Descripción
[1]p. on a folded folio sheet, with original stamped envelope with postmark. Old folds. Closed tear to integral blank, some smudging to ink at letter edges, but still quite readable. Very good. An anxious letter from infamous railroad tycoon Jay Gould, to prominent lawyer and railroad investor Edwards Pierrepont, about a rumored investigation of Gould's Erie Railway Company. Gould's takeover of the Erie railroad in the late 1860s brought him many legal troubles and a good amount of negative publicity. In this letter he reaches out to the recently out-of-office United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asking Pierrepont to let him know if he is indeed to be the subject of a federal investigation. This letter is an excellent example of the ways in which the wealthy and powerful attempted to stay ahead of the law in the Gilded Age. Composed in a secretarial hand on letterhead of the "President's Office," marked "Personal" and signed by Gould, the letter reads: "It is rumoured that certain parties who desire to injure this Company, and are unable to find evidence to sustain their charges, are urging the Department of Internal Revenue to seize the books, and papers of the Co. under pretence that it has not made proper returns for Income Tax, but really for the purpose of enabling hostile parties to see the books, and use their contents in evidence in private suits. I do not believe that any such scheme will be aided by the Department, especially as we have given its officers full access to all our books; but I should be glad if you will ascertain whether anything of the kind is on foot, and give me early information." While Jay Gould (1836-92) was not investigated by Internal Revenue, his paranoia was justified. As one of the most notorious of the 19th-century robber barons, Gould's activities were never wholly legitimate. In 1869, Gould had finally wrested control of the Erie Railway away from fellow stockholders Cornelius Vanderbilt, Daniel Drew, and James Fisk. Gould then built close connections with Tammany Hall and added Boss Tweed to the company's group of directors in exchange for favorable legislation. At the same time, Gould, Fisk, and Abel Corbin (brother-in-law of President Grant) had conspired to corner the gold market, which led to the Panic of 1869 and nearly a national economic depression. Gould eventually lost control of the railway in 1873 due to unfavorable public opinion from his involvement in the gold-rigging scandal and his loss of $1 million of Erie stock to the British con artist Lord Gordon-Gordon. Edwards Pierrepont (1817-92) had a distinguished legal career in and out of public office. After practicing law for many years, he was elected to the Superior Court of New York City in 1857. Pierrepont was a Democrat, but became a staunch supporter of Lincoln. He served as Lincoln's personal advisor and lawyer, and later prosecuted John H. Surratt in connection with Lincoln's assassination. Although he served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York briefly from 1869-70, he was back in private practice by the time of this letter. We do not have Pierrepont's reply to Gould, though it may have surprised Gould when, later the same year (1871), Pierrepont served as a prominent member of the "Committee of Seventy" that finally broke Boss Tweed's hold on Tammany Hall and the city writ large - while Gould was Tweed's chief bondsman as Tweed was held on $1 million bail. Then again, perhaps Pierrepont's integrity was why Gould sought him out for advice in the first place. Pierrepont returned to government in 1875, serving as Grant's Attorney General, and then as U.S. minister to Great Britain. N° de ref. del artículo WRCAM57472
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