind of fame for
which he most cared.
For many years his attention was given to the ac
quisition of control in various important railway
systems in the West ancl Southwest. In 1880 he con
trolled, it is said, 10,000 miles of railroad, or one-ninth
of the entire railroad mileage of the country at that
time. Played for Great Stakes.
From the Philadelphia Press.
In an age of rich men, Jay Gould died yesterday
one of the five or six richest men in its history.
Among them his wealth alone was the fruit of specu
lation unaccompanied by any service to society or any
share in the improvement of its material resources.
Rothschild was a banker for States and a trafficker on
every sea. So were the Barings. Vanderbilt organ
ized the first great railroad system on this continent.
The Astor and Westminster fortunes are the fruit of
capital invested in the acquisition and development of
real estate in the two greatest cities of the civilized
world. Jay Gould manipulated. He died the controlling
owner of three great systems of organized capital —
the 11,000 miles of railroad centring about the

484 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. i
Missouri Pacific, the Western Union Telegraph Com
pany and the New York elevated system. All were
in existence before he acquired them. Each was
wrecked before it was bought.
The worst of his acts can all be matched in the for
tune hunting of less successful men. He did nothing
which is not daily done on a lesser scale and with
smaller stakes. The man scarcely lives who, when
he is buying something, shrinks at doing what he can
"legitimately" to show up the defects in the object
he is buying. But when Gould did this to a railroad
fortunes were lost and panics fell and he emerged
from successive wrecks worth $72,000,000.
Great properties and wide interests brought him
conservatism. In 1884 he appeared for the first time
sustaining the market, and for eight years he was
chiefly engaged in conserving values. His millions won
respect and the public began to forget, but he never
gained full acquittal and a modest contribution to a
Presbyterian cause drew general condemnation. The
public, which has shrewd sense in these matters, dis
criminated between fortunes built by creating values
and won by manipulating them. With all the advance
he made in public favor he never won public respect,
yet it is a narrow view which deems him worse than
his class and kind, simply because he was vastly more
successful. The Champion Money-Maker.
From the Boston Journal.
Whatever may be thought of the career of Jay

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 485
Gould, it was one that was only possible under the
free opportunities of a country like this. In Europe
traditions and family fortune count for all. Here in
fluential connections and original capital are important
factors. But the want of them is no bar to success,
and it may prove the spur that is needed to secure it.
It has been said that determination and perseverance
are the only things requisite to the accomplishment of
any task. George Eliot's definition of genius as a
capacity for sticking to work is but a modification of
this same idea. Whether formulated in that way or
not, it was with such a spirit that Mr. Gould went
forth into the world. He was filled with the single
purpose of amassing wealth. Every step was directed
to that end. In the face of all obstacles — and there
were many of them — and with a daring and perform
ance that were worthy of higher things, he held to his
one course. Measured by his aim he, of course, was
more than successful, and yet we imagine that there
is not a' great man in this country upon whose career
so many qualifying phrases would have to be used as
uporr this one just closed,
A Master of Opportunities.
From tlie New York Mail and Express.
Mr. Gould's success in the acquirement of immense
wealth was the result, not only of his energy, adroitness
and skill, but also of his opportunities, some of.which
he created and others of which came at times almost
unbidden. Slight in physique, he had a constitution
of iron, made rugged and strong by out-door life in

486 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the early days of his career as. a surveyor and maker
of county maps. Later his physical strength was put
to the severest strain, and finally gave way before the
allotted period of human life had been passed.
Mr. Gould undertook gigantic enterprises, first
planning adroitly their success and then hazarding
everything upon the possibilities of his own resources.
There are many young men with ambitions that
equalled Jay Gould's with equal resolution, courage
and ingenuity, but they failed where he succeeded,
because they lacked what he had in an eminent de
gree — fertility of resources to meet and overcome
every emergency. Furthermore, they lacked what
Gould possessed — an attribute of his character always
noticeable and conspicuous — the balance wheel of an
even temper and a judicial cast of mind.
Traits of Character.
From the New York Daily News.
Mr. Gould's career as a manipulator and manager
of great corporations is, of course, the one by which
the vast majority of peisons knew him and judged
him. He made money rapidly and in enormous sums,
so that he naturally aroused envy, which doubtless
often led to calumny. Be this as it may, however, no
one ever questioned the stanchness of his friendships
or the persistence of his enmities. Of him it can be
truly said that he loved those who loved him and he
hated those who ever deceived him or tried to get the
better of him.
Next to his loves and his hates, or perhaps even

