Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-09-13

The neatcst swindling trick ever pcrpctnt-
ed By an alchemist WIS played on, about the
middle Of the sixteenth century upon Dukc
CosuO !. OF Florence, by one Daniel. of
liermanstadt, in TrnsyiyaniG, who was de-
seconded hom an old pntrician family Of
Naruberg ncman-tadt, ths actual military
capital OF Iumsylyania, was originally found
ed in lliO by one Herman, of Ndmberg, who
led German colony there. Daniels first
Trausylyauian ancestor had been one Of the
leaders Of that colony. Daniel was Il wealthy
man, an eminent physician, and distinguish
Cd adept in alchemy It would appear that
fayorte niece Of his was deeply in love with
RulO Szccheuyi, a. young Magyar cavalier,
who had joined the anti-Medician faction Of
the Strozzi the Pazzi, the Salviati, the Ridoif,
and other Florintine families. The young
man had fallen into the hands Of Cosmo, the
most INSCRIPTIONS and cruel tyrant Of the
murderous house Of Medici, with whom the
Staying Of their kinsfolk was simply family
tradition. Deaf to all entreaties, the ducal
trader insisted upon a ransom of oftwenty thous-
and ducats, keeping the unhappy young
Magyar meanwhile confined in the Bargollo
of Florence jH cdrctrs durO. When the sor-
row-stricken bride of the prisoner made IN
appeal to her wealthy uncle to assist the
Szechenyi family in raising this enormous
sum, the old doctor pondercd long and deep
y. lie WIS u WlSc man. lie ulALfuSted tne
willy ruler Of Florence fearing lest the huge
ransom once paid, wholly or in part, the un-
scrupulous Cosmo might devise some scheme
Of creeping out of his share of the pact. At
last an idea seemed to strike him patience,
my dear niece, he said with a grim smile,
and fear not promise you to set your lover
free and to make his captor and alor bestow
q handsome dover upon you in the bargain"
With this somewhat bold promise the poor
young woman had TO rest content. To all her
eager questions rs to the how and when, the
old man replied, simply, Patience, my dear;
trust me, and you will not be disappointed
He set cheerfully to work He first analga-
mated the sum Of four thousand golden ducats
with the requisite quantity of quicksilver; he
then melted about thirty pounds of wax and
colophony over a slow fire, and added to the
melted mass coal dust sufficient to give the
whole a deep black tinge. This he mixed with
the auro- o-mercurial amalgam. When the mix
ture was cold he reduced it to powder. The
whole process was extremely simple. Master
Daniel had now black powder of no appar-
rent value, yet which contained the gold of
about two thousand soyoreigus. This powder
he packed carefully in great number of card
board cases, put the whole on the back of his
sumpter-mulc, and set out on his travels to
Italy. Here he wandered through the north
as a travelling physician. Experienced and
skiilful and crafty withal he soon gained a
high reputation for marvellous cures--easy
enough to accomplish, as he generally man
aged to give desperate aspect to the ailments
of his patients by, in the first place, admins
tering to them cunningly and deftly, and with
ont exciting suspicion, some noxious sub
stance, producing alarming symptoms, which
he found it, Of course, easy to remove by his
prescriptions. Among the ingredients of the
hitter figured invariably a certain powder, in
geniously christened by him V$tUr. No
apothecary in the north of Italy had ever
heard of this powder, which accordingly
could not be supplied. The great wonder
doctor expressed astonishment at this, but
consented TO add the article from his own
store.
Having thus achieved a reputation and Gre
ated demand for usfur, he disappeared from
the scene for a time but he soon returned in
the disguise of German drug peddler, who,
strange to say, sold the powder usfur for next
to nothing. Then the doctor came again on
the scene and managed to get back his costly
powder. So he worked for about two years,
when he succeeded in distributing the whole
stock Of usfur among the druggists of Florence
lie then dropped the doctor and put on the
adept instead As Cosino had long been in
search Of the great secret Daniel found it
easy to gain access to him, and to impress the
duke with a belief in his profound alchemistic
knowledge. He produced 2 small quantity of
gold in presence Of the duke, allowing his
Highness to procure and supply all the iu-
gradients amongwhich figured also the powder
usfur, easily obtainable then for few pence.
The ingredients altogether came to about a
ducat, 10 produce solid gold TO the value of
fifty ducats. \ cabalistic formula, which the
adept pretended must not be uttered aloud
but be rocited in mind by the operator, was
declared indispensable to the success of the
transmutaton process. OF this he gave the
duke a convincing proof. He and the ruler
Of Florence operated with equal halves of the
same Ingredients, only that by clever sleight
OF hand the usfur in the dukes half was re-
placed by common coal dust So Daniel pro-
duced his gold in the usual way, while the
duke utterly failed. Cosmo, thoroughly con-
vinced now Of the commences of the affair
subscribed willingly to Daniels conditions
lie set young Rufo free, and promised to pay
Daniel the sum of thirty thousand ducats in
money untainted by a magic origin, which the
adept ayowed was intended to build church
in redemption Of his soul.
The first condition being fulfilled, and
young Rufo out of the dukes clutches, Daniel
taught the duke the potent formula and be-
hold the next experiment-made by the
duke, alone and unaided, and upon a large
mass of matter, as per the wonderous adopts.
recipe-succeeded most fully, yielding some
thing like a clear profit of three thousand
ducats upon an outlay of less than sixty ducats
The duke, overjoyed, aud dreading perhaps
the DEVILS vengeance if he played the adept
false, for once in his life kept his word. Daniel
got his thirty thousand ducats, and was sent
to France in ducal sedan-chair, escorted by
two companies of the dukes own body-guard
AS soon as the adept found himself all safe
he had the matchless eTrontery to send Cosmo
n detailed account of the swindle. He gave
the thirty thousand ducats as dover to his be-
loved niece, and the descendants of Rufo
Szechenyi rank to the present day among the
most distinguished magnates of Hungary.