The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-11-08
HE FOOLED THE KING
%BOETTGER sWlNDLED THE RULER OF
SAxONY OUT OF MILLIONS.

0OCt t0CN oWINOlEO The RULER q
SAxONY OUT OF MILLIONS.
to Make Gold and by ~ lucky Acct
dent Dfscovere the Secret of Pro-
ducing White Porcelsin.
The discovery of the use of kaolin
in porcelain. which enabled the people
Of Saxony to become the leading white
porcelain makers of the world early
In the eighteenth century, was a lucky
accident.
Boettger, who already was known
as a great maker of brown porcelain,
had been devoting his time to cheat
ing the king of Saxony with stories
Of his gold making powers, instead of
using his talents for legitimate work.
He had induced the king to SEND
him great sums of gold until the mon
arch was almost penniless. And at
last the king demanded that Boett-
ger produce the 6O,OOO,O 900 ducats in
gold which he had promised or lose
his head.
Boettger tried to gain time, but the
king had grown weary of waiting and
Informed him that he must make gold
at the rate of $4,000 ducats a month
until the entire 6O,OO0,OOO were pro-
duced.
Boettger tried to escape, but the
house was surrounded by so many
soldiers that his first attempt was his
last. 50 he promised the king to send
him 100000 ducats Immediately.
Boettger had many friends who
knew his attachments in chemistry,
and n of these had been begging
him for a long while to cease his pre-
tensions as a gold maker and devote
his time to making porcelain. And in
a few serious attempts Boettger had
produced some that rivaled the Drown
porcelain of China. Of which great
quantities were being sent to Europe
then.
IF you can make white porcelain
as good as the Chinese" said this
friend, Count Won Tschirnhausen, you
will make the king as rich as if you
made gold for him."
y The morning after his unsuccessful
attempt at escape Boettger was sitting
In his bedroom bordering over his des-
could hit on the right method for max
ing white porcelain.
Just her he noticed that the powder
which his valet was putting on his hair
seemed unusually heavy. He took a
pinch of it and saw that it was of min
eral origin.
Immediately he arose, carried a guam
tity of it to a crucible, and, 10, he pro-
duced kaolin, the soft, beautiful white
clay hat is the chief component part
of fine Chinese porcelain.
Investigations showed that the pow
der was being put on the market by a
country squire who had found white
earth On his land M day and had been
sending it out ever since to be used for
hair powder.
A great factory was built by the king
as soon as Boettger told him what he
had found and showed him the first
sample of porcelain.
He also forgave Boettger for swim
ding him with lies about making gold,
but Boettger was kept a prisoner still,
although he was in a golden cage.
It would have been better for him if
he had been kept in a common Jail.
Boettger, although he was now on the
way to great wealth and fame, could
not resist the temptation to drink and
dissipate, and before he was twenty
nine years old he was like a mar dying
from old age. His eyesight was SO
poor that he could neither read nor
write, and at last he was unable to
arise from his bed.
The factory, although it had been
fitted with royal generosity, v paid
expenses, because it was never man.
aged properly. But it turned out porce-
lain that made the name of Saxony IA
nous.
Boettger died a wreck at the age Of
t~hirty-fve. Even in his last hours he
fooled the king into believing that he
still possessed wonderful secrets. And
on his deathbed men attempted with
threats Of all kinds to extort from him
the philosophers stone which many in
Saxony firmly believed had been found
by him.-New York Press.
Revealed by Death.
Life is perfected by DEATH" and it
is also revealed. A story told in the