The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-09-01
GOULD'S TIMELY HELP.
The Little Wizard Saved the Church ant
Won the Thanks of the Congregation.

| New York Advertiser
when the Texas Pacific railway was
being built" said w. w. Goodrich, the
Baltimore architect, the other day, in the
midst Of a discussion of Jay Gould, in
which the Little Wizard" was getting
much the worst of it. "Jay Gould and
Sidney Dillon were on a tour of inspec-
| .tion.
"Their train was side-tracked in little
| town about fifty miles west of Fort
| Worth, with the regular train waiting for
wildcat freight to come in. The pas
sengers were told by the conductor that
at least two hours would elapse before
they could run again, and that they had
ample time to see the sights of prairie
town in the stRked 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 what the sale was for.
"The man, as he looked curiously at the
little financier, made a striking picture
in his Mexican sombrero of silver and
gilt, his buckskin suit fringed with q
tasselated fringe several inches wide OF
silver thread and leather, the shining
blue Colts A sticking in his belt and the
handles of his daggers showing from
his boot tops.
Pard,' said the ranger, this is a
knockout for the parson.'
" In what way?' asked Mr.. Gould.
You see, pard, the parson bnilt 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 / 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 settiement%
asked Mr. Gould.
III settle for $1,5OO and donate the
balance said the contractor.
Mr. Gould taking from his pockets
several bills of large denominations, gave
them to the contractor and took his re-
coipt in full with the cancelled lien.
Just then an old man, who had been
an eyewitness of the transaction, going
up to Mr. Gould, said: Stranger, what
are you going to do with the claim you've
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 Sab
bath 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.
MIR, Gould said nothing, but taking the |
receipted bill and cancelled lien that he |
had in his hands, 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-
oogy on their knees. Then they went
out on the street to find the stranger.
'nhey soon found out that the little
man was none other than Jay Gould.
His train had gone, and only cloud of
dust on the far-away prairie indicated
where the little man was.
MIR. Could has said that the letter he
afterward received from that congrega-
tion, signed by every one in it, gave him
more pleasure than clearing million