“everything that money”: “Grant in Paris,” New York Herald, November 22, 1877.
“great sensational event”: “Grant in Paris,” New York Herald, November 22, 1877; “The Big Bonanza,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 7, 1877; “Paris astonished,” Memphis Public Ledger, December 11, 1877, citing New York World.
“social aurora borealis”: “Paris Astonished,” Memphis Public Ledger, December 11, 1877, citing New York World.
“playing hostess to”: “ ’Frisco,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 2, 1877.
“widely ambitious and”: Ibid.
Mackay seems to have spent: “Brevities,” Daily Alta California, May 22, 1878. For Mackay’s arrival from Paris, see Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 225, citing Territorial Enterprise, October 18, 1878.
“pièce de résistance”: Boston Gazette, July 7, 1878, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin collection, UNR, 90-87/V/12/Douglas, Elaine.
“one of the laws”: “San Francisco,” Chicago Tribune, May 12, 1878.
“Fair is crazy”: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 225, citing Territorial Enterprise, October 18, 1878.
for much of that time: “Too Much for the Bonanza Firm,” New York Times, December 12, 1879.
The 1881 “Bonanza Suits” ruling: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, pp. 220–22.
“wrongfully, wickedly, and”: “San Francisco Items,” Sacramento Daily Union, December 28, 1878.
were convicted of fraud: Makley, John Mackay, p. 133.
“an old-fashioned Nevada”: “The Bonanza King Fighting, August 5, 1879,” New York Times, August 13, 1879.
when General Grant visited: “A Grand Greeting,” Daily Alta California, October 28, 1879.
in carriages with General Grant: Ibid.
Both Mackay and Fair kept: “Tales of His Life,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 1894.
“might be proud”: Eliot Lord, “The Mackay Memorial Statue,” World’s Work, Volume 13, 1906, p. 8161.
“Mr. Mackay would make”: Grant Smith, “Mackay Obituary Comments,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 1, Folder 17, citing New York Herald, July 27, 1902.
“Damn the heat!”: Lord, “The Mackay Memorial Statue,” World’s Work, Volume 13, 1906, p. 8162.
“ ’Tis a poor”: Ibid.
at around $306 million: Lord, Comstock Mining and Miners, p. 417.
Trinity Church: Lord, “The Mackay Memorial Statue,” World’s Work, Volume 13, 1906, p. 8161.
amounted to $645,000: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 220, footnote 3.
fortune worth $36 million: Makley, John Mackay, p. 139, citing Territorial Enterprise, October 29, 1880.
net worth at $50 million: “Men Who Are Worth,” Santa Cruz Weekly, November 27, 1880.
“habitual absentee”: “The Result,” Sacramento Daily-Record Union, November 6, 1880.
“venality of the grossest”: “The Nevada Senatorial Election,” Sacramento Daily-Record Union, January 13, 1881.
“rotten borough”: “Mr. Fair’s Seat,” Sacramento Daily-Record Union, November 24, 1880.
“more well supplied”: Gold Hill Daily News, November 3, 1880.
bagmen bribing voters: “Nevada,” Sacramento Daily-Record Union, November 3, 1880.
Fair invested $150,000: “Pacific Coast Items,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, November 29, 1880.
“Colonel Jim Fair”: Gold Hill Daily News, November 3, 1880.
“saturnalia of corruption”: Davis, History of Nevada, Vol. I, p. 422.
arrived in Paris: Truth, December 9, 1880, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/2.
“like a sailor home” . . . John and Louise enjoyed: Smith, “The Mackay Family in San Francisco and Paris,” citing several interviews with Alexander O’Grady, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box and Folder unrecorded due to author oversight.
“an immense oval turquoise”: “Paris Gossip, December 24, 1880,” Chicago Tribune, January 21, 1881.
“a sumptuous ball”: “Mackay,” Truth, March 10, 1881, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/2.
had retired hours before: “Mrs. Mackay’s Ball,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1881.
He added to his collection: Makley, John Mackay, p. 123.
Mackay in Rome: “Miscellaneous,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 11, 1881.
most charitable woman in Paris: “Mrs. Mackay’s Ball,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1881.