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 487
coming before them in importance in his character,
was his dogged perseverance in anything he under-.
took. Failures, of which he knew very few in his later
years, where quite numerous earlier, but they never
disheartened him — in fact, they were mere spurs to
his vaulting ambition to become a power in the land
through the possession of immense wealth.
Whatever his enemies and critics may say about
the methods sometimes employed by him to obtain
his wealth it is admitted that he used it for no bad
end after he had obtained it, unless employing it to
get more is considered such. Unlike other rich men
who had hard struggles in early life, he had no fond
ness for the ostentatious display of his riches. On
the contrary, his mode of living was of the simplest
possible. He was devoted to his family, his books
and his flowers, and beyond the region of Wall street
he was conceded to be a model citizen.
Great Executive Capacity.
From the New York Press.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that what the
first Napoleon was to the art of war Jay Gould was
to the art of speculation. He seemed the master of
circumstances, not their creature. He had a courage
that was dauntless, an eye that saw afar, an executive
capacity that has had few parallels in history, a talent
for swift and daring manipulation that confounded his
ablest rivals and astonished the world at large.
Fortunes dissolved or doubled at his touch, great
properties, the product of years of toil and scheming

488 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
on the part of the country's keenest financiers, grew
in value or crashed into ruin as the result of his bold
movements and wide extended combinations. Other
speculators might quail in the face of threatened
disaster. Jay Gould always maintained his imperturb
able coolness and his grasp of events. Other specu
lators might pause aghast at the risks involved in a
great financial undertaking. Jay Gould, his shrewd
and sweeping plans once formed, moved forward with
the nerve and strategic skill shown by the conqueror
of Austerlitz on a different field. Success apart from
moral considerations was his goal ; and he seldom
failed to command it.
Jay Gould's extraordinary genius must be acknowl
edged even by those who condemn most strongly the
uses which it served. He was an excellent husband
and father. His death will not influence the course
of financial affairs to any considerable extent, for he
practically withdrew from active participation in the
campaigns of the stock market several years ago.
An English View of Jay Gould.
From the London Times.
The death of Mr. Jay Gould brings to an end one
of the most active and successful business careers
that the world has ever witnessed. Mr. Gould was a
self-made man. The colossal fortune which he leaves
behind him was gained by his own exertions during
the last five-and-thirty years of his life. He began
practically with nothing. In 1856 his entire fortune
was about ^1000. From that date onward it advanced

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 489
by leaps and bounds to the millions which it ultimately
reached. It has been partly the reward of daring,
judicious and far-sighted speculations, and partly it
has been won by less creditable means. The great
railway panic of 1857 gave Gould his first great op
portunity. Thd small sum which he then had at com
mand he invested in railway property ; and as the
panic gradually subsided he had the satisfaction of
seeing his money grow and multiply several times
over. This success encouraged him to bolder efforts
and furnished him with the means of making them.
The same man and the position which he held have
been the products of American life. Hardly in any
other country could so vast a fortune have been got
together from so small a beginning and in the lifetime
of one man. Nowhere else would the power of wealth
have been so great and so widely felt. Wealth is a
power everywhere ; the difference is that in the United
States there is little or nothing to ballast it or to set
bounds tofts influence. Class distinctions are unknown
or are of little account. Money is thus raised to a
rank higher than it can rightly or usefully occupy.
To gain it is the great object to which the energies of
the people are given up. It is a tangible thing, ana
the man who possesses most of it, and is known to
possess it, enjoys a distinct advantage over his less
successful competitors in the race, and one for which
there is no such obvious set-off as exists \a the Old
World, where class distinctions have not yot been done
away with.

490 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
i
In this country, of course, there are numerous other
titles to honor than either rank or wealth can bestow.
It is none the less a grave question how long they
would survive the abolition of distinctions of rank,
and the consequent rise of wealth into a place of
honor which it does not now hold. We must look at
things not only as they ought to be, but as they affect
the popular mind. So viewed, would it be a change
for the better or for the worse to the dead level of a
democracy, in which the struggle for money was the
chief concern of most, and the acquisition of money1
the chief reward of their exertions, and its possessions
their chief claim upon the respect of their fellow-men?
It deserves remark, too, that wealth in America
does not take quite the same form as it does here.
It is used not so much for the purchase of landed
property, which would bring in but a slender yearly '
return, as for stocks and shares, which are very much
more fruitful sources of income. The man who gets
money in this country soon makes it his object to be
come a great landed proprietor, and he is content to
sink his wealth in this somewhat un remunerative out
lay and to submit willingly to the loss of income which
it involves. In the United States this instinct or motive is so
weak as to be ineffective and the wealthy man be
comes all the wealthier for want of it. The presence
or absence of class distinctions is largely at the root
of this difference in- popular sentiments. Land is, in
this country, a recognized attendant on rank. To

