The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-08-10
made Tie trip As remember he was
not ah$cn; more than ten or fifteen

not absent more than ten or fifteen
minutes.
nv hat are you up to anyway? lex
claimed Us h. came out Gt the water in
his disir" suit. >urnI"uutc,l by a tank
Of compressed air which he wore on
his back Greatly e!atc,i at the success
Of his submarine trip. lie exclaimed:
We are going to make gold .Jcrnc-
can is to have two men here They
will stay in that hut on the wharf over
night and watch the process There
is fortune in it for us 1t will aston
ish the world These capitalist arc
going to furnish their own chemicals
and place them in the water themselves
while .jcrncgan will supply the battery
connected with the submarine rcccpta-
clc for getting gold from the sea.
He further explained that platinum
wires were connected with the appara-
us making it easy to abstract the gold
from the surrouding salt water. which
held the precious metal in solution. 1t
all seemed marvellous vt first could
scarcely believe the thing possible. bu
on further explanation the operation
appeared simple and plausible.
On the following day the capitalists
arrived, registered at the city hotel in
Providence, and that afternoon they
went to the wharf. where they remained
over night in the little house.
The quicksilver which they had
brought with them was deposited
in the submarine tank before itwas
lowered into the sea. Then the
current was turned on from .)erne-
gan' battery, while the capitalists
watched the operations. silently
and in wonder These men sat
there all night, waiting in bitter
cold in February for the gold to
accumulate in the box. These
coniding gentlcmen-supposed to
be shrcwd business men-whcn
they dropped their own honest
quicksilver into the square lead
lined box little dreamed that Fish
or. the diver, would come around
later. walking on the bottom of the
sea. cmptying their quicksilver into
the water, replacing it with some
doctorcd mercury Of his own, we'll
saturated with gold.
Il was told subsequently by .jcrne-
can himself that on the followingmorn
ing. when the submerged box was hoist
cd out of the water. it was found that
the mercury had eaten through the
lining of the box, and some Of it had
disappeared into the sea. Enough,
however, remained to show the value OF
the alleged experiment.
TO still further and the demonstra-
ton. ,Jcrncgan slipped little Califor-
MIA nugget. which he had been wearing
as scarf ornament, in the quicksilver,
to be dissolved. This greatly added to
the yield Of gold from the salt water of
the sea. The contents OF the box were
then given to an assayer, who made his
analysis while the capitalists waited in
the reception room.
The assayer's report made the yield
aboutS4. 50-a fairly good nights work
for little box in the bottom Of Maria
gansett bay. with only an ordinary bat
terry to do the mining and abstract the
cold from the sea water The capital
lists were not only satisfied, but amazed
at the result, and said they were will
ing to put up handsomely for building
machinery on large scale that would
take gold by the carload out Of the sea.
AS the outlook appeared Aladdins S
lamp and the big diamond mines Of the
Arabian Nights were not in it with this
little chain lightning gold mining appa-
ratus invented by the Rev. ?. +. Jer-
negan. After congratulations all around
the capitalists returned to MiddletoWn,
Conn, where they lived, but We re-
manned. In few days along came a
draft-the amount of the first Install
ment On the payments to be made.
After staying in Providence two or
three days l came to New York, having
done what Fisher had requested in the
way of aiding him in his experiments.
According to Instructions | sent on my
bill-S5OO. Instead Of paying it prompt
ly Jernegan sent me 500 by Fisher. |
protested vigorously and said that | pro-
posed to have the full amount Of my
bill. After some delay it was paid.
From that time the success OF the
scheme was assured. Poor people in
vested their savings. Some Of the vic
tins went so far as to mortgage their
homes, putting the proceeds into the
scheme. 1t is not known how much
money Jernegan received, but the fund
was most extensive and Its victims are
scattered all over the Eastern and New
England states. Rev. Mr.. Jerncgan
has justly gained the fame of being
the most astounding and picturesque
swindler Of modern times.