Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-02-04
THE MAN WHO NEVER SMILES.
Pen Pietrres ofa Prfncely speeuiator-Tho
Financial Ghoui ~ no Rules and Ruins Wall
fsseet How Roads are Absorbed by Him
kxie and Pacific MaH.

nktc anu racine WISH.
Chicago Journals New York Correspondence.
That insignificant individual Of
demlnntive body and unprepossess-
ing features who stands lsaLing
against marble colum in the no.
tunda OF the Fifth Avenue Theater
is one of the most remarkable men
of he century. No living Ameri-
CAT, not excepting General Grant,
hae been so much talked about dur.
ing the past ten years. He is the
observed OF all observers, but takes
no notice of any one himself beyond
the person be is conversing with
Some member of nearly every group
of i iiVidusls who enter the door
pointe . him ard in q whisper or
unoertone tells his companions who
he IL. They gaze upon him with
mingled feelings Of awe, fear and
surprise. He neither looks to the
right nor left, and is seemingly OBJ
livious OF their glance, which affords
them all the better opportunity for
studying his Physiognomy and make
up generally. Can this be the man.
everyone says to himself, who has
so frequently stirred the business
woili from center 80 circumference.
who has fomented panics at will
ruined legions of men and kept the
whole country in turmoil for MANY
years ? Yes, this is the man He
is only 81 years oil, and there is
nothing about him to Indicate any
force or power Of mind, body or will.
His face. however, is always the
same. Those who have been with
him ever since be came 10 public
notice assure nae that he has never
been know to- smile. His counten-
ances is never an indicator Of
gh.s il going on 10 his mind
and he chooses men possessed
of just such counter noes to car.
ry out bis plans. He has not one
friend in the wo,li and furthermore
does not desire to have any. He
lives and thrives and amasses CO.
! IbsaI Gums upon the misfortunes OF
others He obtains control of a
railroad, and, having largely wafer
ed the stock, floods the market with
it before the fact becomes known.
The road ls ruined and hundreds OF
shareholders and SPECTATORS hol !
the worthless stock, while their
money has passed into his exchequer
Or be obtains control of road, and
under pretense of wanting to put
down steel rails or to extend the
tracks, issues and sells enough bonds
to eventually bankrupt the corpora
ton. His later style of tactics is to
undermine without attempting to
uOtaIn UUntEVl OF raiirUau properties:
The recent raids upon the Erie and
Pacific NAL are notable instances of
this. With his shrewd business eye,
and with the aid of spies and associ>
ate conspirators filing subordinate
positions, he discovers when the Dr.
rectors of this or that road are
manipul tting it or running behind
hand. Having found a rotten sp1'
in the management, be straightway
puts oil the necessary machinery in
motion for a raid upon the road.
The newspapers here which be either
owns or controls, or whose services
can be procured at any time, are i'm
mediatelely set 10 work in assaiing
the management of the road in ques-
ton. ALI manner of unfavorable
stories are put in circulation upon
the street. Brokers are sent into
the Stock Exchange to hammer the
market and break down the stock.
A DngressionaI or Legislative in
vestigation is then secured. The
rottenness begins to show itself, then
the honest papers begin to pitch IN,
and as a result of al; his the stock
tum bles rapidly, and the man who
never smiles scoops in fortune
Having sold short before the decline
-et il, he now covers his short stock
at the lowest figures of the decline.
This was the wsy he served Erie
last year. This is the way he is
now serving Pacific Mail, and it il
the way be has served many stocks
in years gone by. Your readrs need
not to be told who this wonderful
little man is. They have surmired
before this that it is Jay Gould.
From having been regarded three
years ago as Thoroughbred knave,
cold-blooded seoundrel, whose
name was a synonym of infamy, b.
has now, through his extraordinary
successes, come to be looked upon
with sort of awe and veneratior.
At ali events, no one would think for
a moment of disputing bis suprema-
cy as the great king.pin ofthe specu-
lative ring. No man or body OF
men can iDslil into the street any,
thing like such fear. Let it for ex-
ample be suddenly bruited about the
street that Jay Gould is dong in
some stock, and the shorts" will
'run" to 'cover" like q covey oil
psrtridges Everything is attribut'
ed to bis Vaccinations and manipu-
l4tions 1t is all the same whether
the market goes up or goes down
Jay Gould is at the bottom OF the
m ,vement. Bankers. brokers and
spectators like hate the man as
much as they fear him; but with al
their prophecies of his disastrous
overthrow, be somehow n -er finds
his Waterloo. Black Friday came
the nearest to being it.
W Here is another happy Wis
consin editor. Hear the Wood coun
ty Reporter: a man paid us 10 cents
on subscription last week, and now
we sleen IN the back side of the bed