VIEWS OF THE PRESS. 491
possess it is a distinction in itself, but perhaps not one
which would long outlast the abolition of that which
has had much to do with giving it its original charm.
These are considerations not unworthy the notice of
some energetic would-be levellers. Those efforts, if
they were ever successful, would produce results very
different from what they either look for or affect to
wish.

CHAPTER XXXI.
.Hobbies of Millionaires. .
Jay Gould is said to have spent $40,000 a year
upon his yacht. 'This was his one great extravagance,
for in other respects, although he lived handsomely, he
lived far less luxuriously than many men of much
smaller fortunes. Yet this one extravagance has been
seized upon by statisticians of a certain class, who in
sist that it was pure waste, inasmuch as Mr. Gould did
not really use the yacht very often, and that the bulk
of the money was spent in keeping the yacht in har
bor in such a condition that on receipt of a telegram
steam could be got up at once. Now, they urged, it
is clear that a large, perhaps the largest, proportion
of the annual sum expended on the yacht was sheer
waste. And then the statisticians go on to speculate
how many worthy families might have been supported
upon this wasted sum.
It is unnecessary to stop and ask why Jay Gould
should have devoted to the support of worthy families
any proportion of the sums which he had won. Com
plaints about the unnecessary luxuries of the rich
have always formed a staple with those who were not
rich. But complaints are useless. Power turns all
heads more or less, and the absence of resistance de-
(492)

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 493
velops wilfulness, till, as we often see in the East, it
becomes monstrous caprice.
Now, there is no power in modern times which is
so like executive volition as that of the millionaire — '
of the man with a really great fortune to use outside
his usual wants. He has only to will strongly
enough to draw his check, and all mankind is eager to
carry out his wishes. How Others Profit.
Architects, builders, painters, landscape gardeners,
mechanics in hundreds, workmen in tribes, are only
too glad that he has been graciously pleased to will.
They profit by his whim, and indirectly the butchers,
bakers and candlestick-makers of these various artists
and artisans profit also. A miser, according to politi
cal economists, is probably doing a great deal of good
by his investments, while the spendthrift is damaging
himself. But the spendthrift is the popular character, because
the immediate and tangible results of his conduct are
apparently advantageous. So any approach towards
the mood of mind of the spendthrift, even though it be
in but a single direction, rather elevates than degrades
a millionaire in the popular estimation. And as the
rich man recognizes this he feels that there is within
himself a potentiality of patronage above that even of
a newly elected President, with no fear of the civil ser
vice reform law before his eyes. Perhaps this nat
ural love of power, of swaying and ordering their fel
low-men, has been at the bottom of many extravagan-

494 LIFE OF JAY GOULD. i
eies of which they have been guilty. They will collect
at great cost something which, when collected, inter
ests no one but themselves. They will spend
unheard-of sums in perfecting an interior which
would be far more perfect were much less money
wasted. A Unique Dinner.
There is said to be a noble in Europe whose daily
dinner is served in Spain as if he were present, though
he is absent in Russia or the antipodes. The servants
and their dependents are all pleased ; the men who
furnish the supplies are pleased ;. every one who
somehow or other gets a slice out of the nobleman's
cake is pleased. And who is there to complain save
the sentimentalists ? And what business is it pf the
sentimentalists, anyway ?
Granting that the duties of life, including the altruis
tic duties, are fully performed, and that the money is
gained without oppression, cheating or sharp practice,
it is difficult to make a sin out of the mere scale of
an expenditure which in moderation every one not
essentially ascetic would approve: We could all eat
with horn spoons instead of silver and give the differ
ence to the poor, but if we did civilization would be
lost under an ocean of manufactured pauperism.
Ivory chairs and golden dishes are follies — blamable
follies if you like, because they degrade the standard
of aspiration, but they are not moral evils any more
than silver forks. Indeed, did not a clergyman of
Queen Elizabeth's time denounce the monstrous lux-

