The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1872-01-19
gsNisrellaneons.
From the n. Y. Tribune
JAMES FISK, JR.

10 From the n. Y. Tribune.l
~ ~ JAMES FISK, JR.
~ James Fisk, jr, has been d., cr;bet
% by cne OF his admirers as the mos
fascinating character OF the Nine
teenth Century. Talk about Aisd
din J" exclaimed the representative
hero, worshipper from whom we quote
"Why, here Oh have Aladdin under
Jour very eyes--driVing a peddler'
E cart one day, and coming to New
e York the mkt IS the ruler of the
!, stock market, where he has exeIted q
greater il fluence upon business than
any other one man in the world.''
Allowing for little enthusiasm, this
does not much exaggerate The extra
ordinary vicissitudes OF this extraor-
dinary mans career. He was born
at bennington, Vermont, Oh the Ist
of April, 1854. His father was q
peddler, driving one of those Ca
paciou5 wagons, sill so common in
the rui al di.tricjs OF New England,
stored with oalicocs, 'inwarc, laces,
tiinkets, AID household utensils, at
which the farmers wives and daugh-
iers do the mast CT their shopping
From Bennington he removed TO
Brattleboro, where James obtained
all the little education he ever got at
the district school. 1t was nothing
more ttan q moderate acquaintance
with the alphabet and the copy book.
He never mastered the art OF SPELL
ing, and TO the end OF his lie had 4
comicai contempt for grammar The
elder Fisk had the same commercial
instincts and little Of tie same
taste for variety in his enterprises
which afterward distinguished the
son. He buii: an inn, ald in default
Of 3 satisfactory tenant used often to
manage IL himself; The son nj such
times was employed as waiter.
There is report that James made
his first acqcintance with the outside
world in some humble capacity in
connection With travelling circus or
menagerie but Lis ambition was to
be pedd,er. He began by travelling
with his father. Pretty soon he was
intrusted with separate wagon, AID
he ended by buying GU: the business,
and taking his worthy sire as his
hired man TO drive one ofthe vehicles.
With the brigh,est wagons, the
showiest horses, and The most gilt
tering harness in tue State, and with
an abundance of that ready wit and
good natured impudeEce for which
he siterward became famous, lie
prospered so fast thst he was soon
one of the principal joobers in Yer
mont. He bought his supplies o.
Jordon & Marsh in Boston, ana the
members of this firEl were go i'm
pressed with his shrewdness that
they gave him 4 position in their
establishment as salesman. From
salesman he became partner. He
made some excellent bargains With
the Government duriag the war l.
is said that he made q happy stroke
by smuggling cotton through the
lines. In four years he retired from
tie firm with capital enough 10 open
a dry goods shop o; his own. In
four months more his money was
all gone and the business was closed
up. lll
When he appeared inNeU York in
1864, and opened q brokers' oiliee in
Brosd-st., his entire capital consisted
(if history can be believed) of bor-
rOwed silver watch. II lie had any
thing more than thai he soon losi it,
and when he introduced himself to !
the favor of Daniel Drew, by nego-
tiating for him the sale of the Brisol |
line OF steamboats,, he was practically
penniless. Mr. Drew first set him
up as broker, ia partnership with |
Belden, and employed the new firm
in carrying on his famous war with
Vanderbilt for the possession of the
Erie Railway. That warfare is Q
matter OF history, which We need no. |
here recount. When the crisis came,
on tue eve OF the election o; Direc.
tors, in October, 1867, there were
three contestants il the field. Fisk |
was serving under the Drew party,
who wanted to be retained in oflice.
Vanderbilt, master OF Harlem, Hud-
son River, aud Central, seeme;i to be
on the point OF securing Erie also
Eldridge was the leader of the Bos-
ton, Hartford and Erie party, which
wanted to get into the Erie Directory
ior the purpose OF making that Com
pany guarantee the bands OF their
own worthless road. El3ridge was
assisted by Gould. AS result of
the compromise By which The three
opposing interests cOaiesctt, Fisk
and GoHId were both chosen Direct.
ors OF Erie, and from tie month of
October, 1867, dates the memorable
association OF these two choice spirits
since so famous in the money markets
of the world Tney were not the
counterparts, but the compliments OF
each other. Fisk was bold, unscru
pulous, dashing, enterprising, ready
in execution, powerful in his ipfiu-
ence over the lower and more SEN
sual order OF men. Gould was art
ful, reticent,. long headed, clear OF
brain, fertile of invention, tenacious
OF purpose, and no more buraened
with unne cessary scruples than his
more noisy and fashy companion.
They were not long in joining for
tunes. At the time of the famous
Erie corner the next March, they
we're ostensibly working on opposite
sides. Gould acting for Vanderbilt,
and Fisk being the man TO whom
Drew intrusted $4,000 shares of new
stock, secretly issued, 10 be used
when Vanderbiit's brokers began to
buy. The mysteries of that trans
action are fully known only to few
of the principal actors. An injunc-
ton of Judge Barnard's had forbid
den Drew or anybody connected with
the road to manufacture any more
stock by the issue of convertible
bonds. But Drew was "short" of
Erie; the Vanderbilt pool threatened
ruin; and stock must be had The
new certificates had already been
made out in the name OF James Fisk,
ir, and were in1he hands Of The Sec
ratorv uho was epinined from i,ou;,,