“Louise, if you keep”: For the descriptions of Mackay’s personal habits in France: Smith, “The Mackay Family in San Francisco and Paris,” citing several interviews with Alexander O’Grady, Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box and Folder unrecorded due to author oversight.
“family pride”: “Mr. Mackay and ‘The Herald,’ ” New York Times, September 18, 1885, citing an interview with John Russell Young.
twenty-five-cents-per-word cost: “Miscellaneous City News. Jay Gould’s New Monopoly,” New York Times, May 16, 1882.
“Diamond Ball”: “Foreign News,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 14, 1881; Berlin’s Silver Platter has Bennett taking Mackay for a stroll after this party to interest Mackay in forming an alliance to fight Jay Gould’s transatlantic telegraph “pool,” but that likely didn’t happen—Gould didn’t organize the cartel until the spring of 1882.
endless social triumphs: “Mrs. Mackay’s New Gown,” Los Angeles Herald, May 29, 1881; “Foreign Facts,” Sacramento Daily Union, May 19, 1883. Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and other modern social media celebrities are direct descendants of Louise Mackay’s telegraphic triumphs.
“Shoddy Abroad”: Sacramento Daily Union, June 16, 1881; also, “The Parisians Boycott Mrs. Mackay,” Los Angeles Herald, June 14, 1882, citing London World.
“Rank, fashion, and”: “London,” Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1881, “special correspondence” dated May 7, 1881.
sudden appearance and dinner: “Bonanza Mackay Gives a Dinner,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 3, 1881.
Mackay passed through Los Angeles: “Arrested on Suspicion—Mackay’s Movements,” Sacramento Daily Union, June 15, 1881.
“epistletory bonanza”: “An Epistletory Bonanza,” [sic] Carson Morning Appeal, June 4, 1881.
modest $1 million investment: “The Penalty of Wealth,” Sacramento Daily Union, March 22, 1881, quoting Territorial Enterprise, March 20, 1881; also, “Letters to Mackay,” Helena Weekly Herald, June 23, 1881.
the worst annual showing: Smith, History of the Comstock Lode, p. 230.
“as if he intended”: “Mackay’s Departure,” Carson Morning Appeal, July 14, 1881.
Mackay left New York: “Passengers for Europe,” New York Times, July 13, 1881.
penned it from Moscow: “John W. Mackay Among the Russians,” Sacramento Daily Union, October 17, 1881.
“the King and”: “General Notes,” Sacramento Daily Union, December 13, 1881.
Mackay arrived on the Comstock: “Passenger Lists” and “Died En Route,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, July 8, 1882; “This Morning’s News,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, July 10, 1882.
“looking as fresh”: “Mr. Mackay in the Lower Levels,” New York Times, July 17, 1882, citing Territorial Enterprise, July 9, 1882.
He spent much of the next: “Comstock Mines,” Daily Alta California, August 7, 1882.
“arch-trickster”: “Editorial Article No. 4,” New York Times, January 5, 1883.
Gould’s “pooling agreement” had: “Miscellaneous City News. Jay Gould’s New Monopoly,” New York Times, May 16, 1882; Maury Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), pp. 281, 312.
Mackay returned to San Francisco: “Senator Jones,” Carson Morning Appeal, October 8, 1882.
via the southern route: “Local Brevities,” Los Angeles Herald, October 11, 1882.
“if ornament it”: “Mackay in the East,” Carson Morning Appeal, October 19, 1882, datelined “Ch
icago, Oct. 18.”
continued across the Atlantic: “In Brief,” Carson Morning Appeal, October 20, 1882.
wintered on the French Riviera: “Social and Personal,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 5, 1883.
Gerard Douw’s canvas: “Telegraphic Trifles,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, May 2, 1883.
“at loggerheads”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883, citing correspondence to Chicago Herald, either written on or published on April 17, 1883.
“wildcat claims”: “The Unhappy Couple,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1883.
“countless infidelities”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883, citing correspondence to Chicago Herald, either written on or published on April 17, 1883.
“soiled the senatorial”: “The Unhappy Couple,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1883.
“suffer in silence”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883, citing correspondence to Chicago Herald, either written on or published on April 17, 1883.
“flashing black eyes”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883, citing correspondence to Chicago Herald, either written on or published on April 17, 1883.
“curtain lectures”: “The Unhappy Couple,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1883.
