The Goldfield news. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1904-1911, 1910-01-08

Harry silverberg, ~lamentably re-
.smbered in Denver and Colorado as
Coleman Drayton," and known
,h,oughout the world as the "interna-
.;0oal get-rich- quick leader has come
10 grief again.
posipo as James Jeffrey Williams, Sill
..,burg. who, in 1900, swindled scores
= nrominent men in Denver out OF
..,;ous sums, has just witnessed the
s-,;nc Of a financial dream which prom
"a n net him and those associated
..;.h him millions of dollars. The dream
COO y Chilean railroad capitalized at
100000, 900, and the scene OF his OPP
,~-ot;ons was London. The deal was
80, about to be closed, and the vast
auount of cash involved pass into his
control. when his identity became
t,own and he found it advisable to
drop out of sight.
The Long Detained New Leaf Turned.
After a criminal career which led
him from Port Said to New York, from
balances in the gondolas of Venice
TO subrosa entanglements with u
tssses in South Africa, Silverberg
seemingly was turning his wits to hon
est purposes. After varied experiences
with the police in many parts of the
country subsequent to his disappearance
from Denver in 1900, Silverberg appear
ed in Chile, representing himself to be
a representative of a New York news
paper. Debonair and sauve, he secured
. concession for a railroad from the
president of the South American repub-
lie. Once he had the franchise in his
possession, it seems, S~ilverberg de-
termined to accomplish the long delayed
turning of the new leaf.
lie went to London and there inter-
ested some of the most prominent fin
aneiers in England in his railroad
scheme. The concession was immense
" valuable and was an open sesame to
the confidence of virtually every pro-
moter the smooth -tongued "James jeff
rev Williams approached.
Soon there was an incorporation with
a capital subscribed when an English
newspaper published the statement that
Williams was no other than Harry
Silverberg, the most notorious crook in
-" " --@l~Llx
would have been an honest man. Sill
verberg was an ~ex-convict, the rlan
whose record occupied more space than
any other on the shelves of the police
Bertillon rooms. He disappeared from
London simultaneously with the dis
covery of his identity. With him went
the Chilean railroad concession, now
valueless to him, but, doubtless, to be
treasured as a memento of the time he
the time he came neal reforming.
Record a Byword in European Cities.
Before he appeared in Denver in 1900
S~ilverberg's ability as a swindler and
confidence man was a byword in almost
every capital in Europe. When still in
his teens, at his home in Arkansas, he
developed those criminal tendencies
which were later to juggle hundreds of
thousands of dollars for him. AS he
grew older and more accomplished in
erookedness his most noticeable trait
was the remo~rselessness with which he
involved his family in his cratic for
tunes.
The young man went to San Fran
CISCO, where he became an advertising
agent at a salary of 500 a month. In
a few weeks his living expenses were
more than $100 a week. He had found
that he could easily ~ingratiate himself
into the confidence of men who had
money to spare and were willing to
dlvlde 1T with a sharper who could pro-
Vide them with feminine acquaintance
ana : good times otherwise.
spent Five Weeks in Mexican Cell.
when he tired of San Francisco, Sill
Veroerg went to Chihuahua, where he
became acquainted with a telegraph
operator who told him of big sums oil
money that were daily transferred from
tne states to men there. Silverbers
men made his first big crooked deal
with the operator as a confederate, h,
secured $4,000 from a Chihuahua banl
py use OF a bogus telegram from a st
LOUIS bank stating that he had tina
amount on deposit there. Before h
couid escape he was arrested. Hi
iather was dead then, but his mothe
came to the rescue and refunded sucl
OF the money as he had expended. III
was paroled by the Mexican authoritie
after i've weeks confinement in a dun
geoa.
S~iiverberg's operations in Europ
War0 hr& al.l.~.-- IL -