The late Charles F. Woerishoffer, Henry N. Smith, and other operators were united in a combined effort to bear the securities which Gould was carrying. He had supported them for a time by obtaining sterling bills, giving his securities as collateral and then converting the bills into cash. But sterling loans, like all others, come to maturity; the bears were as unscrupulous as himself, bold and skillful and persistent. Gould’s Western Union fell to 49 and his Missouri Pacific to 62. He was beaten. One morning he had his lawyers execute an assignment of his property, and on the following day--a beautiful Sunday morning--his yacht went down to Long Branch, where the bear operators were summering. Gould’s emissaries landed and held a conference with his foes. They bore his ultimatum--a copy of the assignment and the statement that unless the bears made terms with him he would on the following morning file the assignment and give public notice that he was unable to meet his engagements. At that time he was supposed to be borrowing some $20,000,000, and his failure would create a bigger panic than the one the street had just passed through. Many of the firms with which the bear combine had “short” contracts outstanding would doubtless fail, and in the general crash the successful bears themselves might be heavy losers. After a protracted conference the bears agreed to “let up” on Gould on condition that he should turn over to them 50,000 shares of Western Union at the current market price, $50 per share. This enabled them to make delivery of the shares they had sold at high prices. In speaking of this “deal” the following day, one of the bears expressed his confidence that Gould would have to fail anyhow--the help he received would be transient in its effect as a glass of brandy given to a dying man. He was wrong. He underestimated the fertility of resource in Gould and his associates. Many of the men in the financial quarter of New York City the day of his death devoted their time to forming estimates of Mr. Gould’s character as a man and relating anecdotes of his life. In reference to the general subject under discussion, Col. Henry T. Chapman, the art connoisseur 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.