Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-07-20
THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT "GAR.
DINER FRAUD"

A correspondent Of the Philadelphia Pres
gives some interesting particulars of this
gigantic fraud, by which the Treasury was-so
successfully robbed:
The inception Of this fraud; the manner In
which 1t was prepared in Mexico; the skill of
the forgeries, and the ingenuity of the main
party were only surpassed by the boldness and
perseverance, Of those ~ho ferreted it out and
exposed 1t to condemnation and punishment
by means Of these forgeries George A. Gardi-
ner went before board Of commissioners or
ganiEsd under the treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo
for the purpOse Of sdjudicating all the elains
against our Government, and recovered the
enormous sum of 1881 81 from that commits
sion, and obtained IT from the Treasury of the
United States. This was Immediately after
the war with Mexico. Subsequent events lad
to the belief that the claim was originally false
and simulated, and the Proceedings of Con-
gress, and the action of the courts finally
proved 1t to be so. His claim consisted in this,
that under the Mexican law he had, to use q
near Lagunillas, which is one of the denart.
ments Of the State Of San Luis Petosi He
claimed, furthermore, that on the breakino
out of the war between Mexico and the United
States he had engaged in mining operations.
employing hundreds Of men, thousands Of
cattle, and investing enormous sums of money.
Not being citizen Of Mexico, he alleged that
on the breaking out of the war he was driven
away from his mines, that his people were
scattered, that his property went to waste. and
that not one cent of compensation was furnished
hun oy the state OF San Luis Potosi, or by the
Federal Government of Mexico. The claim,
as stated, was one which came within the nro
VISIONS ct the agreement entered into between
the high contracting parties at the close of the
war, and, as such, and upon the testimony
upon which 1t was considered and adjudi
Gated, the award already stated was allowed
"a of
fraud, the venality of the officers of the
Mexican mint and Of the officials of the
SSate OF Iamaullpas, Of San Luis Potosi and
probably Of Nueya Leon, would make up a
thrilling romance Philip R. FendaiI, ESQ
'ae worthy ex-District Attorney of the District
of Columbia, was so impressed with the won
derful development of the testimony which
could not possibly be brought before the conrt
together with the evidence adduced in the csse
that he determined to collect ali the facts and
give them to the public in the form of a book.
IT the book Is ever published it will constitu,s
amost interesting page in the romance ofc rime
Manuel terestegui, who held a high Office in
the State where the mines were falsely said to
be located, in consideration of q certain sum.
come S2l 900, to be paid him when the award
was MADE, certined to false papers and to a
false book, pretending to give items running
into hundreds of thousands of dollars items of
expense for the daily and weekly carving on
OF the operations at the mines When this
man heard that the Aaud had been exposed by
one OF the clerks Of the State Department.
whose DUTY II was 10 hle away the papers, and
who, having lived in Mexico for seventeen
years, saw the informalities of some of the ma
pers, which induced him to closely scrutipizs
them, he immediately gave orders to his guer
IlllaS (for he was not only an officer Of the
government, but the captain Of band of rob-
bers,l that no American agent should be al
lowed to come anywhere within the State
Capt. Barry, an American officer in the Mexi-
can war, was paid large sum per day to 90 to
Lagunlllas and ascertain whether or not
there was any mines, as alleged and all the
information bearing upon the case that he
could procure Purchasing a mule and q lot
of tin-ware, he peddled his way through a
rugged and mountainous district bese: by
snareS on all sides, and through hi, cournge
and his knowledge of the Spanish and Indian
languages he successfully achieved the object
of his mission. Afterwards when A commits
sion went out under Henry May. Esu.. confer.
enee was held with Yerestegui and he. on a
pledge being given by the Representatives of
the U. ,. Government that he should not be
prosecuted, confessed the facts that had been
Practleed at Gardiner's instigstion. His writ
ten confession is now in the archives of the
State Department. Eerestegui was not the
only Government official concerned Guiter
reZ. one Of the Secretaries Of State of one of
the States OF Mexico, also for a consideration
Pald him, gave the seals and certificates of his
department to the proofs sent on to this city to
90 before the board of commissioners.
1t is interesting to state how one or two for
geries were detected. When Captain Barry
nrst called at the alcalde's Office in LagunilI.s
he found among the papers there no denounce
ment OF these pretended mines; but when
henry May, Esq, went out on the ext mis-.
slon and alter the first trial which terminated
in hung jury, they saw paper amongst the
files, regular and legal in its phraseolo4y and
certIhcatlOn, but, after inspection they dis
covered that it had been but recentIv nIaced
there, On bending the book back thew saw
that the thread with which the Gardiner title
WAS seWed In was in some places perfectly
white and new, and also that large stain upon
the paper, Immediately preceding it, exactly
htted stain upon the paper which followed
1t some Of the paper as we'll as some of the
thread, escaped the attempt to stain them.
These facts went TO show that the paper had
been surreptitiously placed there Again.
when taking piece Of tissue paper and tra,
eng the signatures and THdricas, IN rubica
being flourish to a signature and which
under the Mexican law, is enough without the
name being written, while the name without
the ruorica If not n legal signature it Was
made palpable that those in one paper copsti
tnting the mining title, were in reference to
their position TO one another and the si.e Of
tne writing, precisely similar to those of each
OF the other pages. In twenty or thirty pa0es
no SIX or seven men could sign their names so
tha' Ine tracing OF those TO one paper would be
p perfect copy, in every way, Of those to
dozen other papers. The certificates were thus
shown to be forgeries.
when this case came before our courts, the
most Hercuiean efforts were made to suppress
investigation into the facts. Mr. Geo. A. Gard
iner was engaged TO be married to q beautiful
Iady OF wealthy connections in this vicinity
and the Charles j. Gardiner arrested on We'd
nesday had married into a most influential
iamliy. 30 cratuly had the scheme been de-
vised, and 50 widely extended had the social
influence been BY which it was to be main.
tanned, that, for long time il was imno.s;bIe
to reach the truth Courts and juries were
alike suspected. public opinion yascrestsd
saeh as had never before been known in Wash.
lngtoD- Newspapers were successfully an
preached, not only here but elsewhere; and the
best men in Washington were seduced to be-
heye that the war upon the Gardiners was a
mere personal Prosecution Henry May, ESQ.
OF Baltimore, to whom / have already alluded
IN this letter, almost made himself odious to
the court by the pertinacity with which he
pushed the prosecution; and Philip Fendsll