New-York tribune., 1892-12-03


and said referring to my employer; Why, you
don't know this man. lie has failed three 'im'S-
lie owes everybody in the countrE, and son nave
got the money and / know IT, and want the bill
paid
There | was | hadn't a cent in my pocket;
so ! Just pulled my pockets out ana said to hiil
You can see that tell the truth There are my
pockets SO finally he said he would trust ne
I'll trust yon, said he, but won't trust tha'
man This incident had such an effect on ne
that il seemed though the world had come to
| an end. This in the morning and | could not
have the heart that day to as, anybody 10 give me
dinner: so along about > O'Clock in the afternoon
got faint and sat down for a lew minutes.
After this rebuff | was naturally timid. de
baed with myself whether should give mp ard 90
home or whether | should go ahead. came to
piece of woods, where nobody could see me- ana
had u good cry. Finally thought would try my
sisters remedy, prayer. So ! got down and
prayed, and felt better after it, and then made mp
my mind TO 90 ahead | set my lips close together
and made up my mind that would go ahead and
die in the last ditch. So I went and the first
house came 10 determined right then and there
to 90 in and get something TO eat. | went in and
the woman treated me kindly gave me some bread
and milk and cold meat and one thing and another.
aud when got ready 10 leave | said 10 her: !
will enter il lowl' She said All right In the
mean time her husband came in and they both slld
il was all right. | started and had GOT guess.
about forty rods away from the house wien !
heard him halloong after me. We'll. after the
morning scene | thought he was going 10 hnlsh
me: bat he came right on and when he got up 10
me hc said i want you To take your compass
back and make me nOon-mark That, IL You
perhaps know, is a north and south line right
through the window, marked i'm so that the farmers
ran regulate their clocks hy II. When the sun
strikes the line il is ! > o'clock took my compass
| back and made the noon-marll. When had made
| il and was about 10 20 away he said: How
much is that o. said |. nothing %. YES.
| said he, i want 10 pay you for it | thought
moment, and he went on 10 say; Our surveyor
always charges dollar for these jobs Said /,
| Very well take ont a shilling for my dinner
| SO he paid me the seven shillings. That was the
| first money | made in that business and il opened
| ND new field 10 ne. so that went on from that
| time and completed the surveys and paid my
expenses all that summer by making noon-marks
| Al different places
Tie sccptical farmers fears about Gond's cm-
| ployer were fulfilled. Before the map of lister
| County finished he had failed. Jay proposed
| Ia the TWO other Young surveyors who had also
| been engaged the work to complete it on their
| own account The two young surveyors had
money and when the map was ready for the en-
craver jaw finding his colleagues anxious - put
| their names on it, sold his interest 10 them for
$500 With the money thus got. capital, he
| became his own employer, mapped Delaware and
| Albany counties. and sold sufficient number OF
| the maps TO yield him a profit of $1,000 This
was encouraging, and he went into partnership
| with "A cousin IN Albany. ~ carry surveying on
|
Ing expeditions into Ohio and Michigan. but after
| ward the contracts transferred to a surveyor
| in Philadelphia.
Mr. Gould's next business venture eventually
| landed him in the world Of speculation. though for
| some years he was content with the development
| OF a manufacturing industry. While pursuing his
| avocation as a surveyor lac made the acquaintance
| OF Zadocll Pratt. local celebrity who
| lived al Prattsvillc not far from KoXbury
| for whom hc had done some surveying
| Pratt is described as an ignorant man who had
| omahsed what AT that time and in that section
| was considered immense fortune He WAS
worth 81 90 ,oO0 and had one Of the largest tan
| neries in the country. He had also been 10 Con
4! grc~s, and a. is usual with such district nabOb-
| ne very vain man. How he happened 10
become attached TO JAY Gould does not appear Mr.
| Gould himself once said While I was carrying
II
to take fancy 10 me- Another story has II
| that the young historian had artfuly hattereI
Pratt in bis History Of Delaware Co'ntv, and so
won his good opinion. However this may be, GER
tain il is that Pratt asked the young man who
| had surveyed his place in PIattsvilc, to embark
with him in the business of tanning leather
Gould agreed and Immediately demonstrated his
capacity for managing the new venture by going
over the Delaware and l.ackawanna Railway, then
recently completed, into pennsylvania, on search
for "A site Of the proposed new fannery lie found
a large tract Of land growing hcmlock III lAcka-
wanna County and reported the fact 10 Mr.
| Pratt Soon after hc started for the hemlOck
woods again. and this time he made contracts Of
purchase with their owners. In his next c\ped-
ton into Pennsylvania he took fifty or sixty men
with him to build the tanncry. The site chosen
was in the midst Of the forest fifteen miles away
from the nearest village The men took with
| them "a portable sawmIll. Gould went in and
chopped down the first tree which was sawed up
and transferred it. into a blacksmith shop under
the roof of which Jay Gould passed the first
night sleeping on bed of hcmlock boughs
Thus the tanncry, "a very large one, the largest
in the country at that time, TO usc Mr.. Gould's
own words, vac built. Near 1t there soon sprung
mp village which was called GOudsboro, aud
in this village Gould established a bank OF which
lac elected himself director by means Of proxies
| obtained from relations whom hc had persuaded
to take stock. The rest of the story IL long or
short according 10 the view one takes of Nlr
Gonds subsequent operations. scnicnilouS
| biogmphcr in 1880 came TO Finis' by this short
cut: Soon Mr. Gould alone had the tannery
| Colonel Pratt, according to the traditions OF
| Delaware County, had retired greatly enriched
| in experience" Gould in testilying before the
Senate Committee heretofore mentioned simply SAID
| about this period of his career: =" We carried on
| business for while, and then | bought Mr. Pratt
out and sold the interest to a firm in New-i DIX
| at the head Of which was Il Mr.. LOup About
| that time the panic Of sj7 came, and OF course
| every thing yer; much Observation-Disclosures
| was eOn" in almost every kind Of business. ana
| money was almost impossible TO get fhoneh'
once twice that would fail, but We wchI
4