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 495
ury of using any forks at all when God had so
visibly provided men with five fingers to eat with !
live Money Versus Dead.
There is always danger of running an argument of
this sort into the ground. And who is to judge at
what point the argument is kept above ground ? In
deed, as the diversifying of industries, and so pre
venting the labor market from being congested at any
one point, is a benefit to the honest workman, a safe
guard against the oppression of the capitalists, it might
even be argued that the rich man with an expensive
fad is a benefit to the world at large.
Of course, this argument, too, must not be run into
the ground. It is evident that if the rich man has
either through his riches or through some adventitious
accident the power of drawing too many artisans out
of their legitimate lines of activity, the necessaries of '
life must diminish and the price rise in accordance
with the inexorable law of supply and demand. When
the Grecian Cheops employed 360,000 men for the
space of twenty years in building that great pyramid
which was to be his tomb, there may have been 360,-
000 bread-winners, but who was to make the bread
for them to win ? No wonder that after a succession
of Pharaohs, each with his little fad for an expensive
sepulture, the entire Egyptian empire crumbled into
decay and ruin.
Even an isolated case like that of Mausolus of Caria
must have drawn extensively upon the resources of
that kingdom. Mausolus,- it will be remembered, was

496 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
the gentleman who is etymologically responsible for
the existence ofthe word mausoleum. When he died,
in the year 353 B. c,, his widow, Artemisia, decided to
erect to his memory a structure which should be more
magnificent than anything known in the past. It con
sisted of a pyramid and pedestal inclosed in columns
and adorned with statues and bas-reliefs — the whole
so beautiful that it was reckoned among the seven
wonders of the world.
Whims of American Millionaires.
American millionaires also have their fads. Mr.
Russell Sage loves horses. He has stables in New
York and at Lawrence, L. I., wherein he keeps a dozen
fast steeds, which have never, however, been allowed
to figure on the trotting track in public. Far different
is the case of Mr. Bonner, who for a period made it
his business to own the fastest known trotter in the
country, and bought up one famous record-breaker
after the other at fabulous prices. Mr. William C.
Whitney's passion is for dogs. Several of them are
kept at his home in this city. Others are at New
port and at Washington. He often visits Wall street,
accompanied by a huge mastiff. When he was SecT
retary of the Navy he paid $500 for a magnificent St.
Bernard, " Gyp," and when she had a litter of puppies
he presented several to his personal friends.
Mr. Lorillard, another dog fancier, Tancies them as
much for profit as for pleasure, and makes money out
of his extensive dog kennels in New Jersey. As
much as $1,000 has been brought in to Mr. Lorillard's

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 497
pockets from the sale of a single dog. Cyrus W.
Field used to love domestic fowls, and his henneries,
full of hundreds of high-bred fowls, were a famous
feature of his summer residence at Ardsley-on-the-
Hudson. Stephen Girard.
But there is a nobler side to the picture. There are
eccentricities which we call eccentric only, alas ! be
cause hu'man nature is so selfish that it rarely burgeons
out into any great deed of kindness. Yet, though
rare, we may be thankful they are increasing in num
ber, as the world grows better and kindlier.
When Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, died, he left
a fortune of $9,000,000 which he had acquired in the
usual way by strict attention to business. In his life
time Girardwas not noted for his hospitality; in his
manners he w.as crabbed and unapproachable. In
small affairs he was miserly to the last degree and
penurious even to meanness. He spent little money
on himself, was careless about his own appearance or
the shabbiness of his surroundings, and found the
keenest delight in hard and unremitting labor.
A Peculiar Character.
Yet in a large public way he was generous to the
extent of lavishness. During his lifetime he gave
liberally to the improvement of Philadelphia and made
munificent contributions to charities. One of his no
table deeds was the organization of a yellow-fever
hospital in the epidemic of 1 793, over which he exer
cised personal supervision.
32

498 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
By the provisions of his will his fortune was be
queathed to charitable and educational institutions,
$2,000,000 going to the college for orphans. The
peculiar nature of the man is best exemplified by a
certain clause in the will which provided that no min
ister should hold any connection with the college or
even be admitted as a visitor. As a further illustra
tion of Girard's eccentric and positive views on spiritual
matters, it may be recalled that when he was in the
West India trade he named his ships after the most
noted free-thinkers.
Of the men of the present day the most notable
millionaire engaged in the generous and equitable dis
tribution of his wealth is Baron Hirsch. It is some
thing to have an income of $10,000,000 a year, and it
is something to know what to do with it. The Baron
has proved himself equal to the emergency.
In the first place, he is a man of education and has
been accustomed for many years to see life and enjoy
it in the most attractive worldly way. He lives in a
palace, whether in London, Paris, or Berlin. His
houses are sumptuously furnished and the Baron goes
in for all the enjoyments that can come from the grati
fication of aesthetic tastes. But it is for his charitable
enterprises that his fame has spread over the world.
He likes to spend money on other people, and in Paris
he maintained a large office as headquarters for his
beneficent schemes. To attempt to enumerate his
good works would be an almost endless task. Their
moneyed value runs far up into the millions.

