Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-01-26

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 q
small additional sum, he purchased a
horse and wagon, and made fresh start
in life as q peddler of dry goods: He
visited all the principal towns and villages
of Vermont, and succeeded in gaining so
large a 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
| 1t, therefore, and invested in 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 q
| partner in the firm of Jordan Marsh &
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 $64, 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 ia
good account he came, in 1863, 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.
ton for the sale of the steamers. In this
he was emincntly 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 n variety
OF speculative transactions in government
stocks, gold, and other securities Sue
cess, however, did not attend him in
Wall Street as 1t had done when peddlinp
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, "A friend in Mr.
Daniel Drew, who in 1865 assisted him tC
form the firm of Fisk, Beldcn & Co.
for the purpose of carrying on the bus
ness of stockholders, and gave them sub
stantial aid by putting business into theil
hands, and employing them as brokers In
many large undertakings.
In 1867 Mr.. Fisk, in connection will
MIR. Jay Gould, succeeded in making 6
large sum of money by operations in Erie
stock. By an INSCRIPTIONS combination
which is doubtless still fresh in the mem
ory of our readers, they got control oyel
stock to the amount of $40. OOO. 900. and
were thus able to depress the general value
of Erie stock from 1919 to 3j Mr.. Fisk.
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
ceiving enormous sums of money as thei
portion of the plunder From that timt
until the present the road has been undeI
their management.
But Fisk became more notorious fol
BLACK Friday" operations than any otheI
of the numerous schemes he set on foot
A ring was formed, by which absolute
control was obtained of all the salablc
gold in the market, and the consequenc,
was corner in gold on Friday, Sep
tember "a 1869. The result was a panic
in Wall Street; gold suddenly sprans
from 142 to 160 Fisk and Gould's agent,
forcing the rate by bids, until it wa
found that the ring possessed all the avail
able gold and intended to hold it for
further advance. Every thing seemed il
favorof the conspirators, as it was believed
that the Government sales of gold woulC
not relieve the market The scenes il
the Gold-room were extraordinary, for til,
continuation of the crisis for twenty fou
hours meant absolute ruin of all the small
operators as well as many of the leadin.
firms. While the panic was at its hcigh
President Grant ordered the sale of So,
900, 600 of gold coin, and the rate dropped
down to its old figure With character
istic etirontery Fisk and his confederate
repudiated the majority of the engage
ments made by their agents, and seVera
failures were the result The conspirac,
was an infamous one, and in any Othe
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-powrrful, and Fisl
was allowed to escape the legal consc
quences of his acts. His opera -hous
speculation may be cited as another strik
ing instance ofhis peculiarideas 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 $S20,000 in the name of tn
Erie Company; but they not liking tn
bargain, he assumed the purchase, REIN
bursting the company with some of hi
own watered stock. Subsequently tn
company leased the upper part of tn
building at an enormous rent. Fisk ais,
dabbled in other property, among whicl
is the Fifth Avenue Theatre and Centra
Park Garden, his old experiences as
Snowman making him banker after place
of amusement.
The recent operations of Fisk do no
call for special mention, nor is there an
necessity to make more than a passin
allusion to his shameless and nOtoriou
prohigacy The circumstances of hi
tragic death were as follows:
: Between Edward S. Stokes and Fis
: there had been bad blood for severa
|, months, growing out of business suits
and complicated with the affairs of
former mistress of Fisk. Stokes ha
grown very bitter towards his rival A
a last resort Fisk lately attempted to &c
Stokes indicted as felon, and the Gran
J Jury who listened to the complaints o
himself and witnesses stood nine to tw
for indictment, Subsequently Fisk st
cured a rehearing and introduced othe
witnesses, and, it is said, secured an il
dictment, the knowledge of which, rC
ceived in some manner by Stokes,
supposed, though not known, to be til
immediate Indictment to the shooting
Harper's Weekly.
Another Perpetual Motion Failure.