The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-01
DIRE WIS SCHEME.
He Plotted to Kidnap Jay Gould.
(CoDgri0ht 1891


stone house OF the south side OF East Thirty
sixth street, near Madison avenue. In the
parlor filed with rare objects OF virtue,
where the foot sunk in the costliest of for
elgn carpets, and the walls were adorned
with fine pictures the two men were
greeted by another who subsequently, be-
came one of the most daring not to say reck-
less OF Wall street plungers-Eugene N.
Robinson. Robinson has just died, and his
name at this time recalls a train of strange
events. The visitors we're none other than
Jay Gould and Daniel Drew. For once the
WHY Gould had walked into trap. With
out apparently suspecting it he was deal
ing with desperate mon. The grounds at
taehed to this elegant New York home ran
a considerable distance back to Eugene
Robinson's stable on East Thirty-ffth street.
Two men loitered around the grounds. stop
ping every now and then as if awaiting
signal. Outside on Thirty-fifth street
Gao was stationed with two men on the
box. A steamer lay off the Battery at
that moment ready to take on board dis
tinguished passenger.
Leaving the fnancier in the parlor
moment, let me recall the fact that in the
spring of 1872 JAY Gould, Augustus Schell
and Horace F. Clark were largely "longn
of Chicago and Northwestern stock. Daniel
Drew and Henry N. Smith, who subse-
quently boasted that he would make Jay
Gould earn his living with a hand organ
and a monkey, were largely "shorth of
that stock. The Gould party had steadily
marked up the price on comparatively
small transactions until the bears began to
squirm, and Daniel Drew declared that he
believed he was in trap. In fact he had
been hopelessly "cornered.n He went to Eu-
gene n. Robinson, the son Of his old partner,
and asked his advice.
"Kidnap Gould,n was Robinson's an
swer, SO the story goes, given by an in
slider. "Kidnap him. Everything is fair
in stock speculation" Drew it seems ac-
quieSced.
Robinson secured stout rope and had it
sent TO his house in Thirty street, and
then invited Gould and Drew to call there
that evening and have talk about the
Northwest corner and the possibility OF
letting up on poor Uncle Daniel Drew,
who had been caught in a trap set by Gould,
one OF his own pupils III stock gambling.
The rope was in an adjoining room when
the men sat down t. discuss the situation.
OF course Gould knew nothing about any
corner in Northwest y There was talk of
that sort In the newspapers, but he consid-
cred Northwest cheap and he had merely
been buying it as an investment He knew
no more about corner in Northwest than
any other corner-maker ever knew about
corner. Like Topsey, the price of North
west had ''growedn For hours the men
discussed the question. Drew plaintive,
eloquent in homey way, 1d finally she'd
ding some of those crocodile 81 ars of which
he was always ''longn ON due occasion,
however, ''short" he might be of stocks
while Gould was cold, impassive, plausible
and polite as a Calabrian brigand-''As po-
lite man as ever cut throat The YER
bal battle of the old lion and the lions
wnelp cannot here be given. The upset of
it all was that Jay Gould agreed to let
Uncle Daniel get back his ''snortn stock at
good stiff price that made the old man
groan, but which was nevertheless a consid-
erable reduction from the current price at
the stock exchange. Drew thus really
gained his point and at a sign from Eugene
N Robinson, Mr. Gould was permitted TO
pass muscular fellow in the hall who had
been prepared for any emergency. Mr..
Gould passed out, hailed CAB near by and
drove home. He did not know for years
after how narrow his escape had been from
very strange experience. No one knows
what might have happened TO Gould if the
the conspiracy had been carried out. Some
blunder of the men hired to carry out the
plot might have led to unforeseen results.
The first plot against Abraham Lincoln was
not TO kill him but simply to kidnap him.
There is no doubt that Robinson would
have had Gould kidnapped if the latter had
not loosened his clutch on the throat of his
financial progenitor, Uncle Daniel Drew.
No wonder that old Commodore Vanderbilt
said of Gould, His touch is death" :"
Robinson was one of the most genial of
men, but in All emergency the velvet glove
encased an iron hand. The first scheme
was to hustle Gould, securely bound and
gagged, into a cab and hurry him off to
some secluded spot in New Jersey, but sub
n1f ha v,la nt,.
steamer was chartered and held in waiting
off the Battery to take him TO sea. where he
was to be kept until Uncle
Daniel and Hem smith had
broken the corner in Northwest. With
out the aid Of Gould's ''wash" sales
matched orders" and other hocus pocus
designed to drive the iron further in the
soul of Uncle Daniel, the corner, so to speak,
would not have had a leg to stand on.
Drew could have washed" the market
down or 3 per cent at time. However,
Gould weakened at the memorable inter-
view, perhaps fearing bodily harm, Years
after he was thrown down a cellar by Mai.
SeloVer, who claimed that Gould had swim
died him, and he weakened IN 1854 when he
was suspected of keeping back election re-
turns and his life was openly threatened.
Some years ago no was told of Eugene
Robinson's plot to kidnap him, and be-
lieve was presented with the rope.
AS to Robinson his adventures, escapades
and speculRtions would fiji volume He
was a typical New York boy, who inherited
g., coo, 00J from his father, one of VIM. Fl.
Vanderbilt's employers when the old com
modore sent "Bill" down to Wall street to
learn finance.
In 1877 he foated 100000 worth of
Lake Shore ponds. He was Il director at
one time in the New York Central and the
Lake Shore road, and in his best DAYS was
worth 100000 or s., 900 900. He failed |
in 1878, short of the coal stocks. Subse- |
quently he went to Treasure City. New.
with Oliver S. Dawson, and made good |
deal of money out Of the "Baldy Souri, and |
"Sweet Watern mines He named the |
mine "Baldy Sour" after the leader of a |
band that came to serenade him on one |
occasion on an island In the st. Lawrence |
river. He got the entire band intoxica-
ted, and, going home, the musicians got |
into fight, upset their row boat and slu * |
ashore through the weeds and mud as best |
they could. Robinson wrote a poem in |
honor Of "Baldy Souri, and his adventures.
and had it published here. he had quite a |
literary turn. He once gave g., 600 for an |
Did edition of Shakespeare. REX
Killed bya Train.
CALLAHAN, FLA, June 30-About i:30 |
o'clock p. n yesterday the Florida Railway |
and Navigation train No. ran over and |
killed young man by the name of Dyal, |
,hrae miles south of here The hodv and |