1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fisk, James

​FISK, JAMES (1834–1872), American financier, was born atBennington, Vermont, on the 1st of April 1834. After a briefperiod in school he ran away and joined a circus. Later he becamea hotel waiter, and finally adopted the business of his father,a pedlar. He then became a salesman for a Boston dry goodsfirm, his aptitude and energy eventually winning for him a sharein the business. By his shrewd dealing in army contracts duringthe Civil War, and it is said by engaging in cotton smuggling,he accumulated a considerable capital which he soon lost inspeculation. In 1864 he became a stockbroker in New Yorkand was employed by Daniel Drew as a buyer. He aided Drewin his war against Vanderbilt for the control of the Erie railway,and as a result of the compromise that was reached he and JayGould became members of the Erie directorate. The associationwith Gould thus began continued until his death. Subsequentlyby a well-planned “raid,” Fisk and Gould obtained controlof the road. They carried financial “buccaneering” to extremes,their programme including open alliance with the Tweed “ring,”the wholesale bribery of legislatures and the buying of judges.Their attempt to corner the gold market culminated in thefateful Black Friday of the 24th of September 1869. Fisk wasshot and killed in New York City by E. S. Stokes, a formerbusiness associate, on the 6th of January 1872.