380 - Daniel Drew Signed Check for $1,000,000 at the Height of the Erie Railway Wars (1868)

Daniel Drew Signed Check for $1,000,000 at the Height of the Erie Railway Wars (1868) American businessman, financier, and railroad developer (1797-1879) who became one of the Gilded Age’s notorious robber barons and one of Wall Street’s most powerful speculators. Drew amassed a fortune through steamboats, railroads, and stock-market dealings, but his long financial career ended in bankruptcy. Manhattan Company bank check, 7.75 x 3, filled out in another hand and signed by Drew, "D. Drew," payable to Daniel Drew for $1,000,000, October 28, 1868. Affixed to a slightly larger cardstock mount and in very good to fine condition, with scattered toning, cancellation cuts, and vertical folds, one passing through the last name of Drew's signature. Daniel Drew was one of the most formidable Wall Street speculators of the nineteenth century, making a fortune through banking, railroad finance, and aggressive stock-market operations. By the 1860s, he had become closely identified with the Erie Railway, where his struggle with Cornelius Vanderbilt culminated in the notorious Erie War of 1868. As Vanderbilt attempted to acquire control of the railroad, Drew, Jay Gould, and James Fisk countered by issuing enormous quantities of new Erie stock, ultimately frustrating Vanderbilt's attempted takeover. The resulting settlement in July 1868 involved millions of dollars in stock, cash, and securities and marked a turning point in the battle for control of Erie. This extraordinary $1,000,000 check (equivalent to roughly $23.5 million in modern purchasing power) dates to October 28, 1868, during the immediate aftermath of that struggle and amid another period of severe turbulence on Wall Street. Drew participated in the practice of ‘locking up’ money, withholding large sums from circulation to tighten credit and drive down Erie’s share price by forcing speculators dependent on borrowed money to sell. Between July 1st and October 24th alone, Erie's capitalization increased from approximately $34.3 million to $57.8 million, while more than $12 million in greenbacks became tied up and the resulting credit pressure grew serious enough that Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch indicated the government was prepared to provide additional currency if necessary. Drawn by Drew to his own order for this enormous sum, the check was executed at precisely this volatile moment in his financial career, just months after the Erie War and as his former allies Gould and Fisk were consolidating their control of the railroad. Drew's fortunes would ultimately collapse; after further speculative losses and the Panic of 1873, he declared bankruptcy in 1876.