Arizona citizen., 1874-08-15
The Diamond SwindIe Again.

When THE CITIZEN was warning the
 country that the alleged discovery of dia-
 mondS in Arizona was a fraud, the sharp
 men of wealth in San Francisco, aided by
 the equally sharp press Of thatcity, were zealOusly engaged :n deceiving the credu- lous public and possibly themselves. Ger tain it is, the whole business was huge scheme of fraud to make money. Several
 suits at law have grown out of it and few
 of the principal operators have been in- dicted for fraud, but, by some manipula-
 for the fraud, if any, which attaches to
 leading California street operators, has
 not been developed. According to the San Francisco papers, a suit was com
 menced July 23, 1874, by Joel F. Lightner aginst W. M. Lent, which if fully contest ed, would likely reveal something of in- terest in this direction. Lightner wants to
 recover from Lent $20,000 with interest
 thereon since July 30, 1872. According to The Bulletin, Lightner alleges:
 Lent was well known In this city as a
 man of great wealth, which he had ac- quired in mining business. That shortly
 prior to the aforementioned date, Lent gave out publicly and privately that he
 had purchased and become the owner of mines of vast extent and of almost fabIl-
 lOus richness, containing an ineXhausti- ble supply of precious stones, gems, dia- monds, rubies and garnets, situated some-
 where, in some State or Territory of the United States, but in what State or Terri tory he declined to state, giving as d req son therefor the danger of losing the val uableS. That in order to induce belief in the truth of such representations, Lent kept on exhibition, at his office, large quantities of diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones, and represented them to
 be of the value of S150,000. About the date before mentioned, Lent formed corpora ton called the "San Francisco and New York Mining and Commercial Company" with a capital, as stated, O. Sl0000, ,0O0. That Lent became subscriber for all the shares of the corporation and, as full pay ment for the same, made deed of con- veyance. In order to inspire confidence in the corporation, Lent procured NJ. $. Latham, A. Gansel, Louis Sloss, Maurice DOre, Thomas II. Selby, $. L.. NJ. Barlow and Gen. Geo. B. Mcclellan, distinguished business men, to become co-directOrs. 1 The directors by resolution directed the | transfer of all the stock to Lent, except fOrty-fve shares issued to the directors. | After such issuance, Lent offered shares Of the stock for sale ill the market, at $40 per | share. Relying upon the representations | made by and on the character Of Lent, on | the Sth of August, LightDer purchased 5O0 | shares of the stock, paying therefor S20, ,000. | Lightner ayers that the representations | made to him were untrue; that Lent did | not own any mine containing diamonds | rubies or other precious stones, and that | the diamonds and rubieS exhibited by ! Lent were not taken from any mine he owned; that the collections of stones were not of more value than $5,000; that the cor pOratiOn does not and never did own any | mine whatever, and that the stock pur- chased by him was and is worthless. Wherefore Lightner demands return of his money in exchange for the stock.