Lord Gordon-Gordon, the Robber of Robber-Barons

in the late nineteenth century. There isn't much information in the historical record about this guy, not what his real name was, not where he was born, where he grew up, anything about him. There's some suggestion that he at one time went by the name Hubert Hamilton, or perhaps the Honorable Mister Hubert Hamilton, though there is no way of knowing if that was his real identity or another fake name. His most famous alias and his final was Lord Gordon Gordon,

and that's what we're going to call him too. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tramrqui and I'm Holly Fry. The man best known as Gordon Gordon had endless charm and charisma that helped him swindle people around the world, including one of the richest and most ruthless tycoons in American history. We're going to get to that story in a minute, but let's start at the beginning, or at least the

beginning as we know it. The first incident we know of involving Lord Gordon Gordon was in eighteen sixty eight, although at the time he was using the alias Lord Glencairn. The fictional character of Lord Glencairn was a wealthy landowner and heir to a Scottish fortune, and he swindled London

Jeweler's Marshall and Son for twenty five thousand pounds. He kept up appearances and kept a valet who, according to a wa Crophet historian and editor of the Minneapolis Tribune during the eighteen seventies, that valet quote dressed in buckskin breeches, long boots, blue coat with gilt buttons, and an immense coacad upon his hat, which in Great Britain denotes that his master holds a commission under the sovereign. As Lord Glencairn, Gordon Gordon quickly struck up a friendship with a wealthy

Scottish clergyman a mister Simpson. Through Simpson, he gained access to a wide network of wealthy targets, as well as opportunities to establish credit with jewelers in both Edinburgh and London. Here's how his get your foot in the door technique worked. He would make small requests of a person, such as a small loan, to gain their trust, and then as that trust grew, so did the size of the loan requests.

And he would then use his marks as references to gain the trust of their friends and family, and he would add those new contacts to his list of possible victims. Around eighteen seventy, though, Lord Glencairn must have run out of easy targets because he disappeared from Scotland and England, abandoning behind him deaths estimated to be the equivalent of roughly one hundred thousand dollars. In early eighteen seventy one,

Gordon resurfaced across the Pond in Minneapolis, Minnesota. No longer using the alias Lord Glencairn, he now called himself Lord Gordon Gordon. Historian Crophet described Gordon's appearance during his time in Minneapolis as so quote, he was slender of build, about five feet ten inches in height, and dressed with the greatest care, usually wearing gloves, patent leathers and a silk hat. His hands were frequently manicured, and his hair

was brushed as smooth as curly hair could be. He was clean david, except for two tufts of side whiskers. He was exceedingly self poised, calm and deliberate of speech, articulated with much precision, and posed with an amount of

ceremonies seldom seen on the American continent. And as reported by the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, shortly after his arrival, Gordon traveled with quote a caravan of forty horses, twelve men to pitch tents, a French cook, and a number of waiters wearing white linen aprons and white silk gloves. But the man newly christened as Lord Gordon Gordon didn't announce his presence in the city. He just arrived discreetly.

Through casual remarks, he let it be known among locals he was the heir of the Great Earl of Gordon, distant relative of Lord Byron, cousin of the Campbell clan, and a descendant of Lochinvar and the ancient kings of the Scottish Highlands. Oh and that he had an income of more than a million dollars a year, although he was regarding its source. So he wasn't just the new guy in a town of twenty thousand people. He was the exciting new guy in town. And it's not like

anybody could google his story and check him out. To add to his credibility, he deposited the money he had left from his final overseas swindle, reportedly somewhere between twenty thousand and forty thousand dollars into an account at the National Exchange Bank of Minneapolis. The clothes, the valet, the horses, the banking, these were all things that fed the rumors

about this wealthy foreigner. Gordon eventually made the acquaintance of Colonel John S. Loomis, the land Commissioner of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which was at that time advancing, albeit slowly, across the plains to the west coast, and upon their meeting, he informed the Colonel of two things. One his plans to relocate tenants from his Scottish estates onto Minnesota land, and two his interest in buying hundreds of thousands of

acres of railroad land in the state. Lord Gordon was clearly an opportunistic man because it was at this time that the Northern Pacific Railroad Company wanted to expand westward, but needed to raise significant capital to purchase the acreage. Railroad management was excited by the prospect of a Scottish aristocrat buying up huge tracts of land that could be the financial backing they needed, and they spared no expense wooing Gordon Gordon. In fact, they put Colonel Loomis in

