Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-01-24
THE sEPrEMRER GOLD PANIC
ef Bay Goald ana Fish. Jr

THE SEPrEMRER GOLD PANIC
Testinsay ef Bay Goald ana Fish. Jr.
On Saturday Jay Gould and James Fish. .Jr
appeared before the House Committee on Bank
ing and Currency, and gave evidence in a.,
matter Of the famous September gold panic IA
New York. The committee asked the witnesse,
TO 60 ahead in their own way and give thei,
version Of the causes that led 90 the panic. ano
as 20 whether any Government OF cials were en-,
gagged In the speculation, etc. The witness,
went over the ground OF the statements pre-
| nhoasiy made by them In the New Nork paper.
IN regard 20 their undertaking A. managers Of
/ the Erie Railroad TO put up the price OF gold -
as TO keep mp the price ef Western crofs, and
induce the latter % come % market They
A therefore commenced operations on the 18th OF
June, t9, when President Grant was on board
/ the Sound steamer Of Fisk & Gould. on his wsv
20 the Boston jubilee. The President attended
dinner &C which seven Others were present,
and the conversation turned upon hnances
" and II appeared saws Fisk. .'to our astoniSh-
ment, that Grant was studying financial mat
| ters. and that he intended 90 rule them in his
administration; and we were still more sur
prised when We discovered that he was on
the road TO specie payments, for Il strnck NJ like
dash OF cold water" Mr Gould ~ once pro-
Policy 20 put gold down in the fsE-Jhat, with
gold nj S the crops would not be moved. The
pons! on Secretary McCuiloch was referred ts a
hsving been the true one In that particular.
as he always kept gold high in the fall o.
give West good price Tor its crops. To
we might rs well prick the bubble nov, for IL hs.
got to be done some time" This was all that
took place then, and the President was not
sounded again until he appeared AT Long Branch
In July, when he did not seem 60 care 20 talk
further on the subject. In the rneantime Mr.
Gould had become acquainted with the Presi-
dents brother-in-law, Mr.. Abel n. Corbin and
they frequently talkedover the effect OF the de-
cline OF gold on the business Of the country and
noth agreed that no man was then making a
dollar in legitimate trade, and that IL would
grow worse as gold declined. COrbin believed
with Gould that IL this theory were correctly
represented 20 the President aud Secretary
Boutwell,, IL might induce a change. Accord
ingiy Mr.. Gould wrote 20 Mr.. Boutwell,, ~
received a reply which did not indicate VII
the Government would do in financial matt,
This was the last of july, and Graut was thc
on his way 20 Newport on hoard Of Fisk x Co
steamer. Gould wrote letter 10 the Presidepi
stating that he had information that three hun
dred vessels were then on the way 10 Liverpoo
from Mediterranean ports, engaged TO move TIL
crops I'm Europe. Gold was then S3 aud % In
New York; and in sending this letter 90 the Pr
sident by Mr.. Fisk, Gould requested the latter
TO say 10 Grant that If the Government would
decide not TO sell gold the price could DC put up
in the market, the crops could be moved by rail
TO New York, and thence by water GO European
markets, and that business would thrive again.
Fisk says he had long conversat on with Grant
to this effect, and the result was that the Presi-
dent wrote TO Boutwell,; but he learned subse-
IaentIy thai at the latter had made no reply. The
influence, General Butterneld was made assist
ant treasurer at New York. Itwss FIRST intended
assistant treasurer, but Il was opposed on the
ground of relationship, and Butternel Was put
in. This appointment confirmed to Gould Cor
over freouentiy the financial situation. CopbIS
said gold ought 90 be higher and belle ed could be
put up, and money made out of the transaction.
