The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-10
GOLD BRICK INDUSTRY
EXPECTED TO PICK UP AGAIN NOW
THAT NEW YORK IS WIDE OPEN.
Collection OF the Costly Chunks of
Brass or Copper at the Assay Office
Indians in the SwindIe.
New York Press.

OPEN and bunco men and sellers of gold
bricks" may reasonably be expected to re-
sumo their neglected industries once more.
it is in the nature of a real kindness to in
form these confidence gentlemen of the ex-
istence of collection Of gold bricks in this
city which have done service once and
might be made useful again.
This collection is down in the assay office
in Wall street. The bricks Were brought
there to be assayed by "chumps'' who had
bought them for real gold. When they
found they had been duped they went away
leaving the bricks behind them, with their
hopes of wealth. Some of these gold
bricks are large, heavy bars of copper or
brass, but the last two which We're received
there are of new model.
A young Englishman came into the assay
office with two large round masses of metal,
shaped like e derby hat, with the rim cut
off. He said that he lad just come from
the West, where he had bought these pieces
of gold for ST. 500. He had bought them of a
man who was obliged to sell them for some
mysterious reason. WHICH he only limited at,
but he knew the man and knew that the
metal was genuine gold.
A piece had been bored out Of the bricks
in his presence and tested, and had stood
the test He had covered the bricks with
tar so that no one would know they were
gold and steal them while he was coming
East He had spent almost his last cent to
get to New York, and now he wanted to
find out how much his fortune amounted
to. He thought about 100000.
He had come to the United States to seek
his fortune, but the $500 he had paid for
the bricks was all he had been able to accu-
mulate in several years of hard work. Now,
however, he was rich, and would take the
first steamer to England, where he would
astonish the old folk. who were anxiously
waiting for their wandering boy, and would
live happy ever afterward.
The old officials at the assay office looked
at him with pity. They had seen so many
such visitors. They assayed the bricks and
found, as they had suspected, that the
young man had been founding his hopes on
Jumps of brass. When they broke the news
to him he turned deadly pale and would
have fallen to the floor in faint II they
had not supported him.
He was taken up stairs and given a little
whisky to revive him, and after q Whle
was able to walk out into that world again
which had changed so much for him III
few minutes. His nerve was gone. He had
no heart to take UP the struggle again, and
wrote to his parents for money enough to
pay his passage to England. They sent it,
and the defeated fortune seeker returned as
the prodigal to the home where he had
MIR. Mason, the veteran superintendent or
the assay office, says that the ''gold-brick'
industry is always with us. though; ike
any other business, it sometimes suffers
depression. Sometimes for two or three
years there will not be single gold
brick" brought to the office, and then again
there will be an epidemic of them. IT
is always q sad sight when the victim Is
informed of the worthlessness OF his pur-
chase.
'Once when was in the mint at Phila-
dephia," said Mr.. Mason, "a man came in
with satche slung across his shoulder by
a strap. He walked confidently, up to the
counter and, unslinging his satchel, opened
it, disclosing a fine lot of iron pyrites. lie
informed us that it was gold, which he had
bought for small sum, which sum was
nevertheless, about all he could muster,
and he wanted his gold assayed to find out
just how rich he was.
I'VE had some difficulty in convincing him
that he had been duped and his supposed
gold had no value. When he finally grasped
the situation his face took on look
gotten it. When he could finally command
his voice he asked If he might leave the
pyrites there, but was told that really they
had no room for it. Then he walked slow
ly and sadly out of the place.
81 was curious to see what he would do
when he reached the street and looked out
of the window. He stopped a moment on
the edge of the sidewalk, looked up and
down the street, and then, with a sudden
movement, threw the lsatchel and its con-
tents into the gutter and walked down the
street with firm and determined step.
He had regained his nerve"
In all the specimens of gold bricks at the
assay Office can be seen little round holes
where the brick has been bored by the
crook who sold it, for the purpose of
his victim. When the victim wants proof
of the genuineness of the brick small,
round piece is bored out by the crook and
is given to the victim to have tested, or is
tested in his presence. And the piece tested
is always fine gold. 1t is in this part of the
game that the skill of the seller of gold
bricks" comes in for its supreme test for
he must substitute for the piece bored out
q piece of gold of the same size and do it
as deity as any prestidigltateur. 1t is a
singular fact that all the holes in the gold
bricks" at the assay office here and all
those brought to the mint in Philadelphia
have holes in them which are bored with
the Same-SiZed instrument and apparently
with the same kind of an instrument.
This would seem to indicate that the
'gold-brick'' industry is not haphazard
affair, but is conducted with some system,
and that the outfit of the successful opera
tor consisted of certain tools, made after
certain pattern and probably by some firm
degree of excellence.
The gold brick of the bunco man does not
in the least resemble the gold brick which
gold brick Of the assay office is of two or
three sizes, all of them much smaller than
the gold brick of swinder or dupe. A
small bar of gold inches long, IL inches
thick and 21s inches wide weighs 2l5 ounces
and is worth S4,3S9.35.
IL the TVe SOlu DrlckS Wn1Cn now fGpOSe
on the top of safe in the assay office. as
pictured here, We're of the genuine metal
they would be worth probably 100000.
Bricks of solid gold as big as those the
young Englishman brought in one man
would not be able to carry A pretty sure
way of telling gold brick when one is Of
fered to you is to find out if there is an In
dian connected with the story.
Generally the seller tells a story of get
ting the brick from an Indian. He has told
the Indian story since the gold brick"
story was first invented, and in spite of
the times the newspapers have exposed his
swindliug operations and given, almost
word for word. the story he tells, he still
finds that nothing goes so well with his
victim as the Indian.
Lately Klondike mas begun to figure in
the stories. but even then the bunco man
drags in. an Alaska Indian 1t seems as if
a gold brick could not be sold If the IN
dian were not mentioned. He is as much a
part of the gold brick mans stock in trade
as the fine tool with which he bores the
brick and the sleight of hand with which
he substitutes a genuine piece of gold for
the specimen taken by the boring.