Daniel Drew

Daniel Drew began as a cattle drover, using the trick of making cattle drink heavily before sale to increase their weight—a practice that would later inspire the term 'watered stock.' He parlayed his cunning into steamboats, challenging Vanderbilt on the Hudson, and then into railroads, where he became a central, disruptive figure. As a director of the Erie Railroad, he repeatedly manipulated its stock, printing fraudulent shares to dilute value and trap investors like Vanderbilt in what became the 'Erie War.' For decades, his speculative genius brought immense wealth, but his tactics destabilized markets. In the Panic of 1873, his leveraged bets collapsed, and he died in near-poverty, a stark embodiment of the volatile boom-and-bust cycle of his era.