w years older than Drew, and the two men, as we have seen, had much
in common. Both were well on in life before they had transferred their
activities to steam railroads. When finally, in 1868, they crossed
swords in connection with the two railroad systems extending through
New York State, both were more than seventy years old and had been
successful in the acquisition of millions by methods of their own
invention. They were no doubt equally unscrupulous, but, while Drew
was by nature a pessimist and "bearish," Vanderbilt, in the Wall Street
vernacular, was always a "bull."

Having obtained control of the New York Central, the Hudson River, and
the Harlem railroads, Commodore Vanderbilt now decided in the summer of
1867 to go after the Erie, of which Drew was nominally in possession,
although no one knew when he owned a majority of the stock or when he
was temporarily short of it. Usually he loaded up as the annual election
of officers approached and liquidated shortly thereafter. Besides
Vanderbilt there was another interest at this time trying for the
control of the Erie. This interest consisted of certain Wall Street
speculators and certain Boston capitalists who proclaimed themselves
railroad reformers. These so-called reformers were as unscrupulous and
crafty as either of the other men, and they really represented nothing
but an attempt to raid the Erie treasury in the interest of a bankrupt
New England corporation known as the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad.
As was well said, the name of this latter road was "synonymous with
bankruptcy, litigation, fraud, and failure."

The Erie Railroad control was always nominally for sale, and, as the
annual election approached, a majority of stockholders stood ready to
sell their votes to the highest bidder. Commodore Vanderbilt cleverly
secured the cooperation of the "reformer" element, corralling their
proxies, and thus he appeared to be in a position to oust the Drew
interests without difficulty. On the Sunday preceding the election the
Commodore saw Drew and amicably explained to him the trap he had laid,
and showed him clearly that there was no way out of the situation. Upon
this disclosure, Treasurer Drew at once faced about and agreed to join
hands with Vanderbilt in giving the market for the stock the strong
upward twist it had lacked before that hour. Jointly they would make so
much money that neither side would lose anything. "Uncle Daniel" went
away apparently