The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-12-27
A BIC COLD BRICK
The Trap That Jernegan Baited
With Salt Sea Water.
SCHEME OF "A CLEVER ROGUE.
The Smooth Swindier and His Accom-
pIice Showed How Easily They Could
Extract Gold From the ocean--FIeec-
ed Their Dupes and Then Decamped.

plice Showed How Easily They Could
Extract Gold From the ocean--Fleec-
ed Their Dupes and Then Decamped.
Various inventors have been working
for years on the theory that there Is
plenty Of gold In sea water If only
some process of extraction could be de.
yeloped.
Some years ago the Rev. Prescott ].
Jernegan was the salt water wizard Of
the hour. From the day his bubble
burst and he left for Europe nobody
seems to know what has become of
him. Jernegan, who posed as a clergy
man. and G. e. Fisher, once a floor
walker in New York department
store and before that q diver, got to-
gether in the fall of 1896 and for a
whole year carefully considered the
problem Of extracting gold from salt
water. 1t is true, their whole field of
thought compassed the use Of salt wa
ter as an accessory only, the real ma
telial from which the gold was to be
extracted being the American people.
Very artistically Jernegan, to whom
was left the matter Of publicity, per;
mitted some vague runners to leak out,
"a heading clergyman had q marvel,
GUS money making device. The world
was soon to be stunned by fact that
would make the possessor Of the orig.
inal secret SO rich that all the multi
millionaires would be paupers In com
parison.' When they had stirred uL
public curiosity Jefnegan and Fisher
went to New England and there set up
some mysterious machinery.
On Narragansets my was an old hali
dismantled wharf, and 1T the sen end
of this the two erected cheap frame
shanty about by 10 In size, with Q
square hole cut through the floor and
looking directly down into about fifteen
feet of water. An electric wire from
a small battery was run along the pill
ing Of the wharf and attached to a
mysterious box, with heavy iron
clamps and holes all through to per-
NIT Of free passage Of the water back
and forth.
Finally the great secret was divulged,
These two men had discovered d way
of taking all the gold they wanted from
the salt water at a cost so triding
that 1t was ridiculous to mention 1t
Two wealthy persons, one a Provi
dence jeweler and the other New
York florist, were approached by Jer
negan with what seemed to be sucf
trustful and childlike proposal thai
they both embraced 1t eagerly. It wal
that, all his apparatus being ready fol
experiment, they would come to the
shanty ON the wharf prepared to SO
through a nights vigil and witness the
result, accompanied by any scientific
friends they cared to bring along.
The idea, as outlined by Jernegan
was to send current into d pan OF
mercury held within the box. the recep
tacle then being sent to the bottom oi
the sea and drawn UP after several
hours, when 1t would be found that
the mercury had absorbed gold from
the ocean.
When the night of the experiment
came the box was prepared In the
shanty, two chemists, friends Of the
capitalists, bringing their own mercury
with them. The box was lowered t.
the bottom, and then the party Of five
began their wait soon after daylight
Jernegan announced TINT 1t was time
to draw the box up again. This was