Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-04-26

or within reach of Palma Sola. Anil.
having engaged Simpson to make the
said several assays, this pompous in
dividual departed for the ''Esperanza"
prospect in peace and content of mind
| in which frame of spirit he did not
leave Mr.. Simpson, assayer and ore
buyer.
That entire night Simpson spent in
fighting phantoms OF the past, memo
ries of his lost and only love, memories
of home and friends, the position and
happiness which might have been his
but for his own folly and his traitor
Gus confdant, Hadley Benton. 1t
was hard night and q hard fight,
but Simpson went to his Office exulting
next morning with plans fully thought
out and arranged. His enemy had at
last been placed in his power, and Mr..
| Simpson proposed that there should
be plentiful settling of old scores.
When Mr.. Hadley- Benton and his
large number of carefully sealed sam
Piles from the "Esperanza' reached
Simpsons assay Office later that week,
the latter person was entirely and
deferentially at the disposal of the
lordly capitalist, only Simpson pre-
ferred-in fact, stipulated that Had
ley Benton himself should unseal the
samples, with his own hands, and re-
main in the assaying office, SO that the
entire process, from grinding the sam
pies down to the weighing OF the gold
residue, could be carefully Witnessed
and overlooked by him. For, as Mr..
Hadley Benton must realize, assaying
such valuable ore as that of the ''Es.
peranZa" was serious matter. partic-
ularly where, as in the present case,
there were no other assayers to check
against, aud one mans results had to
be accepted.
This was "quite in ORDER" Mr.. Had
ley Benton stated, and with his own
hands he undid the seals that he had
placed on the jute sacks containing
his precious samples, and watched
pompously the while Mr.. Simpson
heated up his furnaces, deftly ground
up the samples, weighed the pulp care
fully, and then poured it into the cru
cibles containing his gold fux, first
insisting that the Engishman test the
fiux itself, to prove that it was abso-
lutely free from gold so that any pos
sible Sailing" might be prevented.
With all of this Mr. Hadley- Benton
declared himself content.
The final parting OF the silver gold
buttons was done with the greatest
possible care and slowness. And we'll
that it was, for the results given by
each and every assay were so exceed
ingly high that Mr.. Hadley Benton
! might have been incredulous had he
not watched the process from first to
last. There were Is different assays
on which each duplicate checked It's
original; there was no discrepancy OF
any sort, and the total average gave
result in gold of eleven and twotenths
ounces to the ton!
Would the "Esperanza" pay to
work? Mr.. Simpson results proved
that question very conclusiyely, and
! Hadley Benton fairly flew to the tele-
| graph Office, where he, after much diff
ticulty and serious struggles with the
Spanish tongue and telegraph clerks,
sent q cablegram to his London di-
rectors and stock holders, authorizing
them to boom the "Esperanza Gold
Mines, Limited for all they were
worth, to ship out at once the con-
templated stamp mill and cranide
! plant (cost one quarter OF million)
and to draw upon him for any aud all
extra funds desired.
So much for the "Esperanza Gold
Mines, Limited, of London and Mex
ico, and so much for poor Mr.. Hadley
Benton, M. p, whose reputation and
private fortune were alike lost i'll the
venture. Because, long after the plant
and stamp mill were installed, and
more money than / care to name ire
trievably sunk in the "Esperanza, it
was found that the ore of the mine
ran, at very highest estimate, exactly
one-tenth of en- ounce in gold, or not
even high enough to pay working
charges. Truly poor Mr.. Hadley
Benton" for he had taken the sam
pies, watched and approved the max
ing of assays therefrom, and he alone
it was upon whom the wrath of stock
holders and directors fell when it was
discovered that the "Esperanza" was
dead failure, not to say the greatest
swindle of modern times.
No one, not even Hadley Benton
himself, can account for the matter.
No one ever offered any explanations
as to how such fabulous results were
secured from utterly worthless ore
Even the assayer, Mr.. John Simpson,
processes himself as lost in amazement
at the way the "Esperanza" turned
out. But, of course, as everyone real
ICES and comedies, he had nothing to
do with the matter, and cannot there
fore be held responsible. But, all the
same, Mr.. Simpson knows-even as
we do--that hypodermic syringe can
be used successfully for more purposes
than one, and, unluckily for Hadley-
Benton, chloride of gold is soluble, and
may be injected through the heaviest
of lute sacking San Francisco Argo
naut.