Ghost Knights Of New Orleans

by David Althouse

  “The clerk worded the letter of introduction in such a clever way that its reader would understand completely that I wanted to speak with him about matters of which no one else should be aware.

  “I went to the office of this gentleman forthwith, presented the letter, and watched with great satisfaction as the official’s face went from creamy white to beet red while his hands trembled with the rapidity of a lamb twitching its tail. Indeed, his outward countenance was such that I feared he would arouse suspicion from others in the room. It took him quite some time to regain his composure, and when he finally managed to utter actual words, they were simply commonplace utterances meant for the ears of those around us and not for mine.

  “With this shaking little man, I knew I had found one so thoroughly immersed in traitorous corruption that I should own him completely if I played my cards right.

  “My new jittery friend asked me to jot down my address, and then he gave me a gesture giving me to know I should leave at once, which I did. But, I left knowing I would hear from him soon and I was right, for he called on me the evening of the same day.

  “I allowed him in my hotel room, and he immediately remarked that he had been making inquiries with regard to me. He said Colonel Baker had mentioned me in the highest regard, and that bit of information gave me the utmost confidence that I stood well with the secret-service chief. I felt reassured that my various ruses to take in one of Lincoln’s top detectives had been working as planned.

  “So, the gentleman began talking about the most unrelated of topics, seemingly making every effort not to actually say anything of any importance. He carried on about how he was not quite certain as to why I contacted him, but that he would endeavor to do anything in his power to assist me in whatever was my purpose.

  “I decided to come straight to the point, plain and simple. I told him that I and my unnamed associates possessed full knowledge of the shenanigans occurring in the respective treasury bureaux and of the individuals carrying out the monkey business. I related to him that a full investigation could be initiated immediately to bring all those responsible in the tomfooleries to swift justice.

  “Drouet, with that, I promise you I had his full attention. Never had I sat before as terrified a man as this one.

  “But, I told him that the aforementioned tactics could be forestalled if he joined in our plan to share in the fruits of the fraudulent activities regularly transpiring in the treasury department. I communicated that I desired to have in my possession one or more of the electrotype impressions of the bond note plates used to create the counterfeit issues and that I also needed access to the printing bureau of the treasury whenever necessary to communicate with certain parties therein.

  “Even though he gave me a look acknowledging that I now owned him, he nonetheless hesitated in fully committing to the plan, saying that if he cooperated with me, he was placing his life in my hands. He stated he could never sleep well at night pondering how easily I could betray him.

  “I assured him that I cared not a wit about his past activities, that I needed his assistance in the current matters we had discussed, and that he would personally share in the profits of our clandestine work.

  “I assured him that I was involved in this right along with him and the others in the various treasury bureaux. I could be implicated as easily as himself, and that he must surely know of my discreetness and trustworthiness in these types of matters, especially as he considered my example of stealthy work right in front of Colonel Baker.

  “I will never forget his almost exact words in responding to this:

  “Yes, I know your reputation for skill and secrecy, and you seem to have played it exceedingly well with Baker. I am highly pleased that somebody has managed to get it over on that fellow, as he has been making an infernal nuisance of himself around here.”

  We then began discussing business in a rather direct fashion.

  “Delighted with our mutual consensus, my new friend agreed to furnish any capital needed to carry out our plans. He agreed to all of the necessary preliminary bribing to get the required cooperation of certain parties, and we established his percentage of the spoils.

  “He then went on to explain that certain introductions would have to be made for me to begin the work of securing the fraudulent plates needed for our nefarious endeavors.

  “He also surprised me by recommending that we ponder the profits to be enjoyed by extracting genuine notes and bonds and then returning them after a few rotations in the market. Of course, we also deliberated the advantages to be had by floating counterfeit Federal and Confederate bonds in certain markets at certain rates and the exact methods by which to do it.

  “Before he left my hotel room, he wrote a note signed with a private mark. He told me to take this note to a certain prominent administrator at a certain bureau of the treasury connected with printing. He suggested I deliver the note on the following day.

  “I took the note to the individual, and he did not appear in the least surprised to see me. This gave me to know he had been notified of my intent to visit him. He read the note at once and referred me to one of his subordinates with whom I was to meet at an appointed hour later the same day.

  “This subordinate was responsible for all of the rascalities occurring in his particular bureau of the treasury, but he was not inclined to speak of any of it directly at the time. The subordinate would not agree to meet anywhere near the general public, so arrangements were made for the two of us to meet under a certain cedar tree in the eastern section of the Smithsonian Institution grounds at nine o’clock in the evening.

  “I was given to know that this man and his father worked as printers in the bureau and both were responsible for defrauding the Federal government of colossal sums and for foisting upon the public immense quantities of bogus bonds and notes.

