A well-informed writer, who describes the Gold Panic in New
York for Fraser's Magazine, adds a little to our knowledge of that transaction. It appears that the Ring made money after all, the writer alleging that they kept their good bargains but repudiated their bad ones, but the greatest winner was "Commodore" Vanderbilt, whom they had attacked. The old speculator owned three railways, and during the panic their stocks were sacrificed at almost any loss. He bought all that were offereet at low prices, and all the discredited shares in three other railways besides. When the panic cleared away and reaction set in, Vanderbilt's stocks became "wildly buoyant," one in particular rising 14 par cent, in a single night. The old man cleared an enormous for- tune, and acquired the mastery of three other railways, now owning "six long, valuable, and prosperous lines of railroad." In other words, he personally owns so many shares that he can appoint the directors of those lines, and dictate the policy without consulting anyone.
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