Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1854-03-16
The Case of Dr., Gardiner.

A tragic end to great crime was yesterday
achieved by Mr.. George A. Gardiner, a
; Washington. Having been convicted Of
fraud upon the Government by which sun
amounting to something near four hundred
thousand dollars was obtained from the Mex.
lean indemnity m Oney, be was yesterday NOR,
ing sentenced to ten years hard labor in the
z Penitentiary.
Soon afterward he was found dead in his
room, having, as is supposed, taken poison, in
order at one blow to escape the disgrace Of his
offence, and the rigor Of its punishment The
case is as remarkable as any recorded in the
Caucus Ceiebres A large sum has been appro.
IPriated by Congress under the treaty of reace
with Mexico, to pay of the claims Of American
citizens, who at various tines had suffered inu-
ry at the hands Of the Mexican autho.ities.-A
special Commission, consisting Of George Ev-
ans of Maine; Caleb B. Smith of Indiana and
Robert Treat Paine of South Carolina, was
appointed to examine these claims and decide
what was due to the respective claimants.
Among them DR.. Gardiner came forward
with all sorts of do cuments. duly;signed and
sealed, prove that he had been the owner of
a valuable mine in the Department San Louis
Potosi, and that the Mexicans had broken up
his mining establishment, causing him loss of
some half million of dollars, more or less. Af-
ter looking into the papers, and weighing the
arguments presented in behalf of DR.. Gardiner,
the Commission finally awarded him, if not the
WIN ne, a larger sum, as we belive, than was
O;ven to my other single claimant.
He got the money, paid his counsel large
part oft. and with tie rest was rich man,
Soon after this he went to Europe. and while
there the suspicious became so strong that his
whole claim was fauG, that an injunction
was laid on considerable portion Of the mon
ey which hshad left in bank at Washington
He returned and was indicted about three
years and a half ago.
He was tried under the indictment about
year since but the trial resulted in the disagree
ment of the jury. The evidence against him,
was procured by commissions sent to Mexico
expressly for the purpose.
Itwas very conclusive; the papers on which
his claim had been prosecuted before the in .
demnity Commissioners were proved to have I
been for the most part forgeries of a gross
character: and il was shown that the mine he
claimed to have lost had never had an exis
tence. Still his case was managed with ability
and the evidence he furnished on the trial was
such as to stagger and divide the Jury on the
question of his guilt. We believe, however,
that In the interim adoidonal proofs were OBJ
tanned, which no longer left the possibility of
doubt, and which not only resulted in the ver-
dict rendered yesterday, but in the infiction of
the laws EXTREMIST penalty by the Court. -
The next stage in the drama was his Sucide-a
terrible confession of the justice of his sentence
an awful blow to the friends who had stood by
him through the prosecution.
The certainty that this great claim was frau
dulent, tends to excite the suspicion tha: the
Commissioners may have been equally deceiv-
ed in regard to other awards.
But we presume that as so much time has
elapsed since their decisions were made, no step
will be taken towards revision of them.-N
Y. Tribune.