Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-20

but 1t has been done successfully many
times. In one case-the st. George mine
In Australia-the culprt was discovered,
and he received two years Imprisonment,
but mean time he had cleared a few thou
sands OF pounds.
Occasionally diamond drills are put 10
work In gold country to test the value of
reefs at great depths. They cannot be
considered satisfactory for this purpose.
as a drill might Just miss a shoot of gold,
or else go through a very short one and
thus lead TO false hopes. Sailing these
drills has been successfully accomplished
on several occasions, the practice being
to hammer gold into the interstices of
the core, or else TO surreptitlously in
troduce an entirely new piece of core,
| Whlch had been previously prepared.
Near Bright, In Victoria, a great deal Of
money was put into a mine a few years
ago on the faith of a sailed drill-hole.
sometimes 1t happens that a really good
property is sailed. Thus one of the large
mines now working at Broken Hill, and
winch has turned out an enormous guam
tity of silver and lead, was originally
sold on q salt of several tOas of ore
conveyed from a neighboring mine. and
carefully stacked about an outcrop. In
New South Wales a gold-mine that paid
DIVIDENDS for years was sold in the same
way. on the faith of the promising Sur
FACE show a shaft was sunk. and at
about 200 feet a splendid body Of aurifer-
Gus stone was struck. In Tasmania an
alluvia tin-mine which had been sailed
led the purchasers to the discovery of
a gold-reef which amply repaid them for
their outlay.
Many persons will perhaps remember
the great tin-mine sailing case I'm Cam
ana which rraG rr1h, H. -
~ contrived swindle of it's kind on re-
cord. The operators, two in number
purchased from time 20 time some small
parcels OF tin-ore in Cornwall and ship
ped 1t TO Toronto, taking care never to
@ more than a few bags in any one
vessel. From Toronto the ore was taken
out West some hundreds OF miles and
carefully planted along a granite ridge.
the work of shipping and planting aking
about twelve months to accomplish. The
salters then left the scene and remained
away for some three years. AT the end
OF that time 1t was suddenly announced
at Quebec that what appeared TO be a
large and rich tin-ield had been dis
covered in the West, and a claim had
been put in for the government reward
of q think $4,000. which had been several
years on offer for such a discovery. As
might be expected, considerable excite
ment was manifested over the reported
find, and when the government eXper,
who was sent TO inspect the property
pronounced the discovery to be genuine,
there was quite a rush Of prospectors
and spectators TO the West, anxious t.
peg out or to purchase tin claims. Mean
while, a company was formed to worl
the reward claims; and just when II wa.
ready 10 commence work, the govern
-.-u a.g- ~ 49, w,rarfn - g+a glf1aL a
advisers, paid over the reward TO the
claimants, who, with this sum and a
further large amount obtained by the
sale of their claims, suddenly disap-
peared and were never afterwards heard
Of. 1t is scarcely surprising that the
Canadian experts were deceived, as grass
and moss and other vegetation had grown |
over the packed ore, while the denudation
of the hillsides had resulted in some of
the tin being washed into neighborinS |
creeks. where II was covered over with |
sand n debris. The swindle was ex-
ploded by a Cornish expert, who had been
sent for. He recognized the ore as having |
come from certain Cornish mines, and its
sale and shipment were thereupon quickly
traced.
Salters, however, do not always escape
punishment. A case occurred in South
Australia in 1895, in which a man was
sentenced to two years imprisonment for
swindling in this way. The culprit did
however, tamper with the mine, but
sailed the bags Of samples taken
from a shaft by the various experts
and spectators who Inspected the pro-
perty. This mine, in which there was
undoubtedly a little gold in stu, was
luite exceptional in one way, inasmuch
as all the subscribing shareholders in
The company which purchased 1t were
members of the South Australian Par
Needless TO say, the mine was
like a hot brick" when the fraud
discovered.
The Colony of Victoria had a very bad
,ase of sailing exposed lag year. About
.hree years ago, a certain Colonel Nor
ram (the title American), who was for
nerly at Broken Hill, and before that in
Nevada. United States of America, was
;ent 10 take charge of a reported valu-
bile silver and lead-mine in Gippsland,
,yned by a Melbourne company. The Col
mel sent down from time TO time glow
reports upon the mine, and after
iome months a few tons OF silver-lead
re were forwarded TO Melbourne from
property, and sold at a satisfactory
rice. Strange TO say, however, the regu-
ar delivery of ore was not maintained;
nut the Colonel ~explaiSsd this by report
ng that. though there were immense
,odies of ore practically exposed, yet the
nine wanted properly opening up before
he ore could be dealt with on a large
Gale. Time went on, and funds giving
ut, the company was r~eorganized, the
reports Of the work In hand
yhfch reached MelbOurne every fortnight L