Why is it called Black Friday?
The term “Black Friday” was first coined in 1869 when two investors, Jay Gould, and Jim Fisk, caused a market crash by driving up the price of gold. As a result, the stock market dropped 20%, foreign trade stopped, and farmers witnessed a huge drop in corn and wheat value.
let us take a look at Jay Gould’s life biography.
Jay Gould’s life experience
Jay Gould, who was born in 1836 and died in 1892, was an Amtrak general manager, a speculator, and a robber baron who got rich on wanton plunder.
He worked first as a surveyor, then ran a tannery, speculated in the securities of the Small Railroad from 1859, and became a director of the Erie Railroad in 1867. He teamed up with Daniel Drew and James Fisk to prevent Cornelius Vanderbilt from wresting their control of the railroad, and paid New York state legislators massive bribes to legalize the bogus stock offering. He and Fisk teamed up with Tweed to further speculate in stocks for huge profits.
Their attempt to monopolize the gold market in 1869 led to the disastrous “Black Friday” panic. When Gould was finally forced to relinquish control of the Erie Railroad in 1872 due to public outcry, he had a fortune of $25 million. In 1874 he gained control of the Union Pacific Railroad, and by 1881 he owned 15 percent of all U.S. railroads.
He then sold the shares of the Union Pacific Railroad and reinvested in a railroad system southwest of St. Louis, owning half of the total railroad length in the area by 1890. In addition, he acquired control of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1881, was the owner of the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883, and bought the Manhattan Elevated Railroad in 1886. Gould remained ruthless and friendless until his death.