Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-05-28
FOOLED BY A SHARPER.
HOW "SHEENY AL" SWINDLED
THE ALTIMOREANS.

They Eagerly Invested I'm n Gold-Increas-
ing Company that Promised Fabulous
.Returns-YeIIow Metal Worth 100000
Disappears from n Crucible One Night
and with It ''sheeny AL"
Edward Pinter, alias "Sheeny AL"
who was arrested in London for at
tempting to swindle a ieweler In that
city by means of the philosophers
stone, /" through which he claimed to in
crease the bulk of gold, is supposed to
be the fellow who played the same game
I'm Baltimore, swindling five well-to-do
merchants out of nearly 100000, writes
a correspondent from the Monumental
City. About three years ago q man
came to Baltimore and engaged suite
of rooms in q clearinghouse on North
Charles street He called at the Office OF
a successful real-estate agent and intro
duced himself as Mr.. Gephart He said
that the agent had been recommended to
him as a discreet and enterprsng man.
and he desired to secure his aid In de-
veloping matter that would surely
bring fortune to both of them. He then
unfolded his scheme OF increasing the
bulk of gold, and assured the agent that
| he did not wish him to invest dollar in
| the enterprise until all doubt had been
removed from his mind of the ability OF
| Gephart to do all he claimed. He in
vited the agent to call at his rooms on
Charles street, when he would substan-
tiate his claim by practical tests
The agent accompanied him, and gave
| Gephart gold dollar with which to
| first experiment. This dollar was placed
| in a small crucible, and white powder
| was added by Gephart. The two men
| took turns at blow-pipe In increasing
the heat in the crucible until the gold
was melted aud mixed with the chem
| ical 1t was then allowed to cool, after
which Gephart took it out, gave it to the
agent, and told him to send it to the
| United States mint to be assayed and
| recoined. The mint officials returned a
/ report showing three times the amount
| OF gold JnuJ was put rnOU tire ~OrwOtSio.'
| The same tests with larger amounts
were continued, and always with the
same result The real-estate agent be-
came convinced Of the value OF Gep-
hart's secret. and Introduced Gephart to
| several wealthy citizens, with the view
| of enlisting them in the enterprise. The
same tests were made before them, and
they, too, became convinced Of Gephart's
ability to increase the bulk Of gold
stock company was formed and the
| basement of the house of one OF the
men interested was selected as the place
Of operations. This was fitted up with
furnace and iron watts about the size
of an ordinary bath-tub, One member
of the god-increasing company fur
nished about $4,000 in gold, and the
other four about $4,000 each. They
were to share proportionately in the
profits. In the presence of the whole
party Gephart apparently put all this
gold into one of the watts and placed II
on the fire. He then put in n quantity
of the powder and other chemicals. In
doing this, however. he declined to per
NIT any of the party to approach the
watts, saying that the fumes OF the chem
icals would overpOwer any one not pre-
pared to resist them.
A top was put on the vat and at the
suggestion of Gephart extra strong locks
were procured and the vat was securely
| fastened with them. The same precau
tions were taken with the door of thu
basement The keys were given to thu
gentleman I'm whose house the expert
ment was being tried. Gephart said tina
the vat must not be opened for three
; weeks. After remaining about the cit,
for several days Gephart said he wa
called to a distant city on business, bu
: would return on the day appointed 10
r taking otit the gold. lie did not come a
promised.
The real-estate agent became suspi
I cious and persuaded the party TO make al
, | Investigation. They went to the celia
and upon opening the vat found the gol
had all disappeared, while in its plac
was lot of rocks and scrap-iron. Th
, | men were dumfounded. The cellar ha
| lao,, antarad and tho GOLD stolen