The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-03-08

A Member Of the Ananias Club
Spins a Yarn.

Until this day and hour | have
never revealed a secret that ] have
carried in my bosom for nigh on
eighty years, =" said Patrolman Rafferty,
to the members of the Ananias Club
last night.
II need not be a humble policeman,
for / am the possessor of enormous
wealth, before which the banks of the
Ro~thschilds sink to paltry figures, but
l am waiting for certain events to
transpire before making use of my
wealth. If the president will club my
side partner McMulleu into wakeful-
ness l will give away the secret"
Patrolman McMullen was aroused
from the slumber in which he had
fallen, and Patrolman Rafferty,, "the
Duke OF Terry Hot as Mac affection
ately calls him, began his story.
When the Mexican Wan closed,
and the victorious troops were return
ing to their homes in the North, l
concluded to remain in Mexico and
look for gold in the mountains. 1t
was on June % that / began boring
down the side of q mountain in the
valley of Tenochtitlan. While in the
army Ahad invented a gun that shot
slugs O steel, and this gun | used in
my boring operations, and in a weeks
time | had a shaft eighteen inches in
diameter and II, 900 feet deep. Max :
ing a cable of deerhide | lowered my
self down the shaft. Not KNOWN g
how long | might be gone, | had made
of antelope hides a suit of clothes. 1t
.x,o- ~Ae1l,- lA..l<l. o4s% RA-4o-~-I
together at the top and bottom, an !,
was perfectly alright. Between thu
suits | placed a large quantity o.
goats milk, dried meats, apple pies
| some chewing tobacco, a lot of cigar,
and matches, etc, etc. OF course yous
understand that they were all in sep
arate compartments. A small rubber
tube connected each compartment
with a long rubber syphon, the open
ing of which was close to my mouth,
and when | wanted a little milk to
drink | would squeeze that compart-
ment of the suit, and the milk would
fly through the tubes to my mouth.
Well, | descended the shaft and en-
route | examined the different strata,
and having some knowledge of geol-
ogy | had a very pleasant time. But
/ had found no gold.
II had been in the shaft about two
months when l suddenly broke into
what | supposed was a cavern. but
which afterwards proved to be a
pocket, such as we now find natural
gas in. The pocket was about six
hundred feet in diameter and | should
Judge two miles in depth. | ma Ike a
rough guess as to its depth, a ] had
no means OF accurately calculating it,
and only judged by the length of
time it took me to reach the botto m.
The pocket was brilliantly illumina-
ted by what | took to be diamonds,
but when / touched the glittering
| particles | found them soft and yield
ing like putty. There were immense
deposits of Silurian coral, and the
brilliants seemed to be fastened as if
by cunning artificers n this coral.
II understood at once that ] was in
that part of the earth known to geol-
ogists as the Silurian era; but whence
came the sparkling bits, a thousand
times brighter than diamonds? For
two days and nights | studied them
carefully, and decided that the gilt
tering objects were a species OF ZOO
phytes, that for a thousand years had
lived in this pocket. Ages before q
stream, perhaps a river, tributary to
what is known as Lake TeZcocO, had
flowed through this pocket. The in
sects. or whatever form OF life the ZOO
phytes had been, had fastened them
| selves to the Silurlan coral and died.
They ii time became part OF the coral
and the flowing of the water had cut
them into many forms. Some of the
sparklers were equilateral, some oc-
tagonal, while Others were worn to a
sharp point and were long and slen-
der
I'm one chunk of coral / found q
necklace complete. Hele was a find
beside which the treasures of Monte
Cristo paled to insigniiicance. The
Jewels were of immense value. Dia
monds We're but glass beside them.
| But they We're too soft to be used.
When they became hard then
their value was at its
height. / determined to take a
lot of the jewels to Indiana with Inc.
| made a long canister from coral, and
this / filled with the sparklers. |
suppose | took at least two bushels.
The air was so thick and heavy that
by working my feet as a swimmer
treads water | was able to raise tic
within 1900 feet of the top Of the
| shaft. The deerskin rope assisted up
tile balance of the way. Once more
on top of the earth / soon procured
the needed articles to safelp transport
my treasure to Indianapolis.
Il have them now in a trunk in the
garnet of my house. They are getting
harder every day and their brilliancy
is increasing. Diamonds look like
glow worms in electric light beside
them, and | expect | could sell
enough of them to the Council to
light the city and thus do away with
gas and electricity, at a good round
price, but / don't care to sell them
now. When they are hard no tool
can cut them, but cutting is not
needed; the washing of the subter-
ranean river has moulded them into
shape for setting in rings, pins, ear
hobs, brooches, etc. l calculate it
will be ten years before they are
ready for the market and until then
I will remain on the police force.
3sWhen / do come out as a billion
aire every day will be Sunday with
you ads.N-Indidnapotas NescS. n
Dutch Treat Theatre Parties.
The theas e party, which for some
reason fell into a sort Of a semi1decline
toward the end Of last winter, IS being