Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-11-25
WORCESTER
MONDAY. NOvEArEER ss, 1878.
New vork gamblers and Thieves.

selected for their operations being that OF the
Chicago and Northwestern railroad, the aim of
the attacking party being TO produce what is
called corner" Well, the corner" was
produced, and Jay Gould, assisted by Horace
F. CLARK, John Stewart, aud Augustus
Scheli, it is said, were triumphant. The
t'shorts" had made contracts TO sell and deliver
10000 shares more than the whole capital stock
of the company. Nearly all Of this stock in the
market had been previously sold and delivered
10 the Gould party, who would not sell. The at
tempts to buy it sent it up from about rs to 200,
and only about 800 shares could be obtained at
the highest prices offered. The Gould party
would gain, and the 'shorts" would lose i'm
meusely; for, according to one statement,
Gould and his associates had succeeded not only
in getting most of the stock, but, also in max
ing "eall contracts" far exceeding the whole
number of shares actually in existence
These proceedings were in character precisely
like those of more disreputable gambling hells;
and yet they are described as regular proceed
ings at the brokers board. If these stock gam
blers could ruin each other completely, and then
disappear from sight, decent people might rea-
sonably hold special thanksgiving. Usually
their proceedings injure many people who are
in no way responsible for them. In this case,
the principal losers are some of the veteran
gamblers themselves; and the rage in
cited by their losses is likely 10 bring Jay
Gould 10 grief. The heaviest loser among
the 'shorts" is Henry n. Smith, former
partner Of Gould in the firm of brokers known
as Smith, Gould, Martin & Co. This Smith is
10000 shares short of ability to meet his
contracts; and he seeks revenge by disclosing
what he knows OF Gould's rascalties in con-
neetion with the Erie railroad, which is nearly
as much as Gould himself knows His reyela.
tions completed the case which the Erie direc
tors have for some time been making up against
jay Gould, and the notorious Erie operator was
Immediately arrested,
Gould's prosecutors swear that they can now
prove that he delrauded the Erie railroad COM
pany of SO, re, SAL, and show when and how he
did it. How much more he took, they are not
yet prepared to show in court. Gould has given
bail in the sum of 81 900 900, Schell AMI Clark
being his bondsmen. Will he be regularly tried
and convicted2 We can not say. 1t has not
been a custom of the New York courts to con-
Wet and punish murderers and other great
criminals. 1t is not safe to predict what
they will allow 10 be done in this
case. Some of their most notorious judges
are no longer on the bench; but the old,
obstructive judicial machinery still exists, and
will be used with all the cunning which Gould
and his counsel are able to command. Crime
has been encouraged by failures of the courts 10
convict and punish criminals. Whether Gould
will succeed in his endeavors to evadt conviction
remains to he seen. Meanwhile, there seems to
be no provision for Furnishing the stock gam
blers who are not whit better than any other
sort of swindlers.
The Chicago Tribune has exclusive informa-
ton that the policy of the government for the
next four years will be the acquisition of
foreign territory, and that this means aggres
sion, war, expenditure, increase of debt, the an
nexation OF unwilling peoples and general dis
turbance and embodiment" A fearful pros
peet, truly, but we have this CLEAN of consola
tion, that the Chicago Tribune is not likely to
have been selected by the president as the re-
pository of his confidence, and, therefore, it
may possibly be in error in ascribing to him
these pernicious schemes. The New York
Herald also, Of all papers, comes to the rescue
with an elaborate relutation of the manifest
destiny heresy, and points out the dangers
which must inevitably follow the annexation
of more territory. 1t dispenses with praise
worthy lberalty the lessons it has de-
rived from profound researches in the history Of
Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, aud so on down 10
Napoleon the third which warrant the concu-
sion that our country has reached the limit OF
safely in the way Of territorial expansion, and
would have passed it, but that our last acquisi
tion, Alaska, being substantially without in
habtants and incapable of supporting any, may
be left out of the account. General Grants
American policy, according TO the Herald, is to
shut the door of annexation, and invite and en-
courage our neighbors north and south 10 fol
low our example of self government. This is
novel doctrine for the Herald. 1t is not very
likely that either of these newspapers is in Gen.
Grants confidence, but the Herald has no
doubt come nearer the truth than the other in
predicting his policy.
In that kind of perverted ingenuity which
employs itself in deyising new methods of de-
frauding the credul1us and unwary, American
practitioners have hardly maintained the ma
tional reputation for fertility of invention.
few shallow and overworked tricks, Slightly va
ried with varying circumstances, seem to consti.
tute their stock III trade. These well-worn arti-
fees, however, are said to lind an uniailing sup
ply of dupes. Whether Americans set less store
by their money, or are habitually of more
cOnfdng temper, we do not pretend 10 say; the
latter alternative is certainly at variance with
the prevailing estimate Of the national charac
Ter; but ii appears 10 be rue that foreign sharpers
encounter greater difficulties in transferring
other peoples money to their own pockets, ana
are, in consequence, driven to the employment
OF a greater variety of ingenious devices in pur
suit of it. One of these, showing considerable
talent, was lately exposed in England. The
swindler was one John Calvert and the pro.
posed victim was his own brother, man appar-
emily in comfortable circumstances, whose hber
ality and patience the good for nothing John
had exhausted. There was one thing, however
which tins brother had never been asked to do
AOI hiuI anu IL OCCURRED 10 JOnn, not UNI
reasonably, that, though he could not
get any further assistance while he lived, his
brother would cheertully pay for his burial, if
assured of his death. He accordingly announced
that melancholy event in the following letter,
signed George Thompson, but actually written
by himself:
''Sir--I write to inform yOu that after eight
weeks illness your brother John died last We'd
nesday, and was buried TINS afternoon very re
Specially, for me and another man that lodges
with Us went round collecting money al nights
TO bury him, Tor we were determined he should
not be buried by the parish, for he was greatly
respected by alt who knew him. He has lett
three children. Poor Johul he never
looked up after his wife was drowned.
He died, the doctor said, Of want and
broken heart. His funeral cost us "a.
Ss. 30 i am only a labolug man, working ior
los. week, and got a weeks notice Today TO
leave worR. II ] had not been stopped at work,
would not have wrote like this letter, for
would willingly have lost il all; but If you or
your hlchas eau return me part OF It before 90
away he1l Saturday, J shall feel greatly
oOllgea' II you cannot, know that God viii
Perhaps the brother thought this TOO rood
news 10 be true; at any rate he investigated the
matter, and, finding John alive aud well. he
vented bis disappointment by bringing him be-
fore a magistrate 10 answer 10 the cbarpe ~