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 499
A Great Benefactor.
To the people of his own race he has devoted him
self with untiring generosity, not by scores or by
hundreds, but by thousands. He has established free
educational institutions in Egypt, Asiatic Turkey, and
in nearly all the European countries, and wherever
there is a large Hebrew population he founds schools
and trade institutes. What he has done for the He
brews of Russia and Poland has been the theme of
comment for the past year, and what he proposes to
do further can be well gathered from the past. In all
his good deeds he has the support of a wife no less
charitable and sympathetic than he, and thousands of
people who have gone to them in distress can bear
witness to the listening ear and the helping hand.
This is a short story of the laudable way in which
some millionaires do good while living.
Magnificent Gift.
Henry Shaw, who is regarded by St. Louis as the
greatest benefactor, was an Englishman by birth, who
made his fortune in the hardware business and retired
at the age of forty. Passionately fond of flowers he
established a botanical garden just outside the corpo
rate limits of St. Louis, and there he lived in the sum
mer time, returning to the city in winter. He con
stantly improved and added to the territory of his
flower-land, until "Shaw's Garden" became one of
the most famous resorts for visitors in the Southwest.
His residence and grounds were at all times open to
sight-seers and his hospitality was unbounded.

500. LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
In 1870 Mr. Shaw gave to the city Tower Grove
Park, adjoining his garden, and enriched and beauti
fied it at his own expense. He also gave liberally to
Washington University, and in all schemes for public
improvement and charities he held out an open hand.
By the terms of his will the beautiful garden came
into possession of the city and is the best monument
to a well-spent life, and to the enjoyment of simple
pleasures. James Lick, of San Francisco, was an unlovable
millionaire, of whom a curious story is told. When a
poor youth in Pennsylvania he was rejected by the
daughter of a wealthy miller on account of his pov
erty. He vowed at that time that he would some day
build a mill that would far surpass that of his sweet
heart's father. Many years later he kept his vow and
constructed at San Jose a mill of highly polished Cal
ifornia wood valued at $200,000. During his lifetime
Mr. Lick had few friends and apparently cared for
none. He lived plainly and was seen very little in
public. The Lick Observatory.
The larger part of his fortune was left to charities
and public institutions, one notable bequest being the
sum of $60,000 for the erection of a statue to Key,
the author of the " Star-Spangled Banner." While
many institutions profited by Mr. Lick's posthumous
gifts, his most famous achievement was the establish
ment of the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton,
under the management of the University of Califor-

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 501
nia. Mr. Lick's body was placed, in 1887, under the
base of the pier sustaining the great telescope.
A noble type of the man who knows how to do
good with his money was John Plankinton, of Milwau
kee. Mr. Plankinton's charitable deeds began in
early life from the very generosity of his nature and
were continued uninterruptedly. What he has done
is best attested by the fellow-citizens of the great pork-
packer who had shared his public munificence and
were thoroughly cognizant of his many private chari-
ties. In illustration of the esteem and love in which he
was held, it is related that when President Cleveland
visited Milwaukee, in 1887, the applause which greeted
him as his carriage drove along the streets was as
nothing compared to the ovation given John Plankin
ton, who rode in the procession. When, a year or
two later, Mr. Plankinton's body was borne to the
cemetery, all the houses along the line of the funeral
march were draped in mourning, and expressions of
personal sorrow were heard on every hand. It was a
tribute to a rich man who spent his money wisely and
who knew what was beautiful in a life worth living.
Good Uses for Money.
It will be hard work to convince the patient people
who ride or try to ride on the North Side Chicago
cable cars that Mr. Charles T. Yerkes is a philanthro
pist, yet he sometimes finds very laudable uses for his
money. Mr. Yerkes has set apart $250,000 for an
observatory and telescope for the use of the Univer-

