Chapter I: Preface

The history of any man who had been able to distinguish himself by acquiring in his lifetime the greatest amount of wealth ever accumulated by one man, would necessarily be of interest, even if his success had been won by the most ordinary of methods or the most marvelous succession of good fortune. But when that man is one whose career was full of the most dramatic incidents; when he won his wealth by feats of financial daring which astounded the world; when, in short, that man is Jay Gould, “The Wizard of Wall Street,” then, indeed, the interest is most absorbing. Jay Gould has been more prominently before the people of the country for the last few years than has any other man whose prominence depended upon the magnitude of his fortune. In his history is much to be learned, both for imitation and avoidance, by every American. This volume contains, not only a complete account of the life and deeds of Jay Gould for the general reader, but also much for the student of financial affairs and Wall street methods. The particular effort of the author has been to secure its absolute accuracy and to make it entirely reliable. The present absorbing interest in the career of the great financier, and the fact that every source of information concerning him is being sought most eagerly, makes the work particularly timely.

TRUMBULL WHITE.

CHICAGO, December 15, 1892.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. Jay Gould a Great Man 9

II. Youth and Ancestry of Jay Gould 18

III. Gould as Surveyor and Historian 29

IV. Gould and the Tannery War 37

V. Gould’s Romantic Marriage and First Railroad 49

VI. Gould’s Assault upon Erie 58

VII. Gould’s Victory and Final Defeat in Erie 73

VIII. The Gold Conspiracy 88

IX. Culmination of Conspiracy--Black Friday 106

X. Gould and the Western Railway Systems 132

XI. Gould and the Telegraph Monopoly 151

XII. Gould and the Manhattan Elevated 161

XIII. The Life of a Wall Street King 170

XIV. The King is Dead 181

XV. Jay Gould Laid to Rest 193

XVI. Personal Characteristics of Jay Gould 214

XVII. The Family of Jay Gould 226

XVIII. The Great Fortune and Its Inheritors 245

XIX. Jay Gould’s Relations with the Public 264

XX. A Chapter of Anecdotes 280

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

PORTRAIT OF JAY GOULD _Frontispiece_

YOUNG GOULD IN HIS FATHER’S DAIRY 18

JAY GOULD AS A SURVEYOR 29

CANVASSING FOR HIS BOOK, “THE HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY” 32

THE TANNERY WAR IN PENNSYLVANIA 37

GOULD’S FIRST GLIMPSE OF HIS FUTURE WIFE 49

THE MEN OF “BLACK FRIDAY” 88

“BLACK FRIDAY” IN WALL STREET 106

GOULD BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 132

GOULD FAINTING AT DIRECTORS’ MEETING IN RUSSELL SAGE’S OFFICE 161

GOULD’S BIRTHPLACE AND PALACE ON THE HUDSON 170

JAY GOULD’S DEATH-BED 181

FUNERAL OF JAY GOULD 193

WHERE JAY GOULD RESTS 200

A FAMILY GROUP 226

PORTRAIT OF GEORGE GOULD 245

JAY GOULD’S PRIVATE CAR AND YACHT, “ATALANTA” 264