West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-04-06
JAY GOULD MAD.

An effort is being made in New
York to indict Gould and Sage for
stealing three million of railroad Sc
curities, and they have pleaded the
statute of limitations. For several
months the Herald and some of the
other papers have filled the air with
scandal about the corrupt practices
of Gould and his associates. Re-
Gently the lawyers who have charge
of the Indictment published that
Gould's son had offered them $780,
600 to abandon the prosecution. 1t
seems this exposure SO exasperated
the Wall Street leader and railroad
King that he lost both his temper
and his reason. The city papers for
last Sunday contain an open letter
by Gould to the editor Of the Her
aid and the following extracts are
more than sufficient to disgust re-
spectacle people with modern metro.
politan civilization:
New YORK, March 81, 1883.
TO Mr.. James Gordon Bennett:
In Fridays issue of the Herald
you Illuminated what | am told is
commonly called in the Herald Of
flee ga scream" but that scream
must have been charged with dyna-
mite, as / have learned that as it
rolled off from Mackay d Benefits
cable direct from Paris it shook that
noble structure from which. the Her.
aid is issued, from basement to roof.
Now. as in this so-called scream"
you have taken occasion to deny
certain statements deliberately made
by me as to the New York Herald
and yourself, it is proper that l re-
ply. In The first place, / never stat
ed that You were ever director of
the American Cable Company. 1t
is true you were never invited to
take a seat in that Board, and /
doubt if any member of it would sit
in Board with you, for reasons
that will be apparent as | proceed.
What l did say was that some
years ago your father bought a
thousand shares of the stock of the
American Telegraph Company, in
order to make you director; that
you were elected and appeared in
the Board; that you demanded for
the Herald lower rates than were
paid by oUher newspapers, and a
precedence over them in transmits
sion of the news; in other words,
you were attempting to use the cor
poration of which you were a trustee,
not only for your personal profit and
advantage, but to the injury of your
rivals. / stated further that your
demands were so persistent and so
offensive that at the first opportuni
ty your name was dropped from the
Board. Il
AS it is thus apparent that the
Herald, though actuated by person
al malice and selfish interests, con-
ceals this motive and poses and pre-
tends to act as the guardian of pub
lie interests, denouncing in it's lord
" way individual and corporations,
using such epithets as Wizard"
"Corsair," &C., and uttering such
fearful screams" that even the Her
aid building quakes, it seems meet
that should say few words of and
to its editor and proprietor.
AS the Herald says Mr.. Bennett
would not sit at the same board with
me, it seems proper for me to state
the objections l might have to such
an association with the editor and
proprietor of the Herald.
Let me see: / have known you
over thirty years, and during all
that time yourlife has been one of
shame. Your private life has been
but a succession Of debauches and
scandals, so that your name is
associated on every tongue as Ben
nett the libertine" And however
gentlemen might meet you at climbs
or hotels, not a gentleman in New
York, as you well know, would allow
you to cross the threshold of his
residence, where virtue and family
honor are held sacred. Your very
touch in the social circle is contain
mating. A few instances, such as
decency permits to be put in print,
will suffice to illustrate and confirm
what / have to say on this head.
A few years ago, while on one of
your debauches, the police came
down on house of illfame in this
city. You were among the victims
bagged. When you were arraigned,
past midnight, at the police station,
you screamed: II am James Cor
don Bennett, proprietor of the New
York Herald! Let me CO." Do
you remember the simple reply of
officer, who said: "You may
be James Gordon Bennett, or you
nav be George Washington; the