Editorial cartoon, Jay Gould drowning in sea of watered stock, as William Vanderbilt looks on, Puck, circa 1883.

Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann

Years after Gould ran the Erie Railroad into bankruptcy he watered the stock of the Wabash Railroad and Western Union Telegraph Company, and once again came into conflict with the Vanderbilts, this time with the Commodore's son William, who had become president of the New York Central after his father's death.