A moment, and the row broke out,

The rumpus and the rioting,
Sticks, bricks, and bullets flew about,
Al nervous folk disquieting.

Without his hat, without his sword,
He rushed into the thick of it,
Till, in a moment, he was floored,
And very, very sick of it.

His comrades coming to his aid,
And finding him quite quakery,
His manly person straight conveyed
To a convenient bakery.

But such determined strength of mind,

Such resolution still is his.

Though crippled, he ne'er looked behindHis case was like Achilles's.

And taking up his foot, he ran—

What stanch, unyielding will he had!

More rapidly than any man

That's mentioned in the Iliad.

His comrades' voices rent the air—
"For ankle smashed what speed it is !"
They shouted, "Ce n'est pas la guerre,
Mais c'est superbe, indeed it is !"

Oh, where was then his coach-and-four? Why should he not have sent for it?

He saw instead an open door,

And instantly he went for it.

On through the hall into the yard
He sped with strange temerity;
But here a fence his progress barred,
And checked his high celerity.

An empty barrel stood at hand
(There seems no kind of doubt of it),
With which our hero quickly planned
A way of getting out of it.

For still resolved to hurry hence,
He with one hand the barrel held,
And leaping on it, jumped the fence
In manner quite unparalleled.

Fence after fence, yet unappalled,
He leaped them rather quieter,
And through a basement window crawled
To come upon a rioter.

A dressing he received from Pat,
But this was not inimical-
Old coat, old pantaloons, old hat,
Which made him pantomimical.

A New Departure now he ruled-
How blest to make a ride of it
A passing cab contained Jay Gould!
And so he got inside of it.

Thence to the Hoffman House they drove;

But as the mob still harried him,

To Sandy Hook, our downy cove,
A steamer quickly carried him.

At last, supported by his friend,

His wits beclouded, waxy, dense, Long Branch he reached, the happy end Of all his morning accidents.

And now t'will be the final sum
Of all incomprehensibles,

If Fighting Fisk should not become
Field-Marshal of the Fencibles.

Who struck the blow that laid Fisk low
Remains a hidden mystery;

His name, bedad, a Mac or 0,*
Will ne'er be writ in history.

But happily this thing is plain:

To keep whatever pledge he meant, He did not seek to strike the Braine Of that intrepid regiment.

*Not Maquereau.

Harper's Weekly.

CHAPTER VII.

THE GOLD RING.

The Great "Corner in Gold"-How Fisk made "Wall Street Pay."

In the summer of 1869, a number of Wall street brokers combined for the purpose of speculating in gold. Specie was selling at 131 and it was believed by forming a "corner" in gold, it could be driven up at least 20 or 30 cents higher. Jay Gould was the originator and leader of the combination. Efforts were made to convince President Grant, that a rise in gold would be beneficial to the country during the fall of the year, while the grain and produce was going to market. These efforts were not entirely successful. Nevertheless, certain circumstances indicated that treasury officers expected a rise in gold, and therefore the operators inferred, that the Government would not sell large sums of gold, merely to break down the price.

Gould and his associates bought gold freely in August and during the first three weeks in September, driving the price to 137. The Government made its usual sales in August and September, and the price fell back to 131; this alarmed part of the clique, and upon a sudden rise they sold out, deserting Gould in the hour of trial. This was

(106)

the 22d day of September. During that day gold had risen from 137 in the morning to 141 at the hour for closing. It was in this rise that Gould's weak associates deserted him, leaving the brunt of the battle to be borne on his own shoulders. At the close of business on Wednesday, Gould called on his friend, James Fisk, Jr., to help him through. An arrangement was agreed upon, and on Thursday morning "Prince Erie" stepped into the "Gold room," a terror to the crowd of bears that occupied the floor. The appearance of Fisk was an unmistakable indication of sharp work and broken fortunes; nevertheless his opposers resolved to present a bold front, and did so during the entire day. The whole financial interests of the city were in a state of excitement, the centre being in the Gold Room, where from half-past eight in the morning until nearly dark, the bulls and bears bellowed and roared with marvellous vigor of lung. First the bears gained a slight advantage, at one time crushing the price down from one forty-two and a half, to one forty-one in a twinkling; but before they had time to glory in their victory the bulls rallied in force, and in a second the indicator turned upward. Every rise was greeted with groans and yells, and cheers, and crics of exultant delight. Around the fountain in the Gold Room, where the brokers do their buying and selling-sometimes

doing" each other as well-the scene recalled the stirring times of the war, when a rise or fall of ten per cent. was not unusual.

The voices of the contending parties could be heard plainly in Broadway.

Opposite the Gold Room, near the Bank Exchange,