meet an
emergency. It was the intention of the Erie interests to do their real
work with the Legislature at Albany. This was also the intention of the
Vanderbilt interests. Consequently, during the subsequent session, the
grafters in that body were wooed by both sides. When the Legislature
convened, a bill was promptly introduced making legal the recent
issue of Erie stock, regulating the power to issue convertible bonds,
providing for the guaranty of the bonds of the Boston, Hartford and
Erie, and forbidding the consolidation of the Central and the Erie under
the control of Cornelius Vanderbilt. But evidently the Commodore's purse
was open wider than "Uncle Daniel's," for this bill was defeated by a
decisive vote.

Now Jay Gould appeared upon the scene. He left Jersey City with half
a million of the Erie's money in his pocket and arrived in Albany
immediately after the defeat of this bill. On his arrival he was
arrested on a writ issued against him for contempt of court and was held
in bail of half a million dollars for his appearance in New York a few
days later. He appeared before Judge Barnard in New York and was put
in the charge of a sheriff. But the sheriff was served with a writ of
habeas corpus, and Gould was again brought before the court. Then in
some mysterious way the hearing was deferred and Gould returned to
Albany, taking the officer as a traveling companion.

After reaching his destination Gould became so ill that he could not
return to New York, though he managed to go to the Capitol in a driving
snowstorm. Here he became rapidly convalescent, as did also many members
of the Legislature. Members, indeed, who had been too sick or too feeble
to attend the legislative sessions during this cold winter suddenly
found their health returning and flocked to Albany on the fastest
trains. Gould stayed in Albany until April, and by this time a
remarkable change had come over the mentality of a majority of the
legislators. On the 13th of April a bill was presented in the Senate
which met the approval of the Erie interests and which Judge Barnard
afterwards designated as a bill for legalizing counterfeit money. This
bill, which was passed after due debate, legalized the issues of Erie
bonds and stocks which had been put out by Drew; it provided for the
guaranty of the bonds of connecting roads as desired by Drew; and it
forbade all possible contracts for consolidation or division of receipts
between the Erie and