Gould, naturally enough, came into control of this great system, which carries 600,000 passengers every day, through a consolidation and the “watering” of stock. There were three elevated roads--the Metropolitan (formerly the “Gilbert,” named after its originator, Dr. Gilbert), of which S. H. Kneeland was president; the second, the New York, of which Cyrus W. Field was president and of which Samuel J. Tilden was once a heavy stockholder, and the third, the Manhattan, of which Jay Gould and Russell Sage were the owners. The Metropolitan and the New York were bona-fide companies, actually owning railroads and rolling stock, but the Manhattan was a “paper” company, having a nominal charter and an organization, but not one inch of road. Yet these three companies were consolidated on equal terms, and Gould, Sage and Field became the owners. Later the control narrowed down to Gould and Sage. Sage, Field and Kneeland are remarkable characters in Wall street history, and their names are intimately identified with Gould’s--Sage and Field as associates, and Kneeland as an unpurchasable opponent. Russell Sage is one of the richest men of his generation. He came originally from Troy, where he ran a bank, and whose district he represented in Congress, before the war, for one or two terms. Then he entered Wall street. His great distinguishing trait was avarice. He worshipped the mighty dollar. Money-getting was his passion--not for the power and luxury which money can purchase, but for the mere pleasure of acquisition. He lived, it is true, on Fifth avenue, and gave somewhat to charity, but his habits were economical almost to the point of penuriousness, and once a dollar got into his hands it did not easily slip through them. It should be said of him, however, that he was as careful of other people’s money as of his own. This was the man who for many years was Gould’s most intimate business associate, a director in all his companies and a partner in all his schemes. Gould estimated Sage’s wealth at $50,000,000 and their combined capital was thus enormous. Sage was chiefly a money-lender in Wall street. He carried an immense amount of ready cash and was of incalculable aid to Gould in all his undertakings. It is indeed one of the traditions of the street that Sage saved Gould from ruin at a time when he was hotly pressed by James R. Keene and other bear operators. Field was a different kind of a man. He liked money but only as a means to an end, and he had not the heart or mind to roll up a colossal fortune in the way that Gould and Sage did, though he shared for a time in their enterprises. But at one time he was worth millions. Field’s passion was love of fame. His brothers all gained distinction in the professions; he sought and obtained distinction in commercial life. One of his brothers sat on the Supreme Bench of his country. Another was a leader of the New York Bar. A third was a noted clergyman, editor and traveler. Cyrus W.