A successful American
banker and one of the so-called "robber barons." After starting in his father's hardware store, he moved into the lumber business and
banking. He became very
wealthy and was, along with James Fisk, responsible for the
gold buying spree that led to a price crash after the Civil War (it is called the
Gould-Fisk scandal). He came to control 15% of American railroad tracks, though a failed attempt to kidnap an
investor ensured that he never acquired the Erie Railroad. He was known for opposing unionization among his
employees, sometimes violently. Gould lived from 1836 to 1892.