Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-09-01
'@lINOND SHARPS.
ss,-aia Bankers We're Robbed
4 a Cool Million.
o,,rv Of the Arizona Diamond
NY 49, Hoax.

~ for a few years prior 10 the
WY IRA was one ofthe boldest
ilsn an the SLOPE. Rtlston's
|oi' Sever. drew him down,
~ that time he has
'lp ~, of the mad whirl Of Cali
locSnlatioD. He now owns a
ia down near San Diego,
ss,nS quietly and contentedly.
W., 1tliree hours conversation
y. ", accidentally referred TO the
.ismond hoax of thirteen years
~ i duped a number Of promi-
r.iifornia operators. Aware
inside history of the swindle
81, been made public, ] cleverly
' started and he divulged the
M Two rough-lookiug prospec.
Wed into the Bank of Cali
A .nd asked for Mr.. Ralston, the
md leading spirit Of the bank.
IA two little buckskin bags,
4 bev said contained something,
IN did not kno " exactly what it
Goe Of the bags they said they
mad diamonds in the rough,
N. other they said they
"know what kind OF a
stone IL was. They
he garnets." Ralston
at The idea of diamonds, y
,sked to see them. There vas
nm a pint of black, dirty look
,ssls. ranging in size from n pea
,,lenut. The other bag had
q blood-red stones that were
AN pronounced Arizona gar
g the great banker and cast
4 worthless. He told the pros
IA leave the black crystals and
mi have them examined by eX-
A He did so. Prof, lie Contc, the
syst Of the university OF Cali
pronouuced them diamonds
sld fvf Janin, the best mining
& n n IAN francisco. Shreve and
,lsilpg jewellers all agreed that
rge diamonds. ShTeve had one
reot and il revealed a beautiful
aohe. The question then arose
IN did they come from? Raj.
vas greatly excited. He called
tamn. aud even took ID. o. Mills
I'M confidence. The two pros
h gave their names as Will
Arnold and Isaac w. Slack
lad they had been prospecting In
tnA Utah aud Wyomingan and they
b1nd these stones in one of the
|anamed, but refused to say just
n They said, however, that
we're bushels of the same kind
The diamond fever grew and
lyRslston, Sharon, Nicholas Lun'
\ great San Francisco capitalist,
In. Lent, S. l.. NJ. Barlow of n eU
George ID Roberts, the present
Telegraph man, Michael Reese,
Ereat jewish millionaire, and sew.
others formed Il syndicate and
|dtotake the diamond fields" al
900, provided the representation
Inold and Slack were verified by
BIT. Meantime the other little bag
|.imels was submitted to tests ano
III contain genuine ruhies. Somt
sent to New York to be cut anc
found To be genuine stones
evere said to be from the SAINT
Ihn
ben they had the bargain drawn
b black ana white, and 20, OO'
As earnest money, Arnold ant
ngealed secretly To Ralston thu
ha of the find, and offered Il
Aree of the banks own experts
sTund. One morning in April
hr disguised figures crept dow
Y lawn to the Oakland Ferry
gige Arnold, George ID. Roberts
Janin and George Hearst
was the most accomplished
gst and mining enginee
city, and Roberts and Hears
and are yet the best practi
hines in California. The part
The cars, aud Arnold piloted thel
been river, Wyoming territory
E they left the train, got mule
an ambulance, and struck for I'll
d River mountains, forty-tiN
south of the railroad. The
on the ground a week. The "di
\ field" did not seem to be moi
fifty acres in extent, an,
p the base ola low range of barre
|andstone hills. They found di
ls IN the greatest quantities sea
about in the low beds of dI
|d They dug down aud foun
In groups of six and eight. The
all greatly excited, except a
/ When, at the end of II wee
prepared to leave, they had mo
aquart of diamonds aud rubies
PES. Well, when they got back
Francisco the town was allan
pMpany was at once organize
" 600 600 'apital. The 81 5000
kArnold and Slack WAS advance
piston, and in part made good
syndicate. Roberts, Lunini
Ralston and Sharon eaC
n 100000, and Barlow mac
pool in New York to take $500
Then the public began to clam
stock, but so confident were 81
Hens Of the scheme that the
new Cole )nda that they locke
oek up IN the Bank of Californ
Rlased TO let 3 share go out. A
aud Slack took their money al
As coast. Arnold got $40. 900
4 de went TO Elizabethtown, Ky
a's magnificent farm and settle
Slack went to Europe, al
aeHef heard from again.
Nehce King, the United Stat
ssl, had made "a survey of tn
aud remembered the exact sp
sieh the diamonds were said TO
lie knew it wa not a diamoI
iy. de suspected a fraud. An
lis reputation as a geological 81
was at stake, and he went TO Q
WI quietly by himself A week
tuuy revealed the whole trut
n an elaborate report he show
ne ground had been sailed, al
me mechanical applianc
lie found a few
diamonds and u
@angly declared them of the sau
.s'ef as the stones from SOU
Ria An investigation follow
= lew months the whole tru
4 4 eut- Harpending had put