160 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



action, and at once stigmatized Judge Boardman's 

 action as ' extremely indecorous.' Neglecting, however, 

 the happy opportunity to express an opinion as to his 

 own conduct during the previous week, he simply 

 stayed all proceedings under this new order, and applied 

 himself to the task of hearing the case before him re- 

 argued. 



"This hearing lasted many days, was insufferably 

 long and inexpressibly dull. While it was going on, 

 upon the 15th, Judge Nelson, in the United States 

 Court, delivered his opinion in the Whelpley suit, re- 

 versing, on certain technical grounds, the action of 

 Judge Blatchford, and declaring that no case for the 

 appointment of a receiver had been made out ; accord- 

 ingly he set aside that of Gould, and, in conclusion, 

 <serit the matter back to the State court, or, in other 

 words, to Judge Cardozo, for decision. Thus the gen- 

 tlemen of the ring, having been most fortunate in get- 

 ting their case into the Federal court before Judge 

 Blatchford, were now even more fortunate in getting it 

 out of that court when it had come before Judge Nel- 

 son. After this, room for doubt no longer existed. 

 Brilliant success at every point had crowned the stra- 

 tegy of the Erie directors. For once Vanderbilt was 

 effectually routed and driven from the field. That he 

 shrunk from continuing the contest against such oppo- 

 nents is much to his credit. It showed that he, at 

 least, was not prepared to see how near he could come 

 to the doors of a State prison and yet not enter them ; 

 that he did not care to take in advance the opinion of 

 leading counsel as to whether what he meant to do 

 might place him in the felons' dock. Thus Erie was 

 wholly given over to the control of the ring. No one 



