Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-05-12
A HUGE GOLD SWINDLE.
THE STORY OF BIG GGOLDNUGGET
THAT WAS BOIUS.
"A Clever Rogue Sells 1t For a For
tune-Rarc and Beautiful Spcci-
mems in the Assay Office.

"A Clever Rogue Sells 1t For a For
tunc-Rarc and Beautiful Spcci-
mems in the Assay Office.
"Iere is my curiosity shop, and here
is something want to show you," said
Superintendent Mason of the United
States Assay Office to New York SIM
reporter. 1T is part of what was the
most gigantic gold nugget swindle ever
pcrpctrated in this or any other country.
The history of this scheme is so old that
1t has been forgotten, hence ii will be
news for the present generation of peo
pie"
As he spoke, Mr.. Mason opened the
doors of cabinet and handed the writer
a lump of what looked Ike natural gold,
weighing about two or three ounces.
That is piece of the once famous De
Bartinguc nugget. the largest natural
nugget of gold ever found. 1t originally
wei-hcd nearly 80 pounds, and was
estimated to be worth, allowing for, all
impurities, something more than $40, =
600. am not sure that remember the
history of its finding, but to the best of
my recollection, it made its first appear
ancc in France about fifty or sixty years
ago. A nobleman named De Bartinguc
purchased 1t from miner who brought
1t from South America, and advanced
him something like 10000 francs on it,
or 81, 900 of our money, with the under
standing that he was to pay him within
few thousand francs of its actual valu-
alton after it had been assaycd. A lump
of gold was knocked off the side of the
nugget by the noblcman himself and
sent to the essay Office of the French
Government to be tested. That lump
must have been in very inviting posi-
ton on the nugget, for the noblcman
selected it as the easiest place to cut a
sample from and it proved to be the
purest virgin gold. A finer specimen
could not be made to order 1t was
almost pure gold.
"A larger advance was paid, and in
all the miner, or sharper, as he proved
to be, got fortune out of it. The
nobleman kept the nugget intact, intend
ing to have it melted up and turned into
bullion, but he died before he could put
his plans into practice and the nugget
descended to his heir, who was
physician. The physician emigrated to
America and sent n sample of gold here
to be analyzed. 1t, like the first sample,
was almost pure gold, and showed that
the nugget, if the quality of gold was
all alike, was worth more than $40, 900.
"Thc physician determined to convert
the useless mass into money, and sent
the nugget here. l looked at it, and
thought there was a peculiarly polished
or glazed look about it in certain places,
and thougt ! would make a little assay
of it myself | didn't lop off one of
those inviting Jumps which stuck out all
over it, but cut piece off the bottom
that was hard to get at. Here is half of
the piece"
As he spoke Mr.. Mason handel the
writer another piece of the big nuggct.
1t was lump of hard solder, weighing
about two ounces, and was covered with
crust of gold to the thickness of the
sixteenth of an inch. The under side
was black, and showed its leaden ma
ture. The fraud was TOO palpable to de-
ceive the eyes Of the most ignorant per-
son.
"Now," said Mr.. Mason, after the
nugget had been returned to him, ''when
| reported the nature of the nugget to
the owner, he was the maddest man IN
America for a year or two afterwards,
aud never allowed the matter to be men
toned in his presence. l assayed the
whole nugget for him, melted it up and
got all the gold out of it and it yielded
a little less than 500. What became of
the originator of the swindle No one
knows. So many years had elapsed be-
fore the fraud was discovered, that he
had doubtless spent all the money he
realized on it, and perhaps had given up
the ghost and gone to a country where
his wonderful nugget would have been
quickly reduced by the natural heat of
the climate"
A number of other curios were shown
the visitor A specimen of silver ore
from the Little Pi,tsburg Mine in Lead
vile worth $23, 900 per ton was one Of
them. A beautiful specimen of ruby
silver, very rare, and worth $4,000 per
ton, from South American mine, came
next; samples of rich ore from the Idaho
Mining Company's mine in Nevada
county, CAL. /; samples Of ore containing
quicksilver and many other specimens
worthy of detailed description.
As the visitor was leaving, Supcrin.
tcndcnt Mason opened door and asked
If he would not like to see little pile
of wealth. In an iron vault. brilliantly
lighted, reposed 500, 900, 900 in gold
bricks. A request for sample brick
would have been complied with, but the
had forgotten the COM
and couldn't opon the door.