Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1893-02-02
ANECDOTES OF GOULD.
Incidents Which Illustrate Many of the
FoIbles OF the Departed Magnate,

AlUnOuBn Jne laUe Jay Gould was by
no means Drodigal he loved to Joke
about the stingness OF Russell Sage
Being asked couple of years ago IL
the story were true about Sage wait
ing IN the old days Of commission
trains" on the Elevated roads for the
tlve-cent fare, he smiled and admitted
the truth Of the same. II have fire.
quently passed Sage myself he said,
'waitlng in the crowd at the Rector
Street Station, with his nickel in his
hand for the card to be displayed in
front Of the ticket sellers office an
nouncing that ave-ccnt tickets were
for sale" Later Mr.. Sage was given
a free pass, and this saved him much
time before the uniform rate Of tick
cts was fixed at five cents.
One Of the late Jay Gould's stories,
which he used to tell with a keen dis
play Of appreciation Of the humorous,
was one explaining how he came to
leave home when n boy. lie said;
"My father had little dairy farm in
Delaware County and we made, on
small scale, butter and cheese for the
market We had churn which was
operated by a treadmill, We had a
big dog and sheep trained to work
the mill. Finally they got so that
when they saw the churn and mill
being rugged up for business, they
would disappear Then my father
would put me on the treadmill. /
soon got so that could see them set
ting up the churn and its attach
ments, and so l would initiate the
dog and sheep and skip also, One
day my father, dissatisfied with my
conduct, gave me pretty severe
whipping. / was dissatisfied with
farm life, anyhow, Early next morn
ing | packed up few things in a
handkerchief and left home. That
was the last Of my farming. New
York Advertiser.
1t is said that the late Judge Lewis
w. Borton Of Kansas was the only
man who ever made Jay Gould laugh
Borton lived at Clyde on the Central
Branch division of the Missouri Pa
cific and was famous story teller.
He was also a man Of considerable
local influence, and one day when Mr..
Gould was journeYing by special train
in the Republican Valley, he was in
vited on board to consult with the
magnate about some new railroad
projects.
The subject in hand was soon dis
posed of, but Judge Borton was in
vited to make the entire trip with the
magnate, From railroads the con-
versation drifted to other topics. Mr.
Gould taking no part. Finally Judge
Borton got to telling stories Mr.
Gould sat like sphinx until Borton
told for the first time his famous
story about the cheerful sod-house
settler who became so sore pressed by
poverty that he resolved to abandon
all attempt at living like a human
being and get a buffalo hide and tail
and run wild Borton was so droll IN
relating the story that the climax was
irresistible and Mr.. Gould exploded
with laughter.
1t was the first time that Mr..
Goulds friends had ever known him
to take an interest in anything that
did not pertain to business, and thus
Borton gained the fame of being the
only man who ever made the magnate
laugh. kansas City Star.
"Jay Gould loved his children"
said Mr. Thad Ranney of St. Angus
tine, Fla, at the Llndell. II re-
member the day he landed at st. Au-
gustine, in March, 1883, on his yacht
Atlanta, George Gould and his wife
were there to greet the family upon
their return. Young Gould and his
father met in the rotunda Of the
Ponce de Leon Hotel and embraced
each other as lovingly and as affec-
tionately as two schoolgirls would
have done. And as Mr.. Gould turned
away still holding George hand, l
saw tear trickle down. cheek He
played around the hotel with his chill
dren all that afternoon and happier
looking man l never saw. That night
1 saw him and George walking arm
in arm along the coast together,
laughing and talking as though they
were just from college and spending
their first day of liberty. Then l saw
him the following morning with his
wife and children gathering flowers in
the orange groves. He romped and
played with his youngest daughter
helped her over the fences, and
scratched his hands in plucking
orange blossoms for her. He seemed
to be intensely happy. Whatever
else may be said about him l must
say that he loved his family, and
that virtue covers a multitude Of
human lmperfections. st Louis
Republic.
The late Thomas II. Allen, father
of ex-Mayor George w. Allen and w.
r. Allen, had an interesting expert
with Mr.. Gould which he was fond of
relating to his friends. 1t was shortly
after Mr.. Allen sold his controlling
interest in the Iron Mountain Rail
road to Mr. Gould.
Mr.. Allen was in New York City
to complete the details of the sale.
1t was in Mr.. Gould's office and took
I'D less than half an hour After the
signatures had been appended to the
nrnner documents Mr.. Gould picked