Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-11-29
A Corner in Stocks.

w lll StiCCV ll.AS dHOlHSl SShotA
ton in the shape Of 4 corner in the
stock of the Chicago Northwestern
r. r., in which the notorious Jay
Gould and Daniel Drew figured
conspicuously, the latter as loser
to the tune of two and a half mil
lions. Just how the shrewd old
fnancier was drawn into the trap
is thus told by one of the papers:
"Drew was caught in the trap by
a device of Gould's, which was in
genious in its way. Gould went to
Drew few weeks ago and suggest
ed possibilities Of singing the
street in Erie, in which transaction
the latter was to appear as bull
Drew joined in the idea and went
to work secretly to buy up large
blocks of Erie, locking them up in
safes as fast as they were purchas-
cd. The stock in this market was
soon gobbled up, and as conse
quence the price of Erie began to
advance. Gould also bought Erie
largely at low figures on the start,
but abstained from purchasing any
when it began to advance. The
stock rose to SCI and Gould unload
ed his entire interest upon Drew,
thereby netting considerable pro-
fit. Drew, ignorant of the bad faith
of his ally, and wondering at the
large quantities of Erie stock which
continued to flow on as he kept on
purchasing, went it alone, and was
making fair progress in bulling the
market on his own account, when
Gould turned a new card. In some
way he became acquainted with the
fact that Horace +. Clark, Augustus
Schell, and the Vanderbilt party
generally were endeavoring to OBJ
tain control Of the Chicago and
Northwestern stock, in order to get
the road in their own hands, and
supply the missing link in the great
railroad chain to the west. He
therefore formed 4 coalition with
the Northwestern clique, and going
to Drew, who still supposed he was
helping him to bull Erie, suggested
that as a blind to their operations
it would be good plan to go short
in Northwestern and thereby throw
the street off the SCENT Drew, re-
lying upon the judgment of his
quondam associate in Erie, acqui-
esced in this arrangement, merely
saying that he guessed it was safe
to go short Of Nor'west, and it
might tickle the boys to speckilate
in somethin' ncw.' His brokers ex-
ccutcd his orders, and the design
was accomplished. The attention
of Drew became absorbed in the
success OF the Erie bull movement,
and while he was watching the rise
of the stock, he paid little attention
to Northwestern. Gould found that
Drew was trapped, and kept away,
occupying his leisure moments in
engineering the rise. Drew never
discovered what Gould's real inten-
tons and operations were until it
was entirely too lato for his own
pocket. Then he sold out his Erie
stock, which he bought to skin the
street, and it is supposed will use
the proceeds to settle up with tho
successful parties. He also unload
ed large amount Of Wabash and
various other stocks"
The clique that corncred tho stock
have decided to squeeze the bears
to the last extremity short of abso-
lutte failure. Drew will probably
disgorge s2,5oo,ooo, and Henry N.
Smith some 100000. The ERIC
railway company have brought suit
against Gould and Drew to recover
from the first 100000 and the
latter s5,ooo,ooo, alleged TO have
been embezzled from the company
by them while holding official rela-
tons to it. Altogether, there is @
pretty muss among the magpates of
the gambling fraternity. in which
the honest people of the country
have little interest or sympathy,
save as it affects the Legitimate bas-
mess Of the country.