Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/155

 Committee on Labor and Education, should be given. Having omitted all mention of Erie Mr. Gould said:

"I then went into the Union Pacific road. I met Horace Clark and Augustus Schell out West, and they gave me so good an account of the road that I concluded I would buy in it. I telegraphed to New York an order to buy at a certain price. When Mr. Clark got home he was taken ill, and as soon as his brokers learned that his illness was to be fatal, they sold out his stock. That broke the market and filled orders which I had sent at a price lower than I ever expected. When I got home I found myself the owner of a large amount of this property, and at once inquired into its condition. I learned that it was saddled with a large floating debt, and that there were ten million dollars of bonds coming due within a month. It was in rather a blue condition. The directors were consulting who should be the receiver. I made up my mind that I would carry it through, and I told them that if they would furnish half of the money to pay the debt, I would furnish the other half. The stock went down to 15. It was a large loss, but still I kept right on buying, so when the turn came there did not seem to be any top to it. It went up to 75, and I immediately went to work to bring the road up. I went out over it, started coal mines, and to the surprise of everybody it soon began to pay dividends and has never passed a dividend since.

"Well," continued Mr. Gould, "when this road be