The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1870-03-05
The Gold Conspiracy.
FISK, JR's, STORY BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL IN
VEsTIGATiNG COMMITTEE.

L.
Fisk, Jr., aud Jay Gould gave their
testimony before the Investigating Com.
mittee on Saturday. MIR. Gould was ex-
amlned first, and occupied at least four
hours IN giving his evidence Mr.. Gould
seemed TO be very reticent, and the Com
mlttee could get nothing out of him ex-
cept by continuous questions. Mr. Fisk,
on the other hand, began his story, and
went directly through with bu little
Questioning. The following is the sub
stance of his story:
Fisk and Gould desired to raise the
price of gold so that they might be able
to employ their road in the shipment Of
grain which would remain in store if gold
was low. They accordingly determined
to interview President Grant, and went
with him to Boston, where they gave him
supper They then learned that he
favored specie payments and cheap gold.
They argued against it. Fisk says: Il
remember one remark Gen. Grant made,
after we had talked about an hour and a
half, THAT, anyway, the bubble might as
well break at one time as another, as
much as to say that if the crash had to
come, it might as well come at one time
as another Our idea of crash is to
have it all milk and honey with US, and
to let the next fellows stand the brunt of
the crash. We want to sell 'long,' aud
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 Presi-
dents brother-in-law. They saw Secre-
tary Boutwell,, but got nothing satisfac-
tory from him. When the President
started for New York, in June, Gould
wrote strong letter." which he gave
Fisk, Jr., to put into the hands of the
President. Fisk says: "Gould asked
me to take it to Gen. Grant, and have a
talk with him, and if | saw fit to say to
Cen Grant, If Go ernment would not
sell gold, we, for the sake of getting this
transportation, (for the sake of getting
employment for our l, 200 or 800 men,
whom We had for the purpose of moving
this crop, whom we had to pay whether
we moved it or not), would 90 in and put
the gold market up to point where we
could ship this crop and start up
conversation with Gen. Grant on the way
to Newport, and at that time, when | left
Gen. Grant, we promised that we should
come to Newport next Sunday, and IN the
interval he should telegraph for Boutwell,,
and either have Boutwell, come to New
port, or have sene decision of the matter,
so that we could tell something about it.
1 In other words, We were to have con-
Al Il. I sh
latter part of the week that he had not
| heard from Mr.. Boutwell,, and we did not
| 90 up. Then it got to be about the first
of August Meantime Gould made the
acquaintance of Mr.. Catherwood, Mr.
/ Corbin's soni in-law, and he was talked of
| for Assistant Treasurer in New FORK, but
was subsequently dropped for Butterield
| Fisk continues ''it seems at that time
| Mr. Corbin had taken up the theory that
/ the crops should be taken off at high
prices. and he went one slip further, that
a good deal of money could be made out
of it, IF you know anything about Cor
bin (and [ suppose you do) you know
that when he goes into anything, he gen.
| orally wants to take all. When he reaches
up for anything, he wants to take every
| thing there is on the shelf, and does not
even leave the shelf lie takes the nails,
the boards, and all. You know that any
scheme he touches withers. He proba
! bly, never touched any one but Mr.. Gould
and myself who did not die, and he came
very near killing US both. Corbin then
conceived the idea that, having Butter
field in there, Butterfcld, feeling under
/ more or less obligations to Mr.. Corbin,
there was a great deal of money to be
made, as | understand he was specializing
! largely at the time he was turned out.
| Mr.. Gould, [ understand since, had
| bought about two and half millions of
1 gold He commenced at 1877, at which
/ price he told me that Corbin had told
/ him that Mrs Grant had $500, 900, Gen.
/ Porter $500 900, and he had million
and half himself. 1t was at this point
| l got into the matter. Mr.. Corbin told
me this afterward. 1t ran along to about
Sept Is. Gold during that time kept
settling down to 131, and Mr. Gould had
got his own earpet-bag full of it, as |
could see by the way he was tearing up
| little pieces of paper and strewing taem
around the floor. Every man has his
own peculiarities. You know that the
hatchet was on him very near up to the
handle, aud that about all Of his consoia-
ton was, when he became thin and weak,
to 90 off aud counsel with this high
minded friend, Mr.. Corbin. When he
came down to the Office he would stop
every morning and take dose of Corbin.
x After commenced to buy
gold, I said to MIR. Gould: Where are
you? Have you any understanding with
Mr.. Corbin Has he carried out any of
those theories with Grant which he COM
menced as far back as July He said
Yes, that everything was understood,
and that no gold was to come out from
the Government. There was SO much
gold here, and we can put it up to 145
and shall not lose anything"
l started, and found l had got what
could carry, every bit of it. Gold when
| started in, was 1861 1t had been
down to 13I, but got up there again be-