iHaving ma got BSttereld n the proper oice, Cor
the Government on the gold question. Gould
says that Corbin commenced AZ once 20 inter-
view Grant, and thst he (Gould) afterwards in
terviewed Corbin. The latter reported that he
could regulate Grant, and on these assurances
the first transaction was made. Gould tesflfics
that he bought two millions and half Of gold
al %. Half a million was for Mrs. Grant, halfa
million for Gen. Porter, private secretary 20 the
President, and the rest was divided between
Corbin and Gould. Fisk testifies that Corbin
out, and netted q profit Of ,eco, which had
been RENTED 10 her at Washington. This vas
in the beginning OF September. and IL appears
the speculation until then, when Gould intro
duced him TO Corbin by letter, which was fol-
lowed by three hours Interview. COrbin said
fixed; that the understanding with Grant was
perfect; that no gold was TO be sold by the Gov
eminent and that no uneasiness need be felt, and
he was induced 70 doubt Corbin's statemens
at first, but he was 50 explicit in his details and
positive OF the results that he finally believed
hind the throne. Give yourself no uneasiness."
About September IS, Corbin applied 90 Fisk
and Gould for trustworthy, confidential man
TO take letter in great haste TO the President
who was Then at Washington Pennsylyanla. and
TO TELEGRAM h instantly back what the President
said. w y. Chaplin was the man selected. He
started for that place, reaching the house where
Grant was staying at a. IN. the next day He
,eht up a card, "W. q. Chaplin, from Mr.. Coz
bIn and the President came down at once,
rGfflNlnD ter iQl adj
out OF the room. and IN about fifteen minutes
returned, and said 10 Mr.. Chaplin "It Is al
right Fisk testifies that soon thereafter they
received telegram from Chaplin, saying
Letter delivered. All right" This was the
"Wednesday preceding the Friday Of the
and nsi aid LAY 70 Fs = EO5S SaS pb, WAS
That letter has clinchcd It." Fisk and Gould
then say that on that state Of facts, that the
OF that Thursday they went into Wall street and
commenced TO buy gold. When they commenced
gold was 36x, and before dark il was Al. Fisk
interprets here an account of the dinner given
by members OF the Union League 10 Secretary
Boutweli, in New York, on this very afternoon,
at which he says the bears failed to get any
ins; financial Information, which caused split in
TO cover their ''shorts, !" thereby adding 60 the
general influence that was sending gold up
ward. This was incidentally, he adds, part Of
On Friday mornine-known as the dark Fri
day-Fisk testifes that Gould and himself reap
peared In wall street, and that William Belden.
banker, came to them and said that he had
heard that gold was going still higher; that Fisk
and others were buying, and that 70 get in the
pool he would give Fisk q letter-which was
read TO the neutrality-suspicious. him 70 buy
and sell, and that he would stand the profit and
loss. One Albert Speyer, who has been exam
ined, was Belden's broker. Speyer was at once
sent to the gold room to buy, and found gold had
risen TO g. He filed his orders and came back
and said he believed he would "buy some on his
own hook" Fisk says he told him that the thing
was beginning to look scarce, and IL he wanted
some OF IL the quicker he got some of il the bet
ter! (There was great laughter in the commit
tee room At the manner In which the witness re-
lated this) When Speyer got back 20 the eold
room he found great excitement, and participa-
ting in il himself, he bought all the way 10 ieO.
being one Of those kind Of men, said Fish. tbat
he believed If gold rose TO 100 in three minutes.
that II would 60 70 800 In an hour. While this
was going on In New York the witnesses state
that they learned that Secretary Boutwell, was
closeted with President Grant in Washington at
1890 a. m, and about 11:3o over came an order
from the Secretary TO General Butterfeld 90
sell four millions Of Government gold. The first
they knew Of this was when this man Speyer
came into the back Office Of Heath Il CO., hat
less and with his shirt collar torn of shouting i'm
q phrenzy Of excitement, "Nein Cot Meiu
Gott, the whole thing h playedout Boutwell,
has sol0 four millions, and got hfty millions at
The witnesses detailed how they left the street
by the back door, fearing violence in the excite
ment, and got up town. where Fisk af once sau,