charge of entertaining him. Gordon. Gordon was sent on an all expense paid, first class tour of railroad lands throughout Minnesota as well as the Dakotas, and was accompanied by state officials and railroad officers. Gordon had one request of them. He wanted to be referred to as my Lord. We have no idea if anyone actually followed that request, but there it was. As they traveled, Gordon's periodically pointed to sites where he planned to build future towns or schools,

and he would brainstorm names for them. The National Pacific Railroad Company provided him with a personal secretary and an attendant during this very expensive business trip, as well as money for his daily expenses. So in total, they spent reportedly more than forty five thousand dollars on the affair. And for some perspective on that, forty five thousand dollars in eighteen seventy one is equivalent to about one million

dollars today. In January of eighteen seventy two, Gordon, his tour complete, decided to leave Minnesota, telling his hosts, his new friends, and railroad officials that he needed to travel east to New York City to arrange for the transfer of money for his land purchases, implying that the business deal was on. Those he'd met in Minneapolis were happy to provide him with letters of introduction to those influential in New York society. But what they didn't know was

that Gordon Gordon didn't plan on ever returning. We're going to take a break here for a word from our sponsor, and when we return, we'll tell the story of Lord Gordon Gordon's trip to New York City. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about Lord Gordon, Railroad tycoon Jay Gould, and what happens when a con artist cons a robber baron. Upon arriving in New York City, Lord Gordon Gordon moved into a large suite at the luxurious Astor House on Broadway.

This was the place to be if you were a celebrity, politician, or well healed traveler staying in the city. Gordon Gordon received visitors there, including Horace Greeley, whose name you may recognize as the editor of the New York Tribune as well as originator of the slogan go West young Man concerning American manifest destiny. During their conversation, Gordon Gordon quickly honed in on a new swindle. Greeley mentioned to him that management of the Erie Railroad was currently fighting for

who would control the company. That was potentially interesting information for a con artist to have, and he set his plan in motion right then and there. He discreetly, of course, fibbed to Greeley that he secretly owned sixty thousand shares of Erie Railroad stock, and that he also represented a small number of European investors whose combined stock gave him

a controlling interest in the company. He and his partners, Gordon Gordon continued planned to replace the company's current board of directors with men who were more favorable to their own interests. Of course, none of what Gordon told Greeley was at all true, but that didn't matter. It was clear that Greeley did not keep this conversation a secret.

Word of this groundbreaking news over an eerie railroad management shakeup spread like wildfire throughout New York's business community, and when word reached American railroad tycoon, financial speculator, and one of the so called robber barons of the Gilded Age, a man named Jay Gould, he visited Gordon Gordon personally and directly, but was at first turned away. On March second, eighteen seventy two, though the two did meet, and Gould

became Lord Gordon Gordon's most famous mark. Gould's problem here was that if Gordon Gordon went forward with the plan as he'd told it to Greeley, it would foil Gould's own plan to take over the railroad company himself. So he suggested the menstruke a deal. Gould would allow Gordon Gordon and his partners to select and install a new border directors, but Gould would have control over the company.

Gordon Gordon, though argued he couldn't trust Gould, he didn't know him, and he feigned reluctance in the whole matter. He did eventually, though, agree to the deal, but he had one condition that had to be met, and wait for it, Gould would have to give him one million dollars in cash and securities as a sign of good faith.

Part of that condition, Gordon Gordon promised he and his partners would not spend the payment and would return it in full when the plan was complete, and Gould agreed, and he transferred one million dollars into Gordon Gordon's control. The reported breakdown here of assets is as follows. Gould put up six hundred shares of ERIE, roughly nineteen hundred shares of corporations affiliated with Erie, and four thousand, seven twenty two shares of the Oil Creek in Allegheny Valley Railroad.

The package included twenty one one thousand dollar bonds of the Nayak and Northern Railroad, as well as one hundred and sixty thousand dollars in cash. Because of his relationship with Gould, Gordon Gordon is often referred to as the Robber of the Robber Baron. He could have just disappeared with the cash right then, but he didn't. He decided to stay in New York, and he also decided to sell some of those shares. His con had been going so well, but here is where things take a wrong

turn for him. Gould saw what was happening with those shares because he saw the trading activity on the exchange, and he immediately informed brokers not to accept Gordon Gordon's trades, using Greeley as an intermediary. He then also informed Gordon Gordon that their deal was off and he demanded immediate repayment of the cash and securities. Gordon Gordon did return all of the cash to his credit, but he only

turned some of the shares. Quickly, Gould figured out that there were about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of shares missing, not one to be played. Gould filed suit against Gordon Gordon and had him arrested for obtaining money under false pretenses. That arrest took place on April ninth, eighteen seventy two. A handful of wealthy New Yorkers, including Horace F. Clark, an American politician and railroad executive who

served two terms as a US representative. Together, these men paid the forty thousand dollars bond on Gordon's behalf, which one surprised the hell out of Jay Gould, but two allowed him to live freely while he waited for his trial to begin. During his trial, Gordon tried to calm the court into believing that he was an innocent man.

