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162 BETWEEN THE OCEAN AND THE LAKES
But Daniel Drew was correct—in one respect, were dictated by him and his associates in the leader-
There was nothing more in Erie for him. Nothing ship of that Society. When Tweed and Sweeny
but personal humiliation, broken prestige, financial were elected Directors of the Erie Railway Company
disaster. they were as uncrowned kings. That it was in the
power of any human being to topple them from their
All through the summer of 1868 the feeling in high estate and reveal to the world the almost infinancial
circles in regard, to Erie was ominous. Dis- credible corruption of the Ring they had ruled, no one
quieting rumors were constantly afloat. The Street could have then for a moment even dreamed. The
seemed flooded with Erie stock, and it was declared day came for all that, though, in good time; but
that the new management had no need for it, as they when Tweed and Sweeny were called to the Erie
already held more than three-quarters of the entire Board their outward fame was good, and great weight
capital, thus insuring their control of the Company went with their names. There were some, affecting
at the annual October election. The closing of the wisdom, who, when they read the names of Tweed
transfer books of the Company on August 19th, sixty and Sweeny among those who were to manage
days before the election, instead of on September Erie's affairs the coming year, were moved to say:
19th, thirty days before, as the by-laws of the Com- "Ah! it would seem that there is to be somepany
had always prescribed, and the continual.influx what of politics, and perhaps of legislation, in the
of Erie stock on the market, carried much alarm to plans of the new management of Erie! "
financial circles, and Wall Street was in a continuous Of the truth or falsity of which, time was to be the
fever of excitement. The election was held October witness.
13, 1868, and the following Board of Directors was
chosen : Jay Gould, Alexander S. Diven, James Fisk, Less than a week after the Erie election, on Octo-
Jr., Frederick A. Lane, J. C. Bancroft Davis, William ber 21st, the firstdisturbing rumor of a lock-up of
M. Tweed, Peter B. Sweeny, Daniel S. Miller, Jr., money by the banks, in the interest of a speculative
Homer Ramsdell, John Hilton, George M. Graves, clique—of which the Erie managers and Daniel Drew
John Ganson, Charles G. Sisson, O. W. Chapman, were the moving spirits, formed for a bear movement
Henry Thompson, William B. Skidmore, George M. in stocks, and especially in Erie—was afloat in the
Diven. This Board at once elected Jay Gould Presi- Street. This rumor would not down, and it was
dent.
declared that $10,000,000 had already been taken
Looking at events of a generation ago, as they out of the Street and held from circulation by the
stand revealed in the light of the present day, many banks in the interests of this clique. Erie stockmay
wonder at the temerity of any influence that continued to pour upon the market, and rumors of
could call into the Board of Directors of a great another large over-issue of that stock were so strong
railroad company William M. Tweed and Peter that they were accepted as facts. The excitement
B. Sweeny, now remembered only as the head and on the Exchange became so intense day by day that
front of the notorious Tammany Ring. But in 1868 on October 26th a committee from the New York-
William M. Tweed was a man of superior conse- Stock Exchange, consisting of Christian A. Sloan,
quence. He and his confreres not only held abso- Augustus C. Brown, and J. M. Hartshorne, was aplute
power over the political destinies of New York pointed and instructed to wait upon Jay Gould and
City and New York State, but their influence was demand that he should officially deny or admit the
potent in national affairs. To them the highest and over-issue, and give other information concerning the
best in the land paid homage. Judges were made at condition of the Erie Railway Company, doubt upon
their beck, and Governors came at their nod. At a which was working such disturbance and threatening
word from William M. Tweed the National Conven- such disaster in financialcircles. The President of
tion of a great political party had, in July, 1868, Erie's reply to the committee was frank, but by no
been held in Tammany Hall, and its proceedings means assuring.