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Big Jim Fisk
James Fisk Jr. (April 1, 1835 – January 7, 1872), known variously as "Big Jim", "Diamond Jim", and "Jubilee Jim" – was an American stockbroker and corporate executive who has been referred to as one of the "robber baron (industrialist), robber barons" of the Gilded Age. Though Fisk was admired by the working class of New York and the Erie Railroad, he achieved much ill-fame for his role in Black Friday (1869), Black Friday in 1869, where he and his partner Jay Gould befriended the unsuspecting President Ulysses S. Grant in an attempt to use the President's good name in a scheme to corner the gold market in New York City. On January 7, 1872, Fisk was assassinated in New York City, in relation to his business dealings. Early life Fisk was born in the hamlet of Pownal, Vermont, in Bennington County in 1835. After a brief period in school, he ran away in 1850 and joined Van Amberg's Mammoth Circus & Menagerie. Later, he became a hotel waiter, and finally adopted the business of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pownal, Vermont
Pownal is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town population was 3,258. The town of Pownal includes the villages of Pownal (CDP), Vermont, Pownal, North Pownal, Vermont, North Pownal, and Pownal Center, Vermont, Pownal Center. History During the Woodland period, the area was settled by the Mahican people, with others, such as the Mohawk nation, Mohawks, traveling across it. By the late 17th century, Europeans may have entered the area as a result of the establishment of the Dutch patroonship owned by Kiliaen van Rensselaer (merchant), Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which extended west and east out of Albany, New York, Albany and the fur trading community of Beverwyck. The southwestern corner of Pownal was part of the patroonship. Rensselaerswyck passed into English control in 1664. The first European settlers may have entered the area in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speculation
In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value. Many speculators pay little attention to the fundamental value of a security and instead focus purely on price movements. In principle, speculation can involve any tradable good or financial instrument. Speculators are particularly common in the markets for stocks, bond (finance), bonds, commodity futures, currency, currencies, cryptocurrency, fine art, collectibles, real estate, and derivative (finance), financial derivatives. Speculators play one of four primary roles in financial markets, along with hedge (finance), hedgers, who engage in transactions to offset some other pre-existing risk, arbitrageurs who seek to profit from situations where Fungibility, fungible instruments trade at different prices in dif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Central Hotel
The Grand Central Hotel, later renamed the Broadway Central Hotel, was a hotel at 673 Broadway at West 3rd Street, in Manhattan, New York City, that was famous as the site of the murder of financier James Fisk in 1872 by Edward S. Stokes. The hotel collapsed on August 3, 1973, killing four residents and injuring at least twelve. History This hotel, which opened in 1870, was designed by Henry Engelbert, and was commissioned by Elias S. Higgins, a local carpet manufacturer. The hotel's facade was reminiscent of Engelbert's Grand Hotel on Broadway and West 31st Street, which was also commissioned by Higgins. Both of these hotels by Engelbert were characterized by elaborate mansards with dormers in the French Second Empire style, although the Grand Central Hotel was clearly the larger and more elaborate of the two. THE LARGEST HOTEL IN AMERICA Few people who pass through Broadway are aware that on that bustling thoroughfare, between Amity and Bleecker streets, there is no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern Mill River (Springfield, Massachusetts), Mill River. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 155,929, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the fourth most populous city in New England after Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, and Providence, Rhode Island, Providence. Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Springfield, as one of two metropolitan areas in Massachusetts (the other being Greater Boston), had a population of 699,162 in 2020. Springfield was founded in 1636, the first Springfield (toponym), Springfield in the New World. In the late 1700s, during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Stiles Stokes
Edward Stiles Stokes (April 27, 1841 – November 2, 1901) was the owner of a New York oil refinery. In 1872, he shot and killed his business partner and love rival James Fisk. Stokes was tried three times and found guilty of manslaughter in the third degree, serving four years in prison. Later he became the proprietor of the fashionable Hoffman House Hotel. Early life His father was Edward Halesworth Stokes, who had owned a New York cloth business.The cloth business was in partnership with his brother James Boulter Stokes and had been started by their father, Thomas Stokes, who had arrived from England in about 1798. By 1838 the father had made sufficient money to retire and move with his wife, Nancy Stiles, to Philadelphia.Nancy Stiles was from Philadelphia and descended from Richard Stockton, lieutenant in 1665 of the Long Island Troop of Horse Their son, Edward Stiles Stokes, was born on April 27, 1841. He was educated in Philadelphia and later New York before starting b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josie Mansfield
