America, 19th century. A letter from William T. McClintick to Jay Gould, as well as a letter signed by Gould detailing his desire for a rewritten letter due to fire damage.

Gould was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator identified as being one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. Being one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century, Gould remained unpopular during his lifetime and remains controversial. He began investing in small railways in 1859 and continued to buy stocks throughout the Civil War. Due to the Erie Railroad's financial troubles in the 1850s, Gould received loans from Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew which led to the engagement of stock manipulations known as the "Erie War." Gould rose to power as president of Erie by summer of 1868.

In 1869, James Fisk and Gould attempted to illegally corner the market through the purchase of gold. Utilizing Ulysses S. Grant's brother-in-law Abel Corbin, Gould was able to influence the president and Secretary General Horace Porter. Those actions led to the panic of Black Friday on September 24, 1869 when the cash premium fell from 62 to 35 percent and this led to Gould's reputation to shape as a figure who could control the market at will. The months of economic turmoil led to devastating consequences on farmers and bankruptcy of some of Wall Street's respected financial institutions.

William T. McClintick was general counsel for the Marietta and Cincinnati Railway and the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. He was also president of the Cincinnati and Baltimore Railway company. McClintick was associated with a large number of important suits involving principles of railway and commercial law.

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