GEORGE BULL (1838-1886)

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 45, 2025, Article 11

E-Sylum Feature Writer and American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this article on U.S. Mint Cabinet curator George Bull. Thanks! -Editor

This week I went down a research rabbit hole and came up somewhat short of catching the rabbit. My interest started with William Spohn Baker who wrote a book about Washington medals. This led me to James Ross Snowden who also wrote a book about Washington medals. Next came Snowden's 1860 Mint Manual. Turns out that book was compiled by a little-known curator of the Mint Cabinet, George Bull.

George Bull was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, on May 21, 1838, the son of Colonel James Perry Bull (1802-1842) and Ann E. Wallis (1809-1886). His sister Ann Wallis Bull (1830-1893) married Orville Hitchcock Platt who served as senator from Connecticut.

To add to the confusion, James Perry Bull had an older brother named George Hart Bull (1796-1870). George Bull and George H. Bull lived in Towanda at the same time.

The 1850 U. S. Census, taken in September, showed George Bull, age 13, living in Towanda, Pennsylvania, with his mother Ann E. Bull.

This brings me to the first question that could not be answered by that pesky rabbit I was chasing. What are the credentials required for a person hired to be curator at the Mint? How would a person get educated on numismatics when there are no books? Whatever the answers, George Bull was in that position by age twenty.

A theft occurred at the Mint in 1858 and one of the crooks attempted to spend a rare gold coin. At trial, George Bull testified that he recognized the coin as being in the Mint Cabinet.

The 1860 U. S. Census, taken in June, showed George Bull, age 22, working at the Mint. He was not linked to his parents or siblings. The only link to George Bull of Towanda is his age.

In the preface to the Mint Manual, also known as A Description of Ancient and Modern Coins in the Mint of the United States, Mint Director Snowden states:

"In view of the extent and value of this collection, and the increasing public taste for coins and medals, a full descriptive catalog has been prepared; it contains also a brief dissertation on money and coins, with some notice of the coinage of the various countries, ancient and modern, embraced in the Mint collection. This has been prepared and arranged by Mr. George Bull, recently in charge of the Cabinet, who has received valuable advice and assistance from Mr. Wm. E. Dubois, Assistant Assayer at the Mint."

While the Mint Manual is usually credited to Snowden, and his authority as Director of the Mint, the actual work was done by George Bull, then a twenty-two-year-old employee. The book required a considerable effort. Did Bull compile this in his spare time while guiding visitors through the Mint Cabinet? This remains a puzzle.

In July of 1860, George Bull bought the Carbon Democrat. This may have given him an entry into politics. He became very active in the party. In 1861 he was identified as Army Correspondent for the Cincinnati Times.

George was married to Annie Vincent Moodie (1846-1882) on May 1, 1861. At the time his profession was listed as painter.

In 1868 he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Philadelphia County.

The 1870 and 1880 U. S. Census listed George Bull as an attorney. There are references to the attorney coming from Towanda.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for the U. S. Congress in 1880. In 1881, he was elected chairman of the Democratic city executive committee.

Attorney George Bull is not noted for any numismatic activity after 1860. He died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the home of his sister and Senator Platt in Meriden, Connecticut, on February 16, 1886.

When I started this article, I did not recall ever paying attention to George Bull previously. He is mentioned in The Numismatist three times. One of those is a column I did on Snowden in 1999.

The following story has no numismatic content. It may be of slight interest to those who understand the pursuit of rabbits down holes.

On the morning of July 28, 1881, George Bull had breakfast in the Girard House when he read a dispatch in The Times. On the previous day, a guide made an attempted assault on his wife. Mrs. Bull was on the way to Long Lake in the Adirondack Mountains to visit Senator Platt of Connecticut. While on a portage, a guide had assaulted her, attempted to choke her and tore her clothes. The guide ran off into the woods with other guides searching for him. Mr. Bull quickly caught a train to be with his wife.

Much printers' ink was sacrificed in the telling and retelling of the story. The victim was described as "a lady of attractive personal appearance and marked affability of manner." She was never mentioned by name but rather as Mrs. George Bull. The papers reported she was on her way to visit Senator Platt but fail to mention that the wife of Senator Platt is her sister-in-law.

"Charles Parker is not a guide. He is not familiar with our woods, and has never been recognized by the guides or other residents here as a reputable man. He has three wives in different parts of these mountains, and I may truthfully say that all they care about him is to kill him."

The alleged perpetrator, Charles Parker, was arrested by Constable Warren S. Cole in Kingston, Ontario, on Thursday, July 28. That night Cole and Parker went to bed handcuffed to each other. Somehow. Parker got out of the handcuffs and escaped. Constable Cole tracked him for days and caught up with him on August 5. When Parker reached for his gun, Cole shot him from a hundred yards away. Parker died of his wound a few days later on August 9.

In June of 1882, Warren J. Cole was arrested and indicted for murder by the Grand Jury of Hamilton. Earlier a Coroner's jury had acquitted Cole on grounds of justifiable homicide. In October of 1882, the Hamilton County Grand Jury ignored the bill of indictment, effectively vindicating Cole.

George Bull was also accused as an accomplice before the fact in a bill of indictment. Bull was accused variously of paying Cole $500 to kill Clark, asking Cole to kill Clark and insulting Adirondack guides at a hotel. They vowed to get even with Bull. In October the Grand Jury ignored the bill and vindicated Bull.

So, after all of this, I can't confirm that attorney George Bull from Towanda was the same as Mint Curator George Bull. Perhaps some E-Sylum reader can find that confirmation.