502 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
sity of Chicago. His order was particularly Chicago-
esque : " Go ahead and construct the biggest and
most powerful telescope in the world. I will be re
sponsible for the cash."
But Mr. Yerkes does not put all his money in tele
scopes. He lives well, furnishes his house lavishly
and has an eye to paintings far beyond the ordinary
purse. Moreover, Mr. Yerkes has consideration for
his future residence and is not to be outdone by
Cheops, or Mausolus, or any other extravagant an
cient. So he has put $50,000 into a tomb that will
some day welcome him to its hospitable embrace.
This provision sheds quite a lustre on Mr. Yerkes's
forethought, and shows how easy it is to spend money
when one has the money and the accompanying bril
liant ideas. A Chicago Millionaire.
Philip D. Armour is a Chicago man who makes
more money than the average American citizen would
know what to do with. But Mr. Armour, while a man
of simple tastes, with no desire to throw money into
Lake Michigan for the sole purpose of seeing it sink,
contrives to disburse large sums yearly for the better
ment of the human race. In a public way, excepting
the Armour mission, kindergarten, dispensary, etc.,
Mr. Armour has done little as yet to immortalize him
self among the great benefactors, but his list of pri
vate charities is a long one. Many a boy has he
helped through school and college, and many a-poor
family has he relieved from distress.

HOBBIES OF MILLIONAIRES. 503
His personal appearance is that of a man who is in
close contact with the good things of life, and a glance
at his home shows that he knows how to spend money
for the comfort of his family and for the gratification
of the better tastes.
New Yorkers need not be reminded of what they
owe to good old Peter Cooper, who began life in
earnest when a boy in a hat factory, and who died
lamented by the thousands whom his earnest, charit
able life had blessed. It might be said that Peter
Cooper made his money solely for the good he could
do with it. At all events he lived to a great age, and
saw the practical benefits that arose from his well-
directed efforts. To have died knowing that a whole
city was in mourning, and that a great nation was
sounding his praises, was in itself a reward for money
rightly spent and time consumed.
Too Great to be a Baronet.
George Peabody spent his money alike for England
and America, and his seventy-five years of life gave
him ample opportunity to give vent to his instincts of
benevolence. Like Peter Cooper, he did not wait for
death to come before he parted with his surplus
fortune. Peabody was American born, and to his
glory he declined the offer of a baronetcy from the
Queen. Far more grateful to the good man was the
resolution of thanks passed by the Congress of the
United States. That was a distinction, coming from
the whole people, of which he was justly proud.

CHAPTER XXXII.
Other Rich Men.
New York has many rich men left. Indeed, the
fortunes of some of them are greater than that left by
Mr. Gould. In the minds of solid financiers there has
always been a question as to the character of Mr.
Gould's fortune. To some of them it consisted to a
very large extent in wha't they said was " paper," that
is, that it was made up principally of railroad stocks
liable to the shifting changes of Wall street, ahd bonds
equally changeable in value.
Those who were very close to Mr. Gould say that
Mr. Gould's fortune rested on as sound a foundation
as any. The purpose of this chapter is to show that
what maybe considered the youngest nation on the
face of the earth has any number of very rich men,
and that New York city, which, compared to London,
Berlin, Paris, and St. Petersburg, is a toddling infant,
holds the greater number of them.
Mr. Gould's fortune was not made in Wall street,
strictly speaking. He never once put foot in the New
York Stock Exchange. His fortunes grew out of his
knowledge of railroads, and he pushed this knowledge
for all it was worth. It must be said that the fortunes
of the remaining rich men in New York city were also;
(604)

OTHER RICH MEN. 505
in the majority of instances, the direct result of the
vast railroad development of die country.
s Enormous Railroad Development.
The railroad development of America has been
vaster and more rapid than in any of the nations of
Europe. The fortunes of the Vanderbilts, which col
lectively now approximate $200,000,000, gained their
first headway when Commodore Vanderbilt started in
the transportation business, first .in a sloop, then in
river and ocean steamers, and later in the Harlem and
New York Central railroads.
It may be said, in fact, that the' fortunes of the Van
derbilts were not strictly assured until the old Com
modore gained complete control of the Harlem and
the New York Central. He made William H. Van
derbilt, his elder son, the chief custodian of his great
fortune, and it was multiplied by him and by natural
causes until he died, and it was left to Cornelius, Wil
liam K., Frederick, and George, Mrs. Shepard, Mrs.
Sloane, Mrs. Webb, and Mrs. Twombly.
The women of the Vanderbilt family are probably
the richest individual women in the country. The
fortunes of the Astors came principally from trade,
and later from "investments in real estate. It is be
lieved that the Astor fortune is also in the neighbor
hood of $200,000,000, and it has for a foundation vast
real estate properties in the best parts of New York
city and in the suburban towns. The Astors very
seldom sell a parcel of real estate.

