Sharp County record., 1877-11-09
|, TRULY WONDERFUL INVENTOR

yious Experiments in Making Oleonlar
garine, Causing Rain 20 Fall, Extracting
Silver from sulphurets, ETC.
from the san Francisco Chronicle
The following very interesting item
is found in the Panama Star and Herald
Of the 9Th instant. This is taken from
the Standard of BuenOs Ayres. Can 1t
be true, or is it one big sell? Our late
Chill exchanges are silent on the sub
iect. from which we argue that it IS the
latter:
We have lust received the following tele-
cram from VALPARAISO: "MeSSrs. Paran "
Go. handed the Government 100 pounds OF
gold worth E7,O00), being the product OF
the first working, and to-day begins the
coming of the same into 'cOndOrs' at the
mint some of Paratf & Co. shares have
been sold these days as high as tl6,OW eacn,
saw $50, 900. Mr.. Paratf is French chemist,
who has invented a mode Of extracting gold
from copper. His first essay was the reduc-
tion of forty tons Of CaracOes copper ore,
which gave two and One-quarter tons OF
metal. A sample Of this was taken to the
mint, and gave scarcely any gold, but When
Paraff tried upon it his 'reactiye' process,
il Welded s. per cent. pure gold. HereupOn
the Government placed at his disposal de-.
nartment of the mint: here 100 pounds OF
pure gold have now been turned out"
To Californians the knowledge Of this
wonderful success of professor" Al
fred Paraff, formerly of this city, will
prove very gratifying and entertaining.
That he knows how to turn copper into
cold can not for an instant be doubted,
for we have a record of his antecedents
which iustifes US in fully believing in
anv operation that may be so fortunate
as to be engineered under his scientific
manipulatiOns. When he went away
from California, with that small black
valise in his left hand, we felt morally
certain that he would be heard of again.
At the time nobody knew where he had
gone-even the mother Of his two BARNS,
and the French nurse who listened to
their innocent lispings professed igno-
rance. That he will return to California
apd America, and hquidate various
small and large sums decimated through
his scientific" manipulatiOns we can
not doubt, and it will be interesting for
him to have little memorandum with
which he can refresh his memory. Prior
to 1878, before he became known to
California, he resided in the Eastern
States. In 1867, Gov. Sprague, of Rhode
Island, was induced to invest in his new
patent for aniline dyes-cash, 800, 900
experiments, 100000; total loss, $780,
OO0. In 1869 New York company pur-
chased his patent for n1adder coloring
material. Loss, 100000.
OleOmargarine then came to the sur
face in America. Paratf stole a patent
from a French chemist, MOurier by
name, and although the enterprise was
in itself most valuable one, very large
losses were sustained by all companies
who organized by Paraff's manipula-
tions. These companies were formed
in New York, Boston, Hartford, Cincin-
natl, and San Francisco, the aggregate
loss being about 100000, of'which Cal
ifornia had an S80,000 slice. After all
was over, and Seaman had whipped Pa
raft, and Paraff had escaped the San
quentin Penitentiary, through the aid Of
Delos Lake, who subsequently lost his
fees for the legal acumen squandered,
and also some several monetary ad-
vances to the Professors family, the
genial manipulation of the mysterious
chemicals of science indulged in the idea
of making grass grow in the sand hills
surrounding the city. He proposed to
do this by applying deliquescent salts to
the surface of the ground. This was
supposed to draw moisture from the
clouds, and verdant hills and dales were
/ to result therefrom. The plan was de,
fective in some minor part, hence the
astute Alvord, of the Park Commission,
audited the bill of costs, and nothing more
was heard of the scheme. Then, assist,
ed by DR.. William F. NcNutt, he made
a new kind of baby-milk," " to be sold
in tins, by the dozen or gross, "to be
well taken before shaken" 1t gave the
children the collie, and hence they were
necessitated to continue on with the old
time process. The Ne1CS Letter en-
ployed him to make assays of milk,
whisky, and soothing sirup, and Brad
ley & Rulofson utilized him as a model
from which some 1900 pictures were
taken for distribution among his many
admirers. Thereafter he tired of his
unproductive mode of living, and he
turned his attention to extracting silver
from sulphurets. He succeeded in or,
ganizing another company. His di-
rectors were Jim Keene, Scott Stewart,
Lawyer Goold, Doctor McNutt and 9th
ers. Works were established upon a
magnificent scale; stock was sold, and
ore was worked. About $4,000 was
invested. A ton or two of Con. Vir-
ginia ore was sent by Jim Fair from Vir.
ginia City for treatment by the Profess,
or About this time the chemicals got
tired or something else went wrong, and
day or two later the chemist himself
"folded his tent like the Arab and quiet
/ l,