Born in England in
1811, Charles Aubrey Angelo was a journalist, traveller, and two-time author of travel
accounts. After living and working in
California, Angelo travelled to
Vancouver Island in
1859 during the
Fraser River gold rush. He settled in
Victoria, which he described, in his book
Idaho(1865), as
far worse than a Venetian oligarchy.
Angelo became a clerk in the Victoria Customs Office, where he received duties for
the province and recorded the transactions in the department books. In the summer of
1859, colonial officials discovered
certain irregularities and apparent frauds
in the Customs Office. They determined that $800 was missing from the account books. In a despatch to
Sir Lytton, James Douglas recounts that
suspicion [attaches] strongly to [Angelo].
Swift proceedings were enacted by the Attorney General and Crown Solicitor against
Angelo. He was tried and found guilty on
11 August 1859 for embezzling and falsifying the Customs Office accounts. Angelo was imprisoned for two months, despite several petitions of release from the
public. In the
Daily Evening Bulletin, Angelo is described as
the life and soul of the Custom House Department… [returning] to the world as a wiser
man.
After his imprisonment, Angelo returned to California as a journalist for a local
newspaper, and then joined the Idaho gold rush in
1863, the inspiration for his book,
Idaho. On
30 May 1875, Angelo passed away at the age of 64.