satisfied and contented with the compromise.

But the Commodore had not finished. A few hours later he took the
Boston adventurers into his confidence and explained that he proposed
to continue Drew in the directorate. The Boston men were puzzled and
confused by this sudden change of front. Later, all parties met
at Drew's house, and Vanderbilt brought the Boston men to terms by
proposing a plan to Drew whereby they would be entirely left out. This
ruse succeeded and a written agreement to the advantage of all, but at
the expense of the outside stockholders and of the general public, was
then drawn up.

This, however, was only the beginning of the fight. Vanderbilt was now
in the Erie as a joint owner, but he had stretched out his hands to
control the road and he meant to succeed. In February of 1868, Frank
Work, the single representative of Vanderbilt on the Erie board, applied
for an injunction against Treasurer Drew and his brother directors
to restrain them from the repayment of the $3,500,000 borrowed by the
railroad from Drew in 1866, and to restrain Drew from taking any legal
steps toward compelling a settlement. Judge Barnard granted a temporary
injunction, and two days later Vanderbilt's attorney petitioned for the
removal from office of Treasurer Drew. The papers presented in the case
exposed a new fountain of Erie stock which had up to that time been
entirely overlooked.

A recently enacted law of the State of New York--probably fathered by
Drew--authorized any railroad company to create and issue its own stock
in exchange for the stock of any other railroad under lease to it. Upon
the basis of this law Drew and his close satellites had secretly secured
ownership of a worthless piece of road connecting with the Erie and
known as the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh. Then, as their personal
needs in the stock-market or at elections demanded, they had supplied
themselves with new Erie stock by leasing the worthless road to the Erie
and then exchanging Erie stock for the worthless stock of the leased
line. The cost of the line to Drew and his friends, as financiers, was
about $250,000. They then issued, as proprietors, $2,000,000 in bonds
of the road, payable to one of themselves as trustee. This person then
shifted his character, became counsel for both sides, and drew up a
contract leasing the line to the Erie for 499 years, the Erie agreeing
to guarantee the bonds in consideration. These men then reappeared