Slight of stature and frame, and feeble in body, with a high-strung, nervous organization, a rebellious stomach and flesh-plagued with the neuralgia--such was Mr. Gould as he appeared in the later years of his life. His deceit and far-reaching were the result, largely, of his frailty and timidity. In appearance what a meek, mild-looking man he was! Strangers to whom he was pointed out would exclaim: “What, that Jay Gould! Well, I never would have thought it.” About five feet six inches in height and of slender figure, he was not an imposing personage. His complexion was swarthy, his eyes dark and piercing; his closely-trimmed whiskers black and streaked with gray; his forehead dome-shaped and his hair rather thin--such was Jay Gould. His voice was very low and mild. When a witness in courts and before committees, as he frequently was, it was with the greatest difficulty that he could be heard. But when once in close contact with him one soon came under the spell of his intellect. His comprehension was wide, his intuition wonderful, his judgment almost unerring. He was a close student when once he took up a subject. He never ceased until he had thoroughly mastered it in every detail. This was the secret of his success. Henry Ward Beecher once defined genius as the power and willingness to work long and hard, and under this definition Mr. Gould was a man of genius. Though not by any means wholly bad, he was a dangerous man. His life was a menace to his country. His successes were demoralizing to the young. He looked like a premium on dishonesty, a reversal of the old adage that “honesty is the best policy.” No just estimate of Mr. Gould can be formed without taking into consideration the fact that he lived in a time and country in which corruption in politics and business was widespread. The great mass of the people were honest, but municipal government was the most corrupt ever known. Bribery walked the streets of the national and state capitals, and “jobs” were behind nearly every public undertaking. It was a period, on the one hand, of glorious achievement and extraordinary development, and, on the other hand, of venality, deceit and dishonesty. The besetting temptation of the times was the desire to get rich--enormously rich--suddenly. Mr. Gould may be said to have been little if any worse than most of his contemporaries in business. His triumphs were, for the most part, over men who would have ruined him if he had not ruined them. In regard to himself, he once said when told that he was the most unpopular man in the United States: