Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-12-27

And if some other little woman, as
wise and tidy as Nellie, takes hint also,
this story will have served its purpose.
A Summary Account OF the Or igin
and Development of the Recent
Great Diamond Fraud.
THE San Francisco Bulletin of a re.
cent date gives the following succinct
history of the great California diamond
swindle:
"Arnold, Slack, and j. B. Cooper are
practical miners of much experience, and
in the summer of 1871 they were em:
pioyed by Harpending to GO to the Burri
Burri mine, owned by him, In New Mex.
leo, forty miles from the Arizona line.
Harpending desired to effect sale of the
mine to English capitalists, and he made
use Cf the practical knowledge of Arnold,
Slack and Cooper to enable him to maks
favorable representations concerning the
mine prior to its Sale.
"In September, 1871, Harpending left
for London, and the three mining experts
started on their journey to San Francisco.
On reaching Fort Defiance they stopped
to prospect in the vicinity, having heard
of the finding of valuable stones in that
region, Their search was crowned with
success. They found large nHmbef of
stones, of whose value they were igno-
rant the ruby business being at that
time out of their line. They conclud.
ed, however, to bring the stones
to San Francisco. On their arriv-
al here they learned, Quite to their
surprise, that some OF the stones
were gafnets, some sapphires, and prob.
ably some rubies, with some black stones
resembling the black diamond. They
thought of taking steps to secure posses
sion of the country in which the stones
were found, but had not capital to carry
out the plan unaided, and it was finally
determined to sell an interest, meantime
keeping the location a secret. While, en-
deavoring to negotiate d sale, finding
many difficulties III the way, and losing
confidence in the value of the stones, they
concluded to change their plans. They
determined to sell out their discovery,
and, to get good prizes, they set about
devising means to make it appear valua-
ble -
''The character or the discovery must
be changed from ruby to d diamond
field. This idea was suggested by the
remarks of experts and Jewellers, who
told them that if they had diamonds In
stead of garnets they would nave some
thing worth motley, and they could not
see why diamonds in New Mexico would
not be as reasonable story as diamonds
in Africa.
FINALLY some one, 1t is said, proposed
to obtain some diamonds of little value
from the Diamond Drill Company, and
mix them with the stones The PROPOSE.
ton was accepted, and the small dia-
monds, worthless except for drills and
other diamond-pointed Instruments, vet
genuine, gave, therefore, sufficient foun-
dation for hope of more valuable stones
still Unbound. After mixing these with
the stones found in New Mexico, they
submitted the lot to Frontier, Bellmere &
Co., which firm gave them certificate
that the lot contained genuine diamonds.
"The plot had now progressed far
enough to enable them to make definite
proposals to capitalists. Arnold sought
out G. D. Roberts, meeting him on the
street, as if casually, and limiting to him
that he had "good thing" After tous-
ing Roberts curiosity, he explained to
him the difficulty Under which the dis
coverers labofed, and offered to sell an
interest. On no account, however,
Arnold said, would they sell the whole;
they only wanted means to secure title
and prosecute the work. Arnold pro-
posed to organize company, and sell q
limited quantity of stock. Roberts said
he would write to Harpending, and have
him join in the enterprise. He did so,
and Harpending wrote back that he would
be in New York in a few weeks, on his
return, and wanted some of the stones
sent there to be tested prior to his ar
rival.
Accordingly, Arnold and Slack, with
a bag full of stones, went to New York
In March last, and deposited the stones
with Tiffany q Co., whose experts Sc
lected some of the diamonds for examina.
ton, and pronounced them. genuine.
When Harpending arrived from Europe,
he brought with him VIM. M. Lent and
an Englishman named Rubery, who
came from Europe on tour, Lent at
once became interested in the statements
made bysTiHany's experts, and the stories
OF vast quantities of stones in their native
beds, located on United States soil, and
in region the title of which could be Sc
cured before outsiders could Jump the
claim.
Tiffany & Co. valued the bag of
stones at $150,000, and on their assurance
Mr.. Lent placed such reliance that he i'm
mediately determined to join in the enter
prise. Harpending, also, was anxious to
go in, but Arnold now began to play shy,
and utterly refused to state the location
of the field, though Slack pretended that
he was willing to reveal the location,
with Arnold's consent, and that
he, Slack, would sell his interest
one third-for 500, 900. According to
the statement of one informant, this sum
was actually paid to Slack, and afterward
divided between Arnold, Slack and
Cooper, the last-named keeping in the
background. Arnold and Slack agreed
to go and point out the ground as soon as
the weather would permit, which would
allow them two months in which to per-
feet their plans.
knowing that the Fort Defiance region
would yield no diamonds, and that if
they took the agents of Lent & Co., they
would have to salt the claim, they de-
cided to procure African diamonds for
that purpose, and Arnold visited London,
with the result already known. After
his return, it was concluded that as they
must salt any way, they might as well
salt more accessible field, so they deter
mined on the location in Colorado, and
Arnold went again to Fort Defiance. and
purchased large quantity of stones from
the Indians. With these and the dia-
monds purchased in London, they pre-
pared the ground visited by Janin. T"
The unification of the various Meth
odist bodies in Canada is not considered