Omaha. It is known that telegraph lines ran along both sides of the Transcontinental Railroad, so it is conceivable that one of these lines belonged to the A&P after they acquired 


                           worthless shares of A&P stock. The A&P soon after entered into a service agreement with      charging excessive rates for transporting Western Union repairmen, according to William Orton, who initially believed that the railroads were trying to force Western Union into more favorable service contracts. But this was instead Jay Gould at work. Gould had by this time taken a controlling interest in the A&P telegraph, and it was becoming apparent that he intended to undermine Western Union’s strategic partnership with the railroads to assault Western Union’s telegraph monopoly. From this point until mid-1877 Gould waged a telegraph war with Western Union.


Jay Gould’s reputation as a business titan began years before his interest in the telegraph. In 1868 Gould clashed with Cornelius Vanderbilt in a battle to control the Erie Railroad.            more “colorful” side, including stock price manipulation, extensive litigation, and contempt charges. By the early 1870s Gould had been ousted from the Erie Railroad (with                  bankruptcy threatened the U.P.R.R., Gould purchased a large stake in the railroad and, to his credit, restored its credibility.  realized that he could invade the telegraph industry through        Company. Gould created a syndicate with members of the   Union. It was about this time that Gould also acquired Thomas T. Eckert from Western Union to lead his newly acquired A&P Telegraph. Unbeknownst to Western Union at the time, Gould and Eckert had already been conspiring against Western Union, an enterprise now heavily controlled by his old railroad nemesis Cornelius Vanderbilt. In fact, by 1874 Western Union was widely regarded as a “Vanderbilt Enterprise.”


Cornelius Vanderbilt


  with the Southern & Atlantic Telegraph Company which was A&P’s principal southern ally. This alliance removed the Southern & Atlantic out of the A&P system, crippling the   with several key roads, including the Pennsylvania and B&O. It appeared that Jay Gould


December 2018 39


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84