Historian Crophet described him in the courtroom as such quote during three hours a vigorous examination, he sat with his legs crossed and his thumbs thrust carelessly into his waistcoat pockets, as unconcerned and unruffled, as if conversing in a drawing room. On the stand, Gordon Gordon testified the yes he had

Scottish ancestry, did he who knows for sure? And when questioned by Gould's lead counsel, a person named David Dudley Field, Gordon gave the court names of various Scottish and English nobility who he claimed where his sister, his stepfather, and an uncle, as well as friends and business partners. Some believe he supplied this information to further his innocence plea, but Jay Gould was not having any of it. That same night cables were sent to the American consulates in Paris, London,

and Burne. In regard to each person that Gordon Gordon had called out in testimony, not one of the named people had ever heard of him, and some of them, it seemed, might not have even been real people. Gould was prepared to present all of this information in court the very next day, but Gordon Gordon, sensing which direction the wind was blowing after that testimony and that wind was not blown in his favor, fled on a night

train to Montreal, Canada. We're going to take a break for a word from our sponsor right now, and when we're back, we will talk about how you can run, but you apparently cannot hide from mister Jay Gould. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the attempted kidnapping of Lord Gordon went very wrong and his final days. You can maybe imagine how Jay Gould felt about Gordon's escape.

Insert a lot of expletives right here. He offered a reward of twenty five thousand dollars for Gordon Gordon's arrest, but he didn't stop there. He also sent detectives to Europe to investigate Gordon Gordon's past, and with the help of the proprietors in the Edinburgh and London jewelry stores who identified him in photographs, the detectives soon uncovered his previous alias, Lord Glencairn. Gould was the only person, it turns out, who ever bothered to look into who Lord

Gordon really was. After he fled New York, Gordon Gordon's whereabouts were unknown for nearly a year. It wasn't until the summer of eighteen seventy three when word reached the United States and Jay Gould that the con artist was living in Fort Garry, Manitoba that's now Winnipeg, just fifty miles north of Minnesota's border with Canada. There's no record that he adopted a new alias at that time, but he did pose as a British gentleman looking for sporting expeditions.

Once this information was out, a party of Gould supporters who were also prominent citizens of Minneapolis, including Lauren Fletcher, John Gilfillan, and Eugene Wilson. Let's note all three of these people were later elected to Congress. They decided they would bring him to justice, so, accompanied by several Minneapolis police officers, the group crossed the border into Canada and apprehended Gordon Gordon, who was sitting on his front porch

when they arrived. Some might say they apprehended him, while others might say they kidnapped him. The group secured Gordon in the back of a wagon and sped back to the United States, but they ran into trouble when they were stopped at the border by Canadian authorities. The men later claimed they were actually just a few yards into US territory when this happened, but regardless, all of them were jailed and Gordon Gordon was once again on the lamb.

That night, Minneapolist Mayor George Brackett received a desperate telegram that read quote, We're in a hell of a fix, come at once, a hell of a fix. Indeed, their attempted kidnapping nearly sparked an international incidents. Reporters published articles in the Saint Paul Pioneer and other newspapers across Minnesota, insisting a militia should be raised to cross the border and rescue the jailed Americans. But no, it wouldn't be

a militia that would fix this. Negotiations among high ranking government officials including Minnesota Governor Horace Austin, US President Ulysses s Grant, and Canadian Prime Minister Sir John McDonald. Is what secured their release, and the members of the kidnapping party were released on September fifteenth. Throughout this debacle, Gordon Gordon was believed to be in Canada but remained at large,

and Jay Gould's reward offer remained valid. But now after the scene at the border, those who pursued him made sure to dot their eyes across their teas. There were proper legal channels to follow and extradition papers were obtained to secure his capture. So we have a warning for you here about the tragic ending. Lord Gordon takes his own life before he can be apprehended, and we're about to talk about that part of the story. If you would like to skip this discussion, jump ahead and we'll

