The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the StatesMoody, John
History
The Railroad Builders: A Chronicle of the Welding of the States
Moody, John
Railroads -- United States -- History
As a part of the general settlement the Boston interests were relieved
of their $5,000,000 of largely worthless bonds of the Boston,
Hartford and Erie Railroad, for which they received $4,000,000 of Erie
securities. Thus in all about $9,000,000 in cash or securities was drawn
out of the Erie treasury in final settlement of this great stock-market
manipulation. And this does not include the pickings of Gould and Fisk
and the smaller fry, of which there is no official record. But that
these gentlemen did not go empty-handed there is not the shadow of a
doubt!
The sensational stock-market deal between the Drew and Vanderbilt
interests was but a truce, however, and did not settle the troubles of
the Erie. Jay Gould was now becoming a dominating factor and in October
of 1868 was chosen president. The various stock-market struggles that
ensued from the ascendency of Jay Gould to the receivership of the Erie
in 1875 is a long and intricate tale. Suffice it to say that the events
were generally similar to those already recounted--stock-market corners,
over-issues of bonds and stocks, injunctions, court orders, arrests,
legislative bribes. Less than a week after his election Jay Gould
frankly announced that the company had just issued $10,000,000 of
convertible bonds and that a third of these had already been converted
into stock. He further announced that the company now had $60,000,000 of
common stock outstanding, whereas the public had understood that it was
only $45,000,000.
During the few years that followed, the poor Erie was systematically
looted. Millions were wasted in New York real-estate speculation, and
the company's money was used in the erection of the Grand Opera House on
Twenty-third Street, to which the executive offices of the Erie Railroad
were moved. Finally the new ring, comprising as leading spirits Jay
Gould and James Fisk, Jr., eliminated Daniel Drew and left him high and
dry without a cent, through a new stock corner. About this time the road
was financially on its last legs, and Jay Gould was appointed receiver.
This started further litigation which dragged on for several years
until, in 1874, Gould was turned out by General Daniel E. Sickles in
combination with the English shareholders. The new interests, when they
finally got control, elected an entirely new management and made H. J.
Jewett, a practical railroad man, president. But the Erie was already
bankrupt, and not much could be done toward saving the situation. In
May, 1875, the road confessed inability to meet its obligations, and
Jewett was appointed receiver.
It was three years from the date of the receivership before the Erie
property was taken out of the hands of the courts. In April, 1878, a
new company, the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad, took over
the property; Jewett was elected its president, and a new chapter in the
history of the property began.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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