The daily silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1903-1907, 1904-05-26
TAKEN IN BY A COLO
BRICK SW|NDLER
A Prominent Capitalist OF
San francisco IS the
Victim


Mint officials discovegtd yesterday
what appears to te a gigantic gold
brick" swndla, with /. E. Cuhne o.
tie Crossley building as the victim
Cuhne took a la ge metal bar to the
Mint yesterday morning for deposit
TIE experienced eyes Of the rece wing
Gle K Major y. L. Nogg e. disco ned
that the ingot had suspicious APP
neaIance. TIE doubts as to its genu-
inenass we.e confirmed by an assay
not a trace of precious me,al being
fourd
When Cuhne was advised in the af-
tcrnoon as TO the results OF the assay
he stagger cd as if he had been shot
A comnanion in excitement turned TO
the man with the exclamation:
Il told You so. / told you that II
was a swindle7
The pair took the worthless bar
away with them. subsequently ST.
De mtendent f. A. Leach os the Mint
advised Secret Sc vice AGENT William
J. Burns Of the peculiar transaction
The Mint people are satisfied that
cuhne was the victim Of a god brick
deal and probably was hard ht Major
Noggle notified Super ntendent Leach
thar tire bar If II had been genuine
would have been worth $4,000. As
it IS. the assay showed it was abso-
lutely wo thless.
Cuhne was 50 utterly dared by III
disclosure % the assay that he did no'
wait 70 make explanations. lie and hi
cor panion simply depar.ed after thf
teIltale expression Of sulp iye.
Accord ng to the NJ nj officials thert
was no attempt made to deffaud tht
Mint cuhne. said Superintendent.
Leach. deposited his bar in good faiti
and acted as II he fully expected I
realize. So Far as his dealings with the
Mint were concerned the. were regu
lar and pointed to nothing but 9
stra' 'ghi business tsasactpn on his
part.
The brick. as desc. ibed by Majo.
Noggie. was a rough. blaekentd affair
not q ided but o. brass, with tie ap.
pea ance 10 an unpraeticed eye Of d
h &c enough 10 have carried $4,000 u
gold but not heavy enough to be pre-
cious metal
II was 10 o'clock yas.e day morn
ing that tsgo men entered the reee y
ing depa tn.eut One Of them stag.
gered in under the weight OF the heavy
bar that he bo e on his shoulder. This
otaer man was cuhne. owner OF The
waite mans burden. Placing the ba
ON the counter the bearer gave sigf
Of iel ef. cuhne did the talking Is
clerk Noggie and explained that he de-
81 ca TO deposit the bar. The Gus.
torafy routine was followed. excep'
that Noggie told cuhne he would givs
him only a temporary receipt for Tbs
lar pend ag the making of an assay
Majo Noggie sa d.
Il suspected tie bar was not gen.
uine as soon as / saw Il. but | die
not want 10 say so natly until al
assay had been made. II might have
been an extremely base bar. of such
percentage Of gold that we could tak'
f.
After giving Cuhne his receipt l tole
Linn 10 return In the afternoon whef
a repot from the assay department
would be ready. Tina, report showed
there was not a ace of god in III
Laf
When Cuhne returned with tn
other man | told him what the assa,
showed and he turned pale as he start
ed In no unfelgned emotion of sun
prise.
- told you So said the second man
You've been swindled. That wa
about what he sa d. II gave me tn
impression that thee had been reg
ular old-fashioned gold brick swindl
put through and that cuhne was tn
victim"
In his report to Superintendent
Leach Major Nogg said he had mad
no inquity conce ng the circum
stances under which Cuhne ohtaine'
the brick.
That was the connection of the Min
officials With the transaction. super
iuiendent Leach explained that he wa
satisfied there had been no intent OF
TO dsfraue the Give nment. But Il
pfecaution he had given the case Il
Secret Service Agent Burns hands i
order 10 make positive the assuranc
that nothing criminal had been IN
tended.
supe pesintendent Leach sad las
night
Strange as is may appear. the.
have been a number of such cases a
the NJ MT. On one occasion sva sma
lars Of pu uyportea gold were sent to tn
Mint from one of the eminent banks
The assay snowed taat there VAS nc
trace OF precious metal in any Q