HE BRIBES GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
To get this inside information he succeeded in corruptly winning over to his interests A. R. Corbin, a brother-in-law of President Grant. The consideration was Gould's buying of two million dollars' worth of gold bonds, without requiring margin or security for Corbin's account [Footnote: Gold Panic Investigation, House Report: No 32, Forty-first Congress, Second Session, 1870:157. Corbin's venality in lobbying for corrupt bills was notorious; he admitted his complicity before a Congressional Investigating Committee in 1857.] Thus Gould thought he had surely secured an intimate spy within the authoritative precincts of the White House. As the premium on gold constantly rose, these bonds yielded Corbin as much sometimes as $25,000 a week in profits. To insure the further success of his plan, Gould subsidized General Butterfield, whose appointment as sub-treasurer at New York Corbin claimed to have brought about. Gould testified in 1870 that he had made a private loan to Butterfield, and that he had carried speculatively $1,500,000 for Butterfield's benefit. These statements Butterfield denied. [Footnote: Gold Panic Investigation, etc., 160.]
Through Corbin, Gould attempted to pry out Grant's policies, and with Fisk as an interlocutor, Gould personally attempted to draw out the President. To their consternation they found that Grant was not disposed to favor their arguments. The prospect looked very black for them. Gould met the situation with matchless audacity. By spreading subtle rumors, and by inspiring press reports through venal writers, he deceived not only the whole of Wall Street, but even his own associates, into believing that high Government officials were in collusion with him. The report was assiduously disseminated that the Government did not intend to release any of its hoard of gold for circulation. The premium, accordingly, shot up to 146. Soon after this, certain financial quarters suspected that Gould was bluffing. The impression spreading that he could not depend upon the Government's support, the rate of the premium declined, and Gould's own array of brokers turned against him and sold gold.