together to fight the Tweed Ring. Stewart's company, in retaliation, stopped doing business with Seligman. Stewart died in 1876, having placed Hilton in charge of his estate, the largest American fortune recorded to that date. The estate included a two-million-dollar stake in the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, as well as A. T. Stewart's department store on Astor Place. Hilton himself was unhappy with Seligman, as he was annoyed that Seligman had not invited him to a dinner given for Grant after he became president. The incident After helping refinance the war debt in Washington, Seligman decided to vacation with his family at the 834-room Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, where he had stayed before. Saratoga at the time was a well-regarded resort area for wealthy New Yorkers, and the Grand Union Hotel itself was the best available. Nevertheless, by 1877 the hotel had suffered a drop in business. Stewart and, after his death, his manager Hilton believed that the cause of the decline was the presence of "Israelites" (that is, Jews) at the hotel; Christians, their theory went, did not wish to stay at a hotel that admitted Jews. Seligman was told he could not stay at the hotel. Historians disagree as to whether the Seligman family were physically turned away from the hotel, told not to come to the hotel, or advised that they could stay only one final time. However, it is clear that the Seligmans were made to feel that their presence at the hotel was not desired and would not be tolerated long, if at all. Aftermath The incident created much controversy. The New York Times, on June 19, 1877, ran a headline set entirely in capital letters: A SENSATION AT SARATOGA. _ NEW RULES FOR THE GRAND UNION. NO JEWS TO BE ADMITTED--MR. SELIGMAN, THE BANKER, AND HIS FAMILY SENT AWAY-- HIS LETTER TO MR. HILTON-- GATHERING OF MR. SELIGMAN'S FRIENDS AN INDIGNATION MEETING TO BE HELD. A month later, the New York Times disclosed a letter in which Judge Hilton told a friend, "As [yet] the law ... permits a man to use his property as he pleases, and I propose exercising that blessed privilege, notwithstanding Moses and all his descendants object." The case became a national sensation. Seligman and Hilton both received death threats. A group of Seligman's friends started a boycott against A. T. Stewart's, eventually causing the business to