Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-12-26
SWEATING GOLD COIN
THIS TRICK or aw'eo.lNo .s.EAs'Lx.
NJ PERFORMED, -, 4 -" g.,

n ness-John Chinaman Has Kvsa .
7 safer way Of Jugslins Ceia.
( Sweating q coin IL merely robbins it
OF y portion of its'legal weight without
In any manner altering itS appearance.
Manifestly gold coins alone would hardly
appeal to the sweater, for silver would
hardly pay for the trouble. In countries
where paper money IL employed, sweat
ing has taken no root. Also in countries
like England, where the largest gold coin
Is = sovereign. the practice would hardly
become epidemic On the Pacific, slope
at one time the snefarions, business as
sunied such proportions that the govern
nlent found 1t necessary to pass measures
against coin sweating; but even then the
manifest injustice" Of 'arresting person
for merely passing" sNch> 4. coin; such
person being almost. certainly quite limo:
cent, appealed to- legislators to such an
extent that the law was made only to-
infect the actual manipulation OF the I'M
lawful process. The consequence OF this
has been that the authorities have had
the greatest difficulty in securing con-
v;ctions against the malefactors, who
have debaied no end of'coins.'''' =.
The process Of sobbius a,coin Of a part
of. its metal ISL simple: The .goldp1ece
is merely immersed, or suspended. In
aqua regia, a mixture Of nitric and by
drochloric acids, which attacks the metal
at once. The manipulatOrs keeps. the
piece In the bottle only a short time. for
a few minutes suffice for the mixture to
absorb and hold in solution as much a.
a dollars worth Of the gold from $50
piece. ( The coin ~ then washed in wa
ter and polished with whiting, as other
wise it's surface would betray the ordeal
through which it had been PASSED, show
ing ''pocknlarks in great variety.
The process is continued with other
coins until the acid is saturated" when
it will absorb no more Of the metal. The
coins are exchanged for silver or other
currency, as only an expert could detect
the small subtraction in weight. and the
silver is ther :re-exchanged for more
gold, upon WHICH the operator performs
his little game in due course. 1t Is only
necessary for the villain to boil down his
acid to complete evaporation. when the
residue in the kettle will be found in tb"
shape Of a cleaning button of pure gold.
varying in size according to the amount
Of acid and the charge it carries in So
In San Francisco the government Sc
cret agents have waged long and bitter
war with sweaters. They have captured
many who were guilty enough in all con-
science, but against whom no conviction
could be obtained for lack of evidence.
and they have. placed others beyond all
worldly temptation for various terms OF
years. One Of the lone kings Of this ne
farious business, who finally was obi sed
to soiourn for a rest in the penitentiary
at San Quentin, was named Goodrich.
He was an exceedingly modest and re-
firing man. :: He, occupied an ordinary
dwelling and conducted his operations on j.,
the roof. After many long weeks Of vigil
on the, partaof government detectives he
was taken into, Custody. not redhanded.
but at least bl4ck, fingered by the
acid. His aPRaEatIs vas found most
in the %ehimTney 'dn top' of his house, At
the time Of his capture a small bottle: OF
'greeenish fluid Was, found, and this, upon
being carefully reduced in fumes, yield
ed up q button worth fully $40. A few
coins were discovered in the mans peck
cts ard also In his residence. These, to
all appearances. were honest coins. EE-
der the microscope they were found to
be fairly cross Matched with tiny lines.
which had been produced by the process
Of polishing to remove the traces where
the acid had eaten away the metal.
Insidious MS this acid thieving may ap-
pear, it might be regarded as crude by
those who are acquainted with the tricks
that are vain" exercised by the "heathen
Chinee." John Chinaman is numerous in
California. lie gets his long hands on
many q golden disk, and with great re-
luctance does he ever relinquish his grip.
He has never learned the Fart" Of sweat
ing the coins with acid, but he accom-
pishes his purpose in his characteristic
ally patient manner. He simply places
many coins together in buckskin bag
and then proceeds to shake and toss and
otherwise agitate that receptacle by the
hour or by the week until he has worn of
by abrasion $40 or $50 worth of fine dust
of gold. The coins wear one another.
They present the appearance when at
/ length they emerge from the sack Of hay
Ing been regularly abraded by pocket to
pocket circulation, and therefore to all In
tents and purposes nothing illegal has
been done. As a matter Of fact, no Chi
nese has ever been apprehended or put
On trial for this work. 1t is doubtful II
the authorities have ever taken cogni-
zance of the practice. Only few people
ever realized what the sly Celestials were
ut when witnessing the hourly agitation
Ut the coins. 1t is of course unlawful to
bore hole through gold coin or to per-
form any other mutilation, but Mr.. Chi
naman cannot be said to putlate the
| money he wears out SO artfully, and
therefore he pursues his course serene
and unmolested
There have been clever rogucs from
time to time who employ slender tool
| with which to "gut" coin. Their meth
cd is to make small incision in the edge
Ut coin and then patiently dig out the
inside, after which they refill the hollow
space with baser metal. High art" like
| this has become almost obsolete, for the
acid business has frequently proved safer
md less difficult Of performance. Laws
| will multiply and detectives will wax
more and more like Sherlock Holmes, but
the makers and administrators Of penal
regulations will be obliged to arise early
| in the morning to prevent for all time the
effort Of man to accumulate bis "pile" for
| nothing"
The Scots Gratitude.
An old farmer coming home from the