Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-01-06
JAY L
Something About the Railway
Magnate as He Appeared
in Boston.
Boston Cor. Of Old Colony MEMORIALS

Boston Cor. of0ld Colony Memorial
Imagine a mite ola man, l~istless and
shaken in appearance; weighing but
little over 100 pounds, with no partic-
uiarly intelligent expression, and, in
fact, with hardly a manifestation of
any power or force in his whole show
ing. Physically. indeed, he is weak,
and it Is said Of timself and another
distinguished New York capitalist,
that they have but one lung between
them. Mr.. Gould came into the New
York and New England meeting and
took his seat upon a front settee. near
the platform. He sloucSed down up
on the bench so that his head rested
upon the rail ofthe settee back, and
he entered into the proceedings very
much as a stunted farmers boy is
wont to do in a country church, so
far as positson and apparent interest
in the exercises are concerned. Du-
ring the routine he was thus partially
hidden from many would-be inspec-
tors, who were peering a~nxiously in
his direction, his noighbors on either
hand overlapping and outbulk-
ing him. When the formal business
was over, and speeches were in order,
cries Of Could Could" filed the
hall, and the little great mar worked
himself into a standing position If
he had been a country pumpkin es-
saying a first speech in a village ly-
ceum, he must have been laughed at
as be stood there. His face was
wreathed in shippers, and his whole
manner was an exaggerated shipper.
When he at last did speak, his utter
ance was labored and hesitating and
still simpering, his voice light and
with no taking quality, and there was
not a sympathetic or winning feature
about him. Involuntary his critics
viewing him now for the first time
said to themselves: This is not the
mighty Gould of the Stock Exchange;
the dictator, almost absolute, of rail
roads, worth $50 000, 0O0!" Yet this
was, indeed, the very man, this slight
ly built apparent body Of weakness, Of
forty Eve years continuance. His
reply to the calls Of the assemblage
was, SO far as his words were con
cerned: Il will make you a speech,
gentlemen, after our first dividend is
declared" He will never keep bis
word, whatever turns, for be can no
more make 3 speech than he can
weigh a ton. The meeting over,
the company sauntered and
loitered about, exchanging words
before getting upou the
street again. This was the golden OPP
portunity improved by many to get a
good look at Gould. He appeared
nervous and watchful regarding the
close approach to himself OF any
stranger, as though not entirely free
from apprehension that, even in such
a place, aud surrounded by friends,
some enemy might be seeking him 1t
is said that, since the attack made
upon him SOME time ago, he has never
appeared abroad without the
company of a striker" who would
protect him if danger threat ,ned, aud
he would certainly need some such
helper if attacked, even though, as is
probably the case, he is no degree
of a coward physically. SO much Tor
the personal appearance Of man Who
made his first entry into New York
City during the Crystal Palace exhi-
bition, and who, until the year 1869,
had never been reekoned other than a
poor man. True, he was 9 mere boy
at the time of hal first visit, and all
his hopes and expectations for the fu-
ture were conferred in a
continuance which he carried
in a mahogany box under
his arm, and priced inordinate-
Iva wonderful mouse trap, that was
all. His mouse trap brought him
nothing but trouble, and it turned,
as it has turned one thousand times
even in New York, that a mouse trap,
even though il. be a wonderful affair,
is of no account unless it be found in
the right hands. These are not the
traps which Gould was best fitted TO
manipulate. Mr.. Gould is now forty
FIVE years old, and his friends appar.
emily admire the statement when they
say be has made for himself one mil.
lion dollars for every year he has lived
in the world. They probably under.
rate him in this direction, and hi:
solid individual wealth is, without
doubt, greater than these figures
would represent. But on earth there
is probably no harder worker, nc
greater slave to afortune, no more per.
sistent follower of destiny than thi
same Jay Gould. In business affair.
he is an abnormal development Of hu
manity, aud all his manipulations are
strokes of genius. However, it doe.
not now appear that this sort of thin.
is to die with him, for he has a son re
ported to be of greater genius thar
his father in the same directions.