The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-01-18
Che Yenosha 0eteqraph
KENOSHA, WIS, JANUARY 18th, 1872
FISK AND ERIE.
From the Chicago Evening Journal.

FROM Tue CulCaSO DF0h'"ss 49, 'A-~i'
In moral point cf view James Fisk.
IT,, was the worst man America ever pro
duce,i. Not that he was personally &
sinner above all others, but, that the In
fuence If his public career was the
worst. He set his candle upon a hill, il
full view of everybody, and its deadly
flame lnred to destruction the moths WIN
think the chief end Of man il to make
money and spend it. The snuffng out 81
such candle, ike the overthrnw of Ma.
poleon and Tweed, isa public blessing.
4u5 the death of Fisk has its CONNER
cial aspect, no less then its moral. He
was, aud with good reason, called Prince
Erie" That giga ntIc I'll lWay was undeI
tue absolute control of Fisk and Gould
They were Siamese twins; ana one gone,
the either must die. The Erie ring p"
was broken by the bullet Of Stokes. One
fash of that pistol did the work more
eff ctually than courts and legislature
could have done it. AS business mar
Fisk was clear far,seeiug, bold, reck
less, yet cautious man. He loekeK at ii
subject on every side before he made up
his mind but he did il 50 quickly, and
followed refec ii"n with action SO swiftly
wary. He had not peddled L" notions :
up and down he Connecticut valley fn'
nothing He had got from commerce
with those shrewd men and shrewdcr
women an education that most admirably
fitted him tor" bear" batting and bull "
tossing on Wall street. With all his noise
and hustle, talk and nonsense, he was an
overmatch for Pnarisee Drew and Como
dore Vanderbilt both put together. AS q
stock gambler he was no worse than thly
II is the brace game with them all. Iii
old times rouhers took to The highways
and now to Wall and Broad streets Lung
before Fisk appeared on Change, E'I'
had become the football at stock gam
blers and been kicket about to suit the
thIeving purposes of tie Drew clique
Fisk simply bettered the instructions Of
"the old man" and, true to the teaching
he had been taught, made his master ms
victim. The reign OF Fisk Gould only
began in the summer of 1868. al tina
time the stock of the road WAS worth
about seventy cents In IL month it fell
ten, then seven cents. The next step was
to adj Sweeney and Tweed to the list Of
Directors. That was part of the allant e
Il
time forth until the downfall OF Tive. d
s. Co., the two rings were one III interes,
The legislators and the judges" bOssed
by one, were the tools at the other, pas
iDg laws aid granting lnjnncti0Es just as
Erie dictated. The watering PROCESS
was carried on upon scale uDhtard OF
before. The ring found tue stock of the
corporation $34265 800, and III fomI
months had deluged it with q new issue
OF 235 600 shares This old trick Of cor
poratc robbery ha> been repeated tInIt
and again until th, nominal capital of be
company is now $68,000,000. 1t seemed
as If the Stockholders we're utterly power
less; but the English shareholders boldly
and tenaclously asserted their RICH :.
The contest was long, and came to al
end only few days ago. The ring was
routed, horse, foot and Dragons. The
American stockholders took heart and
were on the point o! beginning ali attack
along the whole line. II was confidently
houed that in few months that magnif
cent property would be wrestt d from tn
robbers, and the real owners be in pos
session. The exit of Fisk will unduubted
" hasten the restoration. This is Ger.
CAlnly tuc Oplulon Vi wall sbIeet'
1t would be unfair to close this article
without acknowledging that Fisk was il
one respect q public bepefactor. He
always stood between the public and the
Central monopoly. His career as stock
manipulation was wholly bad, but az Il
railroad manager he furnished good pas
senQer accommodations and low freight
Ali shippers upon that trunk line nav,
reason to fear higher rates in consequence
Of his death There are Wander bilt and
Scott both watching Erie with the great
est eagerness. If either gets it, those two
kings will be il position to put through
freight charges as high as they please.
In this one light the death of Fisk Is
likely to prove pubic calamity.