Buffalo and State Line Rail Road Co. issued to Leonard W. Jerome and mentions Daniel Drew dated 1861 - Railroad Autograph

Stock issued to Leonard W. Jerome and mentions Daniel Drew on stub, not signed. 

Leonard Walter Jerome (November 3, 1817 – March 3, 1891) was a Brooklyn, New York, financier and grandfather of Winston Churchill. Leonard Jerome was the son of Aurora Murray and Isaac Jerome. Jerome was born on a farm in the Central New York town of Pompey, near Syracuse. He studied law, graduated from Union College, and set up a practice in Rochester, New York. He later moved to New York City, where he became a stock speculator and promoter.

Jerome was a flamboyant and successful stock speculator. He made and lost several fortunes, and was known as "The King of Wall Street". He held interests in several railroad companies and was often a partner in the deals of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was a patron of the arts, and founded the Academy of Music, one of New York City's earliest opera houses. During the New York Draft Riots, Jerome defended the New York Times office building with a Gatling Gun. Although he had significant holdings in the Times, he was not the majority shareholder as is sometimes erroneously claimed.

The Jerome Mansion, on the corner of Madison Avenue and 26th Street, had a six-hundred-seat theatre, a breakfast room which seated seventy people, a ballroom of white and gold with champagne- and cologne-spouting fountains, and a view of Madison Square Park. It was later sold and housed a series of private clubs. The mansion was torn down in 1967. Jerome was an avid sportsman. He enjoyed yachting with his friend, William K. Vanderbilt. They shared a special passion for thoroughbred horse racing and helped found the American Jockey Club.

In 1866, Jerome bought the estate and mansion of James Bathgate near Old Fordham Village in what was then rural Westchester County, but is now The Bronx. Jerome and financier August Belmont, Sr. built Jerome Park Racetrack on the Bathgate land; the first Belmont Stakes was held there in 1867. Jerome and his brother Lawrence had a wide boulevard made from Macombs Dam to the track, which city authorities attempted to name "Murphy Avenue" after a local politician. This incensed Jerome's wife so much that she had bronze plaques saying "Jerome Avenue" made up and bolted into place along the road, forcing the city to accept the name. The racetrack was acquired and demolished by the city in 1894, to make way for Jerome Park Reservoir. The Bathgate mansion served as a summer home for the Jerome family. In the early 1900s, the mansion was razed and replaced by the Kingsbridge Armory. Jerome became a resident of Brooklyn. He, Vanderbilt, and other investors founded the Coney Island Jockey Club which in 1884 built the Sheepshead Bay Race Track. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Jerome

Daniel Drew (July 29, 1797 – September 18, 1879) was an American businessman, steamship and railroad developer, and financier. Summarizing his life, Henry Clews wrote: "Of all the great operators of Wall Street ... Daniel Drew furnishes the most remarkable instance of immense and long-continued success, followed by utter failure and hopeless bankruptcy".

Drew was born in Carmel, New York, to Gilbert Drew and Catherine Muckleworth. He was poorly educated and saw hardship after his father, who owned a small cattle farm, died when Daniel was 15 years old. Drew enlisted in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 but he did not see combat. After the war, he spent some time with a traveling zoo and then built a successful cattle-droving business.

In 1820, he moved to New York City, where he ran the Bull's Head Tavern in the Bowery section of New York City, a location frequented by drovers and butchers doing business in the city. While running the tavern, he formed a partnership with two other drovers, buying cattle from neighboring counties and bringing them to New York for sale. In 1823, he married Roxanna Mead.

In 1834, he entered the steamboat business, purchasing a share of a boat operating on the Hudson River. Competing with Cornelius Vanderbilt against the Hudson River Steamboat Association, he ran numerous profitable lines outside of New York City.

Around this time, Drew began to speculate in stocks. He founded the brokerage firm of Drew, Robinson & Company in 1844, which dissolved a decade later with the death of his partner. Following this, operated as an independent trader. In 1857, Drew became a member of the board of directors of the Erie Railroadand used his position to manipulate the railroad stock price. He joined forces with Vanderbilt to rescue the Erie from bankruptcy, and also became a director of the New York and Harlem Railroad, where he collaborated again with Vanderbilt to prop up that company's finances.

In 1864, Drew once again struggled with Vanderbilt, speculating on the stock of the New York and Harlem. Drew was selling the stock short, but Vanderbilt and his associates bought every share he sold, ultimately causing the stock price to rise from 90 to 285 in five months. Drew lost $500,000.

In 1866 to 1868, Drew engaged in the Erie War, in which Drew conspired along with fellow directors James Fisk and Jay Gould to issue stock to keep Vanderbilt from gaining control of the Erie Railroad. Vanderbilt, unaware of the increase in outstanding shares, kept buying Erie stock and sustained heavy losses, eventually conceding control of the railroad to the trio.

In 1870, Fisk and Gould betrayed Drew, manipulating the stock price of the Erie Railroad and causing him to lose $1.5 million.^? Fisk was killed in January 1872 by a jealous rival over a mistress; Gould was later swindled out of $1,000,000 worth of Erie railroad stock and never controlled the Erie Railroad. The Panic of 1873 cost Drew still more, and by 1876, he filed for bankruptcy, with debts exceeding a million dollars and no viable assets. He died in 1879, dependent on his son for support. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Drew

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