Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-09
EverYthfng Goes.

Uncle Sam.
Everything Goes.
At the Wall street mill of the precious
metals, for instance, $4,000 worth Of
gold jewelers. bars, old plate, etc." was
refined and bought during the year ended
July /, 1906. Nearly a million more in sill
yer of the same class went through the
mill, coming out as good, clean dollars.
And 1t is admitted by officials Of the assay
office that more than half OF this mass Of
gold and silver is the proceeds of burgla-
ries. In other words, Uncle Sam plays the
part OF chief fence extraordinary and pleni-
potentiary to the housebreaking profession
in an annual amount Of more than 100000
in New York City alone and something
like 100000 in the whole country.
The "old plate" which contributes to this
Illicit total Is merely the plate which has
been plundered from various sldeboards,
had its monograms and other marks OF
identity removed and then been battered
up little more to give it the appearance
Of age The Jewellers bars are the re-
suit Of dropping the settings of rings, watch
cases, brooches match safes and plate Of
either unusual and easily identified or much
advertised design-both gold and silver
into plumbers melting pot. The gasoline
flame is hot enough to fuse the metals into
mass lacking all signs of original identity.
A turn of the pot into a rough mold Of
black sand, and you have the Jewellers
bars of commerce, which Uncle Sam 80
delights to refine and pay good money for.
Anyone who does not accidentally drop
| a Jimmy" on the threshold can deposit
these bars and old plate in the Wall street
office. An appearance of responsibility is
all that is essential in the bearer Of the
brick of stolen bullion, with a plausible
story for use in the rare event Of suspicion
| being aroused. That any rea sonable story
will do is abundantly proven by the fact
that although these are sometimes investi-
gated, never, so far as the memory of the
officials runs, has a burglar been arrested
through banking his loot with Uncle Sam.
The brick is weighed before him and a
receipt given for it. The bar is then re-
fined, and when he calls for It later with
the receipt he can exchange It either for
bricks OF the pure gold and silver, 80 fine
which have been found in his "jeweller
bar" or for the value Of the same at the
price then prevailing in the open market
less a trifing fee for refining.
Quick Returns.
An odd thing about this IS that he could
get the money for his brick the next day
after depos ting it, while he would have
to wait one week to get back the gold
and silver which the refinery would sep
arate out of the base metals all fused to-
gether in the brick. This arises from the
fact that the officials OF the assaying
plant, II desired, can compute the value OF
each brick deposited with them in a single
day, while the reduction Of the brick, ac-
cording TO their practice. takes six days.
| m
and the middle Of the bar deposited and
run these through the test room. where
sample assays are made. Here the small
bit of mixed metal is fused in a small pot
made of bone ash. Each bit is carefully
marked in the beginning, and when the
bone ash crucibles are arranged on the
platinum pans, sixty at time. TO be put
into the gas furnaces, they are always
put on from left to right and from the
tray toward the workman, so that the
same bit is followed all the way through
the operation. II is a simple method and
mistakes seldom occur, the four different
samples assayed invariably betraying such
mistake by a discrepancy in the final
! checking up.
The white heat in the gas furnaces
causes the mixed metals 10 liquefy, and
the tin, zinc, copper and other base metals
are soaked up in the bone ash, that ma
| terial having a strong attraction with its
alzalies for them and having none for the
gold and silver They emerge from the fire
as a white pellet.
This cools. is hammered nat and washed
in a solution Of nitric acid, which takes on
what remains OF the bone ash residue. A
boiling in concentrated nitric acid takes
up all the silver, leaving the free gold
This is washed Of nitric acid IN boiling and
cold water and weighed. The silver IS
precipitated from the acid with a simple
reagent and likewise weighed. II all the
four samples check against one another
the result is compared with the Original
weight OF the samples and the proportion
OF gold and silver thus determined. Com