The 'Gold Brick' King: How a Master Con Man Sold Copper to a Banker

The notorious case, better known as the gold brick case, in which an old confidence man under the name of 'Rebel George' Knowlton got possession of $5,000 in cash from Charles T. Wooding, a too-susceptible banker of Aberdeen, in exchange for two worthless bars of copper alleged to be 'pure gold,' came before Judge Humes' court yesterday afternoon, and 'Rebel George,' or Knowlton, as named in the information, is yet on his defense. His sanctimonious appearance, indicating a well-to-do farmer, is well calculated to deceive juries, and were it not for a certain cast of countenance his looks would have favorably impressed the jury.

The charge against him is obtaining money under false pretenses by passing bars of metal alleged to be gold. He had two lawyers to defend him, and while not talking to them he sat whispering to a tall, middle-aged lady sitting near him, in whom he seemed much interested.

Prosecuting Attorney Miller outlined the prosecution, giving the story of the swindle as already published in The Post.

The first witness was the willing victim of Rebel George's old, old trick, Charles T. Wooding. He testified as follows:

He belongs in Aberdeen and was vice-president of the Aberdeen bank; first saw the prisoner in April, 1893. Knowlton came to him at about 9 o'clock in the morning. He presented a letter of introduction from some party in Tacoma whom he did not know. He then showed specimens of ore and said he was a miner looking for a man of Wooding's name with whom he proposed to deal. He finally succeeded in inducing Wooding to come to Seattle to see some gold bricks, the result of the mines. Wooding met him in Seattle and the prisoner took Wooding out to the woods near the lake, where they met an Indian—or what looked like an Indian—who subsequently proved to be John Russell, alias J. M. Smith; and after some alleged talk in the Indian dialect, the 'settlement of the forest' pointed to a distant spot where they found two long bars alleged to be pure gold. Wooding was told to bore into them and take the borings to town to have them assayed.

The two then returned to town. Wooding wanted to take the borings to Horton & Co. Knowlton objected, but suggested going into a jewelry store, where Knowlton, after going to the back of the store, returned with a card bearing the name, 'White, room 39, Brunswick hotel,' who, he said, had been recommended to him as an assayer. The two then went to the hotel and found the man supposed to be White, who had a letter purporting to be from the United States mint at San Francisco offering White his old position as assayer. The letter was shown to Wooding and he read it. Wooding then asked him to assay the borings, which he did by bringing out a set of assayer's tools, crucibles, acids, etc., and, handing over a piece of melted gold, said it was the result of his assay—that it was pure gold worth $20 an ounce. Knowlton paid him for the assay.

Wooding being satisfied, the two went back to the woods and again met the alleged Indian, who offered to sell the two gold bars for $10,000, saying he wanted to get back to his country before the mines were taken. Finally the bars were brought to town to the alleged assayer's office, where an attempt was made to get Wooding to put up $5,000. Wooding had no ready money and suggested they take the bars to Horton & Co.'s. This Rebel George objected to, and finally Wooding offered to go to Portland and raise the money from his bank correspondents, Ladd & Co. This was agreed to, and the two went to Portland, where Wooding called on Ladd and told him what he wanted and what security he had to offer. Mr. Ladd cautioned him and told him not to touch it. Wooding thought Ladd too hasty and left him.

The party returned to Seattle, and an arrangement was made by which, if Wooding should put up $5,000 cash, he could have the two bars and take them to the San Francisco mint, dividing the money in three equal parts. Wooding raised the $5,000 from Dexter Horton & Co., paid it to Rebel George, received the bars of alleged gold, and went to San Francisco, where the two bars were pronounced to be copper.

Wooding next saw Rebel George in jail. He came up to Wooding, shook hands and acknowledged that he beat him, but said it was no crime; that it was like a real estate deal—if a man sold a piece of land worth nothing on the representation that it was worth $1,000, it was no crime. Knowlton also asked him whether he had received his telegram while on his way to San Francisco. Wooding said no. Knowlton then said he had telegraphed him that 'he had better examine his goods' before he presented them at the mint.

Knowlton represented the gold as coming from mines in the Okanogan district, in the mountains, owned by a tribe of Indians working them secretly—the gold being so rich that they feared the white men would seize them if discovered. Hence the great secrecy in preventing the bars being sold in Seattle, so that their origin might not be traced.

On cross-examination Wooding admitted that he thought he was buying $10,000 worth of gold for $5,000. On redirect he said he was very well satisfied that the man who posed as the Indian was no other than the man who pretended to be the assayer.

Knowlton is one of the oldest and most notorious 'gold brick' men in the United States. He has a record in Dakota, and when arrested in St. Louis before being brought here was trying to fool the United States officials by some kind of a 'switch goods' game. It is positively known that Oregon officers are in the city or on their way here to observe the outcome of the present trial, and if an acquittal follows Knowlton will be taken to Portland to be tried for swindling J. W. Blute, president of the First National bank of Hillsboro, of $10,000 by the same antiquated 'gold brick' game. John Russell, alias J. M. Smith, who is charged with being Knowlton's partner in swindling Wooding, also is charged with taking a hand.