Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-10-26
A QUEER STORY.
The steamer " Golden Rule - Wrecked for
Plunder-A Million Dollars of Government
Money stolen.

The steamer " Golden Rule" +" Wrecked for
PIupder-A Million Dollars of Governments
Money Stolen.
The New York Sun publishes an &C
count of the wrecking of the steamship
" Golden Rule" May 30, 1865, on Rom
cador reef, in the Caribbean Sea. 1t
was believed at the time the Golden
Rule " was purposely wrecked, in order
that the sum of one million dollars on
board belonging to the United States
might be stolen in the confusion conse-
quent upon such catastrophe, and the
government employed various detect
ives to hunt down the perpetrators of
the supposed crime. The detectives
worked upon the case nearly two years
and gathered mass of testimony un-
derstood to be sufficient to convict the
suspected parties of the crimes alleged
against them, but for some reason the
government never did anything to bring
the accused parties to justice, nor re-
cover the stolen treasure.
Colonel Wood, the detective, saws
There is no doubt in my mind that
the Golden Rule was wrecked on pur-
pose and the government treasure
stolen by Montgomery Gibbs and Capt.
Dennis. Gibbs put up the job and led
Dennis into it. Among other things l
had chart of the vessels course made,
and it is on file now, from the time she
left New York till she struck on the
reef, and it is plain that she was steered
plumb ashore. Gibbs went on board
under an assumed name, / think
Gibson. The passenger list shows what
it was. Before buying his ticket he in
| quired repeatedly at the Office if the
government money had gone on board,
and as soon as he learned it had took
passage. 1t was evident that he did
not intend to 60 unless the money was
on board. He was plying the captain
and others from the time the vessel
sailed till she struck. There is plenty
of evidence on that point. 1t is also
| clear that after the vessel struck the
reef Gibbs virtually took command. He
and the captain set a guard over the
baggage hold, where the treasure safe
was, and would not let anybody get
anything out. They had two women
aboard to help them. One was named
Livingston the name of the other do
not remember. She has sir ce married
respectfully. Tommy Girvan was put on
Dennis, and the first thing heard was
that Tommy, who had never been worth
dollar, had bought farm near Den.
mis-, at Ellicott's Mills, and was import
ing bulls, sheep, and rams. Jim Downs
and Deputy Marshal Grover were then
put on Girvan, and they pulled him
and took him to Barnum's Hotel, in
Baltimore, where they all got drunk to-
gether, and Girvan bought them off fol
$40. That was all the money he had
and they took it. Givan has played ou
at farming and gone off. Capt. Dennis
, is still at Ellicott's Mills. | would have
arrested him had it not been the desire o
the administration to protect Gibbs. H.
had won over Washburne, Mrs. Grant
Speaker Blaine and others, and so ther'
is no use of pursuing him further. l
: the government would have him indict
ed l could convict them if the prosecu
ton were pushed in good faith. Tn
, Chain of evidence is complete as i
stands there on file. There never wa
more complete chain of circumstan
tial evidence. l don't want to talk an,
more about it just now, and in fact
can't recollect names and dates withou
: giving my mind to the subject. Blu
I'll give you letter to a lady, who, i
she will, can talk to you about it bette
than anybody else"