THE LAST OF THE ERIE RING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 75, 27 March 1873, Page 4

THE LAST OF THE ERIE RING.

, A correspondent of the Sydney Moaning {Herald mitea :—• .\ , .; ■-■' . .) v ' : . ?.'-'-. Grant's re-election has been hailed with every mark of confident approval in Europe, and immense earns are coming ihere every month for permanent investment. , ; Indeed, it kis becoming to be a great question how much of our own country we own. No alien can, of course, hold real estate, but there is nothing to prevent his owning stpck in an American Stock Corporation which can hold it, and thus the difficulty is in some sort so difficulty at all. And by the way, that reminds me to give you the last carid closing tableau of the old Erie scandal. You remember, of course, that the owners of the road — seven-eights {Englishmen at/ that time, though it is, much less now-r-at, last captured back ftheir property, and finding they had been robbed by Gould and Fisk of some thirty millions of dollars, looked around for some means of redress. And they looked aronnd in vain for some eight months, though the courts of justice had been purified and would do all Jo them power to help thenvjif they coi|ld;only get proofs of Gould's guilt. But at last Gould and a former partner of his, named Henry Smith, had a violent quarrel, and both being millionaires, sought to ruin each other in <the street, in the true stockbroker fashion: r;Smitfr threatened to make GodHf e^rjn |»i| 'Ililing/iby [ g!oiDg . throjighj the street with a hand organ and a monkey, and was confident of^ victory, especially as the tide of luck seemed for a time to run in his favsr./J. He was^Veiling> «f short,^ {that is, setlin'g^stock-fnd^tliiop-borrowing it until it should fall, and he could cover his speculative sales; and amoDg other. things he e01d. 40,000 shares of the North-westen Eailroad; -'He soon afterwa^ds^un^ had bought them all, and more too, and that ;ho,.,,SmitbjrwaS; "^cowei*(}i''i fcba^^^ tbarhehadVofe' S JmethiHg^hic[,hVmuß; j;,get;;?;flc^jß)io^ already out of the market. And 4o forca

Gould into selling this basiness on some reaSona ; ble\bn'Biß, Smiths went to the Erie p'eoipie,- and- gave l^thenV^proofs from' bii books of the old firm of which he and Gould had been partners of Gould's guilt. Therej upon Gould was arrested on the charge of, having fraudulently stolen nine millions of : dollars.: "Gpuld\gave~;a>milliolsof [dbilars 1 bail, came -back (to W^lWireet, apdjputjjup Nbtth^esferaietock fEomLß6jo : lsso,Jn*us extorting some}, four or five millions of dollars from Smith — four-fifths of his fortune, and all of bis prestige aa a broker. -But Gould was still of course in, the hands of thetßrierpepplei an'd'^w^;begai^~to^i^t>e that >jbe:jwbuld[ get- at jkgMjoLiirbe^Jie naturally belongs— to the Sta.te prison at) Sing Sing. We have, however, been dis-j appointed. Gould determined to settle,; and having purchased about 250,000 shares of\Erie,at 50 dols, orra'ilittle less, quietly T wnteslto ttfe^Efie, pfo||e, offering tdi pay. back -the nine ? jnillions&claimed if they would withdraw the prosecutioD, which, although a compounding of felony, .they... at once dil^ of bourse, and the stock travelled up 14 per cent. Gould therefore has already made four of his nine millions back,; and [he is confiden I, fhjß' say/s, ! that he I ' will get the re'st'befo're^ the rile tb; the stock has ended. ~. That is a somewhat ( disgraceful history,"but it is a true one, and I it shows strikingly what an evil these enor- i •mous fortunes fire that withinjtbe iastjdecade | haVe^gfown up ib American society. Give [ a man such absolute power- as the posses-! sion of twe.nty'pr;. thirtyi iniUionsJbf Mollars | ensures him, and the chances "are that, in ' spite ofr public opinion^ be,-will, |buse ijt, | And yeV what can be done ? '•'■ i^tnericaiis i will never recognise, or at least not for ■many generations tO|Come, any, interfereqcle with ! thes rights of individual' property, land without some such r interfer ; ence, •things must go' on ) as ': tbby; are, .ibguery being still, as it is now a luxury, which can be freely indulged m, if yoji, are ..only rich ecougbto protect yourself'afterwardsl