The record-union., 1893-01-30
JAY GoULD'S DOUBLE"
The Wizards Physician Personated
His Patient Many Times.

Ihe Wizards Physician PerSOnated
His Patient Many Times.
A prominent man, who had known Mr..
Gould well for many years, said:
ut is not generally known, but it is a
fact, that Mr.. Gould's disposition was of
the sensitive, retiring and almost shrink
ing kind. Adverse criticism disturbed
him greatly, and as he believed that the
public had been prejudiced against him
by the newspapers, he chose to remain
always in the background.
Perhaps the most intimate friendship
that Mr.. Gould ever formed was with his
physician, DR.. j. P. Mum. Several years
ago Mr. Gould made DR.. Mum an offer
of a salary of $4,000 a year to give him
his exclusive professional attention. DIR.
Mum was already very wealthy man,
having fortune of 81 100000 of his own.
Besides, he had married lady who had
Inherited something over S3,000,000. The
otter, therefore, was not one that of itself
could have entirely influenced DR.. Mum
in giving up his practice.
The physician accepted the offer be-
cause OF feeling OF friendship for the
tinancier, rather than for the salary in
volved. Still it is probably the largest
annual fee for exclusive attention ever
earned by an American practitioner.
There was something of a facial re-
semblance between Mr.. Gould and DR..
Mum when the latter's beard was al
lowed to grow IN the style worn by the
former. This resemblance was made to
serve convenient purpose at times, espe-
cially when Mr.. Gould was on his period
ical railway journeys in the far West.
sit frequently happened that the finan-
cier was besieged by importunate callers
when mis- car was side-tracked at some
Western town. At some of such times he
wished to avoid giving offense to his call
ers, particularly if there were local inter-
ests TO be considered in connection with
his properties. 1t would not do always
to refuse an interview on the ground that
he was i'll, for such an excuse would be
seized upon as the basis for startling
rumors concerning his physical condi-
ton. He shrank from contact with abSo-
lutte strangers, and DR.. Mum often solved
the dilemma by personating his patient.
This simple ruse never failed.
''Dr. Mum was also posted as to Mr..
Gould's views concerning his various in
terests, and was able to carry on a discus
sion quite as effectively as the financier
himself. Not q few people in the West
have conversed with DIR. Mum and have
left the car believing that they have had
an entirely satisfactory interview with
Jay Gould. Scores of Western reporters
have been similarly deceived, and col
umns of harmless interviews with Mr..
Gould have been published when the
gentleman interviewed was DIR. Mum.
ION one occasion no less a parsonage
than Postmaster-G General John Wana-
maker was made the victim of this SUBJ
terfuge. Mr.. Wanamaker, as is well
known, f4vors the establishment of
postal telegraph, which, necessarily,
would involve the absorption of the lines
of the Western Union Company by the
Federal Government. Desiring to obtain
accurate information as to the probable
cost of the purchase of the Western
Union, Mr.. Wanamaker sought an inter
view with Mr.. Gould.
Mr.. Gould was not well when the Post
master-General called, and, being anx-
ious to avoid giving his illness as an ex-
cuse, induced DR.. Mum to represent
him. The physician thoroughly under
stood Mr.. Gould's views on the subject,
and he talked with Mr.. Wanamaker for
over an hour without the latter suspect
ing for a moment that it was not Mr.
Gould with whom he was conversing.
"Mr. Gould used to think that these
subterfuges were excellent Jokes at the
expense of DIR. Mum, and the two men
often laughed heartily over them, es-
pecially when the deceived person had
been particularly tiresome. In reality,
however, DR.. Mum was rendering val
liable services to his patient, who, many
times, could not have endured the strain
to which, in the absence of his personator,
he would have been subjected. In bit
of repartee, when Mr.. Gould had been
rallying him for, as he said trying to tire
out an interviewer, DR.. Mum once re-
tOrted:
"'some of these days In go down to
Wall street and sell out ali of your stocks.
I'll be even with you them
''Mr. Gould replied: Pm not afraid of
that. You may look enough like me to
fool people out in Texas who never saw
me, but you couldn't deceive Wall street.
"During Mr.. Gould's last trip to Texas
and the Southwest, rumors were heard
by the railroad men one day that a gang
of bandits intended to hold up Mr..
Gould's train at an out-of-the-way place,
kidnap the tinancier, hurry him off to the
mountains and hold him for a big ran
som.
1.-The situation of affairs was thought to
be serious, as the holding up of train is
no unusual occurrence in that part of the
country, and such project as the kid
naping of Mr.. Gould seemed suited to the
daredevil characters of the desperadoes
of that section. Various projects for out
whiting the bandits were submitted and
discussed. Mr.. Gould himself favored
running at high rate of speed through
that part OF the country where the ban
dts were supposed to be ambushed. The
trainmen objected to that on the ground
that distractions might be placed on the
tracks and all hands sent to kingdom
come.
"Dr. Mum suggested the most feasible
plan. 1t was that if the bandits appeared
Mr.. Gould was to be concealed and that
he should allow himself to be kidnapped
in Mr.. Gould's place. The conductor of
the train remarked that when the robbers
learned of the substitution they would
make short work of the doctor. Mr..
Gould declared that they need not learn
of it and he consented to the plan, saying:
at would probably be easier for me
to ransom you, doctor, than for you to
ransom me-
This is probably the only recorded
occasion when Mr.. Gould referred to the
superior advantages of his great wealth.
The bandits did not put in appearance
and DR.. Munn's voluntary sacrifice was
/ not called for."-New York Mail and
Express.