The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-10-22
A GREAT DIAMOND HOAX.
HOW CALIFORNIA BAUKERs WERE
pUPBD RX RoGUEs.
A visionary scheme which Entan-
gIed Many NilliOnnires-Thc FIRST
Correct story Now Told.


New York Star tells this strange story:
While in the reading of the Russ
House this afternoon / met friend who
for few years prior to the great crash of
1873 was one Of the boldest operators on
the Slope. Ralston's failure, however
drew him down. and since that time he
has dropped out of the mad whir! Of Cal
! ifornla speculation. He now owns few
vineyards down near San Diego, and Is
living quietly and contentedly. During
our three hours conversation my friend
accidentally referred to the great dia-
mond hoax of thirteen years ago which
duped a number of prominent California
operators Aware that the inside history
of the swindle had never been made pub
lie, l cleverly got him started, and he
divulged the following story:
In 1871 two rough-looking prospectors
walked into the Bank of California and
asked for Mr.. Ralston, the cashier and
/ leading spirit Of the bank. They had two
little buckskin bags which they said con-
tanned something, and they did not know
exactly what it was. One of the bags
they said they believed had diamonds in
the rough, but the other they said they
did not ''know what kind of a stone
it was; they mout be garnets." Ralston
laughed at the idea of " diamonds" but
he asked to see them. There was about
half pint of black, dirty-looSing crys-
tails, ranging in size from a pea to a
hazel-nut. The other bag had dark,
blood red stones that were promptly pro-
nounced Arizona "garnets by the great
banker, and cast aside as worthless. He
told the prospectors to leave the bag with
the black crystals, and he would have
them examined by experts. He did so.
Professor lie Conte the geologist of the
University of California, pronounced
them diamonds. So did Professor Janin,
the best mining expert in San Francisco.
Shreve and other leading jewellers all
agreed they were diamonds. Shreve had
one partially cut, and it revealed beau
] tiful white stone. The question then
arose, "Where did they come froml"
Ralston was greatly excited. He called
in Sharon, and even took D. o. Mills
into his confidence. The two prospectors
gave their names as William Arnold and
Isaac W. Slack, and said they had been
prospecting in Arizona and Utah and
Wyoming, and they had found the stones
in one of the regions named, but refused
to say Just where. They said, however,
that there were "bushels" " of the same
kind left. The diamond fever grew, and
finally Ralston, Sharon, Nicholas Luning,
great San Francisco capitalist; William
M. Lent, S. L. NJ. Barlow, of New York /,
George ID. Roberts, the present Postal
telegraph man; Michael Reese, the great
Jewish millionaire, and several others
formed a syndicate and agreed to take
the diamond fields" at 81, 900, 600, pro-
vided the representations of Arnold and
Slack were verified by experts. Mean
time the other little bag of specimens
was submitted to tests and found to
contain genuine rubies. Some were sent
to New York to be cut, and were found
to be genuine stones. These were said to
come from the same "helds."
When they had the bargain drawn up
in black and white and $25, 900 paid as
J earnest money Arnold and Slack revealed
secretly to Ralston the location of the
find and offered to pilot three of the
banks own experts to the ground. One
morning in April, 1872, four disguised
2 figures crept down in the dawn to the
2 Oakland Ferry. They were Arnold,
George D. Roberts, Henry Janin and
t George Hearst. Janin was the most &C
complished geologist and mining en-
I gineer in the city, and Roberts and Hearst
s were, and are yet, the best practical
D miners in California. The party took
j the cars and Arnold piloted them to
e Green river, Wyoming Territory. There
I they left the train, got mules and an
j ambulance and struck for the Greer
d river mountains, forty-tive miles south ol
+ the railroad. They were on the ground 6
week. The diamond field" did moi
seem to be more than fifty acres in ex
tent, and was at the base of a low
b range of barren red sandstone hills
d They found diamonds in the
c greatest quantities scattered about
n in the low beds of dry gravel
e They dug down and found them il
}, groups of six and eight. They were al
}, greatly excited except Arnold. Wher
h at the end of week they prepared K
d leave they had more than quart of dia
monds and rubies of all sizes Well
y when they got back to San Francisco
r the town was afame A company wa
IT at once organized with So, 900, 600 capi
n tai. The 81, 900, 900 to pay Arnold anC
k Stack was advanced by Ralstop, and il
II part made good by the syndicate. Rob
r erts, Luning, Lent, Ralston and Sharon
/ each put in 800, 900, and Barlow mad
&c up pool in New York to take up $3.50,
d 900 more. Then the public began t.
=, clamor for the stock, but so confiden
d were the promoters of the scheme tina
m they had a new Golconda that the
lie locked the stock up in the bank of Cali
re fornia and refused to let a share go out
10 Arnold and slack took their money ant
II left the coast. Arnold got $440, 900 i
Dr. cash. He went to Elizabethtown, KY.
lr bought magnificent farm and settle
q, down. Slack went to Europe and wa
~ never heard of again.
S, Clarence King, the United States geolc
S; gist, had made survey of that region
re and remembered the exact spot in whic
n the diamonds were said to be found. H
knew it was not diamond country. II
c,,rv,.o4aI 10 fro,,I h, = =. 80