Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/76

 President Grant in the disgrace of Black Friday, he should, in after years, be joined with him in business enterprises; that after having been publicly branded as an unscrupulous gambler in a Congressional report written by James A. Garfield, he should be sought for to render aid to secure Garfield's election as president, and that, though not seeking to join the social circles in which the Astors are leaders, he was able to induce John Jacob Astor to sit with him in the Western Union Board of Directors.

Twenty years ago, after Mr. Adams wrote his "Chapter of Erie," he was himself president of the Union Pacific, and it must have given Mr. Gould the keenest satisfaction to have been the occasion of his retirement from that position. The railway was in a bad way financially—had a big floating debt—and Mr. Gould and his friends stepped in, gained control of the property the second time, retired Mr. Adams from the presidency and secured an adjustment of the floating debt. It was suggested to Mr. Gould at this time that he might write a "Chapter of Union Pacific" covering the history of the Adams administration. But whatever there may have been lacking in administrative vigor in Mr. Adams' presidency, he retired without any blot on the family escutcheon.

When Gould entered Wall street Erie was one of the most active stocks on the list of the Stock Exchange. It was natural that he should drift into its speculation, and his connection with the Cleveland and Pittsburg led him naturally into Erie. His old acquaintances were surprised to hear one day that