James Fisk, Jr.

James Fisk, Jr. (April 1, 1834 – January 6, 1872), known variously as "Big Jim," "Diamond Jim," and "Jubilee Jim," was an American financier. Fisk was born in Bennington, Vermont. After a brief period in school, he ran away in 1850 and joined Van Amberg's Mammoth Circus & Menagerie, a circus. Later, he became a hotel waiter, and finally adopted the business of his father, a peddler. He adopted what he learned in the circus to his peddling and grew his father's business. He then became a salesman for Jordan Marsh, a Boston dry goods firm. A failure as a salesman, he was sent to Washington D.C. in 1861 to sell textiles to the government. By his shrewd dealing in army contracts during the Civil War, and, by some accounts, cotton smuggling across enemy lines (in which he enlisted the help of his father), he accumulated considerable wealth, which he soon lost in speculation. Image File history File links James_Fisk. ... Image File history File links James_Fisk. ... April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... Year 1834 (MDCCCXXXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 359 days (360 in leap years) remaining. ... Year 1872 (MDCCCLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Finance studies and addresses the ways in which individuals, businesses, and organizations raise, allocate, and use monetary resources over time, taking into account the risks entailed in their projects. ... Bennington, Vermont The Bennington Battle Monument. ... Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  Ranked {{{AreaRank}}}  - Total {{{TotalAreaUS}}} sq mi ({{{TotalArea}}} km²)  - Width 80 miles (130 km)  - Length 160 miles (260 km)  - % water 3. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A waiter in a resort setting A waiter is one who waits on tables, often at a restaurant or a bar. ... Nickname: Location in Massachusetts, USA Coordinates: Country United States State Massachusetts County Suffolk County Government  - Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) Area  - City  89. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Cotton ready for harvest. ... A skirmish with smugglers from Finland at the Russian border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov. ...

In 1864 he became a stockbroker in New York and was employed by Daniel Drew as a buyer. He aided Drew in his war against Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad, which resulted in Fisk and Jay Gould becoming members of the Erie directorate. Subsequently, a well-planned raid netted Fisk and Gould control of the railroad. The association with Gould continued until his death. They carried financial buccaneering to extremes, their program including an open alliance with Boss Tweed, the wholesale bribery of legislatures, and the buying of judges (all standard business tactics of the day.) Their attempt to corner the gold market culminated in the fateful Black Friday of September 24, 1869. 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... A stock broker or stockbroker or stock brokerage is someone or a firm who performs transactions in financial instruments on a stock market as an agent of his/her/its clients who are unable or unwilling to trade for themselves. ... NY redirects here. ... Daniel Drew (July 29, 1797 – September 18, 1879) was an American financier. ... Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt I (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), also known by the sobriquets The Commodore [1] [2] or Commodore Vanderbilt [3], was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads and was the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family. ... The Erie Railroad (AAR reporting mark ERIE) was a railroad that operated in New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, connecting New York City with Lake Erie, and extending west to Cleveland, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. ... Jay Gould (1836-1892) Jason Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American financier. ... This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... 1869 Tobacco label featuring Boss Tweed. ... In business, cornering the market is an illegal attempt to buy up enough of a particular commodity to allow the price to be manipulated. ... Black Friday, September 24, 1869, also known as the Fisk-Gould Scandal, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators efforts to corner the gold market. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

Fisk married Lucy Moore in 1854; he was 19, she 15. Lucy was an orphan, reared by an uncle, from Springfield, MA. She spent the years of their marriage living with a woman friend, suggesting that she was a lesbian and had no sexual relationship with her husband. Regardless, they remained close, with Fisk visiting her in Boston every few weeks and spending summers and vacations with her. A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ...

In New York, Fisk had a relationship with Josie Mansfield, a show-girl. Fisk housed Josie in an apartment a few doors down from the Erie Railroad headquarters on West 23rd Street and had a covered passage built linking the backdoors of the headquarters and her apartment building. Fisk's relationship with Mansfield scandalized New York society. Mansfield eventually fell in love with Fisk's business associate Edward S. Stokes, a man noted for his good looks. Stokes left his wife and family for Mansfield and Mansfield left Fisk. In a bid for money, Mansfield and Stokes tried to extort money from Fisk by threatening the publication of letters written by Fisk to Mansfield that allegedly proved Fisk's legal wrongdoings. A legal and public relations battle followed, but Fisk refused to pay Mansfield anything. Increasingly frustrated and flirting with bankruptcy, Stokes shot and killed Fisk in New York City on January 6, 1872. Nickname: Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1625 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area  - City  468. ...

Fisk was vilified by high society for his amoral and eccentric ways, by many pundits of the day for his business dealings, but was loved and mourned by the workingmen of New York and the Erie Railroad.

(Actor Edward Arnold portrayed Fisk in the 1937 movie The Toast of New York, which starred Arnold and Cary Grant. The movie was a fictionalized account of the lives of Fisk and Stokes.) Arnold in City That Never Sleeps Edward Arnold (February 18, 1890 - April 26, 1956) was an American character actor. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Archibald Alec Leach (January 18, 1904 – November 29, 1986), better known by his screen name, Cary Grant, was a British-born film actor. ...

Personalities of Wall Street

See List of personalities associated with Wall Street. Over the years, certain persons associated with Wall Street have become famous, even legendary. ...

Bibliography

• Ackerman, Kenneth D., The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 (1988)
• Adams, C.F. and Henry Adams, Chapters of Erie (1871)
• Renehan, Edward J., Jr., The Dark Genius Of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons (2005)
• Swanberg, W.A., Jim Fisk: The Career of an Improbable Rascal (1959)

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.