The front page reported the Gold Scandal of ‘69, which Stowe had read about in detail before, but the El Sombrero had no other printed matter, so he perused the amazing story again. In an audacious, scurrilous plot, two New York financiers named Jay Gould and Jim Fisk had tried to corner the gold market. They managed to disrupt the finances of the entire civilized world, with disastrous results for American farmers, and would've succeeded in their mad quest for wealth had they not been stopped by President Grant himself, when he ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to dump government gold on the market, depressing the price and ruining the scheme. After the smoke had cleared, it was discovered that Gould and Fisk had bribed Gold Exchange officials, judges, and politicians of all parties, including the president's brother-in-law! There were even rumors that they'd tried to buy Ulysses S. Grant himself! Numerous bankruptcies and suicides resulted from the nefarious business shenanigans, but did Gould and Fisk go to jail?