506 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
A Man of Ready Cash.
Russell Sage is one of the very rich men of New
York. It has been frequently said and at times de
monstrated that Mr. Sage could raise more ready cash
in a given time than others who are counted richer
than he. Mr. Sage is probably worth $50,000,000.
His fortune was also made in railroads.
He had a hand in the development of the Union
Pacific, the Wabash, the Missouri Pacific, and other
railroads which have been known as the Gould prop
erties. Mr. Sage first met Mr. Gould in 1853, when
Mr. Gould, then a very young man, went to Troy to
attend a meeting of the old Rensselaer and Saratoga
road. From that day to the day of Mr. Gould's death Mr.
Sage and Mr. Gould -were inseparable. Mr. Sage
was twenty years Mr. Gould's senior. Mr. Gould
was the genius ofthe combination, and Mr. Sage was
the economic scholar, wise in counsel, and strong to
carry out a line of policy. He once shed tears in say
ing that Mr. Gould had sons to come after him, while
he, Mr. Sage, had no one to carry on the great for
tune which he had accumulated.
J. Pierpont Morgan has a fortune 'of $40,000,000,
part of it the direct result of conservative banking re
lations with the great railroad properties of America.
Mr. Morgan will always be remembered for the char
acter and substantial qualities imparted by his bank
ing house to railroad properties. The Rockefellers,
John D. and William, the former with a fortune of

OTHER RICH MEN. 507
$100,000,000 and the latter with something like $60,-
000,000, can also ascribe their great wealth to the
great development of America.
Millions in Petroleum.
They were the first to recognize the wealth that
would come from the petroleum fields of Pennsylvania.
They gathered around them young men of indusFry
and keenness, one of the first being Charles Pratt,
and, later on, Henry H. Rogers, John D. Archbold and
others. Henry M. Flagler stands side by side with
the Rockefellers, and so do the Paines of Ohio and
New York. The Standard Oil men, taken as a group,
may be put down as worth collectively nearly $300,-
000,000. D. O. Mills is certainly worth $10,000,000, made
primarily out of the gold and silver mines and the
railroad properties necessary to their development in
the far West. Collis P. Huntington maybe set down
for $20,000,000, more the result of the development
ofthe far Western railroads than to the mines. The
Goelets, like the Astors, got their wealth principally
from real estate investments. The Goelet family may
b*e put down for about $50,000,000.
Austin Corbin's fortune of $10,000,000 is due to
great railroad enterprises. So are John S. Kennedy's
accumulations. Adrian Iselin has derived his fortune
of $10,000,000 in the banking business, while Elbridge
T. Gerry and his people can trace their wealth to
shrewd mercantile industry. There are others in the
calendar of very rich men in New York, and it is all

508 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
a story which has from the beginning been dazzling
in its interest. Fortune's Slaves.
On learning of Mr. Gould's death many said they
would be satisfied with a very insignificant part of his
fortune ; their one comment was that Mr. Gould was
a very young man to die. They wondered why long
since he had not relinquished all interest in his vast
enterprises and studiously given his time to recuperate
the inroads made upon his health by the severe strain
of business.
The same was, said of Alexander T. Stewart when
he died, and of. Charles Pratt. The same will be said
when other very rich men die. These comments came
from people who fail to appreciate the enormous re
sponsibilities resting on men with great fortunes.
Commodore Vanderbilt once said that it is the easiest
thing possible to make a fortune here in New York,
but after that it is the most difficult thing in the world
to keep it.
Unless it is watched carefully, unless all the influ
ences bearing upon it are personally controlled, there
is great danger that it will melt. Another point is
that these men, after laboring for a lifetime, cannot
shut off steam and rest in idleness. It would affect
them mentally and physically to do so.
A Hard Worker.
Mr. Gould once said at the time of the great Wa
bash strike : " I am afraid the employees on our road
think they work too hard. Work never hurt any-

OTHER RICH MEN. 509
body. I am glad to work, and I will bet a silver dol
lar to an apple that I work harder in a day than any
twenty men on our road do in a week." It is the
same with most rich men. Their work is different,
but it is grinding and wearing on the nervous
system, and no man knew this better than Mr. Gould.
When John Jacob Astor died in 1848 worth $25,-
000,000, he left $10,000,000 more than the richest
American before him. Stephen Girard, and the Astor
fortune was the only one of its size in the country.
Jay Gould died worth $72,000,000.
The lists of rich men are easy to make and impos
sible to regard as more than the merest approxima
tions. William Astor's estate paid a legacy duty, for
instance, which indicated a fortune twice that assigned
him by the public. The New York World gave a list
of 125 fortunes of over $5,000,000. This was,
curiously enough, about the number of such fortunes
assigned to the United States by M. C. de Varigny in
an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes for May,
1890. Number of Rich Men.
M. Varigny placed the fortunes of $5,000,000 and
over, in the United States, at 100, and in the world at
700, distributed as follows : —
England  200
United States  100
Germany and Austria  100
France  75
Russia  50
India  SO
Other Countries  125
Total  7°°

