Omaha daily bee., 1888-05-27
A PRECIOUS-METAL HUNTER.
He Goes From Place to Place in
Search of It.
UNEARTHING HIDDEN TREASURES
Scraping the Floors of Jewelry Estab-
Iishments, Digging into Crevices,
Displacing Boards and
Buying Workmen's
Wash-water
UNEARTHING HIDDEN TREASURES
A Lucrative Business.

A BEE reporter strolled through the cor.
ridor of the Willard one evening last week,
taking in the personnel of the guests and OBJ
serving the sights and scenes so invariably
fieeting and pleasing in this busy hostelry.
Meeting an acquaintance, and lighting O cigar
apiece, the reporter and his friend dropped
down into the comfortable rockers to test the
quality and quantity of their weeds, and put
a final quietness on the vexed problem as to
who shall be named the republican STANDARD
bearer at the convention to shortly convene
in Chicago. About thist time a well-dressed
well-fed, dignified gentleman strutted apast
and nodded politely, to which there was a re-
Spouse from the friend of the reporter.
The inquisitiveness of the latter
prompted the question as to who the
stranger was, and received in reply, ''That
man is in a business l never heard of before,
and / doubt if you ever have" Nc objections
being raised to the queer assertion, the gen
tleman continues:
81 came in tonight with him from Mime
apolls, and he is a iovial, hail fellow, we'll
met. We boarded the train together at Min
neapolis, and in the course of the trip we
struck up an acquaintance. He smoked my
cigars, and / quaffed with him, when it was
necessary to cut the dust in our throats.
From social talk we drifted into the charac-
ter of our respective pursuits, and / told him
/ sold lumber. He laughed, and jokingly re-
marked: i raise lumber sometimes His
reply puzzled me, and when | pushed him
for an explanation he told me that he bought
the floors of iewelry manufacturers
gold and silver that finds its
way into c%revices in the floor and becomes
himself, I'll introduce him to you and you
can hear from his own lips.n
Mr.. Grotlenschen, was the name of the
gentleman cited as being in a curious bust
ness, and while he was polite, affable and
jolly, he was not much inclined TO speak on
the subject. Nevertheless he answered
questions when they were advanced. He
said he represented a New York firm that
had made a discovery by which they could
work the dust and scraps from gold and sill
yer manufacturing establishments, the re-
fuse of such places, the aprons worn by the
workmen, the water in which they washed
their hands and the crucibles used for melt
ing the metal into bars and cakes of the
precious stuff and resell them at a large profit
to be again worked over into jewelry. The
works are situated somewhere in New Jer-
sey, and have made a mint of money for the
prOprietors.
81 am continually on the road buying the
floors and appurtenences TO leWelry manu-
featuring houses,n continued Mr.. Grotlen-
schen, 'and ] have Just come from Min
neapolis and st. Paul, where / bought two
floors and the washings from the hands of
employees. l paid in the main nearly $1,000
for the two outfits, and / think ! have Sc
cured a most excellent bargain. The refuse
is of long years standing, and the older the
premises the more valuable the prize. l am
on my Nay TO Kansas City from here, where
] have in view a very promising plant, and
from there | will journey through the south /"
In response 10 a question If his mission TO
the city was TO make a purchase OF a like
description he answered that it was. ana he
said that he had Just closed a bargain with