Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-09-09

out Of his mouth the tobeoco and dorg
with IL quantity OF gold duct, which he
was attempting to get into the crnciple
this way 70 make his assay run high.
would require very little gold thus added
10 sn ounce OF ore 20 make difference
OF many hundreds OF dollars per ton In
the result
TIE CUNNING RAscALs.
ave once sent an engineer to Colo
rsdo TO sample silver mine, said DIR.
Ledoux. He was entirely unmoiested
in the performance OF his duty aud felt
sure that he had a fair average sample.
He took the pfecaution, however, to
divide his samples into two lots, sending
one lotby express and bringing the other
with him in his trunk. Both samples ar
rived with their seals unbroken. and the
bags apparently intact, but when We
came to sssay them We found nearly
double the amount Of silver IN those
which had come by express. lnvestlga-
tion showed that somebody had pune
tured tho bags which came by express
with the point ola syringe, AID had squirt
ed in among the ore a strong solution OF
nitrate Of silver, which drying upon the
ore, Of course added greatly to the as
say.
oABRIKL's SWORD.
"The most singular attemptat swindle
which We ever came across was IN con-
nection with 'Oabriels Sword. You
may remember that in TIE month OF MAY,
1883. the papers in Ulster and Sullivan
counties and the New York daily papers
were widely excited over q most rernarka-
bic discovery hack Of Kingston, n. I. A
strange sword bad fallen from the skies,
and had been discovered In the town OF
Rochester, Ulster county.
"Some time in July following long
haired individual came into our Office
staggering under the weight OF box
seven feet long with a Cross piece near
one end about two feet in length. He
asked il we would assay anything, and
on being assured that we would, pulled
ont q screw-driver and carefully un-
screwed his box, out of which he TOOK
sword. 1t was q curious weapon, nearly
seven feet long. and so heavy that L
could scarcely lift the point from the
ground with one hand by taking hold OF
Inc handle. 1t was covered with He
brew or Phnnecian characters apparent
", and covered with rude figures OF nen
and animals. This marking Was only
apparent where the rust. with which
most OF the weapon was heavily corrodcd,
had been rubbed of.
A STRANGE SWORD.
"The man said that he was the dis
coverer Of this strange sword and WAS
exhibiting it about the country that
some unbelievors had scOhed at his state
ments that it came from q spiritual
world, and that he desired us tomake an
assay Of it to prove that 1t was genuine.
He stated further that on It's appearance
and ring when it was struck one would
naturally take it to be steel, but that he
had been Ia times past blacksmith and
was familiar with metals, and that 1t was
his opinion that it wac . compound OF
silver and iron, and asked me whether
such all alloy was not uncommon,
Il told MIN yes, of course, when be
triumphanlly added Now want you
70 ASSAY thls sword and give me certla-
cate that it is neither iron nor steel. but
an ALLOW containing silver, and l want
you to say on your certificate that such
an alloy is not used III tbs aCoTfd for
such purposes and would not have the
hardness, hexibility. and other charac-
teristics which This sword possesses.
81 WAS interested and amused, and
agreed to make the test. The old man
seemed anxious not to mutilate the
weapon, md it was agreed that We
should file of portion from place
where it WAS particularly r1lsted and
assay the filing. | was convinced that it
was nothing but steel, and was most In
tensely surprised when our asssyer
brought up "A large silver button, which
he had obtained from the filings.
TIE FRAUD DIDN'T WORK.
"The old man was triumphant, but [
was at once on my guard, as | scented n
swindle. 1t was OF course possible to
cost the surface With a silver solution
which would dry on and produce the re-
suit which we found, and ! refused to
give him a certificate without a further
test. He readily scquiesced III this, aud
said that he had rather anticipated such
a request, and proposed that no should
file off the end Of the cross bar, calling
my attention to the fact that one end
was about half an inch longer than
the other, and that the cross-bar and
sword were undoubtedly forged out OF
the same piece OF metal, 30 that what
was true OF the composition OF the bar
was true Of the sword This ! agreed
10, and the end was filed oil. ltappear-
ed TO be simply a cube of soft iron or
steel heavily rusted on five sides, and
bright and homogeneous where cut
by the file Now, said my client, you
tell your man b put this in the cruclble
and | Will abide by the result >
In spite Of the appearance Of the
piece Of metal our aesayer was
instructed to take q cold chisel and
cut it in two and assay the two halves
separately To our intense astonshment
he brought the two portions upstairs,
showing US concealed in the middle a
plug OF silver surrounded on all sides 10y
the steel or iron. The whole thing was
at once plain. The old man, or soma
one IN manufacturing tne sNOtuj uhu
bored hole through one end of the
cross-bar and plugged it up with silver,
80 that it did not show. BE had proba-
bly invented the meteoric story. We of
course declined to give him certificate
of the supernatural origin of the weapon,
which he had undoubtedly made him
self, and he departed.
HE HAD HIS JOKE.
"I must tell you, however, OF a good
Joke which the old man gave us the bene-
tit of before he left. AS he was packing
ais weapon western gentleman hap
pened in, who 10 Of a decidedly Jewish
cast OF countenancs. He is very sensi-
tive on the subject, and continually goes
out OF his way to assure people that he is
not 9 Hebrew. He Was arrested by the
sight of the sword, and called out
"'WelI, old man, what have you got
there
He received no reply, and repeated
HE onosfion a6diU0. = Ia IL q chaeee-