Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-04-03
HNCIENT METAL
FAKIR RECALLED
EX-CAPUCHIN MONK TOLD KING HE
COULD MANUFACTURE
GOLD.
DEMONSTRATED With BULLETS
Monarch Was So Delighted That He az
Once Made the Monk a No
bleyoan
FINISH, HOWEVER, WAS GALLows.

If the generally accepted theory that
NJ. Lemoine, the diamond maker" is
a fraud be the true one, it is curious to
note that he has had a celebrated pre-
decessor, whose methods of proceeding
were almost Identical with his own.
MERCER, the conten poravy and enemy
of Noltairl relates in ms ponderous
"Tableau de Paris" that in the time of
Louis Nil, an ex-Capuchu monk
named Dubois pretended To- have dis
covered the philosophers stone, the old
alchemists' secret Tor transmitting the
base. metals into gold, Dubois had led
in his youth much the same rowing and
adventurous life which is now ascribed
70 Lem0ne He had Travelled in the
east. had been a jack-of-all-trades, had
exchanged the monustic nabit for that
OF Lutheran pastor after soiourn in
Germany, where he had made the ac-
qualhtance OF some of the chief scientific
spectators of that epoch, and then, re-
Stunning his former Catholic faith. he re-
turned to Paris 20 exploit his marvellous
invention. Seme Fedheimer of the pc
| Rod introduced him TO pere Joseph the
celebrated "Eminenee Grise," he conf
dental adviser of Cardinal | .ch lieu,
betuit lHe hlnS.
The cardinal became interested in the
great discovery, aud ii was settled that
! ISbOis should carry cut his experiments
! before the King. According. Dubois re-
paired one tine day to the Louvre, bring
lng with him Il long ladle and Il crucibe
In the presence of the court he built Il
furnace, and to show that there was no
| deception he suggested that garde du
corps, or royal guardsmau, should be
selected by the King himself to assist
| him in stocking it,
! MAY it please his majesty" demand
! ed the monk in loud voice, ITO COM
mand one of his soldiers to produce ten
| or twelve mnsket bullets which | shall
/ now convert into gold"
The bullets were produced and placed
| by Dubois in his crucble, together with
a grains weight of what he called hh,
projection powder"
Then he covered the bullets with Gin
ders and requested. In the same solemn
tone, the King, or any one whom his
majesty might command, TO remove the
clnders with the aid of "a pair of bellows.
] The King was So excited that he would
let no one use the bellows but himself.
and he blew them with sucn violence
| that tile cinders flew all over the room.
cnyetlng the Queen, who had her nose
| over the furnace. When ali the cinders
had been blown away the nugget Of gold
appeared.
The King and the cardinal were both
50 Delighted that theN kissed the monk
the hiug declared him Il nobteman on
tie spot, with the privilege of hunting
lG.i over the royal domains. the cardinal
whispered into Father Josephs ear thai
he would get him a cardinals hat: he
suggested To the King that Il would be
/ no longer necessary to tax the people.
aud that the monarchy might be reduced
60 simple expression of sovereignty.
! the King leading the life of Il wealthy
! country gentleman; above all, France
would hcnceforth dominate all the pow
| ers of Europe The royal guardsmau re-
| ceived a reward of 5000 livres for his
share in The days work. amounting in
our money To about 5000.
Delay for Powder
| Dubois repeated his experiment, pra.
Iducing another gold nugget, and then the
royal enthusiasm knew no bounds 4
| jeweer who was present pointed out that
! the monks gold was only Of twenty-five
carat which corresponded, oddly enough
/ with that of the current coin of the
realm but Dubois declared thar with Il
| stronger furnace it was quite easy 20
manufacture pure gold OF twenty four
carats, aud this explanation the royal
| party was quite willing to accept Car
| dinal Richeheu took Dubois aside and
told him in a whisper that the King only
i required for the time being 500, 900
! francs a week, but he wanted them regu-
| larly The alehemist agreed to every
thing, only srpuiating TOR a ten days
delay in which TO mix his projection
powder. Twenty, If you like said the
cardinal. But Dubois, who in this re-
spect greatly resembles i.emoine, did
no further work. lie contented himself
with having u glorious time with his
friends at the cardinals expense. aud
was considered one of the most Illus
trious men IN Paris.
The King became impatient 10 Soc
great Jumps of gold samons" OF gold,
he called them. The suspicious Of the
cardinal were at last aroused. He had
! Dubois clapped into prison at yincennes.
and when the willy alchemist c0ntended
! that his projection powder" would only
work in free atmosphere he transferred
! him to the dungeons Of the Bastlc
| There a confession was extorted from
/ him that he had wilfully deceived 1.-THE
/ King the Queea AID my lord the card-
/ naI' by slipping Jumps Of gold into his
prucibic which he had obtained by filing
gold coins, aud he was hanged June
/ D. 1897
! MERCER, who was one OF tho precursors
| Of the Revolution, winds up his rcla-
/ ton with the remark Suppress the
| tragic end, and could a better subject be
! found for n comic opera These
J great men, oil in need Of gold, and the
! victims OF a Swindlpr / laugh
over Il al. alone, IN the depths Of my
| study"
! From this date a law. introduced BY
| Cardinal Kichelicu himself has been ia
/ force, aud is not even now considered
obsolete. which forbids the manufacture
| Of gold throughout France under heavy
/ penalties Paris Cor. in New York
/ TRIBUNE.
Six Ladies.