SHARP, Jacob, capitalist, born in Montgomery county, New York, in 1817; died in New York city, 5 April, 1888. He was of humble parentage and worked on a farm till 1837, when he began rafting on the Hudson river. He saved money, dealt in timber, and furnished the material for the building of piers and bulkheads in New York city. In 1850 he conceived the scheme of a street railroad to be constructed on Broadway, and in 1884, after years of scheming against powerful opposition, he succeeded in his object. He was afterward arrested on the charge of bribing the New York board of aldermen in connection with securing the resolution for the construction of the Broadway street railway, and on 14 July, 1887, was sentenced by Judge Barrett to confinement for four years and a half in the state prison, and to pay a fine of $5,000. The court of appeals, on 29 November, 1887, set aside the conviction, and Sharp was released in $40,000 bail. He never recovered from the effect of his conviction and imprisonment.