The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1913-01-10
4 BIC COLD BRICK
The Trap That Jernegan Baited
With Salt Sea Water.
SCHEME OF A CLEVER ROGUE.

pIice Showed How Easily They Could
Extract Gold From the oesan-Fisse.
Cd Their Dupes and Then Oscampsd.
Various inventors have been working
for years on the theory that there is
plenty Of gold in sea water il only
some process of extraction could be de-
veloped.
Some years ago the Rev. Prescott J.
Jernegan va 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. f. Fisher, once a floor
walker in a New York department
store and before that a diver, got to-
gether in the fall of 1895 and for a
whole year carefully considered the
problem Of extracting gold from salt
water. 1t Is true. their whole field of
thought comprised the use Of salt wa
ter as an accessory only, the real ma
terial 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 umor to leak out.
"A leading clergyman had a marvel
GUS money making device. The world
was soon to be stunned by a fact that
would make the p~ossessor Of the orig
inal secret 50 rich that all the multi
millionaires would be paupers in com
~parison." When they had stirred up
public curiosity %Jernegan and Fisher
went to New England and there set up
some mysterious machinery. .'.
On Narragansett bay was an old half
dismantled wharf, and at the sea end
Of this the two erected a cheap frame
shanty about 8 by 10 in size with 4.
square hole cut through the door and
looking directly down into about fifteen
feet of water. An electric wire from
q small battery was run along the Pill
ing Of the wharf aud attached to q
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 a way
Of taking all the gold they wanted from
that 1t was ridiculous to mention it.
Two wealthy persons. one a Provi-
dence jeweler and. the other u New
York florist. were approached by Jer-
negan with what seemed to be such
q trustful and childlike proposal that
they both embraced 1t eagerly. It was
that. all his apparatus being ready for
experiment. they would come to the
shanty on the wharf prepared to 60
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 a current into a pan of
mercury held within the box, the recep-
tacle then being sent to the bottom Of
the sea and drawn up after several
hours. when it 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 to
the bottom. and then the party Of Eve
began their wait. Soon after daylight
Jernegan announced that 1t was time
to draw the box up again. This was
done. and the whole party eagerly set
to, work to find out whether any gold
had been received. When the chemists
announced that gold to. the value Of
$14 was found mixed with the quick
silver all were stunned by the discov.
cry and realized at once the vast pos
sibilities in more extensive operations.
the original experiment having been
practically made with a toy apparatus.
The story spread like wildfre, and
the modest Jernegan was prevailed
upon to organize a company. Stock
was sold. and after getting possession
of thousands Of dollars the promoter
sailed away to Europe. The success of
the great experiment was explained
afterward. Fisher. the diver, had gone
out from the shore in his diving suit.
opened the box and. taking out the
mercury that had been brought by the
chemists. substituted a vial Of his "
that bad been strongly impregnated
with gold.
Both before and since the Jernegan
fraud many attempts have been made
to extract gold from salt water, some
Of them fraudulent. some genuine and
based on scientific grounds that have
from time to time appealed even to
deep students. But all so far have
failed dismally. Though traces Of gold
are to be found in salt water. COM