Fifty years in Wall Street
the success of the gold clique.
“I took the ground,” says Gould, “that the Government ought to let gold
alone and let it find its commercial level.”
This reference to “its commercial level” is rich, coming from the
head-centre of the plotters who wanted to put the article up to 200.
Then, in another afterthought, he says: “It (the Government) ought to
facilitate an upward movement of gold in the fall.”
How artfully insinuating was this suggestion in the interest of our
foreign commerce! It showed clearly the power the man possesses of
rising to the patriotic height of the occasion. This is a characteristic
of Mr. Gould that few people know how to appreciate at its true worth.
It has stood out conspicuously in his character in many other
exigencies. It reminds one of the unkind but vigorous remark of the
famous old English critic, Dr. Samuel Johnson: “Patriotism, Sir,” said
the old cynic, “is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
About the time the above events were transpiring, the Assistant
Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. H. H. Van Dyck, resigned his office in
this city. Mr. Gould’s chief ambition at that time was to name his
successor, in order that he might be able to control the Treasury when
the time to get a “corner” in gold should be ripe. Mr. Abel R. Corbin
came in quite handy at this juncture to help to further the designs of
Mr. Gould. He was a man of fair education and considerable experience
both in business and politics. He had been a lobbyist in Washington for
some years. He was well informed on financial matters, a pretty good
writer, and could “talk like a book.” His wife was a sister of Mrs.
Grant, and he had good opportunities for reaching the Presidential ear,
which he employed to the best advantage.
A gentleman named Robert B. Catherwood, who was married to a
step-daughter of Mr. Corbin, was approached by Gould and Corbin on the
subject of the assistant-treasuryship. They were anxious that Mr.
Catherwood should take the office, and told him he could make a great
deal of money in a perfectly legitimate manner if he were once
installed.
So Mr. Catherwood stated in his testimony before the Investigating
Committee, but he adds, “My ideas differed from theirs in what
constituted a legitimate manner, and I declined the office.”
The office then sought another man in the person of General Daniel
Butterfield. He received the intimation of his appointment in a very
different spirit from Mr. Catherwood, showing that he was fully equal to
the occasion. He wrote a letter to Mr. Corbin thanking him kindly for
the offer, saying that he was under numerous obligations to him, and
expressing a hope that he would be eminently successful in his
undertaking. General Butterfield received his commission in due course.
This made perfect another link in the chain of Mr. Gould’s speculative
design, as he supposed. It made Corbin “solid” with Gould also, a
position which they both highly appreciated. Mr. Gould paid the
following tribute of admiration to the true value of Corbin in the
enterprise: “He was a very shrewd old gentleman. He saw at a glance the
whole case, and said he thought it was the true platform to stand on;
that whatever the Government could do legitimately and fairly to
facilitate the exportation of breadstuffs and produce good prices for
the West, they ought to do so. He was anxious that I should see the
President, and communicate to him my views on the subject.” Corbin
talked with Grant until he received a positive assurance that Boutwell
was not to sell any more gold. At a meeting in Grant’s house, where
Gould and Corbin were present, the President said: “Boutwell gave an
order to sell gold, and I heard of it, and countermanded the order.”
It was not until Gould had received positive assurance from the
President’s own lips, that he considered his scheme perfect. But the
links of this strategic chain were now nearly all forged. The bankers
and merchants were largely in his favor through commercial necessity,
the Sub-Treasury was “fixed,” as he thought, and the Executive fiat had
placed the Treasury of the United States itself where it could not spoil
the deal if Grant did not change his mind. There were reasons, of
course, to apprehend that he would do so in case of an emergency; for he
never was privy to the scheme, no matter what his traducers and
political enemies may have said.
To ensure perfect safety, then, Grant must be put out of the way
temporarily. This was the crowning effort of the conspirators. After the
Boston Peace Jubilee, this Cabal spent the remaining part of the summer
in maturing its designs. Large enterprises of this nature always require
time and patience. I am told that “Billy” Porter, “Sheeny” Mike and
other eminent burglars will work assiduously from six to twelve months
studying all the ins and outs of a bank or other financial concern
before coming to the point of using the “jimmy,” blowing the safe or
chloroforming the janitor.
It seemed necessary that all the members of the Cabal should be fully
acquainted with the combination to Grant’s purposes as regarded his
orders to Boutwell, and that his ideas should remain fixed on the theory
of increasing exportation for the country’s safety. Accordingly it was
arranged that Jim Fisk should visit the President at Newport, where he
was on a visit, some time about the middle of August, a month or so
prior to Black Friday. It would seem that Grant at this date was still
wavering, and adhering to his policy of selling gold in spite of the
order which he had given Boutwell. He may have been suspecting that the
anxiety of Gould, Corbin & Co. for the prosperity of the country was not
altogether genuine. The necessity of bringing further pressure to bear
upon him was therefore clearly manifest.
