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. Both pious and unscrupulous, he founded a theological seminary and wrecked a railroad with equal fervor. 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 himself 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 on repeated this trick with success, both in Erie and Jersey Central. Soon after Gould and Fisk entered Erie, Drew became engaged in his celebrated contest with Commodore 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 railroad operations, clearly seeing that in the development in the great inland commerce of America there were larger and quicker profits to be obtained than in the export trade. Vanderbilt had obtained control of the Harlem and Hudson River roads; he now aimed at the ownership of Erie. Space will not permit the telling of the story of this famous contest. It can be found in detail in Mr. Adams’ interesting chapter. It is a story of extraordinary stock operations, of millions lost and won; of securities issued by the bushel and with little or no regard for law or equity; of large and intricate litigation; of judges bought, legislators bribed, of directors 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 Vanderbilt have as much stock as he wanted, but entered into a bargain with Gould and Fisk by which the railroad 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.