The record-union., 1897-08-21
THE GRAVES BROTHERS GOLD.

If the readers of the sensational
press desire to know how unreliable
the statements made by them are, they
should take the files of real live rep
resentative Of new journalism" and
look back over them.
Each days sensation is succeeded by
a new sensation with each new issue
of the paper and the story told on the
preceding day is ignored and apparent
ly forgotten. Let US take the story of
the Graves brothers gold find as an
illustrative case.
When the Graves brothers reached
San Francisco they were reported to
have said that the gold nugget they
found was three feet long, eighteen
inches wide and seven inches thick;
that fearing robbery they broke this
great nugget in two; cached one-half
of it and proceeded to Redding with
the other half. One brother drove the
team and the other held a Winchester
in his lap. In this picturesque man
ner they proceeded as far as the
Tower House the first day. concealing
from the people there their great pos
session, and accomplished the remain
der of their journey by night, arriving
in Redding early in the morning. The
nugget they brought with them to San
Francisco was worth $4,000. 1t did
not escape illustration. The largest
nugget ever found before the Graves
brothers discovery was pictured in its
exact size, accompanied by the Coffee
Greek nugget, showing somewhat
larger. The fortunate discoverers of
this nugget, according to the sensa-
tionaI press, would return with equal
caution. running the gauntlet of the
robbers which infest the road between
Redding and Coffee Greek, and bring
the cached treasure down. Since then
nothing has been said of the great
wealth that has been cached. 1t has
not been sent to the mint, and it has
not made its appearance in material
ized form.
Moreover, the first discovery has
dwindled down to the value of 1000,
descending to that point by gradual
steps, or by neglectful proof reading,
or by way of forgetfulness of former
statement. In interviews with the SEN
sational press the Graves brothers are
represented to have said that there
was plenty more where that nugget
came from. They spoke with the con-
fidence of those who knew that they
had opened one of the great treasure
houses Of the earth and that other and
still more astonishing discoveries
awaited the fulfllment of time.
And now comes information from a
comretent expert and reliable source
that the Graves brothers found a pock-
eft in a vein of tale. six inches wide
took out all in sight, did not cache
any of it, took it to San Francisco,
and have made no subsequent discover
les.
It is significant to note the fact that
the papers publishing the statements
$ and interviews which so grossly mis-
represented the actual finds on Coffee
Greek and which have sent hundreds OF
people TO that region to their obvious
injury, have not retracted any state
ments made. For a sensational paper
TO say that the information obtained
and published in a former issue was
false and misleading is degree OF
moral exaltation which sensationalism
in Journalism viii never reach 1t is
quite probable that the Graves broth
ers' nugget did not amount to much
and it is even more than probable that
the discoverers of the nugget never
made the statements attributed &c
them.
The question arises. what objects
were photographed when the pictures
of the great nuggets of the world were
presented with the Graves brothers
nugget at the head?
A prominent Carlist in New York