New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-05-05
THE GREAT DIANOND FRAUD.

ONCE the memorable discovery OF
Captain Suffer the trick of salting''
gold mines has been made at intervals
familiar to the American mind 1t ia
not, however, as has sometimes been
amiably suggested by our English cous.
ms, a Yankee" trick. It was known
and cherished by Mexicans and South
Americans long before the stars and
stripes floated from the portals of the
Golden Gate or the foot of the 8 PATH
tinder' was set on the banks of the
Sacramento; and, we may add, it has
been understood and practiccd no less
and about as early at Ballarat ~ at
Marysville, and that the job has been
.'put up by artists quite as often at
Sydney as at San Francisco. ..
The operation scarcely needs descrip-
ton; but for the benefit of those to
whom it is yet u mystery we will say
that it consists in placing gold dust or
ore in the ground so that it may indi-
cate the presence of the precious metal
in greater quantities, and with the pur.
pose of selling the "c)aim'' or mine
that has thus been ''salted." Able and
experinced miners have been taken in
by the device, and large sums have
been picked by it from the pockets of
the ignorant and unsuspccting. Such
schemes have been common, and, often
as they have been exposed, thay are not
seldom put in execution even to this
day. But to "salt'' a diamond mine is
a far more novel and interesting per-
formance; and this is what certain pro-
ceedings begun yesterday in the United
States Circuit Court at Louisville re-
mind us was done some years ago sc the
expense of a Well-knOwn and astute cit
izen of New York.
This proceeding is in the nature of
suit brought by Mr.. Samuel L. NJ. Bar
low against Mary Arnold, widow and
executrix of Philip Arnold, to recover
the sum of one hundred thousand dol
lars Of principal and forty three thou
sand dollars of interest said to have
been fraudulently obtained from the
plaintiff by Arnold through a. conspir-
acy such as we have described. In Mr..
Barlow's petition the main details OF
the inception and contamination of
this ncfariOus enterprise are fully set
forth. 1t is asserted that about eight
years ago three men named Lent, Har-
pending and Dodge waited upon Mr..
Barlow, and, having got from him q
pledge Of absolute secresy, impaired to
him the interesting statement that
Philip Arnold had discovered q dia-
mond field in one of the Territories OF
the United States bordering on Arizona
and New Mexico. Of course, an ex-
perienced lawyer and man of the world
might be expected to receive a tale like
this with considerable caution, and the
expectation was carefully provided for.
The three men, to begin with, showed
Mr.. Barlow bag containing number
of diamonds in the rough, together
with other precious stones, likewise un-
polished, the whole mixed with Garth
and sand; and they affirmed that Ar
mold had found the contents of the bag
just as they showed them in the alleged
diamond isll.
manifestly that it should be true was
not impossible. There are diamond
fields in the world in spite of the gor.
geous fable of the Arabian Nights. II
Sindbad's respondent valley is fig
nlent of the imagination SO are not the
gem-streWn plains of South Africa, the
diamond diggings Of Hindostan or the
washings Of Brazil. It might be un-
likely, but no one could say it was out
of the question, that rival to the Pitt
diamond might be found in the recesses
of the Rocky Mountains, or that even
the KOh-i-noor might be outdone by
some magnificent jewel unearthed in
tho Siorpo NouoIo Who,n r = tho l.,