Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/101

 found its way into Gould's pockets. Smith was not slow in getting his revenge. The books of the late firm of Smith, Gould & Martin were in his possession, and he handed them over to Mr. Barlow, of the Erie, who quickly discovered in them the evidence on which to obtain an order of arrest for Gould and to establish a suit for the recovery of $12,803,059, the proceeds of bonds converted into stock to the extent of 407,347 shares, which were sold by Mr. Gould's firm and the proceeds transferred to his pocket. That was the charge, and Gould was arrested and placed under very heavy bonds, which he furnished. Here Mr. Gould's genius displayed itself. He actually entered into a big speculation based on his restitution of this plunder. Gen. Dix, it should be recorded, remained as president of Erie for only a few months, and was succeeded by President Watson, a man who owed his position mainly to Horace F. Clark, who, as has been seen, was in intimate business relations with Gould. Clark undertook to arrange a compromise between Watson and Gould, and all three evidently united to "rig" the stock market by the operation. One day it was reported that Gould intended to restore his plunder, and the price of Erie advanced with a bound. A day or two later a denial of the report would come, and down would go the price. This was repeated two or three times and Gould, of course, bought at the low figures and sold at the top, and the profits must have been big. Finally the restitution, so-called, was announced with a flourish of trumpets.