In the summer of 1869, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk began to buy up shares in A&S, aiming to accumulate a controlling interest and install their own people to the board and take over.

Gould and Fisk also conspired to falsely arrest Ramsey, Henry Smith, William L. M. Phelps, and Robert H. Pruyn, the latter three of whom were also executives associated with the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad.

Fisk and his recruits met their adversaries, the men of the A&S, in a tunnel near Harpursville, where they attacked each other with all manner of weapons until the governor ordered state militia to take charge of the road.

John Pierpont Morgan, who had arranged a $500,000 mortgage for the road and been appointed a trustee, arrived in New York on September 1 and was recruited by Ramsey's supporters.

[3][failed verification] In the name of Dabney, Morgan bought six hundred shares of A&S and made contact with all the shareholders loyal to Ramsey, ensuring that they or their proxies would be present at the annual meeting held in Albany on September 7.