Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/83

 *sheriff. Arriving in Albany Mr. Gould was conveniently taken sick, and unable to return to New York to attend the court proceedings, though he drove to the capitol in a snowstorm. The officer reported him to the court as a "runaway," but the matter was afterward settled, and, in the language of Mr. Adams, he "assiduously cultivated a thorough understanding between himself and the legislature." In this he was materially aided by the cash with which his pockets were so liberally filled. Corruption ran high. One senator was recorded to have accepted seventy-five thousand dollars from one side and one hundred thousand dollars from the other. One man was paid five thousand dollars by Gould "just," as Mr. Gould remarked, "to smooth him over." The corruption at this session was investigated by a legislative committee in 1869. Gould was a witness, but he endeavored to conceal the facts as much as possible. In the famous Erie investigation of 1873, however, Mr. Gould testified as follows:

"I was first elected President of the Erie railroad in 1868, and I was President in 1869, 1870 and 1871. I do not remember whether I approved payment to William M. Tweed of money for legal services while he was Senator. I do not know whether he is a lawyer. He was a director of Erie and a member of its executive committee. I would not have allowed pecuniary transactions with Mr. Tweed to be put in the shape of legal services if my attention had been called to them. The name of William M.