CHAPTER V.
GOULD'S ROMANTIC MARRIAGE AND HIS FIRST RAILROAD.
When Jay Gould reached New York in 1860,
after the tannery war, he was almost impoverished.
He settled down at the Everett House, a comfortable
hotel, and there he lived for a little time
while waiting for something to turn up. Gould was
not very busy just then and used to wander around
the city, up town and down town, through Wall
street and Lower Broadway, where in later years he
became such a power; maybe, even then, wondering
if he would ever reach the point in wealth and
influence that belonged to the men he met, and
figuring, as every one does at times, what he would
do if he were a millionaire. He knew the tannery
business thoroughly and had many influential acquaintances
in "The Swamp," which was the seat
then, as it is now, of the leather trade in New York.
But he most wanted to get into the railroad business.
He believed that greater opportunities were there
than in any other occupation for the acquiring of
wealth and influence. So he bent all his energies in
that direction.
One day just before the war, Gould came walking down the street toward his hotel, and looking
