Gilpin observer., 1910-08-18
BUSINESS MAN is
RUNcoED FOR $aso.oo.

bunch of what was supposed to be
gold amalgam he had melted, "a chunk
Of tin and babbitt that would kill a
= dog.
Just before noon Friday stranger
who had the appearance Of a miner
entered the store and showed Mr..
Rapin a bunch of amalgam that
weighed between IL and IA pounds.
He said he wanted to sell it and
would make anyone desirous of buy
| ing the rich stuff a cheap figure.
He intimated that he had gotten the
amalgam at a mill in the Telluride
section by stealing it and for that
reason had to be careful in disposing
Of the stuff. Mr.. Rapin asked him
why he didn't take it up to one of
the banks and sell it there, but the
| stranger said bank was too public,
The stranger put a low price on
| the amalgam and after some bar
gaining Mr.. Rapin was to get it for
$350.0O. Had it been gold it would
have been worth nearly three times
this amount and the purchaser would
have made quite killing"
Before finally closing the bargain
Mr.. Rapin took a quantity Of the
amalgam from the bunch and melted
it. 1t retorted fine and the gold was
genuine. He was still timid about
buying the amalgam and took the re-
| tort up to the bank. They said 1t
was surely the precious metal and en-
| couraged the purchase Of anything
that would produce a retort like the
one Mr.. Rapin displayed. Mr.. Rapin
was highly elated over the prospects
of the big profit he was to make on
/ the deal and on his way back to the
store expressed regret to himself that
the seemingly unsophisticated strang-
er did not have one or two tubsful
Of the precious stuff to dispose Of.
Evidently when the display of the
beautiful retort was being made at
the bank, another scene was being
enacted in the rear of the Rapin
store where the stranger had remain
ed. Mr.. Stranger just played a little
shell game on Mr.. Rapin and switch.
ed packages containing amalgam. OF
course the genuine and the fake
amalgam looked just the same, felt
the same, but the rich values in one
bunch were sadly lacking in the
other. Fate decreed (rather. the
stranger) that Mr.. Rapin should draw
the blank.
When Mr.. Rapin returned. from the
bank he was for a purchase forth
with. An offer of s350.00 "a little less
than the stranger would like to have
received) was made and was finally
accepted. OF this amount 100000 was
paid in cash and the other $4,000 was
to be taken out in jewelry. Mr..
Rapin received his package" the
stranger 100000 plus the jewelry and
repaired to the Whitehouse saloon.
The stranger took the retort Mr..
Rapin had made and Mr.. Rapin did
not discover this until after the fel-
low had left. He followed him to the
Whitehouse and told him that the re-
tort was his-that it was part of the
bargain. The stranger demurred but
finally turned the retort over to Mr..
Rapin, saying he would come over to
the store in a short time and get a
small ring and they would call every
thing square. He never showed up.
While at lunch Mr.. Rapin was TAX
en- by strange feeling and he got
to thinking that maybe all was not
right with that package" So he
went back to the store and commenc-
ed to melt the amalgam. 1t melted
all right but instead of coming out
as yellow as gold it came out as
white as lead.
The services of an officer were
then in demand. Mr.. Rapin got Mar
shall Launder and the two went to
Black Hawk, boarded an afternoon
freight and went as far as Forks
Creek, thinking the stranger might
have taken that direction. They saw
nothing of their man and returned
on the evening passenger train.
Saturday morning, A. p. Boulter,
who lives below Smith hill and who
was in Rapin's Friday when the
amalgam seller was picking out his
jewelry, came to town to inform Mr..
Rapin that a man answering the des-
cription of the stranger was seen
Friday afternoon in the Smith hill
section. A description of the man was
telephoned to Denver and all nearby
towns but up to the time of going to
press nothing had been seen or heard
of the man who proved little bit
the smoothest of any in his line who