Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-07-12
Gould Saved the Church.

SURPRISING INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF
THE "LITTLE WIZARD" TOLD BY A BAL
TMoRE ARCHITECT.
"When the Texas Pacific Railway was
being built" said w. w. Goodrich, the
Baltimore architect, the other day, in
the midst of discussion of Jay Gould,
in which the Little Wizard' was get
ting much the worst OF it, "Jay Gould,
and Sidney Dillon were on tour of in
sIeCtion.
Their train was sldetracked in little
town about fifty miles west of Fort
Worth, with the regular waiting for
wildcat freight to come in. The passen-
gers were told by the conductor that at
least two hours would elapse before they
would run again, and that they had am
pie time to see the sights of a prairie
town in the staked plains.
"Mr. Gould and Mr.. Dillon with their
attendants took in the town.
"They had not gone far before they
heard the mournful clang of an auction
eer's bell, and came upon the crowd of
curious people surrounding the seller.
The auctioneer was crying: Fifteen hun
dred dollars! Fifteen hundred dollars!
Am offered mOre?' when Mr.. Gould
touched a tall Texan on the arm and
asked him what the sale was for.
"The man, as he looked curiOuSly at
the little financier, made striking pic
ture in his Mexican sombreTo of silver
and gilt, his buckskin suit fringed with
tasselated fringe several inches wide of
silver thread and leather, the shining
blued Colts "A sticking in his belt and
the handles of his daggers showing from
his boot tops.
'Pard,' said the ranger, this be
knocking out for the parson.'
I'm what way?' asked Mr.. Gould.
"'YOu see, pard, the parsOn built this
church, but the tin petered out, and now
the wood butcher is selling the whole
crowd out for his coin. Pard, I'll tell
you what. I'll chip in and help the par
son with the bank l busted last night
and the ranger began to pull gold coin
and chips out of his pockets galore.
"But Mr.. Gould did not even glance at
it. He stepped up to the auctioneer and
asked for the contractor who was closing
out his lien. The auctioneer pointed out
the man, and Gould approached him and
asked the amount of his claim.
"'Seventeen hundred dollars and
costs said he.
"'What will you take in settlement"
asked Mr.. Gould.
"'rll settle for l,500 and donate the
balance said the contractor.
Mr. Gould taking from his pocket
several bills of large denomination, gave
them to the contractor and took his re-
ceipt in full with the cancelled lien.
"Just then an old man, who had been
an eye witness of the transaction, going
up to Mr.. Gould, said: Stranger, what
are you going to do with the claim you
have just bought?'
"Mr. Gould looked the man over in
that calm way he had and asked why he
wanted to know.
"'Why, said he, 4 am the steward of
this church. All of the members and
Sabbath school scholars are in the church
with the presiding elder and pastor on
their knees, praying God to come to our
help and save the church.
"Mr. Gould said nothing, but, taking
the receipted bill and cancelled lien that
he had in his hand, he gave them to the
steward, and, turning toward the depot,
walked rapidly back to his train.
"The steward entered the church, now
free, and told the people what the Lord
had done, and the people sang the Dox-
ology on their knees, Then they went
out on the streets to find the stranger.
"They soon found out that the little
man was none other than Jay Gould.
His train had gone, and only cloud of
dust on the faraway prairie indicated
where the little man was.
"Mr. Gould has said that the letter he
afterward received from that cOngrega-
tion, signed by every one in it, gave him
more pleasure than clearing u million
dollars"