Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1892-12-08


time he kept his true condition con.
cealed from the public and not until
few days before his death was his true
condition known.
SKETCH OF HIS CAREER.
The history OF Jay Gould from bare-footed
boy who wandered over the rough hills of Della
ware county to the railroad king whose wealth
estimated at S16o, 100000 is one CT the most
remarkable among Americas self-inade men.
Leaving home when but a boy, practically PEN
niless and on foot, he rose to the acL nowledged
position of the wealthiest and most powerful
railroad magnate in the world.
Jay Gould born in West Settlement, a
backwoods village OF Roxbury, Delaware couu
ty, New York, in May. 1886. He was the son OF
j. B. Gould, q farmer, who was fairly well to
do and who had been deputy sheriff in the
famous anti-rent war in the early '30s. Young
Gould was also cousin of Alfred Gould, the
inventor of the chain well pump and was close
ly connected with the MoreS, prominent
Scotch family, and others well known in this
county. His mother died when he WIS in
FAINT He left home with so in
his pocket, and studied at Hobart acad-
envy in neighboring town Here he
earned an extra penny by keeping the books of
the village blacksmith, eventually ENJOYING a
brief partnership in the'business He was fond
of mathematics and on leaving founG employ
ment in making surveys of Ulster county at
salary of so month The correctness of the
work attracted the attention of John Deiafield,
who applied to the legislature to at tnOrize
map of the state to be made The work failed,
owing to the death of The promoter. and Mr.
Gould, having gained $4,000 or $4,000 through
his previous maps and surveys, wrote His
tory of Delaware County,
After an unsuccessful attempt to push the
sale of patent mouse trap which he had in
vented, Mr. Gould enterede into partne rShip
with Zadoc Pratt in the tanneIy business in
nsylvania, place known Goulds-
borough In 1856 the patent sold and Mr..
Gould came to New York with good addition
70 FORUM He int huSiDeSS wi
Charles Leuiher, Il leather merchant. In 1857.
in the panic, Lcuthers capital wrecked,
but Gould managed 10 pub through without
severe loss.
Gould's father-i n-law, MIR. Mitchell, initiated
the young tuancer into the railroad business
and sold him number of shares in the Rutland
& WASHINGTON railroad at 10 cents the dol
lar. Gould showed so much interest that he
was soon elected president and general man
ager OF the road, and finally consolidated it
with the Rens Selaer & Saratoga railroad
When the stock went up he sold out at a hand
some profit.
In Is. 8 Jay Gould entered Wall street as a
b roker. He established small private office
ana made money fast. The following year he
tered the firm OF Smith & Martin and became
expert in the handling of railroad securities.
During the civil Erie railway stock went
down 10 bed rock and G. puld bought it for
song. He allied himself with Daniel Drew and
prevented Commodore Vanderbilt from corner
ing the Erie interest Gould rapidly became
the leading spirit of the Erie Railroad
TO. In July, 1901 Gould was made president or
the road. He also purchased u controlling in
tercst in the Tenth National bank. Erie share
holders brought suit TO restrain the directors
from suing any more stock The complain
ants asked Tor the appointment of n receiver
This request was granted by the appoint ment
OF jaw Could himself With the consent
of Judge Barnard Gould bought and can
celed 10000 shares en-
gineered in Erie stock about this time
ana in one day its price rose from
~ to g.. a panic was averted by the action OF
the secretary Of the treasury, who released
enough money from the Sub-treaSury to relieve
the strain. Erie i'm mediatelv fell from 90 TO ~,
and it was thought Gould was ruined. But he
able TO weather this storm Continued eff
forts were made by Gould'S opponents 10 GUST
him and his faction from Erie control and he
was deposed from the presidency and John A
Dix elected in his stead. Gould still remained
one of the directors.
An attempt YVES made by Gould in 1869 to
corner all the gold in the country Fifty mil
lions of dollars was the price aimed at The
price OF gold in March of that year Sl.3Jlz
the lowest in three years Gould bought s., 000,
900 worth at 1. 81 and put up the price to II. 40
4 few days later gold rose to ST. On Septem-
Der -. the famous BLACK Friday" Gould I'M
loaded his holdings and sold large part of his
gold ~ Sl6I.
A little before noon order came from
Washington to sell $40 .00JJ of the gold from
the sub-treasury. The corner collapsed and
hundreds of business men and SPECTATORS were
ruined.
Mr. Gould commenced buying Pacific railway
stocks in 1873 and soon acquired q controlling
interest and assumed the management In 1876
he bought the Kansas Pacific, Texas Pacific,
Wabash and other stocks. He also invested
largely in the Allan tic & Pacific Telegraph Co.,
and finally acquired control of the Western
Union telegraph Co few years ago he re-
tired from Wall street, and has since only APP
peared there when he considered 1t necessary
TO protect his interests"