The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth; or, The Life and Deeds of Jay Gould

by Trumbull White

During all this time Fifth avenue was crowded with handsome equipages of all kinds going to and from the park. Among those who drove by were John Jacob Astor and his wife in a stylish drag. Neither the Anarchists nor the other spectators recognized them, or there might have been, judging from the character of the crowd, some unpleasant demonstration. The police, however, were very alert, and kept a watchful eye upon every movement of the crowd.

The majority of the men who attended the funeral walked to and from the house. When the services were over and the doors were opened, the first to step out were H. Walter Webb and Chauncey M. Depew. Mr. Depew was, of course, recognized, but Whitelaw Reid, who followed him, was not. As the guests came out of the house the police still had some difficulty in keeping the crowd back. A number of women fell into line, expecting that they would be admitted to the house as soon as the invited guests had departed. Finding that this was not the case, they lingered for a few minutes and then slowly went their way. In fifteen minutes the crowd disappeared entirely, and the avenue resumed its normal appearance.

The following morning the remains of Jay Gould were placed beside those of his wife in the mausoleum in Woodlawn cemetery. They were placed in a catacomb at just half past twelve. Barring the irreverent chatter of the idle onlookers, nearly all of whom were women, no words were uttered except by Chancellor MacCracken. A crowd gathered in front of the Gould residence early this morning. Two policemen kept them back, and they stood around and looked angry. At 9:30 the flowers were taken to the cemetery. Soon after 10 o’clock the hearse and eight carriages appeared. It was an extremely plain hearse and the carriages, except George Gould’s smart brougham, were of the ordinary four-wheeled funeral variety. The immediate members of the family entered them and Undertaker Main, alone in a carriage, led the way up Fifth avenue to the cemetery. After the brief services were over the mourners departed.

The mausoleum in Woodlawn cemetery in which the dead multi-millionaire is resting is more magnificent and costly than the homes of many people whose money paid for it. The station on the New York and Harlem river railroad is near the northeast corner of the cemetery. Central avenue goes by the office of the superintendent and winds through the snowy slopes for about half a mile. About fifty feet from this avenue rises a mound crowned by a tiny Greek temple. That is Jay Gould’s tomb.

The plot of ground is circular and contains 30,000 square feet. The price of ground in such a select location is $2 per square foot, so the space alone cost $60,000.

Before the work began Mr. Gould made three stipulations about the construction of the mausoleum. First, that it should be built as strongly and as massively as possible; second, that it should not be pretentiously large; third, that as great simplicity as possible in the construction should be observed. Upon this last point Mr. Gould laid the greatest stress.

The mausoleum is built throughout of westerly granite. It is thirty-three feet long, twenty-two feet wide and twenty feet high to the apex of the roof. It is often said to be a copy of the Parthenon, but that is not true. The Parthenon was a Doric structure; this is Ionic. The technical name of the building would be a Greek hexastyle, peripteral temple. It has six columns in front and eleven columns on each side in single rows. In its proportions and many of its details it is more like the old temple of Theseus, at Athens, than any ancient building extant.

Three rows of steps run up to the temple on all sides and form its base. Between the columns and the walls of the temple is a considerable space. Columns and walls are bare, without the faintest attempt at ornamentation.

In the center of the row of columns facing the south it looks as if a column had been removed to make a broad passageway. Facing this opening is the double door of the tomb. Each section of this door is eight feet high and two feet wide, and weighs a ton. The doors are of heavy bronze, and the lower part is paneled and ornamented on the outside with two dragons’ heads, a big iron ring swinging in the mouth of each dragon. The upper part of the doors is a fretwork of cherubs and vines, through the opening of which the interior of the crypt can be seen.

Peering through the interstices one may see the narrow hall lined with polished Tennessee marbles. The pavement is of tesselated marble in three shades, a creamy yellow, a pale pink and a pale violet. The body of the floor is in the pale violet, with two brands of the pink and yellow crossing it.