Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/150

 anecdote would support Mr. Corbin against the world.

"In regard to Mr. Gould, Fisk's graphic description was probably again inaccurate. Undoubtedly the noise and scandal of the moment were extremely unpleasant to this silent and impenetrable intriguer. The city was in a ferment, and the whole country pointing at him with wrath. The machinery of the gold exchange had broken down, and he alone could extricate the business community from the pressing danger of a general panic. He had saved himself, it is true; but in a manner which could not have been to his taste. Yet his course from this point must have been almost self-evident to his mind, and there is no reason to suppose that he hesitated."

"His own contracts were all fulfilled. Fisk's contracts all except one, in respect to which the broker was able to compel a settlement, were repudiated. Gould probably suggested to Fisk that it was better to let Belden fail, and to settle a handsome fortune on him than to sacrifice something more than $5,000,000 in sustaining him. Fisk, therefore, threw Belden over, and swore that he had acted only under Belden's order. One of the first acts of the Erie gentlemen after the crisis was to summon their lawyers and set in action their judicial powers. The object was to prevent the panic-stricken brokers from using legal process to force settlements and to render the entanglement inextricable. Messrs. Field & Shearman came and