The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-23
WALL STREETS GREAT MAGNATE.
Jay Gould Portrayed in Novel and Pie
tured by Those Who Know Him.
New York Letter in st. Louis Republican.


trait of Jay Gould has many attentive readers
here: but those who have had long experience
with the great fnancier scarcely agree to the
general favorable impression left upon the minds
of the readers of the doings of Dexter File.
The book was under discussion few evenings
ago, when large operator said: Il will tell you
my experience with Jay Gould. In one of his
telegraph movements years ago, acct
dentally obtained very important piece of in
formation which l knew would be of the first i'm
portance to him. 1 went to his house on Fifth
avenue where L found him in large room, filed
up with telegraph cabinets l told him the news.
He assured me that l must be mistaken, and
took out of a pigeon-hole a number of papers
to prove me incorrect, but l knew all
about the matter, and l furthermore knew that
he eagerly absorbed the news. Now Mr..
Could said, one good turn deserves another.
have told you what know to be of great i'm
portance to you, as you will discover Now,
can't you be equally clever and tell Inc what is
the proper thing to do in the street"
" Certainly he said, with much cordiality in
manner with pleasure. Buy all of the Western
Union that you can possibly carry. Beg and
borrow and get the stock.
Accordingly 1 bought 5000 shares. The
price was 56 1t began to grow less and less. !
went to see him and he belitted my fears and
said that ] ought to take in more. In a few days
there was break, and the stock went rattling
down. | called upon him again. He said, 1
don't understand it at all. L really think it
must be that man Sage. You can never tell
what he is up to- l thought myself ruined.
L terribly in debt, but at the office
where L had my account nothing
because the stock kept falling However, as
nothing was said to me, L thought that | would
say nothing. BY and by said to the head of the
firm, L suppose | am ruined No, he said
your account does not show it. sold your stock
soon after you bought it. We got an order to
sell fifty thousand shares, and yours the first
to go overheard Then learned to know Jay
Gould, He had given the order"
Has Gould any intimate friends!"
"Outside of his children said another of
the company. Il don't believe there is a soul on
earth that confdes in him. Thousands fear him
And yet he is one of the nattiest most agreeable
| little men, perfect in polish, but after all Fra
Diavolo in business, With him the human heart
| is a hollow muscle"
He must be charming" said another of the
company, for observe this in a morning news
"A little black-bearded man was walking
briskly up Broadway, yesterday afternoon, when
a shivering tramp, who had been lettering in
front of Trinity Church, stepped in front of him
and said something in a, low tone. The little
man made no reply, but stepped to one side and
continued his journey up town. The beggar
slouched after him and said in a louder tone
than before; please, Cap g me few cents for
a bowl of soup Even to this appeal the little
man paid no attention, and would doubtless have
succeeded in escaping from the importunate
tramp had he not been stopped by a friend, who
| engaged him in conversation. The beggar
crowded up as closely as possible to the two men
and began pitiful tale of distress He was
heard to say: And everything [ possessed went
in Wall street. Jay Gould and those fellows got
| it, The little black-bearded mans hand went
quickly down in his pocket and brought out
/
mendicant with the words, There, now go
away, please" The fellow shuffied away, evil
IDENTIFY without knowing that the little man
who gave him the money was Jay Gould him
self. The other gentleman was Cyrus W. Field.
''Well, if that is tue, said the operator, sit is
the second act of charity of his life have heard
Of. He gave $4,000 to the Memphis sufferers,
as result of conversation with his wife, in
which she showed much sympathy for them
IL have found Mr. Gould one of the cleverest
of men," said public official. Il never saw him
until l went to him to get a pass for poor
woman whose son was dying in California. He
busted himself with the matter until he secured
the pass and subsequently, when the woman
wrote me that her baggage detained for
charges that she could not pay. | wrote to him
and he personally wrote back that he had called
on Mr. Huntington and had induced him to tele-
graph to have the baggage released So you see,
gentlemen, experiences differ | shall de-
fend Jay Gould out of what | know"
what is Jay Goulds ambitionF asked one.
oath some years ago to ruin - -, and l am
told that all that is the matter with Union Pa
ci1ic is the result of this, You know this gentle
man ruined by Gould and Fisk. They forced
him into bankruptcy, and he never got his dis
charge He subsequently organized firm with
his brothers, and Jay Gould became general
partner All went well until one day, when the
head of the firm drew a check for 81, 900 000 had
it certified, and said, Good day, Mr.. Gould. He
paid off old score, but he gave Jay Gould one
to pay off, and hear that Gould has again tri-
umphed The war is not over, and - will
probably get on his feet and come up again See
how Henry Clews has come up. He made$1 ,000-
900 in 18s3-some say 81, 600, GOO-but he confess
es to 81, 100000. Moreover he is said to have
the prettiest wife in New York, Keokuk, Ia
young woman"
is Gould vndctvel
Eyes and no. He likes man who surrenders
He composes his differences without a great diff
ficulty and uses old enemies in new schemes. He
once told me that he didn't like to have a man
play faro on his back, but the same man. whose
conduct toward him prompted the remark, is
now one of his chief instruments Gould is a
dangerous man TO fight in financial matters. He
is utterly indifferent, however as to the general
opinion of him | think that he is good keeper
of secrets, and like this description of his pro
totype in Mr. jennings book.
. Many men had at various times declared
war to the knife against Mr.. File, and had gone
forth with the determination to make an end of
him and his career. They soon found that they
might as well have fought against the stars.
Sooner or later they fed from the field in dis
may, defeated, and most likely ruined
No knew even the least of Files
plans, for he had no confdantes, and never
talked about his affairs to any one under any
circumstances which surrounded him. He was
never troubled with those weak moments which
come to others, when watch is set upon the
tongue and when condolences are given to be
afterwards betrayed Mr. Files belief was that
man was TO be trusted-still less any woman
His taciturnity was one great secret of his pow
I trust him. 1t was well known that whatever
might happen. Dexter File would disclose moth
ing. Congressional committees one after
another, had summoned him before them. but
although he answered all their questions, they
never found out what they wanted to know
File WIS nerfectlY frank and strait fforMard to