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
He went first to Gibraltar, then to Marseilles, cruised along the
Mediterranean, going to Egypt and Italy. While he was absent the legal
war against him at home continued. His enemies in the Kansas Pacific
still clamored for his indictment; the commissioners appointed by
President Cleveland to investigate the affairs of the Pacific railroads
made a thundering report against the management of those corporations,
showing that they had received in aid from the government the sum of
$447,000,000. Congressman Anderson offered a resolution in the House of
Representatives recommending that suit be begun against Mr. Gould and
others to enforce the Thurman act.
In March, 1888, the Grand Jury failed to indict, and on that very day
Mr. Gould was complacently strolling about the streets of Algiers.
Three weeks later Mr. Gould landed from his yacht at Jacksonville,
Fla., and in a very short time he was at his desk looking after his
great financial interests and manipulating the stock market.
On his return he attacked his prosecutors with a virulence which he had
never displayed before, and filled the columns of the newspapers with
interviews. In one of these he declared that the attack upon him was
the result of a conspiracy and blackmail, and that the powers behind
the criminal proceedings were “a newspaper” (meaning the _Herald_), “a
cable company” (referring to the Mackey-Bennet Company), “and a woman.”
The latter was understood to be the wife of an officer of one of Mr.
Gould’s railroads who had brought suit for divorce. This bringing of a
woman into the case created a great sensation. A few days later Gould
made a bitter personal attack on James Gordon Bennet, of the _Herald_,
calling in question his personal and social character, and reciting
incidents unfit for publication. This was the first time in his life
that Gould appeared to be thoroughly “rattled;” the first time that
he let down the curtain of mystery with which he had so long covered
himself, and the first time that he broke that silence which was his
best weapon.
This is a good place to quote from Gould’s testimony before the Pacific
Railroad Commission, as it gives an insight into his theory of railroad
operations.
“I consider,” he said, “the past a good thing to judge a road by, but
the future more. I have been all my life dealing in railroads; that is,
since before I came of age. I always bought on the future; that’s how
I made my money. The bonds on the first road I bought were down to ten
cents. I built up the road and sold them for $125. That’s the reason
I went into the Kansas Pacific and the Union Pacific. But I saw the
Kansas Pacific was going to develop faster than the Union Pacific.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account