The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-03-13
Alfred Paraf Prefers the BOWery
to Fifth Avenue.
THE SON OF AN ADVENTURER
He Inherits His Tlaits-His Fathers Social
and Swtndling Success-The Boy Com
mitted for Burglary.
Especial to THE HERA1p-Examiner Dispatch.

.
ne is surrounded by every luxury and com
fort that his grandparents can secure for
their only grandson in the other, he con
sorts with thieves, ne lives a hand to-
mouth existence by day and creeps into
low, ill-smelling lodging houses by night.
he rolls himself in the mud which
stains the purlieus of the Bowery. Up
till last Friday the boy had been only a
reckless, unmanageaole youth, but now be
| is criminal and must suffer for his error.
For one reared as Alfred Paraf has been,
| now Is his depravity to be accounted forl He
was In the Bowery the other day wlhout
enough money to pay for a nights lodg-
Ings, so with two disreputable companions
n e begged enough money to pay the fares
OF the trio to New Jersey The party
| went to Parat's grandfather's house and
stole gems which had belonged to his dead
Inotner; SILK underwear and silverware
! were also taken. The burglars came TO
new York and disposed of the booty
for $1,000. When asked what caused
MIN TO commit the crime, young Paraf said 4:
L wasn't happy at home. Grandpa treated
me Kindly; he was always good to me, but I
couldn't get along with my grandmother;
mamma never could. No, she didn't punish
me SO much, but she was always talking
ana reprlmanding me, no matter what did
| couldn't get along with grandma, that
was all.n
While young Paraf has never before
committed any lawless act, he had been
wllful, perverse and hard to manage ever
since ne was ten years old. After being
expelled from many private schools ne was
sent TO the training ship ST. Mary's. When
ne returned from a foreign voyage his
grandfather got him mercantile position,
a nm Of ~.
on his reckless life. His grandfather. Mr.
Smith, is seventy years Of age and lives at
559 Filth avenue, and is well known among
tne legal profession and at large
Every one whose recollection goes back
ten or fifteen years remembers having
beard OF, II he never saw, the dashing, bril-
liant foreigner who called himself Cheva-
ler de Psraf, who landed in this country
with several big ideas in his head, that ne
made haste to turn to profit. One of them
was the application of analine dive to cloth
That was 10 yield to the manufacturer who
adopted 1t fabulous fortune Another
was an oeomargarine scheme that was 10
transmute fat into gold, as later on, in Chill.
the cheValler was to do the same thing with
copper. Paraf landed in New York from
the West Indies, in June, 1857. He pro-
1essed to have discovered an analine black
superior to any in the market, and with
this ne made trip through the manufac-
turing districts of New England, selling
mill owners at from 81, 900 to 50, coo apiece.
This campaign is said to have netted him
over 500, 600 in cash.
Returning to New York, Paraf took ele
giant apartments in the first story of the
Everett house at s135 a week. bringing
with him tall, distinguished looking
blonde, whom he introduced as Madame
Paraf. The money which ne had made in
the eastern states he flung around him
most lavishly. He would take absolute
pleasure in loan1ng thousand or two at a
time to friend, and would even press it
upon the latter If he thought him in want.
lie gave elegant dinner parties at Dslmcni-
co.'s, at which men well known in scientific.
mercantile and legal circles were guests.
He would drive home late in the evening
and allow the carriage to stand outside ali
night, too lndolent to send down an order
for its dismissal, but perfectly willing to
pay s25 or $50 to the driver in the morning
for his trouble. In bathing he would throw
go worth OF altar of roses in the water and
then lie and soak in oriental luxury for an
hour or more. On his down town visits an
elegant coupe with high steppinghorses and
a hverie driver conveyed him.
His rooms In the Everett house
were furnished in style, and Madame
which were tbs envy and admiration of her
companions. Then the chsvalier professed
to have hit upon method for EMPLOYING
an extract OF madden in calico printing at a
much cheaper rate than that in common
use. Paraf performed his experiments an
that Governor Sprague. of
Rhode island, became convinced of the
value OF the invention and paid the cheva-
Her SO doo down with contingent interest
r0vQItU n hat, -.
out of the undertaking.
For time everything went on swim
mlngly, and money flowed through Paraf,s
hands like water. In the eighteen months
during which the madden excitement was
at lts height, he spent over S100. 900 besides
running into debt heavily Then Paraf
thought of his ol0omargarine scheme. A
company was formed here. The first thine
that led to suspicion as to the soupdness
OF Gne new venture was the discovery bv
the chevalier's lawyer that the process
had already been patented in France. and
that Paraf, instead of being the original in
ventor, was at best an adopter of the nlans
OF others. This fact alone vitiated ali the
patents under which the COMPANY was
and it became necessary to effect
reorganization. The chevalier was sent
to San Francisco to dispose of the rights to
make oleomargarine in California and to
necessary works. In his absence the New
Y ork shareholders put the old COMPANY
into bankruptcy and started a new one on
us ruins. The new organization was
styled the United States Dairy company
and had capital of $1,000, 900. Paraf re-
turned from California after years ab-
ssnce and accused the leaders in the new
concern OF having swindled him out of mis-
rights Iney waxed indignant and threat
r hn Ia
rested, but never did so.
From San Francisco, where. in limitad
way, ne repeated his New York adyen
lures, Paraf embarked for South America.
In chill gigantic scheme for extracting
soid ore from copper and making every
Dody's fortune was chosen for getting at
the hoardlngs OF the rich natives. A Joint
SIoch company with capital of millions
was launched. Immense smelling works
were established at Higueras de Zapata, !
and assays OF ores made by officials of the |
company in Paraf's presence revealed q
arge percentage of gold in the copper.
Inen the Estanddrte de Chill gave COM
plete and scientific disclosure of the whole |
'Wlndle, which served to show the
sxtent and accuracy of the chevalier's |
knowledge of chemistry 1t attributed |
ne success OF Paraf's first assay to a hid |
len compound known to science as hypo- |
'uiPuiVc u soua ana gold. For his share |
u working this swindle Paraf was arrested |
n 1877, together with his valet, who was |
charged with being an accomplish. After |
pending some time in prison at Valparaiso. |
2araf secured his release and fled to |
europe. There his fame as an original dis |
'overer IN chemistry had preceded him, and |
le mas not been heard of again in connec- |
ion with dyes or other alleged inventions. !