Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/190

 ever, applied to Judge Westbrook at Kingston, and obtained an order appointing ex-Judge John F. Dillon and Albert L. Hopkins receivers of the Manhattan company. A few days afterward Cyrus W. Field began a suit to take the New York company's roads out of the hands of the Manhattan company, and later an application was made to the receivers to sue the New York and Manhattan companies for the $13,000,000 of stock issued without consideration. In the meantime the World kept up an incessant fire of criticism and denunciation of the Manhattan company. The price of the stock naturally kept dropping until it got as low as 16.

Early in October Mr. Gould went into the Manhattan company, and it was proclaimed that he and his friends had obtained control. They held more than 70,000 shares, nearly all of which they had been able to pick up in the stock market at prices ranging from 20 to 16 cents on the dollar. All of the timid original stockholders had been scared into sacrificing their holdings by the confusing cloud of litigation and the attacks of Mr. Gould's newspaper.

For a while after Mr. Gould got control of the Manhattan company there was some show of fight between him and Cyrus W. Field, who represented the stockholders of the New York company. Soon Gould, Field and Sage came together and had an amicable understanding. An opinion was obtained from Judge Westbrook, who held court in Jay Gould's private office, denying the application of the New York company to get its road out of the