Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-05-17


found The same day he was offered
and accepted a good many thousand
dollars for the property.
II was subsequently discovered hat
the ragged stranger and tho man with
4 gun were identical. He had filed
down n twenty-dollar gold piece.
loaded a gun with the dust. and fred
into the face Of the cliff This man
hal been n dcScrtcr from tho United
States Army. His name escapes me.
Sailing with chloride 81 gold. SO
called. was tho Invention Of n Cali
fornia man and practiced by him at
the hydraulic mines in the northern
part II that State. ! will leave some
chemist to state what the powerful re-
solvent was that held gold suspended
In infinitely small particles. but such
an agent he did discover aud used with
success III draulic mining is done by
means Of n very long sluico or trough
with Stats nailed crosswise along the
bottom. As muddy water. with which
the rich earth has been mixed. is
passed through this %sluice. quicksilver
In the angles Of the Stats attracts the
atoms Of gold. and the alluvial de-
posit forms an amalgum. At several
worthless mines this chloride ~ gold
was empticd into the water. and the
particles Of metal united with The
quicksilver in exactly the manner of
nature. II deceived all the experts
and realiz Il a fortune for the swind-
Ter lie built n summer hotel on the
Pacific coast with the proceeds. and
this was shortly after destroyed by
fire. Thus vice was ultimately pun
ishcd. jus, a. it is in novels. plays
and real life.
Who has ever heard of 'Grattin's
bottlcs2' Very few. and yet they at
n time puzzled numerous leading
scientists Of the country. This l.
briefly the history Of them: A man
named Grattin owned a cluster Of bar.
ren claims in Colorado. He went TO y
s.. Louis capitalist and told him .
wonderful story of gold. which existed.
he said. all through the loamy subsoil
Of the mines. The capitalist became
interested. and went out to investigate.
Grattin giving him four glass bottles
in which To bring home specimens Of
the earth. These he brought back.
securely sealed. and an assay discov-
cred gold running thousands Of dollars
to the ton. He bought the mines and
Grattin disappeared.
When the mines turned out TO be
absolutely worthless the question OF
how the swindle was perpetrated
arose. The strictest search failed to
show any signs Of sailing. and then
the victim thought Of the bottles.
They were ordinary glass jars holding
n quart each. and there was apparent
ly nothing suspicious about them
However. he had them scalded out
and filed with earth from his
garden In a few days the jars were
opened and unquestionable traces Of
gold found in the contents. He was
nonplussed. Scientific men examined
them. and could make nothing out of
the phenomena. No matter what was
put into the bottles gold would ap-
pear in q few days. L. looked like
alchemy.
Finally it occurred tn some l,ody e.
cut into the corks. and thcn the secre,
was out. They were made Of a COM
position of shellac. powdered cork and
gold dust This had the property oI
gradually disintegrating and dropping
OF. and the more the bottles we're han
died the more gold would be found on
assay.
Mine sailing has been practicc< SC
frequently in Colorado that smelter.
and miners are extremely careful Il
whom they sell rich ore. lest it be put
to improper uses. Hence it is "A mat.
ter of some difficulty to obtain the
salt. This was rather ingcniously
overcome some years ago in Lead
Vile. \ salter wanted some ore from
the Robert f. Lee mine. at that lime
the richest in the camp ii, obi aimed
employment Is u laborer. aud every
day. If er he had eaten his dinner in
one oi the drifts. he would fill hi,
bucket with ore. In a short time h,
hail the necessary quantity. Some
miners who noticed the trick en-
ployed 1t to steal ore and were getting
rich when n whole story came Il
light and they came To grief
Very few smelters have ever been
swindle'l by sailing. They take cx-
traontinary precautions against il.
sampling all the ore they buy from AT
least = dozen places. and then grind
ing mp the balance and sampling IL
afrcsh. In some smelters rs many n.
forty different samples are tax IN.
Z. II i a singular fact that not only
have poor mines been salted with rich
ore. bat rich mines have been very
frequently saltel with poor. The cir
cumstanccs under which such an ap.
parent paradox would take place are
thes Explorations are being made
in some part of 4 mine and a vein OF
very rich mineral is suddenly un-
covered II the superintendent has
salt and darkness in his soul he is very
apt to take a puck. dig out a little OF
the ore. and I'll the cavity with low.
grale stuff from some other part OF
the mine. Then he makes a dis
eouraging report. apparently verified
by facts. and in due course of time
proposes to lease the property for a
song. II he Is successful. the vein is
not long in being rediscovered. This
trick has been played time and again
ell owe the State. and in instances the
salter has gone so far as TO FAC
cidentally" blow up the tunnel in
which n rich find Wa mol. pa.h,n.