meet you for some scam sauce. Gordon was tracked to Headinglee, Manitoba, and on August first, eighteen seventy four, Toronto Police officers were sent to arrest him at the cottage where he was staying. When they arrived, the story goes that they found him asleep and when woken, Gordon allegedly asked if he could finish his nap that was not in the

cards that day. He got dressed, told the officers he wanted to get his cap because it was cold outside, and then stepped into an adjoining room, where he then fatally shot himself in the head. At the coroner's inquest, and Alexander Monroe of the Toronto Police Department provided the following testimony about Gordon. Gordon's final moments quote. I told Gordon that I had come to arrest him and that I had a warrant. I showed him the warrant. He

said it was all right, just glanced over it. Don't think he read it at all, and he said he was ready to go. Gave him a few minutes to put on warmer clothes. He wanted to know if I intended taking him through the States. I told him I did not. He got dressed and was ready to go, with the exception of a Scotch cap. He called for it. He made a sort of rush into the bedroom where he got the revolver. I do not know. I was

standing in the door within four feet of him. The next thing I saw was his turning around with his back against the wall, with the revolver in his hand. I made a rush toward him to prevent his shooting. I expected it was meant for myself, and as I was about getting hold of him, the gun went off. He made some remoi while holding the revolver in his hand, but I did not catch the meaning. He sank down against the wall. Just as I got a hold of him. I saw the blood coming out of his left ear.

That was the first I noticed. Afterward saw the wound in his right temple. I believe he was dying fast, and he was dead immediately. A tragic end to Gordon. Gordon's life. So let's toast to aid life boldly lived with our scam sauce. That's well put, because this is

a bold drink. I wanted to think about an idea of a drink that someone who feigned to be a fancy man might drink, and I started thinking, obviously, Scotch whiskey is the obvious choice here, which means that's not what we're getting right, which means we're not going to do obvious. We'll try not to sometimes I do. But I started to think about something I love, and that is kognak. No way you love kognak, I never love. I love. But I started thinking about cognac cocktails and

thought about, of course a sidecar. So if you've ever had a sidecar, it is cognac with triple sec and lemon juice and that's it. So I wanted to do something like that, but that was a little bit harsher. So obviously this is a spirit forward drink. So if you don't like spirit forward, this may not be for you. But I have a fix, so don't even worry about it. I never do like, oh my god, I always am ready.

This is symbol as heck to put together. Though it is just an ounce of cognac, about a third of an ounce of lemon juice and a third of an ounce instead of triple sec of chilly liqueur. Really, so you shake that like the Dickens with ice, you get it really cold, and then you strain it into a pre chilled cocktail glass like I have a double walled Martini glass I like to use for these, So there's no ice in it other than maybe some chips that

are left from your hard shake. But then it's just a small but very heavy hitting drink that you can drink now if you absolutely do not like kognak or this drink is too spirit forward for you. Guess what, anytime you get a drink, when that's the case, you can always put a little bit of ginger ale on top of it, a little bit of club soda, whatever you want to do. So this, obviously it is a little bit tricky to do as a mocktail, but I have a plas so come along with me, and I

just call this drink the Gordon Gordon. I'm just naming it in his honor because he is a man who lived boldly with surprising, surprising flavor, kind of how we incorporated the chili there. So we have talked before about subbing out kognac and using something like an apricot juice or a peach or pear juice. I like to use that to brew a dark tea so you get a richer flavor, and I would suggest doing that here. You can do a chili syrup if you can't find a

chili syrup. I found some in like my local grocery store, but I feel like it was a weird thing to find there because it wasn't like a regular syrup brand. That I would use, do the trick we've done many times before. Make your simple syrup, cut your chili up fine. I would go with whatever level of heat in your chili you are comfortable with. And if you don't want to do a chili syrup and you don't want to bother would make itself. You can use a halopeno syrup.

Those are easier to come by, but it's not going to have quite the same flavor. It'll be usually a little brighter, but that's your your mocktail version, and you can top that with ginger ale two. If it's like too intense for you, that is the Gordon Gordon. It seems fancy, but it has a lot of bite, and

that seems correct for him and the last him. Yes, we are so thankful that you spent this time with us this week, as we are every week, and we we'll be right back here again next week with more scam sauce, more tales of wild com stories, and who knows what else. There's always surprises, so we cannot wait to see you there. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland

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