Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1888-05-17
A HUGE GOLD SWINDLE.
THE STORY OF A BIG coLDNUaGET
THAT WAS BOGUS

A Clever Rogue Sells 1t For For
Rare and Beautiful Specs.
mems In the Assay ONCE.
'Here is my curiosity shop, and here
IS something want to show YOU" said
Superintendent Mason of the United
States Assay Office to New York San
reporter. 'Tt is part of what was the
most gigantic gold nugget swindle ever
perpctrated in this or any other country.
The history of this scheme is so old that
it has been forgotten, hence it will be
news for the present generation Of peo-
pie"
As he spoke, Mr.. Mason opened the
doors Of cabinet and handed the writer
lump of what looked like natural gold,
weighing about two or three ounces.
That is piece of the once famous De
Bartingue nugget. the largest natural
nugget of gold ever found. 1t originally
weighed nearly $50 pounds, and was
estimated to be worth, allowing for all
impurities, something more than $40,-
600. / am not sure that I remember the
history of its finding, but to the best of
my recollection, it made its first appear
uhCU Al AduCC dUOut MY VI blAby JCdlo
ago. A nobleman named De Bartingue
purchased it from miner who brought
it from South America, and advanced
him something like 40, 1000 francs on it,
or IS, 600 of our money, with the under
standing that he was to pay him within
a few thousand francs of its actual valu-
alton after it had been assayed. A lump
of gold was knocked off the side of the
nugget by the nobleman 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 nobleman
selected it as the easiest place to cut
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 xke nugget
descended to his heirS who was a
physician. The physician eoaigrated to
America and sent a 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.
ssThe physician determined to convert
the useless mass into money, and sent
the nugget here. l looked at it, and
thought there was peculiarly polished
or glazed look about it in certain places,
and though / would make little ASSAY
of it myself. didn't lop off one Of
those inviting humps which stuck out all
over it, but cut a piece off the bottom
that was hard to get at. Here is half of
the piece"
AS he spoke Mr.. Mason handed the
writer another piece of the big nugget.
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
Ireported the nature of the nugget to
the owner, he was the maddest man In
America for a year or two afterwards,
and 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 Pittsburg Mine in Lead
vile worth $23, 600 per ton was one of
them. A beautiful specimen of ruby
silver, very rare, and worth SIS, 900 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 a detailed description.
AS the visitor was leaving, Superin-
tendcnt Mason opened door and asked
if he would not like to see little pile
of wealth. In an iron vault, brilliantly
lighted, reposed 500, 000, 900 in gold
bricks. A request for sample brick
would have been complied with, but the
Superintendent had forgotten the com
bination and couldn't opon the door.