Gould and Fisk had a list of every broker and speculator who had borrowed gold from the gold exchange, some 250 of them, including Jay Cooke, the biggest financier on Wall Street. Fisk proposed that the list be published in the newspapers the next day with the demand that the "bulls and bears" settle on their debts by three o'clock the next day, at a fixed rate of $160. If they refused, Fisk was ready to squeeze them at an even higher rate, a scheme that bordered on blackmail. Fisk's associates scoffed at the scheme and criticized Fisk of being true to form for suggesting such an unconventional idea. After being warned that the idea violated New York State criminal conspiracy law, Gould, Fisk and their associates chose another approach: On Friday, they would bull the price of gold to an even higher price by buying large amounts of gold at the current high price and selling even higher. The idea that their plan could bankrupt innocent men and ruin the standing of the nation in world credit markets never entered the conversation. Fisk, however, saw the flaw to this alternative approach, fearing that pushing the price of gold up too quickly would provoke the President to step in and break the gold corner.