The Opelousas courier., 1902-07-12
VALUE OF A GOLD BRICK.
COMMODITY OF THE CONFIDENCE
MAN WORTH A TIDY SUM-,

row It Is Manufactured-The Usual
sotd Brick Is Of Solid Bronze
HeavIly Washed With Gold and Gen.
erously Sailed as Well.
one OF Deputy Commissioner Thur
ston,s visitors to police Headquarters
the other day, says the New York
Post, called attention to an oblong
DOC OF bronze, mounted in a ma
hogany case and resting on the marble
I~nantieplece in the deput: s ante-room.
Ihe bronze was badly furnished, and
streaks OF green mould stained it in
many places. Nine men in ten. it
is safe to say, if they locked at it at
ali, would have considered the bronze
IN the nature of a rather ponderous
bit OF bric-a-brac, in keeping with the
severely simple decorations OF the
office.
| 10 the visitor, however. it obviously
aroused the keenest interest. In the
days of Byrnes he had Leen more or
less actively identified with the ma
chinery of the central Office.
And to think that old Cadigan's
masterpiece has become a relic al
ready" he remarked, running his
fingers through the green mould and
examining the block with critical eyes
When they once get after you good
and proper up here it don't take long
long to make RELICS Of bricks, or men,
What is the thing, anyway" III
quired a man who had come in with
the visitor, and whose knowledge of
things criminal was somewhat print
tive.
What is it?" the first speaker re-
peated with the fine scorn of a superb
Oh understanding. why, that's a golu
brick, and what's more, it is probably
the finest specimen of the gold-brick
industry that this or any other coun-
try ever had on exhibition. 1t would
surprise most persons who have come
to look upon the gold brick according
to the popular standard to learn that
q good one is necessarily so much of a
gold brick after all. Take that one
on the mantlepiece, for example; its
intrinsic value is surely not less than
one hundred dollars, and it would not
surprise me if Cadigan and his gang
paid twice that amount for it-they
were out to have the best,
"The brick is of solid bronze, and
| originally was not only heavily wash
ed with gold, but was generously
sailed with it as well. Cadigan made
it himself out in a foundry on the Pa
cifc Coast. See those indentations
that look as if some one had been dig
| ging into IL with a cheese SCOOP
those are the places where the brick
was 'salted.' Numerous holes were
drilled in the top and sides, and these
cavities were filled with twenty-fodr
karat gold. Cadigan was a man of
artistic temperament and he took more
pride in the shaping of his brick than
some sculptors do in the modelling of
Greek gods. And he turned out a
| classic. too-for a gold brick.
when IL came to selling this brick
the smooth Mr.. Cadigan suggested to
victim that it might be just as well to
satisfy themselves that they were not
dealing in the wares of the confidence
man, and he bored artistically hap
hazard holes in the block, and then
told his victims to take the specimens
around to a Government assayer. The
men did so and the chemist told them
the gold was good-too good to be
true-and that's how Cadigan came to
get caught. In his enthusiasm he
overstepped himself; if he had only
plugged the thing with fourteen karat
gold, instead Of going the limit, it
might now be holding some front door
open, instead of posing on that man
tlepiece as a trophy of the chase.
"Cadigan's intended purchasers
were a couple of young Englishmen,
whom he had lured over here with the
orthodox tale. His (Cadigan's) part
ner had struck a rich vein in Southern
California, and had taken out enough
gold to make into a forty pound brick,
when he was suddenly taken sick
with a fatal disease. Just before he
passed away he conided to Cadigan,
of course, that he owed the father OF
the two Englishmen a large sum OF
money-about half the value OF the
brick. The father was dead, but two
sons survived him, and as a d~eath-bed
trust the dying man commanded Cadi-
gan to see that his last wishes were
carried out. The two boys were to re-
ceive the entire gold brick. but as
they were only entitled to half its
value, they were to pay Cadigan cash
for the other half, and take the whole
thing. The amount realized from
the other half was to be given to a
surviving sister of the dead
"The letters which Cadigan wrote
TO those young Englishmen were mast
er-strokes in delicacy and diplomacy.
They brought the Britishers over In
the first steamship bound for the
States, and had it not been for the
snsnicions aroused by the Government
chemist, the young fellows undoubted-
eddy would have been the more or less
proud -possessors of that brick today.
"The cost of floating a gold brick is,
like it's intrinsic value, much greater
than most persons imagine. Only
.genteel criminals'-those with a rich
or veneer of culture than the ordinary
nA%annnf tn deal in