Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1877-10-20
A TRULY WONDERFUL INVENTOR

D 81. l
Prof. PnraM and His Successful Method Of
Extracting sold from Cspper-His Pre-
viOus Experiments In Making Oleomar-
garine, Causing Rain to 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 it
be true, or is it one big sell? Our late
Chill exchanges are silent on the SUBJ
ject, from which we argue that it is the
latter: H
We have just received the following tele-
Co. handed the Government 80 pounds Of
gold worth f7,OOO), being the product OF
the first working, and to-day begins the
coming Of the same into 'condors' at the
mint. Some Of Paraff Il Co. shares have
been sold these days as high a fl6,OOO each,
say 1900. Mr.. Paraff is French chemist,
who has invented mode Of extracting gold
from copper. His first essay was the reduce
ton Of forty tons of Caracoles 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 'reactive' process,
it Welded 65 per cent. pure gold. HereupOn
the Government pidccu III Ms us posai u uc-
partment of the mint: here $50 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
gold can not for an instant be doubted,
for we have a record of his antecedents
which justifies us in fully believing in
any 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
and America, and liquidate various
small and large sums decimated through
his 80 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 1873. 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 4;
experiments, 5000, 600; total loss, $780,
600. In 1869 New York company pur-
chased his patent for madder coloring
material. Loss, 100000.
Oleomargarine then came to the sur
face in America. Paraf stole patent
from French chemist, Mourier by
name, and although the enterprise was
in itself a most valuable one, very large
losses were sustained by all companies
who organized by Paraff's manipula-
tons. These companies were formed
in New York, Boston, Hartford, Cincin-
natl, and San Francisco, the aggregate
loss being about $500, 900, of which CAL
ifornia had an SS0, 900 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 adj
vances to the Professors family, the
genial manipulation of the mysterious
chemicals of science INDUCED 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,
auditedthe bill of costs, and nothing more
was heard of the scheme. Then, assist
ed by DIR. William +. McNutt, he made
new kind of baby-milk, to be sold
in fins. nv the dozen or gross. 90 tn he