Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/65

 CHAPTER V.

GOULD'S ROMANTIC MARRIAGE AND HIS FIRST RAILROAD.

When Jay Gould reached New York in 1860, after the tannery war, he was almost impoverished. He settled down at the Everett House, a comfortable hotel, and there he lived for a little time while waiting for something to turn up. Gould was not very busy just then and used to wander around the city, up town and down town, through Wall street and Lower Broadway, where in later years he became such a power; maybe, even then, wondering if he would ever reach the point in wealth and influence that belonged to the men he met, and figuring, as every one does at times, what he would do if he were a millionaire. He knew the tannery business thoroughly and had many influential acquaintances in "The Swamp," which was the seat then, as it is now, of the leather trade in New York. But he most wanted to get into the railroad business. He believed that greater opportunities were there than in any other occupation for the acquiring of wealth and influence. So he bent all his energies in that direction.

One day just before the war, Gould came walking down the street toward his hotel, and looking