The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-02-25
III IIE GOLD CONSPIRACY.
FISK, ,R.'s, STORY BEFORE THE CONGRESS
INVESTIGATING coMMrrrEr.

FISK, il. 3, STORY BEFORE THE CONGRESS
INVESTIGATING coMMrTEE.
Fisk jr., and Jay Gould gave theil
testimony before the Investigating
Committee on Saturday. Mr.. Goule
was examined first, and occupied a
least four hours in giving his evidence
Mr.. Gould seemed to be very reticent
and the Committee could get nothing
out of him except by continuous ques,
tions. Mr.. Fisk, on the other hand
began his story, and went directly
through with but little questioning
The following is the substance Of hii
story:
Fisk and Gould desired to raise the
price Of gold so that they might bt
able TO employ their road in the ship.
ment Of grain which would remain n
store IL gold was low. They accord.
ingly determined to interview Presi
dent Grant, and went with him to Bos,
ton, where they gave him supper.
They then learned that he favored
specie payments and cheap gold. They
argued against it. Fisk says: 81
one remark Gen. Grant
made, after we had talked about an
hour and half. That, anyway, the
bubble might as well break at one time
as another as much as to say that il
the crash had to come. it might as well
come at one time as another. Our idea
of crash is TO have il oil milk and
honey with us, and to let the next fel-
lows stand the brunt of the crash. We
want 10 sell long, and let the next
man have all the furry. We want all
the fun, and let the next fellow have
all the trouble. In other words, we
want TO make the money, not to lose
it. But Gen. Grant didn't seem TO
reason it quite that way" Next Gould
made the acquaintance Of Mr.. Corbin,
the Presidents brother-in-law. They
saw Secretary Boutwell,, but got moth
ing satisfactory from him. When the
President started for New York in
June, Gould wrote "strong letter,
which he gave Fisk, jr., 10 put in the
hands Of the President. Fisk says
"Gould asked me to take it to Gen.
Grant, and have talk with him, and
II I saw fit to say TO Gen. Chant, il
Government would not sell gold, we,
for the sake of getting this transporta-
ton, (for the sake of getting employ
ment for our / roo or l 500 men, whom
we hNd for the purpose of moving this
crop, whom had to pay whether we
moved it or not), would go in and put
the gold market up to q point where
We could ship this crop, and start up
trade here. / went down and had q
long conversation with Gen. Grant on
the way TO Newport, and at that time,
when / left Gen. Grant, we decided
that we should come to Newport next
Sunday, and In the interval he should
telegraph for Boutwell,, and either
have Boutwell, come 10 Newport or
have some decision of the matter, so
that we could tell something about it.
In other words, We ewere TO have CON
ference on the subject. i learned in
the latter part of the week that he had
not heard from Mr. Boutwell,, and we
did not go up. Thenit got to be about
the 1st of August" Meantime Gould
made the acquaintance of Mr.. Gather
wood, Mr.. Corbin' 5 son-in-law, and he
was talked of for Assistant Treasurer
in New York, but was subsequently
dropped for Butterfield. Fisk contin-
ues: s'It seems at that time Mr.. Cor
bin had taken mp the theory that the
crops should be moved of ut high
prices, and he went one slip further,
that q good deal could be made out of
it. II you know anything about Cor
bin land suppose you do) you know
that when he goes into anything, he
wants to take all. When he
reaches up for anything he generally
wants to take everything there is on
the shelf, and he does not even leave
the shelf. He takes the nails, the
boards, and all. You know that any
scheme he touches withers. He prob
ably never touched any one but Mr..
Gould and myself who did not die,
and he came very near killing MS both.
Corbin then concie'Fed the idea that,
having Butterfeld In there, Butter
field, feeling under obligations to Mr..
Corbin, there was q great deal OF mon
ey to be made, as I understand he was
speculating largely at the time he was
turned out. Mr.. Gould, I understand
since, had bought about two and O
half millions of gold. He commenced
at 1877, at which price he told me Cor
bin had told him that Mrs. Grant had
$500, 900, Gen. Porter $500, 900, and
he had q million and half himself. It
was at this point got into the matter.
Mr.. Corbin told me this afterward. It
ran along to about Sept. 18th. Gold
during that time kept settling down to
131, and Mr.. Gould had got his own
carpet-bag full of it, as I could see
from the way he was tearing up little
pieces of paper and strewing them
around the floor. Every man has his
peculiarties. You know that the hatch
ct was on him very near up to the han
die, and that about all of his consola-
ton was, when he became thin and
weak, to go off and counsel with this
friend, Mr.. Corbin.
When he came down to the Office he
would stop every morning and take a
dose of Corbin. Af-
ter I commenced to buy gold, I said
to Mr.. Gould: Where are you? Have
you any understanding with Mr.. Cor
bin? Has he carried out any of those
theories with Grant which he COM
menced as far back as JulyY He said:
Yes, that everything was understood,
and that Corbin had told him that no
gold was to come out from the Gov
ornrnant There vvaa en- ,n11ch cold