Fifty years in Wall Street
then it almost seemed that a general state of chaos reigned, and how to
unravel the complications was the problem to be solved. No one that had
any connection with gold dealings during the eventful day could
positively tell how they actually stood, or how to estimate their losses
or gains; such was the uncertainty as to future results, and the doubt
as to who was, and who was not, going to pay the differences due. The
Board Room was crowded almost to suffocation, and the scene just prior
to its close partook of the appearance of Bedlam let loose; in fact, it
had not been much different during the entire day. Late in the
afternoon, a formidable body of enraged sufferers assembled at the doors
of Smith, Gould & Martin’s office, and many and boisterous were the
threats that were indulged in against the members of the firm, in
consequence of which a police guard was detailed for their protection.
The gold furore brought many Israelites to Wall Street, who since, by
their numbers and natural shrewdness, have become quite formidable in
our midst.
One of them, being very long of the precious metal, on its break from
160 to 140, fainted; water was soon obtained to bathe his feverish brow,
and rubbing was also adopted. When, finally, he had sufficiently
recovered to raise his head and open his eyes, looking all around he
said: “What ish the prish now?” Upon finding it still lower, he closed
his eyes again, and fell into another swoon. He was finally carried from
the Gold Room a sick and ruined, but a wiser Hebrew, and is now in the
“ole cloe” business on the East side.
This is the history in brief, but the scenes and incidents of that day
would furnish material for an interesting volume.
Although I am not much given to the sensational, I have collected a few
of the leading events in detail, which I think are worth putting in
permanent form, if I may presume that this book itself may happily
partake of that character.
The inside history of the conspiracy to put up the price of gold is also
full of interesting material, and shows how deeply laid the scheme was
to take advantage of the circumstances and of the feeling which existed
in favor of stimulating our exports at the time. I shall, therefore,
give an epitome of the salient points behind the scenes of the great
speculative plot, and the bold attempt made to involve President Grant
and his family in the conspiracy.
As I have intimated, Jim Fisk, Jr., or Jim Jubilee Junior, as he was
then popularly called, was eventually put forth as the active member of
the manipulating coterie. The clique made very good use of him, also, at
intervals during the period they were concerting their plans.
Fisk had originally been a peddler in New England, as his father had
been. He appeared in Wall Street a few years previous to the great gold
conspiracy as one of the confidential men of Daniel Drew. Having shown
that he was too sharp for some of the people in the broker’s office
where Mr. Drew made his headquarters, he received a polite hint that his
presence there was undesirable. Mr. Fisk then opened an office of his
own, and united his speculative fortunes with those of Mr. William
Belden. The name of the firm was Fisk & Belden. It was of but short
duration. It seems that they had difficulty in finding bankers to
accommodate them to the extent required, and they closed up the
business. But though Fisk failed of success in this instance as a
broker, his resources were not by any means exhausted. He made himself
generally useful to Mr. Drew, who still adhered to him.
As the result of this friendship and his own smartness, in a short time
afterwards Mr. Fisk was elected to the directory of the Erie Railroad
Company, and Mr. Drew, who had forwarded his interest in that direction,
was left out. This is an instance of the way Fisk made the best use of
his friends.
As the result of Fisk’s election to the Erie Board, forty thousand
shares of new stock were issued. Bold attempts were made to gobble up
other railroads through the same instrumentality. Fuller information on
these matters is given in my chapters on Drew, Gould, and the struggle
with Vanderbilt.
Fisk began to be considered a universal genius at that time, and had
acquired the sobriquet of Prince of Erie. Though he had no money to
operate with when he made his debut in Wall Street, soon after this
large issue of Erie stock, he began to show signs of wealth very
rapidly. He had the reputation of being the fortunate owner of several
railroads and steamboats, an opera house, at least one bench of judges,
an unlimited number of lawyers and a bevy of ballet girls.
The Head Centre of this gold conspiracy needs no introduction here, as I
have attempted to do him ample justice in another chapter. He was also
the power behind the throne in Erie as well as in the Gold clique. He
pulled the wires while Fisk was the imposing factotum who was exhibited
to an admiring public. He managed the courts, the judges and the
lawyers, while Fisk got the reputation of doing this fine work, but was
simply the mechanical executive. He had made himself solid with the
Legislature also, and had acquired a hold on Erie that enabled him to
use that property just as he pleased for his own personal benefit,
ambition and purposes.
Erie was a mighty power at that time, with a wonderful leverage for
raising money. When cash was needed to purchase another railroad, a
legislature or a court, all that was necessary was to sell a few hundred
thousand of Convertible Bonds and turn them into Erie shares. Mr. Gould
was thus fortified with ample means of raising money on call at the time
he played the heavy role in the events which culminated in the disaster
of Black Friday.
