Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1872-07-12
MYSTERY.

lFrom the Sacramento Union. July lVtn.I
The story Of fifty deIuded Boston,
ians. Just published In the San Fran
cisco papers, serves to emphasize the
fact that men are creduious when be-
lief gives them hopes of extraordinary
fortunes. There Ia somewhat Of grim
humor in the idea of all Oregonian
inducing q small army Of the slirewd
and thirty men Of New England to
follow him three thousand miles, and
then permit him to desert with q small
fortune ; aud of course reporters are
liberal with their "gudgeons" and
other descriptive terms. 1t might be
urged In their defense, however, that
they have not by any means developed
original foolislmess,' but have simply
added their names to the, list already
very long udcenturies old. Few Of
our pioneers would be anxious to re-
late with exact truthfulness, how,
when and where they have Invested In
mining ventures with even less Of ac-
tual reason to expect success than Rob-
eson, alias Forrest, gave. True 1t Is
that the tale Of the valley, the Indians
and the glitterlng outcroppings, as
now related, will not bear Analysis,
and ought not to have %entrapped Its
victims; but It Is a more probable one
than that which tempted fifty Argo-
nauts to sail. In search of the Golden
Fleece. before the Trojan war. There
Is scarcely a mining camp on the Pa
cifc Coast TINT has not a similar le-
gend, many of which has been explo-
ded at the expense Of our own contid-
ing citizens. The truth Il that specu.
laiion, tiuged with romance, 10 quite
attractive. The love of mystery forms
a large part Of tho average mental or
%ganization. Curiosity Is ut once the
most easily aroused quality and the
most Unsuitable one. II matters little
whether the city be Boston or San
Francisco, New York or Paris, or any
other II the scheme be plausible, the
prize enormous the organization &C.
cret. and the interesting feature IN \
remote land. Distance Is a powerful
element oil conviction when argument
Is drawn from fancy testimony Is ac-
copied without proof, and self-lnterest
prompts the verdict. If the laws of
Massachusetts, permitted the expert
ment. no doubt n company, pledged to
secrecy, could be organized without
much difficulty In San francisco or
sacramento to bore for oil In Boston
Common, provided a properly quail
fled speculator produced his samples
and gave a clrcumStantial account Of
an oil spring bnbbling there In the
old colonial days. 1t Is woll known
that the Earl Of Bellamont dug up
and secured as large a quantity Gf
gold. silver and jewels rs any pirate
could be reasonably supposed to have
buried, and yet the search has been
going on with measurable c~onstancy
during the ITO years which have
elapsed since William Kidd wss hung.
The treasure supposed to DO hidden In
Cocos Island has proved attractive
enough to CAUSE the organization and
failure Of several expeditions; aud II
= miner were to appear amongst Us to-
morrow with q golden vessel Of an
tlque pattern, a.seyerating that 1t was
a mere sample taken from a grave near
one Of the ruined cities OF Arizona.
men who are ordinarily prudent would
be eager to buy al Interest In n secret
enterprise to secure what remained,
neither investigating the facts nor re-
flectlng upon the Apache taste for
scalps. The story Of the Boston Argo-
nants Is a mere paragraph Of a lesson
which ought to have been learned long
ago by all, but probably never will be.
II is safe, nine times out OF ten, to pro-
noulce the tales told Of marvellous dis
covcrles far away to be fabricated.