CHAPTER XIV.

DANIEL DREW.

DREW, LIKE VANDERBILT, AN EXAMPLE OF GREAT SUCCESS WITHOUT EDUCATION.-CONTROLLED MORE READY CASH THAN ANY MAN IN AMERICA.-DREW GOES DOWN AS GOULD RISES. "HIS TOUCH IS DEATH."-PREDICTION OF DREW'S FALL. HIS THIRTEEN MILLIONS VANISH.— HOW HE CAUGHT THE OPERATORS IN "OSHKOSH" BY THE HANDKERCHIEF TRICK.-THE BEGINNING OF "UNCLE DANIEL'S " TROUBLES-THE CONVERTIBLE BOND TRICK. -THE CORNER" OF 1866.-MILLIONS LOST AND WON IN A DAY.-INTERESTING ANECDOTE OF THE YOUTH WHO SPECULATED OUTSIDE THE POOL, AND WAS FED BY DREW'S BROKERS.

NE of the most singular and eventful careers in Wall Street was that of Daniel Drew, familiarly called "Uncle Daniel." This man affords another remarkable instance of the possibility of attaining great success by stubbornly following up one idea, and one line of thought and purpose. His life also shows that education is not necessary to success in the acquisition of money, but, as I have attempted to show in another chapter, may be a great hindrance.

This fact is abundantly illustrated in the lives of both Drew and Vanderbilt. In fact, everybody who knew these two men were of the opinion that with a fair or liberal education they would never have cut a prominent figure as financiers. It is also questionable whether either of them, with all their ability in other respects, would have been capable, with their peculiar predilections for other pursuits, of receiving a common school or college education. They, probably, had not the capacity for that kind of acquisition. Perhaps it might have been impossible for any teacher to make Drew pronounce the word shares otherwise than "sheers," or convince Vanderbilt that the part of a loco

motive in which the steam is generated should not be spelt phonetically, "boylar."

It is more than probable that professors in grammar would have found it a hopeless task to convince the Commodore that there was anything wrong in the expression, "Never tell nobody what yer goin' to do, till you do it," or Drew that it was improper to say to his broker, "Gimme them sheers," when he desired his stocks reduced to possession. Both men seemed to think with the character in Shakespeare, that reading and writing, like their other attributes, came by nature. They evidently thought that their abilities for financiering emanated solely from that source, and results largely bore them out in that interpretation. Both had supreme contempt for persons of less ability than themselves in the speculative arena, yet they were terribly jealous of rivals who essayed to compete with them in their own peculiar methods of making money. Cunning and shrewdness were the leading characteristics of Drew. Though illiterate himself, he, however, showed that he ap preciated education in others, by erecting and endowing a seminary in his native place.

Some people who were not inclined to give Drew any credit for the finer and more generous and genial feelings of man's nature, said that his motive for this endowment was merely popularity, and a morbid desire, like that of Vanderbilt, to perpetuate his name.

Another motive, however, less ennobling to man's nature, seemed to be the true one. He saw that the religious element in society was then influential, and that many religious people of his acquaintance were in good circumstances, and he sought to ingratiate himself with them in order to make use of them in his speculations.

This appears clearly to have been at the bottom of his precious gift of a seminary to his native county. It was a curious illustration of retributive justice, if I am right about his motive, that he was obliged to default in the payment of that gift, with the exception of the interest.

DREW IN THE ZENITH OF PROSPERITY.

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Daniel Drew, at one time, could command more ready cash at short notice than any man in Wall Street, or probably than any man in America. His wealth was estimated at thirteen million dollars. He made a very large part of this out of his speculations in Erie stock, of which corporation he was then managing director and treasurer. Being thus on the inside, he was enabled to leave everybody else on the outside in the ups and downs of the market, which he himself generally engineered.

The Street was frequently amazed by fluctuations of 20 or 30 per cent. in Erie stock, sometimes in the course of a day or two, through the able manipulation of Mr. Drew.

It was a sorry day for Drew when Jay Gould took his place in the control of Erie, and it was equally disastrous for the Erie property.

