270 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
might restore all that the decline had wiped out. At previous 
crises in his career, he had stuck by his convictions and won 
out in the end. His conquest of the ocean depths had been 
attained only after the most calamitous defeats. 
Rallying all his resources, he attempted to bolster the mar- 
ket for Elevated shares. But there seemed to be no end to the 
flood of stock being offered for sale at constantly lower prices. 
Soon he was in desperate straits, as his available funds 
dwindled. The seeming impossible had happened. 
Driven to the extremes of asking for a loan, he went to his 
collaborator in the Elevated financing, Jay Gould, who was 
known to have enormous resources. The veteran financier 
agreed to lend him a large sum. Field was grateful and hurried 
to use this in buying more Manhattan stock. It was insufficient 
to stop the debacle; there seemed to be no bottom to the 
drop in values. If Gould was selling as Field bought, the lat- 
ter did not seem to suspect it. 
To cover his huge losses, Field had to have more funds. 
His most available asset was the many thousands of shares 
that he had just bought so prodigally. But their market 
price was still dropping. Returning to Gould, he had to offer 
his large accumulation of Manhattan stock at a price far below 
what he had paid. Gould agreed to accept the offer, thus ac- 
quiring at a price near par millions of dollars worth of shares 
that were worth nearly twice that valuation—a profitable 
day’s work. 
The certificates were transferred from Field’s strong-box to 
Gould’s. Field paid off his obligations. He had lost in one 
day about five million dollars—the fortune built up in tele- 
graph and railroad promotions by years of honest work. 
Aside from his real estate, there was not much left to him. 
The homes at Gramercy Park and Ardsley Park were, fortu- 
nately, in his wife’s name; his equity in the office building 
at the foot of Broadway was involved in encumbrances. He 
sold his newspaper The Mail and Express at a disappointing 
