The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-03-15
THE swiNDLgR,s GOLD BRICK.

One Of Deputy Commissioners Thurs
tons visitors at police headquarters yes
terday called attention 70 an chlong block
OF bronze, mounted n a mahogany ease
and resting on the marble suantslpiecs in
the deputys ante-roon, says the New
York Evening Post. The bronze was bad
| - tarnished, and streaks o. green mould
stained it in many places. Nine men IN
ten, it is safe 70 say. Z they had looked
a. II at all. would have considered the
bronze in the nature OF a rather ponder
Gus bit Of bric-a-brac. IN keeping with the
severely simple decorations Of the office
To the visitor. however. il obviously
aroused the aseeuest interest. In the days
/ Or Byrnes he had been more or less &C
lively Identified with the machinery % the
central Office
And 10 think that old Cadigan's mas
terpiece has become a relic already. he
remarked. running his fingers through
the green mould and examining the blocs
With critical eyes. When they once sci
after you good ard proper up here II
don't take long TO make relics OF bricks
O.. men. does it2
What is the thing. anyway inquired
man who had come in with the Wis
itor. and whose knowledge OF things erin
inal was somewhat primitive
What Is it,? the first speaker repeated
with the me scorn of a superior under
standing. why. that's gold brick.
and what's more, il IS probably the
finest specimen Of the gold-brick industry
that this or any other country ever has
or exhibition. II would surprise most
persons who have come to look upon the
gold brick according 10 the popular
standard TO learn that q good one is not
necessarily so much Of gold brick
after all. Take that one on the mantel-
piece, for example; its intrinsic value is
surely not less than one hundred dollars.
and II would not surprise me If Cadigsn
and his gang paid twice that amount for
it-they were out 10 have the best.
The brick is Of solid bronze. and orig
insliy was not only heavily washed with
gold, but was generously salted with II
as Well. Cadigan made ii himself out In :
foundry on the Pacific coast See those
fluctuations that look as If some one
had been digging into it with q cheese
sccop-those are the places where thu
brick was sailed. Numerous holes were
drilled IL the top and sides. and these
cavities were filled with twenty -four
karat gold Cadigan was a man OF
artistic temperament. and he took more
pride in the shaping OF his brick than
some sculptors Go in the modelling OF
Greek gods. And he turned out a classic.
tco-for a gold brick.
When it came TO selling this brick
tho smooth Mr.. Cadigan suggested 10 his
victims that il might be just as Well TO
satisfy themselves that they were 10.
dealing in the wares Of the confidence
man, and he bored artisticaily haphazard
holes in the block, and then told his vic
tins TO take the specimens around 10 q
government assayer. The men did SO.
and the chemist told them the gold was
gcod-too good to be true-and that's how
Cadigan came TO get caught. In his en-
tbusiasm he oyerstepped himself if n
had only plugged the thing With four
teen-karat gold instead ef going the
limit, il might now DE holding some front
door open, instead of posing on that man
telpiece as a trophy Of the chase