  “As was my custom, I arrived earlier than the appointed time at the cedar tree, hid myself in a clump of shrubs and waited and watched lest a certain deception might be attempted on me. After all, I was working to penetrate the circle of a very lucrative clandestine enterprise and perhaps some of its members determined to see me hastily eliminated from the situation in some manner or another.

  “It seemed a great amount of time had elapsed before I heard footsteps and the sound of a cough made in a manner giving me knowledge my man had arrived. I stepped out of the shrubs and bade the gentleman a ‘good evening.’

  “He said, ‘Well, I see you showed. How are you?’

  “I replied that I am always punctual when it comes to my business and that punctuality is the road to wealth.

  “I got down to business forthwith and proposed to him my plans to be given electrotype duplicates of bonds and currency plates such as we knew were made by certain parties within the bureaux. My new friend deemed this plan insignificant when compared with his own grandiose proposal.

  “I replied that if I was to risk imprisonment for helping to carry out the scheme of another, then I should at least hear its details.

  “These are as near to his exact words as I can recall from memory:

  “‘I have the wherewithal and desire necessary to carry out the biggest financial crime of our day, the grandest ever attempted, and I am certain we can manage it if we get started at once. You have contacted the right man with whom to participate, for no other man in Washington City has at his disposal the facilities required to carry it to fruition. I know of every man in every department, of every private entrance into every building in Washington City and of every financial high crime and misdemeanor occurring in the city at any point in time. I propose that we remove Federal money and bonds from the treasury to use for speculative designs while also floating bogus bonds upon the English market, Federal and Confederate. I will manage the assorted details on the treasury end of it; you play the middle as a go-between while our select New York and Philadelphia brokers work the outside business.’

  “Well, Drouet, I stood flabbergasted and s
omewhat afraid of the enormity of his great design, as surely the footprints left by we criminals in the grand scheme would attract the attention of Colonel Baker and his legion of detectives. My new friend assured me that we could start out small, working our way up as we saw fit, all the while replacing the borrowed money in the treasury as it came back to us.

  “So, I told him that I would accept the job as the go-between, but stipulated that he could never, ever let me be known to a third party, and that the money would have to be left in a safe spot where I could pick it up without risk of detection or else it would have to be delivered to me in person.

  “He agreed, and we went to work.”

  “What about the electrotype plates? Did you get them?”

  “My lover, those plates were my chief objective at the outset, and I never lose sight of original intentions. As soon as the profits from the scheme began rolling in, and as soon as I felt comfortable enough to pursue it, I began deploying my time and energy to the matter of the electrotype plates.”

  “Loreta, do you know what I like about you?”

  She smiled in anticipation of my answer.

  “Your fascinating story is exactly how time goes by when you and I are together—slow and easy. I like that. Please proceed with your adventurous tale.”

  “Well, you know that from the outset I asked about getting my hands on those plates numerous times. It was the same with my new big-scheming friend; I never allowed that he should forget my desire to secure one or more of these.

  “I mentioned the matter to him on multiple occasions, but he never seemed eager to assist in making this happen.

  “Then, one day, as we were about to part after a meeting in which he learned that he would soon receive a hefty payout of profits, he consented to my wishes and arranged to have a plate delivered to my room at the Kirkwood House on Pennsylvania Avenue and Twelfth Street.”

  Loreta’s comment about having stayed in the Kirkwood House in Washington City piqued some interest on my part, so I had to interrupt.

  “Isn’t the Kirkwood House the home of Vice-President Andrew Johnson while in Washington City?”

  “Yes, you are correct.”

  “Did you ever see him while staying there?”

  “Yes, I did. In fact, I met with him on more than one occasion.”

  “I won’t ask about what you discussed with him.”

  “You will be the first one to know about my dealings with Mr. Andrew Johnson when the time comes, I assure you.”

  “Enough about him for now. Tell me about that plate.”

  “Well, the delivered plate was used for printing one hundred dollar compound interest notes. I placed it under lock and key in my trunk immediately upon receiving it. Soon afterward, I received another plate, one used for printing fractional currency.

  “Now, in New York, my associates and I began an operation with certain brokers by which we turned Federal money removed from the treasury over and over again as briskly as possible, receiving handsome returns each time. Some of the cash was invested in bogus Confederate and other securities, and these were sold to brokers for the English markets.

  “The transaction sizes varied, but one banker took over sixty thousand dollars’ worth, another took twenty-one thousand, and many, many others took lesser amounts. We were paid in English exchange and gold which we had converted into greenbacks forthwith.

  “We engaged in a healthy business of genuine and counterfeit Federal and Confederate securities right up until Lee signed the surrender.

  “Now, I know you want to hear about our work with the electrotype plates. I can tell you that the person to whom I entrusted the first plate delivered to me eighty-five thousand dollars’ worth of one-hundred-dollar compound interest notes. These bogus notes appeared identical to the genuine articles, so it was easy to have twenty-five thousand dollars’ worth sent to England where we received exchange for them, with the remaining paper disposed of through banks and assorted other avenues.

