Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/194

 CHAPTER XIII.

THE LIFE OF A WALL STREET KING.

While it is true that the story of Jay Gould's career in Wall street is closely allied with his outside operations, a full account of which has already been given, there still remain many other incidents connected directly with his work on the street of unusual interest. Out of this mass of material but two or three incidents of the most commanding interest can be used.

The most dramatic of these was the pommeling of Jay Gould by Major A. A. Selover in August, 1877. Selover was a Californian, a six-footer, a blond, muscular and vigorous. He first attained prominence in Wall street when James R. Keene came East after his successful mining operations in San Francisco, by which he achieved a fortune of $8,000,000. Keene was a daring, almost fool-*hardy stock gambler. He always played for big stakes and took enormous chances. His success in San Francisco had been so great that he entered Wall street with the idea of clearing all before him. He tackled Gould as the biggest animal in the arena, but found to his sorrow that he had to deal with a man more able than he, scarcely less daring but far more cautious. In a few short years Keene's wealth had dwindled away, and early in 1884 he