The Portland daily press., 1898-04-02

The Many Tricks Adopted by SwIndlers
to Deceive Investors-Flring Gold-dust
from a shotgun: he Canada Tin Mine
Fraud-'Col." Morgan's Operations.
New York Post.)
What is known as the sailing" OF
mines is much more common than most
people imagine. 1t is practised in every
mining district in the world with more
or lass success, and it is hardly too much
to say that fully 10 per cent OF the for
eign and colonial mines sold to London
companies are purchased on sailed work
ings or samples.
The methods of sailing adopted are al
most as various as the mines doctored.
earliest means of salting in the case OF
gold minss is what is known as the mail
triok.' In this the prospector, VINO Is
washing dish of alluvial or crushed
quartz, has concealed in his hnger-nalls
some fine particles of gold. Soon after
starting to wash it he finds it necessary
to puddle the dirt with his hands, IN
order to break up the clayey substances,
and OF course while he is pudding the
gold is freed and goes into the prospect
eventually making that pretty corner"
which the speculator so likes to see. Per-
haps, however, the nefarious prospector
has his nails too short for this trick, and
he will then resort to the expedient of
shooting line gold into the di-l from his
mouth whenever he gets an opportunity
of doing SO without being observed. Or
he will raise hand to put his hat
straight, and at the same time shake into
the dish some gold dust from his hair.
But sometimes the speculator or expert
present, whose good opinion of the prop
erty is wanted, resolves to wash dish or
two himself; and then The prospector has
to resort to other tactics. He will, how
ever, probably have provided for the con-
tingency, and will be pretty sure to find
some means of sailing the new sample OF
the dish before the water touches it. Sup
posing that circumstances are against him
in this, then he will have recourse to a
pipe or cigar properly prepared for the
occasion. The chances are that the wash
er will not notice the apparently accident
al falling of tobacco-ash into his dish,
and the trick will have succeeded.
The sailing of prospects while under
process of dishing is, however, fast dying
out, prospectors preferring the more soiia
business of sailing tn } earth or rock as 1T
lies in stu, or of bringing stone from
other mines and preparing an ingenious
pack. Formerly themost common method
of sailing a barren reef was 10 fire gold
dust into it from shotgun: and many
a mine has been sold for good figure on
the strength of reef faxed in this way.
But the shooting process is unsatisfactory
for many reasons. In the first place, it
only answers at all for certain classes of
rock; then the reef into which gold has
been fired has patchy appearance, which
is not favorable sign; and again much
of the gold fired is lost, while the explo-
sion of the gun in a narrow drive or cross
cut is liable to bring down lot of the
ground. All these are serous objections;
but what chiefly brought the shooting
practice into disrepute among salters
was the fact that the prospective buyers
of the mines or their representatives,
gradually became suspicious of fair faces,
and often insiste upon taking their sam
pies loot or SO back from the face. The
biggest coup on record effected by the
shooting trick was brought Off in las
Ii ania, where nearly half an acre of sand
9 one was fusilladeu, and "a great deal of
mone5 made by the salters. the purchas-
ers believing thut they had really acquired
the biggest gold-mine in the world.
The art of sailing is carried to it's high
est pitch of perfection in The process
known as Stacking This is performed
by building up portion of reef at the