CHAPTER LVIII.

JAY GOULD.

HIS BIRTH AND EARLY EDUCATION.-CLERK IN A COUNTRY STORE. HE INVENTS A MOUSE TRAP.-BECOMES A CIVIL ENGINEER AND SURVEYS DELAWARE COUNTY.-WRITES A BOOK AND SELLS IT.-GETS A PARTNERSHIP IN A PENNSYLVANIA TANNERY AND SOON BUYS HIS PARTNER OUTHE COMES TO NEW YORK TO SELL HIS LEATHER, FALLS IN LOVE WITH A LEATHER MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER AND MARRIES HER.—SETTLES IN THE METROPOLIS and BEGINS TO DEAL IN RAILROADS.-BUYS A BANKRUPT ROAD FROM HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, REORGANIZES IT AND SELLS IT at a CONSIDERABLE PROFIT. - HENCEFORTH HE MAKES HIS MONEY DEALING IN RAILROADS.-HIS METHOD OF BUYING, REORGANIZING AND SELLING OUT AT A LARGE PROFIT.-HOW HE MANAGED ERIE IN CONNECTION WITH FISK AND DREW.-HIS OPERATIONS ON BLACK FRIDAY.CHECKMATED BY COMMODORE VANDERBILT AND OBLIGED TO SETTLE. HE MAKES MILLIONS OUT OF Wabash and KANSAS & TEXAS.-HIS VENTURE IN UNION PACIFIC.HIS CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES.-ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN UNION TELEGRAPH, AND HIS METHOD OF ABSORBING AND GETTING CONTROL OF WESTERN UNION. THE STRIKE OF THE TELEGRAPHERS AND HIS GREAT ENCOUNTER WITH THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR AND TRADES UNIONISTS.— GOULD'S FIRST YACHTING EXPEDITION. AN EXCEED INGLY HUMOROUS STORY OF HIS EARLY EXPERIENCE ON THE WATER.-HIS STATUS AS A FACTOR IN RAILROAD MANAGEMENT. HIS ACQUISITION OF BALTIMORE & OHIO TELEGRAPH, &c.

I Dumas,

F Fenimore Cooper, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens or Dumas, in the height of the popularity of any of these great writers of fiction, had evolved from his inner consciousness a Jay Gould as the hero of a novel, its readers would have found serious fault with the author for attempting to transcend the rational probability allowed to the latitude of fiction. Few novel readers, in fact, would have patiently submitted to such a strain on their credulity prior to the era in

the financial development of this country which produced some of the leading characters which Wall Street has brought to the front, as stern realities of every day life, since my advent in the great arena of speculation.

Among these Jay Gould is conspicuous, and of all the self-made men of Wall Street he had probably the most difficulty in making the first thousand dollars of the amazing pile which he now controls.

Jay Gould was born at Stratton Falls, Delaware county, New York, about the year 1836. He was the son of John B. Gould, a farmer, who kept a grocery store. At the age of sixteen young Gould became a clerk in a variety store belonging to Squire Burnham, about two miles from the Falls. Here, in his leisure hours, he assiduously improved the little learning he had received at the village school, by applying himself to the study of book-keeping in the evenings.

It was when he was at this store, according to the most reliable accounts, that he manifested his natural aptitude for making sharp and profitable bargains. His employer, the Squire, had his eye on a piece of land in Albany, which he expected to obtain cheap and so make a profit. He whispered his intention to some friend in the store and his young assistant overheard him. When he went to put his design of purchasing the land in execution he found that young Mr. Gould had been there before him, and had secured the title.

About this time there was a firm which had undertaken to survey the county and make office maps of it, and young Gould was employed to assist them. Having mastered the elementary principles of geometry, and being naturally quick and correct at figures, he soon became a fair expert in common land surveying, and made himself exceedingly useful to his employers. But the idea of not only being his own boss but an employer of other people's brains and muscles was one of his ruling propensities, and he used every effort