Colonel Scott was the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and therefore a man of the highest prestige in the city.

So as soon as Cornish had put this line in place, he kept his men at work stringing other lines.

When the police interfered, he showed them Colonel Scott's signature and was let alone.

In this way he put fifteen wires up before the trick was discovered; and soon afterwards, with eight subscribers, he founded the first Philadelphia exchange.
As may be imagined, such battling as this did not put much money into the treasury of the parent company; and the letters written by Sanders at this time prove that it was in a hard plight.
The following was one of the queries put to Hubbard by the overburdened Sanders: "How on earth do you expect me to meet a draft of two hundred and seventy-five dollars without a dollar in the treasury, and with a debt of thirty thousand dollars staring us in the face ?" "Vail's salary is small enough," he continued in a second letter, "but as to where it is coming from I am not so clear.

Bradley is awfully blue and discouraged.
Williams is tormenting me for money and my personal credit will not stand everything.