Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-08-05
A Gold Brick Swindle
Ors who Were More GullibIe than
"Greenhorn" COuntrymen.

/
"Greenhorn" Countrymen.
A gold brick swindle of magnificent
proportions has been exposed by the sud
den flight of Grew" p. F. Jernegan, an
alleged ex- Baptist minister, who was the
president, and G. f. Fisher, the assistant
manager of the "Electrolytic Marine Salts
company" doing business at Lubec, an
island on the eastern Maine coast The
company, about whose operations much
! has been printed, claimed TO be coming
minis full of gold by extracting the gold
from sea water. Its victims, many of them
men of means, were as greedy and guilt
Bile as any back country farmer who ever
| yielded himself to the seductiors of the
gold-brick man. 1t is said that $780, 900
had been paid into the concern by stock
holders at $100 share. Jernegon and
Fisher carried off with them at least $780,
| 600 of this.
The story of how the swindle was work.
ed is told by VIM. Phelan, who says he is
detective who was hired by Fisher to assist
him in deceiving would-be investors in his
scheme in making what were supposed to
be bona fide experiments but which turn
out to have been the rankest kind of
| fraud.
Phelan's story is to the effect that on
one cold February day in 1S9S some pro-
spective investors were gathered upon a
| loosely pier near Providence,
| K. l., and at the end OF which a small hut
had been built so that the watchers might
be comfortable as possible. Through the
| portion of the pier which formed the floor
of this hut a hole was cut through
which a submarine tank was lowered to
the bottom of Naragansett bay. This was
charged with quicksilver and connected
with a wire leading from a battery upon
the shore. All through the day and night
the men kept their vigil, fearful that
should they relax their care some unscrup-
ulous hand might tamper with the appar
atus. But it was an il-contrived attempt
to circumvent rascalty, for Fisher, mean
time, arrayed in his Divers suit and pro-
vided with tank of air which was slung
across his shoulders had dropped into the
water and walking upon the sea bottom,
guided by the wires leading to the shore
battery, substituted for the mercury in the
tank some of his own that had been well
saturated with gold. The rest is soon told.
After - hours watch in the cold, the
tank was drawn up by means of a wind
lass and its contents taken to an assayer,
who reported the yield as being worth
$3.50.
After this it was smooth sailing for
Jernegan and Fisher. An immense plant
of the most substantial kind, containing a
large number of conyerters, was estab-
lished at Lubec, it having been found by
experiment that the sea water on the
Maine coast was especially rich in gold.
Money flowed into the Office in stream,
while each week ''sea- water bar of gold
was converted into cash, and stockholders
who happened in while the transmutation
was going on congratulated themselves,
doubtless, in open mouthed wonder. Min
listers, business men, snug capitalists, ser
want girls and people of every class were
the victims.
As many as 700 men were employed il
building the plant and in the various oper
atoms All bills were paid promptly and
the company was in excellent repute 10
cally.
Jernegan was in Paris when last hear
from. Orders were cabled to arrest hin
on charge of obtaining money by falls,
pretences, but as this is not an eXtradita
bic offence an effort will be made to hold
him for enlightenment.