Referring to the interview at Newport, Fisk said: “I think it was some
time in August that General Grant started to go to Newport. I then went
down to see him. I had seen him before, but not feeling as thoroughly
acquainted as I desired for this purpose, I took a letter of
introduction from Mr. Gould, in which it was stated that there were
three hundred sail of vessels then on the Mediterranean, from the Black
Sea, with grain to supply the Liverpool market. Gold was then about
thirty-four. If it continued at that price, we had very little chance of
carrying forward the crop during the fall. I know that we felt nervous
about it. I talked with General Grant on the subject and endeavored, as
far as I could, to convince him that his policy was one that would only
bring destruction on us all. He then asked me when we should have an
interview, and we agreed upon the time. He said: ‘During that time I
will see Mr. Boutwell, or have him there.’”
The President was carefully shadowed after this by the detectives of the
clique, and great care was taken to throw men across his path who were
fluent talkers on the great financial problem of the day, the absolute
necessity of stimulating the export trade and raising the premium upon
gold for that patriotic purpose. In this way, President Grant began to
think that the opinion of almost everybody he talked with on this
subject was on the same side, and must, therefore, be correct.
About the 1st of September it was considered that the opinions of the
President had been worked up fairly to the sticking point, and Gould
bought $1,500,000 in gold at 132½ for Corbin. Gould, however, was timid
in his purchasing at first, as he had heard that a number of operators
who were short of gold were making arrangements to give Secretary
Boutwell a dinner. On further assurances from Corbin that the President
had written Boutwell to sell no gold without consulting him, Gould
prepared to go ahead with the execution of his great scheme. Nothing
remained to be done in the completion of the plot except to stow away
the President in a place of safety until the financial storm should blow
over.
Things were so managed that the President was placed in a position that
his honor was seriously in danger of being compromised, yet so ably was
the matter engineered that he was perfectly unconscious of the designs
of the plotters.
He was prevailed upon to go to a then obscure town in Pennsylvania,
named Little Washington. The thing was so arranged that his feelings
were worked upon to visit that place for the purpose of seeing an old
friend who resided there. The town was cut off from telegraphic
communication, and the other means of access were not very convenient.
There the President was ensconced, to remain for a week or so about the
time the Cabal was fully prepared for action.
Sometime about the period of the President’s departure for Little
Washington, Fisk bought seven or eight millions of gold. Gould then said
to Fisk: “This matter is all fixed up. Butterfield is all right. Corbin
has got Butterfield all right, and Corbin has got Grant fixed all right,
and in my opinion they are all interested together.”
This was patriotism with a vengeance. Just think of the audacity of it!
Gould enters into a scheme to place the President in a position where he
could not interfere with the plan of getting a “corner” in gold, and
then he turns around and accuses the first Magistrate of the Republic
with being privy to a plot that was calculated to create a panic, and
cause widespread disaster in business circles, and render him an object
of universal contempt.
Gould and Fisk, through Corbin, also attempted to compromise Grant’s
family, as well as his private Secretary, General Horace Porter. This
intention was fully disclosed through the interview of Fisk with Corbin.
Fisk testified: “When I met Corbin he talked very shy about the matter
at first, but finally came right out and told me that Mrs. Grant had an
interest; that $500,000 in gold had been taken at 31 and 32, which had
been sold at 37; that Mr. Corbin held for himself about two millions of
gold, $500,000 of which was for Mrs. Grant and $500,000 for Porter. I
did not ask whether he was General or not. I remember the name Porter.
This was given out very slowly. He let out just as fast as I did when he
found that Gould had told me about the same thing. I said: ‘Now, I have
had nothing to do with your transactions in one way or the other. We
have embarked in a scheme that looks like one of large magnitude. Mr.
Gould has lost as the thing stands now. It looks as if it might be a
pretty serious business before getting out straight again. The whole
success depends on whether the Government will unload on to us or not.’
He said: ‘You need not have the least fear.’ I said: ‘I want to know
whether what Mr. Gould told me is true. I want to know whether you have
sent this $25,000 to Washington, as he states?’ He then told me that he
had sent it, that Mr. Gould had sold $500,000 in gold belonging to Mrs.
Grant, which cost 32, for 37 or something in that neighborhood, leaving
a balance in her favor of about $27,000, and that a check for $25,000
had been sent. Said I: ‘Mr. Corbin, what can you show me that goes still
further than your talk?’ ‘Oh, well,’ the old man said, ‘I can’t show you
anything, but,’ said he, ‘this is all right.’ He talked freely and
repeated: ‘I tell you it is all right.’ When I went away from there, I
had made up my mind that Corbin had told me the truth.”
An attempt was made to prove, before the Garfield Committee, that a
package containing $25,000 was sent to Mrs. Grant through the Adams
Express Company, but expert testimony failed to decide whether the
amount was that or $250, as the two noughts at the extreme right were
crowded into the cents column, and it was difficult to determine whether
or not a very light “period” was placed between them and the “$250.”
The design of the clique was manifest, however, to implicate the family