Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/96

 the legal advice of David Dudley Field and Thomas G. Shearman. Mr. Field was long one of the leaders of the New York bar. One of his brothers sat on the Supreme Court bench of the United States, and the other, Cyrus W. Field, was the father of the Atlantic cable, and soon one of the closest of Gould's business associates. Mr. Shearman, who afterward became famous in the defense of Henry Ward Beecher, had before this time published an article on the corruption of the New York judiciary, which attracted widespread attention, but he was now counsel to a man who owned two or three Supreme Court judges and a few months later publicly admitted the distribution of a corruption fund.

Space will not permit the telling of all the incidents of that night. Shearman appeared with forty policemen and ordered the revolutionists to leave, but they shut themselves up in their rooms and refused to do so. Gould obtained from Judge Ingraham a temporary injunction to restrain Archer and the other directors from acting, but they calmly proceeded to elect new officers and directors. Field and Shearman declared that Gould's legal position was absolutely perfect, but notwithstanding this he was finally obliged to give in. The opposition elected Gen Dix as president and Gen. McClellan as one of the directors.

The World of March 11, 1872, thus describes this memorable night:

"The scene at the Grand Opera House was one to be remembered. Gould and Eldridge, with their