  “In all of this, whether dealing with actual or counterfeit paper, it seemed that the longer the war went on, the spirit of speculation increased with little regard as to the exact methods employed. The speculators included men high and low, from the most obscure to the very prominent.”

  Loreta mentioned some of the names of these prominent officials, but I refrain from repeating in order to protect the identities of various parties active in the K.G.C. then and perhaps even now.

  “Drouet, I can tell you that we Confederates took full advantage of that prevailing cavalier spirit in matters of high finance right up until the very end. My superiors told me that if we couldn’t use the returns in the war effort, then we would store it away for use later in the advancement of the cause.

  “Now, Drouet, you understand why I wanted to have Loreta Janeta Velazquez disappear for a long time. If any of my associates in those matters have disclosed my involvement or ever choose to disclose my involvement, well then its prison for me.”

  “Loreta, were any of the ensuing profits from the treasury jobs made available for the K.G.C.?”

  “Yes, and there was no other way by which these crimes could be committed without the Circle’s help. Its members throughout the Federal government proved successful time and again in squelching any real prying into our wicked affairs. The K.G.C.’s coffers are swelling, thanks to the treasury department of the United States.”

  “Okay, Loreta, time for a sensitive question. Was Vice-President Johnson involved in making any of the aforementioned happen?”

  “I said before that you would be the first to know about him when the time came, but I won’t keep you in the dark about him any longer, my lover. Yes, Johnson was involved in a multitude of activities regarding my involvement with the treasury, and with so, so much more. There’s something else I have to confide in you, Drouet, and it has to stay between you and me.”

  “If we can’t trust each other then we’re both in trouble. Share whatever is on your mind.”

  “Remember when I told you about sitting in the same room eye-to-eye with Colonel Baker as he requested that I bring in Loreta Janeta Velazquez? Well, during that same meeting, I asked him what the Federals would do with those suspected of conspiring to kill Lincoln. He responded by stating in the most certain of terms that they would all be hung, and swiftly. The reason I tell you this is because I believe Baker suspects Loreta Velazquez of being a part of that conspiracy.”

  “Why do you suspect this?”

  “Don’t ask me why. It’s just a feeling. There is something else I remember from that last meeting with Baker. News had spread about the assassination of Lincoln, and I just happened to be sitting across the desk from Baker when he read a note from the secretary of war Stanton placing him in charge of finding John Wilkes Booth and the rest of those involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the president.

  “He then called an aide into his office and told him to track at once down his cousin, Luther, who he often used in matters of a sensitive nature, and to get him in contact with him at once. I heard him whisper to the aide that he wanted Booth brought back to Washington City by whatever means necessary. He even mentioned the reward money as something in which he was personally interested.

  “Baker’s aide inquired as to the possible location of Booth, and Baker quickly responded that he most assuredly knew of the exact location of the assassin and to please get Luther in contact with him at once. Then, in a hushed tone, the aide asked Baker another question that I could not hear. Baker answered with a whisper, but I heard him say, ‘The roads everywhere are covered by thousands of former Rebels on their way home. Tell Luther to bring me back a Booth!’ I don’t know what he meant by ‘a Booth,’ but the wording struck me as rather curious at the time.”

  “Loreta, that is more than odd I have to admit. How would Baker know where to find Booth? And wasn’t it highly suspicious of Baker to send a close family relative on such a mission?”

  “I don’t know exa
ctly, but history will record that he sent his cousin to the exact spot in Virginia where history records Booth had actually hidden. And, I must tell you, he only employed his cousin when there was something in it for the Bakers personally or when his cousin might have to take over the mission altogether from those originally assigned its command.

  “Also, secretary of war Stanton had declared martial law in Washington City on account of the assassination, and Lafayette Baker excelled mightily in that kind of situation. He was a thug at his core and would gladly have a confession beat out of someone if not volunteered otherwise. The more martial law, the better is how Baker undoubtedly saw the situation. Anyway, something strange was amidst with Baker. Also, something that a lot of people did not know at the time is that Baker and Stanton worked closely together; in fact, they worked as a veritable team.”

  The bit of information concerning Baker suspecting Loreta’s participation in the Lincoln assassination interested me greatly at the time, although I felt no shock upon hearing her mention it. I knew she ran in a world surrounded by those fully willing to employ such acts. I decided to act slightly disinterested and wait for Loreta to enlighten me about that subject whenever she felt it necessary if she ever would. Certain parts of her story came to interest me greatly at a later time.

  “Loreta, I have to ask, in all the instances that you ran in the midst of Colonel Baker and his various staffers throughout the treasury, during all of those one-on-one meetings you had with Baker himself, did you not ever feel at least slightly fearful of your discovery?”