BUBBLES 181 



bers on Black Friday. I paid for the high- 

 priced gold I had bought, though I felt sure that 

 most of it came from the thieves while of that 

 which I sold to them I was unable to deliver a 

 dollar. It left me nearly stranded, with recent 

 accumulations gone and only a big claim on 

 Gould via Speyers to show for them. 



Of what follows I am almost ashamed to tell, 

 for it classes me with the most credulous of 

 "Come-Ons." I discussed the robbery with the 

 man who had robbed me, the manager of the pool 

 which had ruined me, with whom I had retained 

 a speaking acquaintance and who had himself 

 been victimized by the Erie gang. There were 

 sure to be multitudinous suits which the Gould- 

 Fisk control of the Tammany courts was likely 

 to make nugatory. Yet the first to strike would 

 have the best chance and it was quickly arranged 

 to begin a suit by attachment against the Pike's 

 Opera House, which, although owned by the 

 Erie, was in the individual name of one or both 

 of the conspirators. It was thought best to 

 bring the suit in one of our names and I trans- 



