The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-05-30
WAS SAVED BY BLUFFING
Equal TO THE OCCASION WHEN
RUIN STARED HIM IN THE FACE.
Made the Other Fellows Pay Dearly
for Their Fun I'm Bearing
His stocks.

HiSl llIne the dCCOuAt VI d lilOihcHNOnS III
cident in Jay Gould's career hitherto
known only to a few OF his most intimate
business acquaintance. The truth of this
story is absolutely guaranteed. The source
from which the facts have been obtained
IS unquestionably trustworthy. No com
pletely true biography of any complete
ness whatever has hitherto been publish
ed regarding that exceptional career. The
truth, the whole truth, will appear grad
ually, and the stories the Press is en-
abled to publish are the most authentic
statements yet given TO the world.
l. is generally supposed that jay
Gould's career was uniformly prosperous,
that from the day on which he entered on
the intrigues and speculations on the
street" he carried everything before him;
that with the exception Of a few minor
failures his fortune continued to increase.
This idea is incorrect There came a day
when, after years of successful specula-
ton, the great financier found all his
schemes thwarted. his hold upon the
Strings which regulate the market snatch
ed from his grasp and ruin staring him
In the face. His own son was so appre
| hensive of the result of the turn of at
fairs were taking that he repeatedly urged
his father to make assignment, fearing
The manner in which Jay Gould turned
circumstances which appeared about to
ruin him utterly to his own favor and the
| dc struction of those who were scheming
! against him proves more than any other
| incident in his career, his remarkable
genius.
| Here is the story: In 1884 Goulds for
tune was almost entirely invested in two
! securties-Missouri Pacific and Western
Union. This fact by some incident came
to the ears of the leaders of the clique on
the street which was designated as the
| Twenty Street Bear Party" The
| most prominent members of this party
were Mr.. Woerschoffer and Henry n.
Smith. They thought they saw in the
circumstances mentioned chance at last
to cripple the Little Wizard" AS much
! capital as could be had was collected, and
/ they started to bear e., to depreciate
the value of the securities. They sue
| ceeded. Within two or three months
Western Union fell TO 50 and Missouri Pa
cifc to 90.
Each stock had fallen between 80 and
40 points From valuable investment Sc
curties they became practically speak
ing, almost worthless. Not knowing how
much their value would be deprecated,
no one would invest except for speculation
purposes, and what was more to the point
as far as Gould was concerned it was
impossible to borrow money on them, as
naturally enough, capitalists waited I'M
III they found Just how low they were
going. Gould was in a quandary. His
whole fortune was invested in these two
securities. In order to prevent them be-
ing pushed down to ruinous quotations
he required ready money. and this was
just what he could not obtain.
For a short time he was obliged to re-
sort-in order to keep the necessary adj
vance at his bankers-to an expensive
eNpedient. The only way the stocks were
of value was for speculation. Every day
he sold enormous blocks for cash, and
bought back equal amounts at the same
prices regular" That is to say, he SOLD
Tor cash payments, and what he bought
lie paid for next day OF course he was
selling for a fraction less than he was
buying for, the difference between "cash
and regular" quotations being a small
fraction This gave him the use of large
amounts of money for a day at a time
but no one knew better than he that il
was an expedient that would soon ruiz
him. Every afternoon immense bundles
OF securities could he seen issuing from
the office of Connor & Co. (Goulds prin
cipal brokers', and every morning equal
iy large amounts were brought in. Blu
every day meant a loss of thousands o
dollars and it looked as though a crisi!
were impending.
1t was at this juncture that those clos
est to Gould urged upon him the necessit!
OF making an assignment HIS sol
George. who had assisted his father 70
some time. was especially anxious tina
| this should he done he feared tha
otherwise the fortune that was accumu
lated with so much skill and pains woul,
to entirely lost Jay Gould hesitated II
saw the danger of continuing under tn
existing circumstances, but he knew tina
should he do what was urged his stand
ing would be gone forever. For the frs
time his courage deserted him. on Satur
4 day things came to a head. Could he no
Q manage to turn things in his favor il
$ some way, without delay, he decided t
, CO as his friends wished
. The next day Sunday the principa
: members of the Twenty-third street bea
5 party met at Long Branch. Gould decid
l. ed on a bluff. He went there on his zach
, and saw Mr.. Woerischoffer, and told hiT
u trat if his clique would not desist froI
q bearing the market he (Gould) would star
! in to lower prices himself, and send ever
a security down to nothing. Whether M
It Woerischoner believed this is uncertain
= But at this meeting he made a propos
J, ton TO Gould which, as it appeared late
: was the turning point of the affair.
, The bear syndicate were unaware
"a Gould's monetary embarrassment, othe
wise they would not have made the sul
gestion they did. but would have contiI
ued to pound the market until he gay