Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-05-29

few thousand dollars, but he lived in
style such as few men with millions at
their back would affect. His entertain
ments were numerous and costly, and
one of them, given to Hassan, the Tu-
nisan ambassador, is still remembered as
a marvel of richness and luxury. 1t was
not long before the last dollar was
squandered, and then the woman who
had so long passed as Nine. Paraf finally
abandoned the adventurer and went to
Paris, where she was lost sight of.
Paraf was very poor for months, and
finally became seedy and was forced to
borrow small sums to pay his bills at
cheap restaurants.
In the spring of 1872, however, Paraf
came to the front again as a capitalist
and spendthrift. This time he APP
pearcd as the inventor of "oleomar-
garine." This substitute for butter was
really invented by q French chemist
named Mege Mourier, during the siege
of Paris by the Germans, when the
French government offered a reward to
any person who would produce a substi-
tute for butter. Paraf stole the process
from his countryman, but he was I'M
doubtedly the first man to introduce it
to this country. A stock company was
formed with capital of $500, 900, and a
factory was built for the manufacture of
the article. Paraf was on his feet
again, and he began to live
more extravagantly than ever. He
purchased a brownstone-front house
at Forty -ninth street and Fifth avenue
and doubled his living expenses. In
1878 he went to San Francisco to estab-
fish factory there, and while he was
absent his fellow stockholders discovered
that he was not the inventor of oleomar-
garine. They at once purchased the
American right from the real French dis
coverer, recognized the company, and
left Paraf out. On learning these facts,
Paraf hurried back to New York. He
accused the company of having swindled
him, and the stockholders threatened to
have him arrested for fraud, but moth
ing came of the threat, and finally Paraf
shook the dust of New York from his
feet forever.
Paraf had worked his mines in the
United States to bedrock, and he now
turned about to find new fields for explor-
alton. The wealthy landowners and
capitalists of Chill were an attractive bait,
and he started for South America to Sc
cure the wherewithal to supply his de.
fciencies. 1t was here that he embarked
in the most stupendous scheme which his
fertile mind had ever evolved, and the
execution of which shows the gullibiltiy
of human nature to an astonishing de-
gree. Paraf went to Santiago, where he
assumed the character of man of wealth,
and soon ingratiated himself with the
dons of that rich city by his elegant en-
tertainments and pleasing manners. A
gigantic scheme for extracting gold from
copper ore was the means chosen to pen
citrate the Golfers of the rich Spaniards.
Paraf professed to have discovered a
method of doing this, and the
simple gentlemen of Santiago swallowed
the gold-tippcd hook eagerly. A
joint stock company was launched
with capital of 1925, 900,
immense smelling works were erected at
Higueras de Zapata, and assays of cop
per were made by Paraf in the presence
of the officials of the company, which
returned large percentage of gold.
The Chilians went fairly wild over the
great discovery" and Paraf was hailed
as second Midas, whose touch has
transformed their base metals into gold.
The production of this magic gold con-
tinued until one day Don Aldaricio
Prado, who had invested $3.50, 900 in
the scheme had his suspicious aroused
from the fact that the assays never
yielded more than 500 day, and in
the absence of Paraf he made an assay
of some copper ore himself. 1t is need
less to say that he secured no gold. An
investigation followed, and it was found
that Paraf and his servant, who was
chemist in disguise, were accustomed to
place hyposulphide of soda and gold in
crucibles in which the copper was
smelted, and that the gold found was
precipitated from this and not from the
copper. The discovery was made in
November, 1877 and the excitement
throughout Chill was intense. Paraf
was in danger of being lynched by his
angry dupes. He published a card in
the papers in which he tried to stem the
tide of indignation by stating that the
negative result obtained by Prado was
owing to his not being in possession of
the secret process for smelling which he
Paraf, employed. His dupes, however,
could no longer be imposed upon; the
chevalier was arrested, convicted of
swindling, and sentenced to term in
prison, the first and last which he ever
served.
The gold scheme was the last, as it
was. the most audacious of Parafs many
enterprises. After his sentence he was
heard of no more until the announcement
of his death at Lima.