The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1909-09-04
WATCH FOR fHE FAKIR

The most fruitful source Of ON
plant Of those who claim to have lost
none In Nevada mining ventures y
the ~eonfding nature Of most eastern
people Except those from Missouri.
in believing the hot air stories Of pro
motors. who have nothing to promote.
or stprospeetors" who. for various
hard luck reasons. are Wiling to part
whit a large portion Or all gf their in
terests in 1.-THE best claims in the
state" for a little money.
Nevada ZONES in for more than her
share Of these fakirs. There are two
classes Of these grafters- The most
dangerous are those who pose as cap
italists.r with unlimited Hacking
of eastern or foreign capital. They
secure some worthless claims and eari-
talize for one or more millions They
issue elaborate prospeetuses. filed with
glowing reports, and assays worked ont
in their own minds. They open expen
sive Offices, and spend money freely in
local resorts. No one seems 10 doubt
them because no one takes the trouble
TO investigate their real stains until
some victim complains 10 the district
attorney or sues the outfit. Occasion
ally some Of them are caught and sent
to the pen, bat there are rarely any
assets left to pay depositors.
The limited amount Of stock this
gentry invariably offer for sale proves
unlimited as long as there are buyers.
No one deserves sympathy for any
loss of money through dealing with
this class of fakirs.
There is another class. as raw as an
eient gold brick ~swindIers. who are
no better than the ''green goods ar
fists They pose as "prcspeetors''
They buy, steal or otherwise secure
a few specimens Of high-grade ore and
exhibit it as a new discovery They
pretend they dom know how rich IT
is, as they have had no ASSAYS made.
"but as the ledge is very large(9) il
would be worth a fortune. if it only
assayed a few dollars per ton" They
are broke, and need capital to help de-
velop the mine, and viii give a half
interest to any one who viii furnish a
few hundred dollars. Usually. these
operators send samples of the ore to
parties at a distance, who have no
means of making investigations. The
victim usually takes the ore to an as
saver, who ASSAYS it. In one case the
ore assayed 1900 ounces silver; value
Of contents, $3.50 per ton. Another
victim, 5000 miles in another direction,
gets q sample that assayed about s.
0 ounces silver, with a value Of
about $4,000 per ton. while one Of the
shrewdest business men 10 town bit at
a nice sample of horn silver to the tune
of a good sized bin of "supplies" for
the mine.
The other victims. upon reading the
assays, had violent paipitation of the
heart with JOY. Here was a poor Ne
vada p~rospector with the richest mine
ON earth, and didn't know it-too
poor to have bis rock assayed. etc.
Plans are quickly made to send him
enough money to keep him alive until
he could show the find They also no
tify him they viii come. and bring
more money. Some times this 'tignor-
ant prospeetor" gets his dates mixed.
when several of these cute capitalists
happen to arrive at the same time, not
knowing each others plans. All vie to
drown the ~prospeetor with champagne
but n of them succeed in finding
the wonderful mine. unless they find
ii is owned by parties entirety ignorant
of the prospeetor's negotiations.
The victims usually realize they are
beat at their own game, and make no
complaint TO the proper officers, but
win return home and denounce all Ne
vada mines and miners, carefully con-
eealing the real facts.
No honest investor can be "robbed''
in a Nevada mining deal IL ordinary
care is exercised in a~seertaining some
thing about the person he is dealing
with II they will recognize their
own reputable Doctors Of Mines. as
well as Of Law, Medicine and Divini-
~, and if they viii consult each as
the case may warrant with the same
freedom and confidence there viii be
no trouble resulting from mine fever.