It is certain that this
act was followed by the entrance of Tweed and Sweeny into the Board of
Directors.

Once in possession of the Erie road, Fisk and his colleagues managed it
in their own interests. It was commonly believed in the city that Fisk
was but the executor of the designs which were conceived by an abler
brain than his own.

He figured largely in the infamous Black Friday transactions of Wall
street, and is credited by the public with being one of the originators
of that vast conspiracy to destroy the business of the street. How near
he came to success has already been shown.

Soon after coming into possession of the Erie road, he purchased Pike's
Opera House for $1,000,000 in the name of the Erie Railway Company. The
Directors, however, refused to approve the transaction, and he refunded
to them the amount of the purchase, taking the building on his private
account, and repaying the road in some of its stock owned by him.
Subsequently he leased the front building to the road at an enormous
rent, and opened for it a suite of the most gorgeous railway offices in
the world. He subsequently bought the Fifth Avenue Theatre, and the
Central Park Garden, and the Bristol line of steamers, and the steamers
plying in connection with the Long Branch Railway. He made himself
"Admiral" of this magnificent fleet, and dressed himself in a gorgeous
naval uniform. When President Grant visited the Coliseum Concert at
Boston, Fisk accompanied him in this dress, having previously played the
part of host to the President during the voyage down the Sound on one of
his boats. A year or two previous to his death, he was elected Colonel
of the Ninth Regiment of the National Guard.

Previous to his purchase of the Grand Opera House, Mr. Fisk was an
unknown man, but the ownership of this palatial establishment gave him an
opportunity of enjoying the notoriety he coveted. His career in
connection with this establishment, and his unscrupulous management of
the Erie Railway, soon made him notorious in all parts of America and
Europe. His monogram was placed on everything he owned or was connected
with, and he literally lived in the gaze of the public. He can scarcely
be said to have had any private life, for the whole town was talking of
his theatres, his dashing four in hand, his railway and steamboats, his
regiment, his toilettes, his magnificence, his reckless generosity, and
his love affairs. He had little regard for