The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth; or, The Life and Deeds of Jay GouldWhite, Trumbull
History
The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth; or, The Life and Deeds of Jay Gould
White, Trumbull
Businessmen -- United States -- Biography; Capitalists and financiers -- United States -- Biography; Gould, Jay, 1836-1892
Some years ago Mr. Gould went to the Rocky mountains, where he wanted
some surveying done in the neighborhood of Black Hawk in Colorado. He
employed a surveyor and described the work he wanted done. The Indians
were rather troublesome at that time and the surveyor said:
“I will have a good chance of getting scalped.”
“Well,” replied Mr. Gould, “I want this work done, and I want to know
if you will do it.”
“It will be a bad thing for my family if I am killed,” said the man,
“but I’ll undertake the work.”
“How much money would it take to make you independent out here?” asked
Mr. Gould.
“I’d be well off if I had $5,000,” replied the surveyor.
The surveying was done, and one day, some months later, Mr. Gould asked
Mr. Morosini what the surveyor’s name was and directed him to send the
man a check for $5,000, with the remark:
“We’ll make him the richest man in Colorado.”
One of the stories told of Mr. Gould to illustrate his determination
to die a rich man whatever happened was this: In 1884, when it was
ascertained that Mr. Gould was in financial danger, he took from his
safe $11,000,000 worth of stock of the Manhattan and the Missouri
Pacific railroads and stowed it away in an iron box, which he locked
and sealed.
He resolved that that box should never be opened until after his death,
and that no matter what happened the securities should not be touched.
He carried the box, it was said, to the vaults of a safe deposit
company, where it was locked up, and the particular vault in which it
was placed was sealed, too. Instructions were given to the officers of
the company that the seal on the vault was not to be broken until after
his death, and then only in the presence of all of his executors.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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