Here is some more "St. Albans"

[Gene C]

Regarding the $$$$ - This from "The Civil War Years: Canada and the United States" by Robin Winks

" Lamothe, (Chief of Police of Montreal) who had just surrendered to (Jacob) Thompson's banking agent friend a receipt that had been entrusted to his care for eighty-four thousand dollars of the stolen St Albans money, demanded three-quarters of an hour for consideration, sufficient time to permit the Confederates to escape on the evening train from Montreal. He had acted without authorization from Coursol (Judge James Coursol, Police Magistrate of Montreal) making his decision to surrender the receipt on the basis of an informal tete-a-tete that he had had with the magistrate (Coursol) some days before on the then hypothetical question of what Lamothe would have to do in case the Southerners were freed. ....

Thompson's agent had rushed to the bank after closing time with the receipt and had received the money through the back door, all within an hour of Coursol's decision that he had
no jurisdiction in the case .....

The Canadian newspapers also deprecated the outcome, the Montreal Gazette expressing the feeling of many: 'We feel, and believe that the great body of the public feel, that the Federal applicants at our door had a right to expect different treatment from us than they have received'. The consensus of responsible opinion was that Coursol's action had been unwise and would worsen relations with the Federal government" (page 315-316)

Hope this makes sense, I skipped over a lot.
There is a lot more detail in the book, about political maneuvering and public opinion. More comments later.