Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-01-25

his native State of Vermont for that pur-
pose He commenced his career as ped |
dler by selling small articles, such as pen
ellis, pens, ETC., on the sidewalks of the |
different towns of the State. In this way, |
by dint of perseverance, he saved little |
money and having succeeded in raising |
small additional sum, he purchased
horse and wagon, and made fresh start |
in life as peddler of dry goods. He
visited all the principal towns and villages
of Vermont, and succeeded in gaining so
large custom in the places to which he
travelled that his humble one-horse wagon
was no longer capacious enough for the
conveyance of his goods. He discarded
it, therefore, and invested in a much
larger one drawn by four horses. By
and-by he extended his field of operations,
and travelled through Massachusetts and
Connecticut as well as Vermont, until,
finally, the gross amount of his sales at
tracted the attention of Boston firm
from whom he was in the habit of buying
goods. In 1860 they made proposals to
him to join their house, to which he as
sented, and James Fisk, Jun, became a
partner in the firm of Jordan, Marsh u
Co., of Boston. But the firm did not ap-
pear to be so well pleased with James
Fisk the partner as with James Fisk the
customer, and at the end of two years
they paid him the large sum of S64, 600 to
leave the firm.
1t so happened that at this time some
parties in Boston were anxious to pur-
chase the Stonington line of steamships,
then owned by Mr.. Daniel Drew. James
Fisk was aware of this circumstance, and
thinking he could turn his knowledge to
good account, he came, in 1868, to New
York. Obtaining an introduction to Mr.
Drew, he managed so to ingratiate him.
self into the favor of that gentleman that
he was employed to conduct the negotia-
tion for the sale of the steamers. In this
he was eminently successful. The sale
was completed entirely to Mr. Drew's
satisfaction, and the ability and shrewd-
ness which Fisk had displayed through
out the negotiation gained for him Mr..
Drew's goodwill and patronage, and an
introduction to Wall Street.
Fisk now commenced operation on his
own account he entered into variety
of speculative transactions in government
stocks, gold, and other securities. Sue
cess, however, did not attend him in
Wall Street as it had done when peddling
through the country; the greater number
of his speculations were disastrous in
their results, and in two years. time James
Fisk had lost every dollar he had in the
world. He had, however, friend in Mr.
Daniel Drew, who in 1865 assisted him to
form the firm of Fisk, Belden 6 Co.,
for the purpose of carrying ON the busi-
ness of stockholders, and gave them sub
stantial aid by putting business into their
hands, and employing them as brokers in
many large undertakings
| In 1867 Mr.. Fisk, in connection with
Mr.. Jay Gould, succeeded in making a
large sum of money by operations in Erie
stock. By an uuscrupulous combination,
which is doubtless still fresh in the mem
ory of our readers, they got control over
stock to the amount of $4,000, 600, and
were thus able to depress the general value
of Erie stock from 72115 to So. Mr.. Fisk's
share of the profits resulting from these
operations amounted, it is said, to 81 300,
600. An arrangement was then entered
into by which Fisk and Gould obtained
absolute possession and control of the
Erie Railroad, the other conspirators re-
celving enormous sums of money as their
portion of the plunder From that time
until the present the road has been under
their management.
But Fisk became more notorious for
"Black Friday" operations than any other
of the numerous schemes he set on foot
A ring" was formed, by which absolute
control was obtained of all the salable
gold in the market, and the consequence
was CORNER" in gold on Friday, Sep
tember "a, 1869. The result was a panic
in Wall Street; gold suddenly sprane
forcing the rate by bids, until it was
found that the ring possessed all the avail
able gold, and intended to hold it for q
further advance. Every thing seemed in
favor of the conspirators, as it was believed
that the Government sales of gold would
not relieve the market. The scenes il
the Gold-room were extraordinary, for the
continuation of the crisis for twenty-foul
hours meant absolute ruin of all the small
operators as well as many of the leading
firms. While the panic was at its heigh
President Grant ordered the sale of $5,
600, 900 of gold coin, and the rate dropped
down to its old figure With character
istic efrontery Fisk and his confederate.
repudiated the majority of the engage
ments made by their agents, and severa
failures were the result The conspiracy
was an Infamous one, and in any Othel
city would probably have led to the i'm
prisonment of the leaders
Fisk had, however, become thorough,
Unidentified with the Tammany Ring
! Tweed and Sweeny were Erie Directors
Their influence was all-powerful, and Fisl
) was allowed to escape the legal conse
quences of his acts His opera-hous,
speculation may be cited as another strik
inginstance of his peculiar ideas of busines
honor. When the overissue of Erie stool
gave him control of an immense amour
} of the shares, he purchased Pixies Opera
house for $4,000 in the name of tn
Erie Company; but they not liking tn
3 bargain he assumed the purchase, REIN
: bursting the company with some of hi
: own watered stock. Subsequently tn
e company leased the upper part of tn
l building at an enormous rent. Fisk ais
Y dabbled in other property, among whic
e is the Fifth Avenue Theatre and Centra
: Park Garden, his old experiences as
Snowman making him banker after place
: of amusement.
L The recent operations of Fisk do nc
: call for special mention, nor is there an
necessity to make more than passin
S allusion to his shameless and notoriou
:. prot1igacy. The circumstances of HI
l. tragic death were as follows:
+ Between Edward S. Stokes and Fis
+ there had been bad blood for sewers
e months, growing out of business suit
It and complicated with the affairs of
s former mistress of Fisk Stokes ha
d grown very bitter towards his rival A
r last resort Fisk lately attempted to q
r, Stokes indicted as a felon, and the Gran
is Jury who listened to the complaints
e himself and witnesses stood nine to tN
for Indictment. Subsequently Fisk S
e cured rehearing and introduced 9th,
!. witnesses, and, it is said, secured an il
n dictment, the knowledge of which, 7
; ceived in some manner by Stokes,
v supposed, though not known, to be IL
+ immediate incitement to the shooting.-
!. Harper's Weekly.