Gould, Jay:

$5,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

[MANUSCRIPT LETTER, SIGNED, FROM FINANCIER JAY GOULD TO LAWYER EDWARDS PIERREPONT, REGARDING A POTENTIAL INVESTIGATION OF HIS ERIE RAILWAY COMPANY BY THE INTERNAL ... An anxious letter from infamous railroad tycoon Jay Gould, to prominent lawyer and railroad investor Edwards Pierrepont, about a rumored investigation of Gould's Erie Railway Company. Gould's takeover of the Erie railroad in the late 1860s brought him many legal troubles and a good amount of negative publicity. In this letter he reaches out to the recently out-of-office United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asking Pierrepont to let him know if he is indeed to be the subject of a federal investigation. This letter is an excellent example of the ways in which the wealthy and powerful attempted to stay ahead of the law in the Gilded Age.Composed in a secretarial hand on letterhead of the "President's Office," marked "Personal" and signed by Gould, the letter reads:"It is rumoured that certain parties who desire to injure this Company, and are unable to find evidence to sustain their charges, are urging the Department of Internal Revenue to seize the books, and papers of the Co. under pretence that it has not made proper returns for Income Tax, but really for the purpose of enabling hostile parties to see the books, and use their contents in evidence in private suits. I do not believe that any such scheme will be aided by the Department, especially as we have given its officers full access to

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