510 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
The number of such fortunes in this country is, we
believe, nearer 200, and they are probably about a
quarter of those in the world. The United States is in
proportion to population by far the richest of the world's
greater countries, though the per capita wealth of the
Australian colonies is greater, reaching in Victoria
nearly twice the ordinary estimate for this country of
$1000 a person.
In the size and number of very great fortunes, no
country approaches the United States. Great Britain
has, Mr. Goschen said in a speech in 1887, ninety-five
persons who have an income of over $250,000 a year.
This is 4 per cent, on $6,250,000, and implies less than
100 persons of a fortune of this and over in a country
where the income tax is closely collected on great for
tunes :'but there must, judging from various estimates,
be in the United States over 100 and perhaps 150 or
200 persons who are receiving 5 per cent, on $5,000',--
000 and over. Baron Rothschild's Wealth.
The largest fortune in personal property left in
England from 1870 to 1880 was Baron L. N. de Roths;
child's, of $13,500,000. In this time there were
only thirteen men who left over $5,000,000 ; fifty-six
who left over $2,500,000, and 195 who left $1,250,000.
This, it is true, makes no account of real estate, but
except in the Astor and Westminster and Bedford
estates, the fabulous fortunes of to-day are not in
real estate.
English fortunes are more largely in realty than

OTHER RICH MEN. 511
those ot any other country, and in 1873 sixteen English
landholders were estimated to have rent-rolls outside
of London of $175,000 a year or more. Of these,
three, the Duke of Northumberland, Earl Derby and
Sir J. W. Ramsden, were credited with $800,000 an
nually ; three, the Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford
and Sir Lawrence Polk, with $600,000, and the rest
with lesser sums. This list leaves out the Duke of
Westminster, a London landholder, and the reduction
in English rents in the last twenty years has been at
least 25 per'cent. English Merchant Princes.
English mercantile fortunes are certainly no larger
than in this country. When Mr. Rylands, the great
Manchester merchant, whose widow bought the
Spencer library, sold his business fourteen years before
.his death, it was capitalized at $10,000,000. Holloway
left $15,000,000, and the owner of Tranby Croft was
credited with $25,000,000, won in the shipping trade;
and no English railroad fortune is larger.
The average of European fortunes is below that of
England and this country. Prince Schwartzenberg,
the richest man in Austria, with 170. square miles of
territory, was said to have left $55,000,000 when he
died a few years ago. There are two or three noble
men in Germany who own over 100 square miles, but
the largest German income is Herr Krupp's, of
$1,090,500, and the next, a little smaller, is the income
of the Berlin Rothschild.
The Orleans family is said to have a fortune of

512 LIFE OF JAY GOULD.
$150,000,000, but it is widely divided, though, the
members of the family, own a common tie. If the
Orleans were poorer, the chances of seeing one of
them on the throne would be better. The Duke of
Galliera, a Franco-Italian railway magnate, left $55,-
000,000 in France and $1 5,000,000 in Italy in the past
decade, and this is by far the largest personal fortune
mentioned in Latin Europe. M. Leroy Beaulieu, a
high authority, estimated that in Paris, with its 2,500,-
000, only 8000 persons spent over $10,000 a year.
There are thrice this number in New York, and the
number in Philadelphia must be as large. From
1876 to 1886, eleven years, 15,565 estates went
through the Orphans' Court in Philadelphia of an
average value of $36,000. At thirty years to a gen
eration, this would be only one-third the number of
such estates in the city. It is certainly not over half,
and there are therefore from 30,000 to 45,000 persons
in Philadelphia worth an average of $36,000, whose
aggregate wealth is from ten to fifteen times that left
by Mr. Jay Gould alone.
The Armour property of Chicago takes rank among
the great fortunes of the United States. It has been
mostly acquired in the produce business, and is the
result of great financial ability and enterprise. Mr.
Armour's gift of $1,500,000 to the city of Chicago
for a university shows the spirit of the man.

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