The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-04
EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENTS.
Fiotions as to jay Gould Write,

Fictions as to jay Gould Written
Seriously by Frenchman
Victor Fournel tran slationl in Literary Digest
jay Gould held the first rank in that fantastic
list of yankee biionaires in which the Wander
bilts and the Mackays come Immediately after
him. lie had acquired his colossal fortune by
speculation solely and without troubling him.
self with excessive scruples He was the king
of railways, just as Vanderbilt was the king Of
steamboats,. He was a man of the stock ex.
change, playing necessarily at raising ana de-
preciating values in the market His habits
were simple. He neither drank nor stno ked and
never went into society He neither had, nor
affected, any taste for the arts, despising the
frivolity which caused his rivals, for the SAKE of
showing their picture galleries. to lose so much
good money, which they could have placed in a
vastly more advantageous manner He was not
the man to pay $50 900 for picture by Millet or
Meissonier. He much preferred to buy 800
| shares Of the Submarine Cable Company.
Nevertheless, by dnJ OF much persuasion he
was induced to sit for his portrait to HerGomer,
swearing, however, that ne woull give the
painter five sittings, and not fifteen minutes
more. Mr.. Gould was astonished that serious
minded artist would give so many hours to
painting picture, when so much money could
be gained on the stock exchange during the
same length of time In the course of the fifth
sitting the sitter pulled out his watch and said
to the astonished artist: According to our
contract you have but twenty minutes more. II
at the expiration Of that time the painting is
not finished will throw it on your hands " The
portrait was completed within the time speci-
fled, and, like the prince who complimented the
pianist, after playing his piece, by saying to
bin with evident admiration: Sir, / have
never seen pianist perspire as much as you"
so Mr.. Gould testified his esteem for Herkomer
In these words: He is an excellent painter;
he is prompt to the minute"
MIR. Gould was once persuaded by some
friends 10 travel in Europe. IL is told of him
that when in Amsterdam his friends expected
n n nm,
He suddenly disappeared !. He made his ap-
pearance at luncheon, rubbing bis hands In
stead of going to the museum he had gone to
the stock exchange, " lere he had made 8 10 =
900. That was much better than going to look
at Rembrandts might Guard"
Jay Gould began to make his fortune when
be was 10 years old. In his 10th year he was the
proprietor of a great factory the superinten-
dent of which he made his own father in ord ar
to prove that the latter was altogether In the
wrong in saying that his son would never be
good for anything At 10 he obtained a diploma
as engineer and was engaged ia vast enter
prises OF public works At % he erected an
enormous tannery and founded a town, TO
which, like Alexander the Great, he gave his
name aud called il Goudboro. When he was 30
he was worth $4,000, 0)0. aud then it was he be.
gan his colossal speculations in railways.
1t was he who conceived the idea OF fighting
rival railways, not only by lowering the tariff
of charges to the lowest limits, but by giving
each traveller t cket Rratuit ousy. with break
fast When he had ruined his competitors and
DOuRnb JO6I FOdQS ana material at an lnSlRnln-
cant price he suppressed the breakfasts aud
raised high the tariff charges. Still wildly
remembered is a frightful duel a la American
conducted By him with blows from q locomo-
tive on the susquehanna line. against the i'd
versaries who refused to sell to him The end of
the route OF which they were masters. while he
was in possession OF tho other end. Many
human live. were sacrificed in this bloody en-
counter. in which he triumphed. Before he
died he had monopolized nearly all the railways
in the United States There was something of
the trapper OF tennimore Cooper in this little
taciturn man, aud it would have been necessary
to scratch his civilized skin only little TO find
the savage beneath.
During his last illness he foresaw with an in
fallible scent the consequences Of his death to
the market There would be a good profit in
it., If not for him. at least for his son and heirs
80 from his deathbed he dictated orders TO be
sent to bis brokers as soon as he closed his eyes
In that he showed himself a good father, and l
am confident that George Gould will not shrink
from a sacrifice Of some hundreds of bank notes
70 get possession of the paternal corpse, in case
daring spectators shall put hands on that
family jewel, as happened in the case of Aston.
What fortune exactly did this autocrat of the
dollar leave TO his heirs? The estimates made
Immediately after his death varied between a
billion and a half and two billions, 1870 900 900
francs, with a minimum revenue OF 10000 900
francs. Later information has reduced these
formidable figures. have seen an arrlcle VIII CHI
asserts positively that Ia consequence OF unfor-
tunate speculations during his last years Mr.
Gould left at the time of his death $4,000 900
only. Can 1t be possible? IL it be so Mr.
Mackay can repeat the words OF old Rothschid
When he was tod that Agiado a financier W no
was thought to be worth $40 100000 had left
but half that sum, be exclaimed: "Ah? poor
ARuadol had always thought he was quite
comfortably or"