The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-12-22
WHEN GOULD WAS FRIGHTENED
His Experience with Commodore Vanderbilt
TT Rattle in the Old Mans Throat.

-AiO u ~ ShO OA0 uA6u y 2ATOabs
New York Times.
Here is a story that has never been printed.
Jay Gould and Commodore Vanderbilt are It's
| subjects. and Jay Gould is sponsor for it. He
has told it to half a dozen acquaintance since
| William Ii. Vanderbilt died, and although he
has sought to impose secresy upon his hearers it
comes directly to me, and without any compunc-
tons l invite the Times's readers into my conf
dence.
Il never was really scared but once in my
life-scared SO badly as to lose my head" Mr..
Gouldis own words l give, for 1t is best, per-
haps. to let him spin his own yarn in his own
way. Il never lost my head but once in my
life. That was a year or two before Commodore
Vanderbilt died, and it was in the COmmodore's
house. Hoo!" This is Mr.. Gould's pet ejacu-
lation.) Hoo! 1t makes me SILVER to think of
it even now. A dead man, so l was sure, was on
my hands, and visions of the gallows and all the
long list of horrors indescribable danced before
me-, stupefied me, drove my sense away. made
me for the time a mailman, tied down. hand and
foot, and brain in a tangle of circumstantial evil
dence that was fairly paralyzins. 1t was a hor-
riole night-horrible! l wouldn't undergo its
fortunes again for millions.
Commodore Vanderbilt and / had been hav-
ing some pretty lively fights over Erie end other
properties" Mr.. Gould continued with a shiver.
And the Commodoreh had made a miscalculation
or two that had cost him heavily, and 1 hadn't
found the warfare altogether full of profit either.
and, as often happens among Wall-street men,
we both put ourselves finally in readiness for a
compromise. 1t was arranged that we should
have a formal interview and fix up things ami
cably all around He sent me an invitation to
visit him at his house, saving that a conference
could be held there free from all danger of in
trusion or publicity. l was to call early in tn
evening, and promptly on time L climbed the
| steps of his old downtown house. The servant
answered my ring, ushered me up stairs, where.
she said, the Commodore was awaiting me. He
| welcomed me in his bluff way, and apparently
was never in better health than at that mo-
ment-a fine type Of the well preserved, hale
and hearty, stalwart man who spends much time
| out of doors and isn't afraid of hard work for
| exercise.
"'We are quite alone said the Commodore, as
he waved me to a seat in his library there. We
are quite alone: only one or two servants are in
the house, and | have given orders that nobody
else shall be admitted. So we may talk freely.
There is no danger from intruders, and We'll
come right to the point
For an hour we discussed our business rela-
tons as we sat there in the upper room alone.
We were not friends exchanging condolences and
compliments. Neither of us tried to hoodwink
| the other into believing that our motives were
philanthropic and unselfsh; that would have
been a silly waste of time. But we were deter
mined to bring about a truce to open hostilities
in certain directions. and as a business matter
we naturally talked long and earnestly, and as if
upon intimate terms. Many troublesome
were disposed of. and we seemed
just on the verge of a final settlement of the war
when, of a sudden, the door bell below rang vio-
lently. The Commodore seemed strangely af-
fected. He stopped short in his conversation in
the very middle of an minated sentence. His
manner amazed me, but ! could say nothing.
He sat silent. with a stern look on his face, glar-
ing at the door as though momentarily expecting
an armed enemy to enter there. The silence was
oppressive; 1 could almost feel the atmosphere of
the room pressing with a crushing force upon
me. A servant soon entered. "A telegram, she
said simply. as she handed the Commodore an
envelope and withdrew. Slowly, and as If nerved
to defiance of some bitter foe, he tore the mes
sage from its covering. Restlessly / turned
to gaze at a picture as / saw him be-
gin to read. Cold beads of p~erspira-
ton stood on my forehead; why I knew
not A terrible tremor went over me. |
felt as though | were at the edge of an open pit.
Foolish, ridiculous, l felt the sense to be, but
every second added to its horror, till suddenly /
was startled by a sharp noise behind me. /
turned. | was bewildered. Commodore Van
derbilt lay in his arm-c chair. gasping wildly for
breath. A rattle was IN his throat. His face
was CHASTITY white, his legs and arms were stiff.
his mouth was set rigidly, his eyes were dis
tended. / felt that l was in the presence of a
dying man, and, as he had assured me SO en-
phatically. practically all alone.
Men who have not been through an expert
ence like this cannot have even the faintest idea
Of what | suffered. My first impulse was to rem
der aid. A dozen things | tried to do, and in
every one [ failed to accomplish anything. | be-
thought me of giving relief by loosening the col