The New York herald., 1851-08-01

Corn prsr BaoxERs-FRAUDs ON RETURNING |
CArIroRsrAss.-With the arrival OF every steamer |
from the I.thmus, we have reinforcement Of from
three to Eve hundred passen gers from California
large proportion of them with their carefully hus.
banded profits of two or three years labor in the
mines, boxed up in the form of gold lust-some a
thousand, some ten thousand, some wenty thousand
dollars, some more, many less. But whatever the
amount Of the dust brought back by the returning
adventurer to California he has undergone the long
voyage, the risks, the hardships, the priS0ons and
the peri,s of the California experiment to obtain
bis DUST it is his at the sacrifice Of everything else,
for seas or two, and at the risk of his life he
has scooped his gold in PARTICLES, teaspoon fuli
sometimes day, out Of the earth; he has washedit
under q burning sun: he has watched it night ald
day against camp thieves and prowling assasslh9;
he has had il weighed and carefully put up at sac
ramento or San Fran cisco; he ha; dispatched l. By
express, or brought il among his luggage, hi old
clothes through all risks and all dangers; and here
he is in New York with his dust. He is weather
beaten ex posure, hard labsr and rheumatism may
have warped MIN little crooked-teyer and ague
and mercury, may have despoiled him of his teeth
he MAY be prematurely old, but be has been TO
Californie--he has seen the elephant-he has
worked in the mnes-he has braved all the perils
Of the sea and land AMI the sharks ofboh elements
and he is here with his pile His trouble is over
he has so many ounces Of genuine gold dust, worth
so much an ounce-he has only to make the
change at any brokers' office, and he is of for
home But it is just at this point where he is about
as likely fall into the Jaws Of the sharks at any
other between the mines and the mint
The plan upon which the returned Californian is
suip ad - INN Ia ha m n
returned California steamer, like all other passen-
gers arriving in port, infested by runners Of all
sorts oc centerprising, popular and benevolent com
panies: but, in addition to the usual lot, the Cali
fornia man is pat, ,onised by the runners of the
brokers in gold dust, purchasers at premium of
California gold. Here they are; call them the
iackals OF the hyenas of Wall street but look at
the prices which they pay, ounce PER oupce, for
California gold And they viii pay you in the
funds you desire; and they will wait upon you to
the bank to see that all is right. Could anything
be farer And yet the Californian is in fair way
Of being swindled. The trick is in the weight.
The broker has pair Of scales which require an
unusually large amount Of gold dust to make an
opnee-So large, that after paying a small premium
for it, the broker secures splendid profit. We
haze been informed, BY way Of example, of the
case Of two young men lately returned from TIE ssa
.l'ggings. They had so much gold dust carefully
weighed at San Francisco, and dramatically put
up. Arrived in New York, they were attracted by
one Of these high priced Offices for gold dust but
they found that i; fell considerably short in the
required weight 1t vas curious, but it might have
been lost, and they took their pay for the amount
asreporcd by the scales of the broker and de partod
Before they had gone far, however, friend inter-
cepted them; they naturally told him their late
transaction, and their disappointment. He smell
the fraud. took them back to the brokers' Office
and the result Of this conference was a compro mise
by which he agreed to pay the Californians tho
further sum of 5000, if they would say nothing
more about it; and the money was paid the next
morning. We caution all returning Californiaas
and hope the California press will caution them to
be on the q,i rice for the Peter Funks Of the At
lanic seaports.