The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-03-11
The Dramatic Features Of Erle-Have We
Gordon Among USE

The Dramatic Features of Erle-Have We
a Gordon Among Use
There is dramatic as we'll as a financial
history of Erie, and the incidents of the one
are as remarkable as those of the other. In
the characters that have moved upon the
scene in the last six years we recognize the
standard stock of the novelist and play
wright-the pious villain, the plotting villain,
the rollicking villain and the villain who will
cut throat as readily as purse; the vulgar
adventurer, the sudden millionaire, the
miser, the spendthrift and good array Of
females Of all characters and of no characters
at all. The situations have been singularly
striking-from the famous siege of Fort Drew,
through the skirmishes in the courts, the battle
of Susquehanna, the secret midnight assas-
sination, the open midday murder, down to
the explosion Of the Bohemian bombshell and
the final fight of the vultures of the ring. If
we had so versatile an adapter as Dion Bouci-
cault among us we should before now have
certainly witnessed at one of our theatres
sensational drama founded on the story of the
startling stock.
The latest incident in dramatic Erie is the
appearance on the scene of mysterious Eng
lish stakeholder who bears the noble name of
Gordon, boards issc0geito at one of our princi-
pal hotels, possesses the wealth of Monte
Crlsto, buys up millions of Erie stock as an
afternoons amusement and desires to be inter-
viewed by the HERALD. A few days ago we
were confdentially informed of the presence
of this distinguished visitor in our city, and were
appraised that we might actually be brought
into his presence by calling at one of our
Broadway hotels; but as our custom is to
transact business at our own Office, where all
who are entitled to do so may ordinarily find
us during business hours, and as we have no
interest in Erie or its stock or its stockhold-
ers, English or native born, except the interest
of great journal In exposing fraud and pro-
noting the public good, we declined the invi-
tation. Nor can we consent that our report
ers shall interview this mysterious individual
until we are better informed as to his real
character. inasmuch as the HERALD extends
that honor only to distinguished persons
Presidents, Cabinet ministers, monarchs, poll
ticians, Fenians, fnanciers, woman's rights
champions, Popes, preachers, soldiers and
noted slnners-and we do not propose to allow
an ordinary adventurer, or possibly an ennis
sary of the Erie Ring, to address two or three
millions of people through our columns.
AT the same time we do not object to put
ting the hungry Bohemians Of the Cheap Jack
order on the track of the disguised nobleman,
who appears eager to be interviewed by some
body, and we hope they may find out who he
is. He has been represented to us as the
Duke Of Gordon; but as the last duke of that
title has been for some years gathered to his
ancestral tomb, we do not believe he can be
bulling Erie on Wall street at the present mo-
ment Our noble visitor may be Gordon of
the illustrlous family that bears the title of
Huntley, the premier Marques of Scotland,
whose lineage dates back to the days of
William of Normandy and King Malcolm
Canmore. If so, we are told that
the first of his name who crossed the Tweed
was a valiant knight, who, having killed a
terrible wild boar that greatly infested the
borders, obtained from King Malcolm grant
of land In the Merse. which he called Gordon,
after his own surname, and settling there, as
sumed the boar's head for his armorial bear
ing in commemoration of the exploit. Should
the descendant of this knight come here to
cross our own Tweed and to slay the ravenous
Erie boar he will deserve as rich reward
from the American people. But then the
family motto, amino, non Astutia," would
imply that If true Gordon he would be more
likely to settle with Gould and his asso-
ciates after the fashion in which his
ancestor dealt with other terrible boars
than to endeavor by stratagem to out
buy them on the Stock Exchange.
Our visitor may belong to the Aberdeen branch
Of the same stock, and may come direct from
that Sir John Gordon of Haddo, who fought
so gallantly against the Covenanters in the
sixteenth century, and whose misfortunes gave
10 an Edinburg church, In which he suffered
Imprisonment, the name Of Haddo's Hole.
If so, 1t is to be hoped that our sharp opera
tors will not get Sir Johns descendant into
\ Wall street hole during his large sock
transactions. The motto Of this branch OF
he family, "F0rtuna Sequatur," seems more
appropriate to the alleged business OF the
mysterious individual, as fortune would GER
ainly follow any operation that might succeed
n driving the Erie Ring from power and giving
he just earnings of the Erie Railroad to
he bona .fde stockholders. Finally, our
visitor may be of the Gordon-Lennox family,
xhosc head beaSs the w. Of Duke Of Rich-
nond and in whose veins runs royal blood.
We are, however, somewhat disposed to the
belief that the mysterious Gordon Is myth,
and that the person who desires 70 be inter