The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-23
THE OTHER SIDE OF Jay GOULD.
A
il ali back in freight next

Wen get ii all back in freight next
year"
There were no end of applications,
said Mr.. Smith, land I thought
would make Mr.. Gould squeal for once,
but when l showed him the slip with
about a nile of figures on it, he just
glanced down at the total and said:
Well, I'm glad we were able TO help
those poor fellows for they really need
ed it,
Your remember" the speaker went
on, the great exodus of colored peo-
pie from the south some fifteen years
ago? They flooded Kansas City like a
pest of grasshoppers and nobody knew
what to do with them. They soon be-
came hungry, then disorderly and in a
little while they would have become
desperate. Gould viewed the situation
from New York, but even at that dis
lance he foresaw a great calamity if
these people were not taken care of,
so he wired me: Send those negroes
wherever they choose to gop and
closed the message as he had closed
many before: and draw on me-
Il have spent fortunes of Mr. Goulds
money and the only comment usually
was is that alp Once I said for
knew he was being imposed upon)
These people are not deserving, Mr..
Could"
Well he replied, YOU'D better
help them. They may be-
Then there We're hundreds and hun
dreds of little things he did almost ev-
cry day-littIe for him but really big
which the public knew nothing about;
for only such cases as the shipping Of
the negroes or the giving of $4,000 a day
TO Memphis as long as they needed it,
ever reached the public ear.
L remember one day we were coming
over the old K. P. in my car when we
were tagged at a way station and slow
ed down TO receive a message from the
operator. When the light train began
to whirl away toward the west again I
could see that Mr.. Gould was anxious to
receive the wire for which we had been
tagged, but we waited for some min
utes and no message came to either of
us.
In little while 1 noticed that George,
the colored porter, was teetering around
the car and grinning like a negro in a
melon patch, and 1 said to Mr. Gould:
1T must have been George who got the
message. Finally the fellows mirth
became so offensive that 1 called sharp
~; George, what's the matter with
you?
Mattah, demanded George, 'didn'n
you see me git de wiah?' rs got a baby
in Kansas City And he teetered out at
the other end of the car.
Call him back said Mr.. Gould, and
pushed the button and George waited
in again. Here said the little man,
that's for the boy and he handed the
father a 800 note and the smile on
Georges face spread out another roof.
Il have seen Mr.. Gould, great as he
was when it came to handling big
things, get all balled up over the simp-
lest little incident We were at the
Windsor hotel in Denver. A number of
other railroad men and Mr.. Gould,
with his family, were at a little hotel
just across the street. A reporter from
the Republican came to me and assur-
ed me that l had it in my power to do
him world of good. It won't hurt you,
he said, and it might make me- liked
the fellows frank and earnest way and
promised TO help him if L could con-
sistently do so.
He told me briefly that he wanted to
see Mr. Gould, to talk to him person.
ally so that he could trutffulIy say Mr.
Gould said;'
THE next morning I went over to the
little hotel where Mr. Gould and his
party were at breakfast. 1 told him
about the young reporter who had call
ed on me the night before and finished
by informing him that I had promised
the young man the personal interview.
& Then it's all fixed?
yes"
And when do I show?'
AS soon as you have finished your
breakfast, 1 said, trying hard not to
laugh. AS we passed out into the Office
of the hotel I signaled my young man
ahead and he approached very red and
shaky. Mr.. Gould saw the boys embar-
rassment and offered him his hand.
which the poor fellow seemed half
afraid to take.
What do you want to see me about
asked the railroad man to help him out.
When the reporter spoke his own voice
seemed to scare him and he stammered
till it was positively painful to hear
him.
Il wanted-yo-to-as you about the
situation, what you consider the situa-
tion-that is-the-what you intend to
do about the-about it,?
Z" I don't know, said Mr. Gould with
a smile Now what would you rec
ommend?'
This little by play instead of put
ting the young man at his ease had the
opposite effect, and filling UP like a