The Man who Took in Jay Gould.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 95, 28 March 1885, Page 4

The Man who Took in Jay Gould.

Do you remember Lord Gordon-Gordon, heir of the noble house of Scotland, cousin of the Campbells, and descendant of " bold Lochinvar ?" He was a low-bred knave. In Scotland he had bean often " wanted" by the sheriff, but he finally stole $100,000 worth of diamonds in Edinburgh, and six months later, in 1868, made Mb appearance in St. Paul, Minn., a8 Lord Gordon-Gordon. He had $40,000 in tho local bank. He presented forged letters of introduction to a few, and became the lion of the town. He won the entire confidence of John S. Loomis, Land Commissioner of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and entered into contracts to buy several million acres of the company's land. He would go and pick it out, he said. Loomis organised a gorgeous excursion for Milud ; something like the excursion that Apollodorous planned for Cleopatra. During the three months of summer the impostor travelled, feasted, and hunted through Minnesota and Dakota in the style of a king, at the expense of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Thirty or forty strong men served him in his retinue. Nothing was too good for him. He had two palatial tents of nis own, and there, on silver and the most lovely china, were served to him such viands as would have enraptured Sam Ward or Epicurus. Fruits were brought from Mexico for him, curacoa from the Spice Island, Dry Monopole from its fragrant home. His table was like Montezuma's. Loomis spent 45,000d015. on him that summer, and wrote to the directors : " He's the richest lord in Europe. He will invest five millions with us." Finally the splendid cavalcade wended its way back to St. Paul. He must "run down to New York a few days," he said, and hither ha came and installed himself at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Just how this Scotch Monto Cristo made Jay Goulds acquaintance I am not certain ; but the great financier called on him one bright morning. He was completely captivated by his brilliant address and his picturesque conversational powers, and immediately took stock in a "wonderful scheme " which he unfolded— something about a steamship company, I think. Incredible as it seems, Jay Gould went down to his office and sent up to Lord Gordon-Gordon at the Fifth Avenue Hotel three trunks full of greenbacks — no less than $150,000 in all — lent to the noble stranger without security. The N.S. packed it off to Canada, and followed it himself on the next train. Jay Gould had been badly duped. He offered a reward of $25,000 for the capture of the nameless swindler within American jurisdiction, and three or four lively Minnesotans undertook to deliver him. They went to Manitoba in a -vyageon, kidnapped the impostor and fled with him tied hand and foot, but they were all captured on the frontier and held as prisoners. The adventure, however, and the diplomatic row growling out of it, advertised Milud pretty extensively, and the Edinburgh authorities obtained an order for his delivery to them. The polished knave saw the officers coming and shot himself through the head. I believe Jay Gould never got any of his meney back. It is about the only time he was over taken in.— "New York World."

A Land Court is to be held afc Tahek Bay of Plenty. William Rees has been sent a month to prison at Wanganui for forging telegrams. If the keeper of a gaol is a gailor, why isn't the keeper of a prison a prisoner ? Two (landslips on the Eatikati. Ta Aroha road have completely blocked it, Mr J. E. Macdonald, Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, has gone to Wellington at the request of the Native Minister. Gerald Massey's visit to Dunedin has had the effect of a " Spiritualistic " re* vival. Amended conditions are gazetted respecting rewards offered for the discovery of new goldfields. Another injustice to Ireland ! Mr Michael Davitt is apprehensive that the large cargoes of New Zealand mutton now arriving in London will render it impossible for the Irish graziers to pay existing rents. It wasn't such a bad notion on the part of a glover who hung up in his shop a placard of "Ten thousand hands wanted immediately." New grounds are to be purchased at Addington for Canterbury Agricultural and 'Pastoral Association. They will cost over £5,000, and at the present grounds at Sydenham are expected to sell for £6,000.