From this period Gould began to grow rapidly to the full stature of speculative manhood, while Drew moved as quickly in a downward direction, until he found himself again at the lowest rung of the financial ladder. It was no wonder that he said of Gould, "his touch is death."

Drew's losses followed one another in quick succession, until his thirteen millions had melted away like snów off a ditch, and eventually he died in debt and broken hearted. His last days stand out as a sad, but eloquent warning to the avaricious. And this reminds me of a festive event, the chief incidents of which, I think, are worthy of reproduction.

I remember being at a dinner party ostensibly given to the old gentleman when in the very zenith of his financial fame and prosperity. It was a kind of mutual admiration society, Drew being the king-pin of the social coterie. On account of his thirteen millions he was the centre of cringing admiration, and was by a number of the assemblage almost deified.

As is usual on such occasions, speechmaking was in order, the oratorical talent being called out by the toasts as they went the round of the board.

When it came my turn to speak, I followed suit, to some extent, ia picking up the thread of the general glorification extendel to the honored guest, to whom I paid marked deference.

"We are honored,” I said, "on this festive occasion, by a gentleraan of vast wealth, one who can control more ready money than any man in America, and be it said to his honor, it has all been of his own creation. He is a true representative of American thrift and enterprise. His money and his genial disposition together combined make all men his friends, and I know of only one antagonistic spirit to the continued growth of this already marvellous fortune; but that one, in all probability, may yet work his ruin. I refer to our honored guest, Mr. Drew, and his one enemy which I have in mind is 'Avarice.""

In five years from that memorable dinner Daniel Drew was a ruined man, and his thirteen millions had vanished like the baseless fabric of a vision, leaving nothing but the miserable wreck of an avaricious spirit behind.

The manner in which Drew was supposed to make religion the handmaid to speculation was satirically touched in the following verses published in the New York Tribune about fifteen years ago:

He was a long, lank countryman,

And he stoppeth one of two.

"I'm not acquaint in these yeere parts,
An' I'm a lookin' fur Dan'l Drew."

"I'm a stranger in the vineyard,
An' my callin' I pursoo

At the institoot at Madison,

That was built by Dan'l Drew."

"I'm a stranger in the vineyard,

An' my 'arthly wants are few;

But I want sum p'ints on them yer sheares,
An' I'm a lookin' fur Dan'l Drew."

Again I saw that laborer,

Corner of Wall and New;

He was looking for a ferry boat,

And not for Daniel Drew.

HE DRESSED LIKE A DROVER.

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Upon his back he bore a sack,

Inscribed "Preferred Q. U."

Some Cauton scrip was in his grip,
A little Wabash, too.

At the ferry gate I saw him late,
With his white hat askew,

Paying his fare with a registered share

Of that "Preferred Q. U."

And these words came back from the "Hackensack:"
"Ef yew want ter gamble a few,

Jest git in yer paw at a game o' draw,

But don't take a 'and with Drew."

Mr. Drew was negligent in his attire, even to the verge of slovenliness. He dressed like a drover, having originally been employed in that capacity. By the way, the significant term of "watering stock" originated in the practice of Uncle Daniel giving his cattle salt in order to create a thirst in them that would cause them to imbibe large quantities of water, and thus appear bigger and fatter when brought to market. Until he met with Gould and Fisk, it was difficult for anybody to get the best of him in a deal.

He was wonderfully prolific in resources for the purpose of getting advantage of those who attempted to overreach him.

A good story, illustrative of this trait in his speculative character, is told of the time that he was so severely squeezed in Northwestern stock. He was greatly grieved at his ill luck, while the brokers and operators who had been prosperous at his expense were highly elated. They considered it a great thing to have caught the wily old Daniel napping. He was accordingly made the victim of much ribaldry and jesting for several days in Wall Street. Some of the young men carried the joke so far as to meet him and laugh significantly and irritatingly in his face. He seemed to take it all in good part, for he had a happy flow of animal spirits, but he had a terrible rod in pickle for these young men who were making him an object of ridicule.