Though the circumstances at that time were all in favor of success in
such a plot, it required a mind with great grasp and wonderful powers of
generalization to take advantage of all the bearings of the situation,
and to utilize everything toward the great end in view. Gould did his
work as chief of the conspiracy with rare tact and marvellous sagacity.
A resume of the conspicuous points in the situation and the plot will
make this clear.
The supply of gold in the New York market then did not exceed 25
millions. The Government held less than 100 millions, and about
one-fourth of this was in the form of special deposits represented by
gold certificates, part of which were deposited in the banks and the
remainder circulating throughout the country. Gold was then being sold
by the Treasury at the rate of a million a month, in accordance with a
plan that had been adopted as the best financial policy, both for the
administration and the prosperity of the country. This had always a
tendency to keep the price down, but on account of the circumstances
briefly related in the beginning of this chapter, this policy of selling
gold, owing to our commercial relations, was no longer considered for
the best interests of the country, and Mr. Boutwell, with his coadjutors
in the Treasury, were bound to give ear to the opinions of the bankers
and business men in the interest of our export trade.
Although the policy of stopping the sale of gold had been agreed upon in
deference to the views of the best financiers of the country, yet Mr.
Gould and his fellow strategists thought it was best to make assurance
doubly sure on this point, in order that nothing might stand in the way
of the great speculative intrigue, to get a “corner” in gold. President
Grant was conservative on the subject. The conspirators, therefore,
conceived the design of arranging things so that Secretary Boutwell
could not depart from this policy, no matter what emergency might arise.
This bold and wicked strategy could only be successful by first getting
President Grant convinced that the theory of stopping the gold sales was
the only commercial salvation for the country in the then condition of
business stagnation and the possible panic threatened. The theory was
then to impress him with the necessity of giving Secretary Boutwell an
absolute order not to sell gold, and afterwards to fix things so that it
would be impossible for the President to revoke that order until the
brilliant speculative purposes of the clique in cornering gold should be
accomplished.
The scheme was but little short of treason, regarded from a patriotic
point of view, and it is very questionable if the perpetrators would
have stopped short of this dastardly act, had they not been convinced
that their purpose was fully compassed by a method less villainous and
shocking. It was considered indispensable by the conspirators, for the
consummation of their plans, that Grant should be got out of the way by
some means or other. Fortunately for him, and for the honor of the
nation, the plan succeeded without the necessity of offering him any
violence.
Before explaining how this was done it is necessary to describe briefly
a few of the preliminary events which formed a portion of the plot.
It was arranged that General Grant should accompany a party, one
beautiful evening in the middle of June, who were going to attend the
great Peace Jubilee of Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore in Boston. Jim Fisk did
the executive work in the arrangement. There was a fine champagne supper
on board the Boston boat, and several gentlemen were present who were
thoroughly conversant with financial questions, and could talk glibly on
the state of the country. The subject of exports and the policy of
stopping the sale of gold were thoroughly discussed. It was a feast of
reason, and those who have imagined that it was all flow of soul, on
that festive occasion, do very scant justice to the intelligence that
was at the bottom of the deep design of the nocturnal excursion, planned
by Gould, Fisk & Co. General Grant was an eager listener to all that was
said on the most interesting subject of that day, but his mind, it would
seem, was not then thoroughly made up that the best policy for the
prosperity of the country was to stop the sale of gold. He was undecided
on that point, and it required well directed reasons to convince him.
Mr. Gould observed this and foresaw what was necessary to be done. The
drift of the conversation, when this point was brought clearly out, was
very succinctly described by Mr. Gould in his testimony before the
Garfield Investigating Committee. He said: “The President was a
listener. The other gentlemen were discussing. Some were in favor of
Boutwell’s selling gold, and some were opposed to it. After they all
interchanged their views, some one asked the President what his views
were. He remarked that he thought there was a certain amount of
fictitiousness about the prosperity of the country and the bubble might
as well be tapped in one way as the other. That was the substance of his
remark. He asked me what I thought about it. I remarked that I thought
if that policy was carried out it would produce great distress and
almost lead to civil war; it would produce strikes among the workmen,
and the workshops, to a great extent, would have to be closed; the
manufactories would have to stop. I took the ground that the Government
ought to let gold alone, and let it find its commercial level; that, in
fact, it ought to facilitate an upward movement of gold in the fall. The
fall and winter is the only time that we have any interest in. That was
all that occurred at that time.”
It may be necessary to observe that I am merely quoting Gould from the
report, and am not by any means responsible for his confusion of ideas
and grammar.
This is sufficient to show how ably Mr. Gould played his part in
attempting to get the President into the proper frame of mind to enable
him to endorse a policy so vital to the interests of the country and to