“on his ancient”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883, citing correspondence to Chicago Herald, either written on or published on April 17, 1883.
“a chip off”: “Nevada’s Senator,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, April 28, 1883.
liberal enjoyment of liquor: “A Sensational Rumor,” Los Angeles Herald, April 17, 1883.
Paso Robles: “Late Telegrams,” Los Angeles Herald, April 18, 1883.
filed for divorce: “Nevada,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, May 14, 1883.
“Public opinion was”: “The Bonanza Kings,” New York Times, May 21, 1885, quoting the correspondence of St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 9, 1885.
“a matter of regret”: “The Senatorship,” Carson Morning Appeal, September 30, 1882.
“the present Emperor”: “Crowned Czar of Russias,” New York Times, May 28, 1883.
“the whole European”: “Foreign,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, June 4, 1883.
“one of the most interesting”: “Mackay Gives a Dinner,” Los Angeles Herald, June 1, 1883.
Mackay chatted pleasantly with: New York Herald, May 27, 1883, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/V/12 “Douglas, Elaine.”
thirty-five-year career: “Incidents of the Great Day,” New York Times, May 28, 1883.
best-dressed woman: “Mrs. Mackay Dies,” New York Herald-Tribune, September 28, 1928.
“profanely contemptuous”: “The Mackay Family in San Francisco and Paris,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, Box 2, Folder 8, citing a series of interviews with Alexander O’Grady, son of Alice O’Grady, the Mackay family nurse during those years. The O’Gradys lived in the Mackay household.
CHAPTER 17: THE CABLE WAR
“a heap of clothes”: Eliot Felton Franklin, The Secrets of Internal Revenue: Exposing the Whiskey Ring, Gold Ring, and Drawback Frauds; Divulging the Systematic Pillage of the Public Treasury and Filchings of the Revenue; with Astounding Disclosures of Organized Depredations, Conspiracies, and Raids on the Government and People, and Vivid Portrayals of Official Turpitude, Malfeasance, Tyranny, and Corruption (Philadelphia: William Flint, 1870), p. 444.
“from thousands of people”: “How Great Fortunes Are Made,” New York Times, May 14, 1883.
“an unscrupulous gambler”: “The Bennett-Mackay Cable,” New York Times, May 23, 1884.
“His touch is”: Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, p. 3.
and divided the traffic: The history of transoceanic cable rates is nicely summed up in “The Cable Rate War in Its True Light,” New York Times, May 15, 1886.
Gould’s controlling all traffic: The summary of Gould’s career is drawn largely from Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould; also, Edward J. Renehan, Jr., Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons.
“some special service”: Young, Men and Memories, p. 445.
slow to adopt iron-hulled shipbuilding: John H. Morrison, History of New York Shipyards, pp. 154–58.
hired two telegraph experts: “The New Telegraph Company,” Nevada State Journal, August 19, 1883.
Rumor said he’d soon head: “Social and Personal,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, August 2, 1883.
“Mackey’s New Venture”: New York Times, August 16, 1883; “Mr. Mackey in Control,” New York Times, August 17, 1883.
had been created to combat: “The Postal Telegraph Company,” New York Times, August 15, 1883.
formed a syndicate: “Mackey’s New Venture,” New York Times, August 16, 1883.
Mackay retained control: “The Postal Telegraph’s President,” New York Times, August 28, 1883.
“a want of system”: “The Postal Telegraph Scheme,” New York Times, July 8, 1883.
“betoken a resolute”: “The Postal Telegraph Company,” New York Times, August 15, 1883.
Western Union telegraphers surrendered: “Some Results of the Strike,” New York Times, August 18, 1883.
Gould testified before Congress: One of the articles about Gould’s Senate testimony: “The Preying Christian,” New York Times, September 6, 1883.
“gigantic opposition”: “The Postal Telegraph Company,” Reno Gazette-Journal, August 21, 1883; “The Postal Telegraph,” Los Angeles Herald, August 22, 1883.
Gould was struggling: Klein, The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, pp. 318–22.
“I am not fool”: “John Mackay,” Nevada State Journal, October 5, 1883.
thirty-one-hundred-foot levels: “The Lower Levels,” Reno Gazette-Journal, October 18, 1883.
from Amelia Smallman: “Looking for John Mackay,” Reno Gazette-Journal, September 28, 1883.
mining property in Colorado: “Jottings,” Reno Gazette-Journal, October 30, 1883.
