Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1884-11-20

lever. in the form of roughly externporiz-
ed tilt-hammer, hinged on substantial post
frame and descending npon natural hoor
Of broad. smooth rock, which jutted out into
1he stream. Here il was, citizen OF the
county-town the next day kindly informed
me, that Mullins worked atone-for he new
er had business partner, and nobody ever
succeeded in getting possession OF the grand
secret of his trade, I. g.. the alloy Of metals
belonging to those mountains of which his
money was compounded. Here, when the
great evil and the prowling wolf were max
| ing the surrounding forest hideous with
their nocturnal cries, he remained sweating
and toiling in the orgies of Midas through
many long night; no one daring to ap-
proach, as they knew his loaded rife stood
by his side, and he would fire with deathly
celerity and precision at any object that
| hove in view or made the least sound in the
underground. He made but one coin, the
eagle half-dollar; and that, like manufact-
ured tobacco, was lugs encased in fine
wrapper. 1t was very fair and perfect, sill
yer and stamp, outside; and it was not un-
til it had been in use several years and its
exterior had worn off, that Substance re-
senibling copper peeped out from the "true
! inwardness" of the denuded counterfeit. Yet
it had the exact ring, weight and impression
Of the same article from the U. S. Mint and
i how he obtained this art Of complete imit2-
| ton is the hard, puzzling and never to-bs-
demonstrated problem. He never offered
his cash for sale; neither did he employ
agents to circulate it. 1t w.s sought as a
cor.aasdhy by traders from long distances
sAn1 from nearly every State in the Union.
They came to Mullins house, bought it from
tiIsa, and carried it off by the thousand dol
lars IN mnIe blss@y and wagon loads-pub-
liely. ssAr:ng anG enowing no word of blame
or lsotss.:ion thinking it to be as legitimate
an sstfcss OF eeemeseree as cloth, hats, shoes
or any other ne, 1sssarie. aud independently
sold at large. i wsss assd among his neigh
bors, with ssciyii rights hanors equal to the
Federal currency als-s boldly and openly
spoken of and handled' as Jack Jeisn's
money"
One thing which hints pretty strongly to-
ward an explanation of AIs saccess is the
fact that silver is known 10 oScsl- SO fre-
quently native, and possessiag great lustre
and fitness for immediate uses without boing
subjected to any metallurgic process. Then
the different ores of silver arc so vsey nu,
merous that it is fair to presume he might
have found, in the recesses of the Cumber-
land mountains. some one-perhape several
of them. Besides native silver the chief
ores are antimonial silver, telluric silver,
native amafgum auriferous native silver,
arsenical antimonial silver, horn SILVER,
earthly cerneous silver silver glance, earthly
silver glance, light red silver, ruby silver.
n,iargyrite, biegsamer silberglanz, flexible
sulphuret, brittle sulphuret, silberkupfer-
glanz, ronelite, brittle silver, selen silver,
eukairite, selbits and grsnzekothig- err The
ores which yield silver most abundantly ara
native silver, horn silver, Chloride and
quite a considerable portion of silver
Moreover, We may consider the fact that
standard silver is an alloy of copper and
silver; and no doubt copper entered largely
and readily (by nlodification,) into the com.
position of the Mullins money. Let all
that be as it may, got to see his stamping
mill by the merest accident and / returned
to the house shortly, got my breakfast
and struck out for more civilized regions.
few years afterward, while purchasing
pair of shoes at a store in the mountains
of Northern Alabama, happened to re-
mark, in a joking way, to the storekeeper, n
young and Withholding chap, that the mon
ey he gave me in change reminded me of
old Jack John Mullins silver-"it was a
little too red and not white enough for gen
uine currency" He thereupon politely in
yited me into the back room where he slept
No sooner had / entered with him this sane
tun sdaetOrHn,, and the door was closed upon
us, than he raised the under-eurtains of his
bedstead, and there exposed, heaPed upon
the floor, large pile of curious ores, which
he told me he had by some means obtained
from the surrounding mountains.
Now" said he, "I believe from what you
have remarked about old man Mullins, that
you knew his secret and that you know
what to do with this stuff. You stay here
with me-let's 60 into the business right
and make our fortunes"
Stranger" I replied, "You are utterly
mistaken ia your man. / became acquaint-
ed with the history of old Jack John Null
Inns IN travelling. several years age, by acci-
dent. l don't know anything about his
mode of counterfeiting."
He seemed disappointed, but gave me
bit of the ore; and | at once resumed nv
journey.
had not got more than four or five miles
away from the store, when l was overtaken
by a young lawyer. on horseback, returning
from Tnscumbia court
81 heard Of you at this store back here
he said, "and | have been riding pretty fast
to catch up with you for the sake of your
company"
"All right" said I "tell me, if you can
what sort of a fellow is that storekeeper?
"A very suspicious character. What
makes you ask the question:"
In reply l narrated to him my private in
terview with the mine-opener, as detailed
shove.
"Ah, indeed Dad he though? But that
don't surprise me much. No doubt If you
had been able and willing to second his
schemes, he would have been more than
glad to have entered into clandestine CO.
partnership. That fellow took drove of
cattle to Tuscumbia, for Mr. last
fall, sold them, put the money in his pocket,
and, when he came back, said he had lost iii
There is any quantity of rery likely ores in
these mountains; and ex pect to see him
land in the penitentiary yet for meddling
with Them" s.
When the lawyer and myself parted COM
pany that evening, l showed the piece of
ore TO him and he pronounced it very like
ores he had seen produced in court on the
trial OF counterfeiters. That piece of ore
IS now or o2ght to be in the cabinet of ST.
m 'nton Femsle College, in Statewide:
placed there, at the writer's request in 1883
by the courtesy of Professor Hill.
J. J. Mullins, like J. G.. Bennett. had N
host of imitators. While the Bennet small
fry mostly got good beatings and small
profits the Mullins apes generally got hard
tack and penitentiary jacket.
And yet, to the very end of time it win
more than probably remain one of the most
mysterious riddles in the puzzle. corner of
biographical folios, how an uncultured den-
izen Of the woods and hills could, by mere
dint of his own original and unaiied pro-
cesses and rude, homemade mechanical an
pliances do what the skillful electro metal
lurglst could never hope to accomplish.
Mt. Ees,non, N. c. Nov. .15th,
The Cause Of the Kick