Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-03-26

LANCASTER. MARCH %. 1856.
jay Gould's Threat.

Mr. GOulu having returneu ITOH Ills
jaunt in his yacht in Southern waters, ap-
pears in the newspapers with letter to his
counsel, Messrs. Dillon and Swayne, of |
New York, in which he asks them whether
the Missouri Pacific company cannot hold
the knights Of Labor responsible, ,individu- |
ally, for the damage done his company by
their interruption of its traffic; and the
counsel obligingly correspond that he can
do 50 beyond doubt upon his representa-
tion Of the facts. The organization of
the Knights of Labor being in
the nature of partnership, of which
every member can be held responsible
to the extent of his property for the part
nership acts. And so Mr.. Gould an
nounces through the newspapers that his
company is going to sue every knight of
Labor who has house or any attachable
property and see whether it cannot recoup
itself in this way for its losses.
Maybe he will; and maybe he won't.
Maybe he intends to, and maybe he don't;
the latter maybe's being by far the most
probable for very obvious reasons. Mr..
Gould is suspected strongly of having
brought about the strike of which he CON-
plains, for stock jobbing purposes, and it is
quite in the line of the twisted movements
by which he has been won't to seek his
ends.
Mr.. Gould, posing as the apostle of law,
strikes novel attitude. He has been dis
tinguished in the past for his lack of regard
for the law which he now holds so sacred.
When he and Fiske played havoc with the
Erie property, and barricaded themselves
in their offices against the law officers, and
ran their books out of the jurisdiction of
the New York courts, and issued stocks
by the ream to get away from old
Commodore Vanderbilt, Mr.. Gould had
not been educated up to his present state
of love for the law. Then the law
pinched Mr.. Gould; now his lawyers tell
him it can be made to pinch the employees
Of his railroad company. And perhaps it
can, as we have said but with Mr.. Gould
working it, it is very obvious that the
undertaking will be handicapped before
any jury selected to try the issue.
Mr.. Gould is supposed to be a
wise man, and when he brings
these suits against the Knights of Labor
he will be much older than he now is. If
they are partners and any of them have
wronged Mr.. Gould, the law will hold them
responsible, as Mr.. Gould's lawyers say, al
ways, provided, however, that Mr.. Goulds
skirts have been clean in his conduct to-
wards them so that they cannot offset his
wrongdoing against their own. And they
deny that Mr.. Gould is in this
Z position to call them to account
The grand master of the order of the
Knights Of Labor, MFR. Powderly, has just
returned from the scene of trouble to his
home at Scranton, and thence telegraphs
to Congressman Curtin as follows
BY all means in your power endeavor to
have the light Of congressional inyestiea.
tion thrown upon the doings Of these men.
who owe so much to the American people
and who oppress their workingmen in the
name Of the law. Indignities most foul are
imposed upon the laboring men on the Gould
lines OF railway, and through the medium of
preas or telegraph their side OF the case cannot
reach the great heart Of the American people.
Here is an invitation to Congress to in
veCtigate the trouble between Mr.. Could
railways and their employees which Con.
BAeco SAouiu ~ ohce dCCcpt. IL VIII De
noted that Mr.. Gould has not addressed
any such prayer to Congress; he contents
himself with threats of law suits Mr..
Gould owns the Western Union telegraph
and controls its dispatches, so that the
public do not have a fair chance
of becoming speedily acquainted with
facts that it is to his profit to dstort.
The public know Mr.. Gould and do not
trust his statement. They know him as a
liar of the first water ; and as man to
whom any ends are justifiable that reach
his purpose. 1t will hardly suit his ends to
keep up his conflict with the Knights
Of Labor long enough to get con.
gressional inquiry on his track. He may
be expected to come to an agreement
with them just as speedily as his stock
market thimble-rig is through. But it
should not be in this great country that
such men as he are able to throw its busi-
ness into Mysteries at any time to put
money in their purses and the congress
sional inquiry should be made thoroughly
and congressional action be had TO remedy
the evils that will be uncovered.
Inehing Along.
Step by Step the Rapublican m eopatoru n ro