Salt Lake City Tribune: “General Notes,” New York Times, November 22, 1883.
“doing Texas”: “Condensed Dispatches,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, November 27, 1883.
$400,000 on the Peerless mines: “Arizona,” Sacramento Daily Record-Union, December 7, 1883.
Quijotoa Mountains: “Arizona’s New Mining Boom,” Daily Alta California, December 17, 1883.
“National Cable Railway”: “Office, United Bank Building, No. 2 Wall Street,” New York Tribune, December 20, 1883.
lacked a thorough understanding: Mackay expressed this exact sentiment in a letter he wrote to Edward Stokes on April 30, 1885: “The Stokes–Mackay Suit,” New York Times, January 23, 1892.
highest-quality technology available: “The Postal Telegraph,” New York Times, August 23, 1883.
Postal strung new lines: “Extending Postal Telegraph Wires,” New York Times, August 31, 1883.
blacklisted strike refugees: “Many Rue Passing of Mackay’s Name,” New York Times, April 22, 1928.
more comprehensive charter: “Western Union’s New Rivals,” New York Times, December 2, 1883.
The new Postal put: “A New Cable Company,” New York Times, October 19, 1883; “Against Western Union,” New York Times, October 21, 1883; “Mr. Mackay Elected President,” New York Times, January 1, 1884.
swiftly morphed: “Ocean Cable Company,” Reno Gazette-Journal, October 1, 1883.
construction of two new cables: “Two New Cables to Be Laid,” New York Times, October 18, 1883.
incorporated a new enterprise: “The New Cable Company,” New York Times, December 13, 1883.
“mild surprise”: “Mr. Mackey [sic] on Jay Gould,” New York Times, October 18, 1883; “Mackay and Gould,” Carson Morning Appeal, October 25, 1883.
“thank[ed] heaven”: “Another Cable,” Daily Alta Californi
a, October 29, 1883.
monstrous monopoly: “A Lightening Revolution,” Nevada State Journal, August 28, 1883.
London Truth “congratulated”: “The London Truth,” Weekly State Nevada Journal, December 15, 1883.
bound for Liverpool: “Marine Intelligence,” New York Times, December 13, 1883.
“in the happiest”: “Sparks from the Wires,” Daily Alta California, December 13, 1883.
“Enemies are my”: “John W. Mackay and His Friends,” New York Times, July 27, 1902.
“I’m as confident”: “Personals,” Daily Alta California, December 12, 1883.
“transit a realm”: Young, Men and Memories, p. 451.
Meissonier neglected to remember: “E. Meissonier to Dear Madam,” January 11, 1882, the Ellin Berlin Collection, UNR, 90-87/II/1.
“stood on his”: “Mrs. Mackay and Her Portrait,” New York Times, March 21, 1884.
“wanting in respect”: “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” Daily Alta California, March 17, 1884.
“While it might”: “That Picture,” Daily Alta California, January 27, 1884.
In one set of stories: “A Duel About a Portrait,” New York Times, February 20, 1884.
In another: “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” New York Times, March 21, 1884.
mischievously retrieved the Meissonier: “A Duel About a Portrait,” New York Times, February 20, 1884; “That Picture,” Daily Alta California, January 27, 1884; “Gossip About Various People” New York Times, March 9, 1884; “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” Daily Alta California, March 17, 1884; “Mrs. Mackay and Her Portrait,” New York Times, March 21, 1884; “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” San Francisco Examiner, February 22, 1891, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/V/21 “California State Library”; Grant Smith, “Mrs. Mackay in Europe,” Grant Smith Collection, UCB, pp. 665–75.
“always felt well”: “That Picture,” Daily Alta California, January 27, 1884.
“I wanted a”: Young, Men and Memories, p. 451.
“very severe”: “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” Daily Alta California, March 17, 1884.
“which [was] not”: “Parisian State and Art Topics,” New York Times, March 23, 1884.
“household gods to London”: “Mrs. Mackay’s Portrait,” San Francisco Examiner, February 22, 1891, article transcribed in the Ellin Berlin Collection, 90-87/V/21 “California State Library.”
The Bonanza King Page 75