Helen Josephine Mansfield (December 15, 1847 – October 27, 1931), known professionally as Josie Mansfield, was an American stage actress. Mansfield is best known for being at the center of a fatal love triangle involving two wealthy, high profile men: financier James Fisk (financier), Jim Fisk and his business partner Edward Stiles Stokes, Ned Stokes. Early life Mansfield was a descendant of many colonial families of Massachusetts, most notably John Alden, and was a distant cousin of Frank Gannett. She was born in 1847 on Kingston Street in Boston, Massachusetts, the first and only child of Sarah H. Gannett Mansfield and Joseph Mansfield (journalist), Joseph Mansfield, who had both been employed at the ''Boston Transcript''. When Josie Mansfield was about three months old, her parents moved to a boarding house at 13 Lincoln St. They later moved to 15 Crescent Place, where they lived for six months. In 1849 or 1850, Joseph Mansfield joined the California gold rush. On August ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornering The Market
In finance, cornering the market consists of obtaining sufficient control of a particular stock, commodity, or other asset in an attempt to manipulate the market price. Companies that have cornered their markets have usually done so in an attempt to gain greater leeway in their decisions; for example, they may desire to charge higher prices for their products without fears of losing too much business. The cornerer hopes to gain control of enough of the supply of the commodity to be able to set the price for it. Strategy and risks Cornering a market can be attempted through several mechanisms. The most direct strategy is to buy a large percentage of the available commodity offered for sale in some spot market and hoard it. With the advent of futures trading, a cornerer may buy a large number of futures contracts on a commodity and then sell them at a profit after inflating the price. Although there have been many attempts to corner markets by massive purchases in everything from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Legislature (United States)
In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at the national level. Generally, the same system of checks and balances that exists at the federal level also exists between the state legislature, the state executive officer (governor) and the state judiciary. In 27 states, the legislature is called the ''legislature'' or the ''state legislature'', while in 19 states the legislature is called the ''general assembly''. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the legislature is called the ''general court'', while North Dakota and Oregon designate the legislature the ''legislative assembly''. Legislature overview Responsibilities The responsibilities of a state legislature vary from state to state, depending on state's constitution. The primary function of any legislature is to create ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boss Tweed
William Magear "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and State. At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, a director of the Tenth National Bank, a director of the New-York Printing Company, the proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel, a significant stockholder in iron mines and gas companies, a board member of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a board member of the Third Avenue Railway Company, a board member of the Brooklyn Bridge Company, and the president of the Guardian Savings Bank. Tweed was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852 and the New York County Board of Supervisors in 1858, the year that he became the head of the Tammany Hall political machine. He was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into leadership positions in the inland water trading, water trade and invested in the rapidly growing railroad industry, effectively transforming the geography of the United States. As one of the List of richest Americans in history, richest Americans in history and wealthiest figures overall, Vanderbilt was the patriarch of the wealthy and influential Vanderbilt family. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. For his monopoly on shipping and the railroads, facilitated by political manipulation, Vanderbilt is often described as a "robber baron (industrialist), robber baron", including in what may be one of first uses of the term, in ''The New York Times'' in 1859. Ancestry Cornelius Vanderbilt's great- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erie War
The Erie War was a 19th-century conflict between American financiers for control of the Erie Railway Company, which owned and operated the Erie Railroad. Built with public funds raised by taxation and on land donated by public officials and private developers, by the middle of the 1850s the railroad was mismanaged and heavily in debt. A cattle drover turned Wall Street banker and broker, Daniel Drew, at first loaned $2 million to the railroad, and then acquired control over it. He amassed a fortune by skillfully manipulating the Erie railroad shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who set his mind on building a railroad empire, saw multiple business and financial opportunities in railways and decided in 1866 to corner the market on Erie by silently scooping-up the Erie railroad stock. After succeeding, Vanderbilt permitted Drew to stay on the board of directors in his former capacity as treasurer.Myers, Gustavus. ''History of the Great American Fortunes''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Drew
Daniel Drew (July 29, 1797 – September 18, 1879) was an American businessman, steamship and railroad developer, and financier, one of the " robber barons" of the Gilded Age. Summarizing his life, Henry Clews wrote: "Of all the great operators of Wall Street ... Daniel Drew furnishes the most remarkable instance of immense and long-continued success, followed by utter failure and hopeless bankruptcy". Biography Drew was born in Carmel, New York, to Gilbert Drew and Catherine Muckleworth. He was poorly educated and saw hardship after his father, who owned a small cattle farm, died when Daniel was 15 years old. Drew enlisted in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 but he did not see combat. After the war, he spent some time with a traveling zoo and then built a successful cattle-droving business. In 1820, he moved to New York City, where he ran the Bull's Head Tavern in the Bowery section of New York City, a location frequented by drovers and butchers doing business in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
