| When the brief sketch of the life of Jay Gould was written for
our family history we did not for one moment think that this same volume would contain an
account of his death. We fondly hoped and anticipated for him many years of usefulness in
the world at large, and of happiness in his home with his children, who loved him so
devotedly; but our God, "whose ways are not as man's ways, neither are his thoughts
as man's thoughts," in His infinite wisdom ordered otherwise. The seeds of that dread
disease consumption, which closed his earthly career, had begun to develop before our
reunion, but this fact was known only to himself and his faithful physician. In August,
1890, he visited Roxbury and made arrangements to be present at our great family
gathering, but before reaching home he contracted a severe cold, which told him only too
plainly that the excitement and the chill air of September among the mountains must be
avoided. He could not for the pleasure afford to run the risk, and so, though greatly
disappointed, remained quietly at his home deeply interested in hearing all that could be
related to him. He watched from his grounds the approach of the steamer which was bearing
a goodly company of the relatives down the beautiful Hudson, and prepared for them a
salute. When opposite Lyndhurst they were attracted by the stars and stripes floating from
several prominent positions, which was answered from the deck of the steamer by the waving
of handkerchiefs. For more than two years he fought the enemy so bravely, and withal so
patiently, that until within a few days of his death his real physical condition was known
to only a few tried and trusted friends.
He spent last winter in the South-West, deprived of the comforts and pleasures of home,
hoping that the warm, dry atmosphere would give him a longer lease of life. He spent the
summer among the Rocky Mountains, and returned to his home quite invigorated, and arranged
his business for another sojourn in El Paso. About two weeks before his intended
departure--from overwork and a slight cold, or perhaps from just the natural course of the
disease--he was seized with what proved to be a succession of hemorrhages that wasted his
vitality very rapidly. His physician thought he might rally again. His children and
friends hoped and
earnestly prayed that his life might be spared. He had no hope for himself. He realized
that the last effort of his powerful will had been made. He had no fear of death, and only
desired to live for the sake of his motherless children, who he felt needed his tender
care and loving advice so much while in youth's slippery paths.
As day succeeded unto day, it became very evident that his life was waning, and that
the end was near. A few hours before his departure he expressed a desire to see his
children. They gathered around his bed with crushed and bleeding hearts. He gave each one
his last message of love and parting advice, in words too sweet and tender, too sacred to
be repeated even here. This was the last effort of nature. He sank into unconsciousness,
and on the morning of December 2nd, 1892, in his own home, surrounded by his children, he
passed quietly and peacefully away from all the activities of his busy life. His funeral
was simple and unostentatious,--in perfect accord with his life and character. His
passionate love of flowers was remembered by his children and friends in the profusion of
beauty and fragrance that embowered his remains until they were placed in the mausoleum,
with those of the devoted wife of his youth.
His children mourn the loss of a tender father, whom they had learned to trust and
love. In his home, the place he most loved, his loss is irreparable. It can never be
estimated.
The loss to the business world, and especially to the men with whom he was associated
in so many great enterprises, and who had so often depended on his judgment and wisdom in
matters of finance, is best expressed in their own words.
KINDLIEST OF FEELINGS IN MEMPHIS, WHOSE PEOPLE MR. GOULD HELPED.MEMPHIS,
Tenn., December 2, 1892.--
The intelligence of the death of Mr. Jay Gould was bulletined here this
morning, and there were general expressions of regret from leading merchants and citizens.
There is a warm spot in the hearts of the residents of Memphis for Mr. Gould. They have
not forgotten that in 1879, when Memphis, after being scourged with yellow fever in 1878,
was again visited by an epidemic of the same dread disease, Mr. Gould, hearing of the
exhausted condition of the treasury of the Howard Association of Memphis, sent by
telegraph $5,000, and authorized the Association to draw on him for as much more as was
needed to aid the Association in its work of nursing the sick and burying the dead.
Mr. Gould came to Memphis on October 21st, seven years after the last epidemic, and a
public reception was tendered to him on the floor of the Memphis Merchants' Exchange. On
the large blackboard of the Exchange was written in chalk his memorable telegram, and as
he entered the room his eyes caught the few brief words his generous nature had prompted
him to send, and which have ever since been held in grateful remembrance.
It has been repeatedly declared of Mr. Gould that he was not benevolent. Yet those most
intimate with him denounce this as a falsehood. Mr. Gould was exceedingly secretive in all
his acts, and fully as much so in his giving as in his getting. Mr. Morosini, so long his
private accountant, declares that for years he kept a record of his gifts under a
beneficence account, and he remembers that in one year the account amounted to the
handsome sum of $165,000.
He says of him:
"Mr. Gould was the most generous of men, and he made a great many other men rich
by his own generosity. I could give you hundreds of instances where, in return for some
slight service to him, he has started men in the way of making fortunes. There is one
which just comes to mind while I am talking, which is a good illustration. Once there was
a man out West who did some little work for Mr. Gould in a railroad matter there. The man
was of the ordinary type of a westerner on the frontier. Mr. Gould said to me: 'I ought to
do something for him; what would you suggest?' I replied, 'buy him a thousand shares of
stock for a rise.' He said, 'all right,' and ordered he purchase of 1,000 shares of Denver
and Rio Grande. The stock was then about 29. We carried it along until it reached a very
high point and looked like going off, and then we sold it. The profit was $65,000, and I
paid that money, all of it, sixty-five bills of $1,000 each, to that man myself. Mr. Gould
had ordered that transaction for that particular purpose. He took none of the profit
himself, but directed that the man should have it all.
'There were many instances,' continued Mr. Morosini, 'of just that sort, and many in
which he greatly helped men here in Wall Street from going down--men whom he was under no
obligation to help, but he assisted them under an impulse of generosity."
In the winter of 1848 there was an extensive religious awakening throughout the
country, whose influence was felt in Roxbury, and the Methodist Church of the village, of
which Mr. Gould's sisters were devoted members, held a series of special services. Jay
Gould was only twelve years old at the time, but he became deeply impressed and handed in
his name for church membership.
Thomas Thacher was born on land in Yarmouthport granted to his ancestors in 1639. This
land has been the home of all of his Thacher ancestors in this country. They have all been
buried upon it. He went to Boston in 1845 and was there in the wholesale dry goods
business. He went to New York City in 1857 and was there a commission merchant, receiving
naval stores from North Carolina. During the Civil War he handled large quantities of the
staples of the west which formerly had gone down the Mississippi. He foreclosed the
Missouri Iowa and Nebraska R. R. Company against Jay Gould and was made its receiver and
re-organized it under the name of the Keokuk and Western R. R. |
