The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-01-30
A BIC COLD BRICK
The Trap That Jernegan Baited
With Salt Sea Water.
SCHEME OF A CLEVER ROGUE

The Smooth Swindler and His Accom-
pIice 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-
veloped.
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 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 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 rumors 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 possessor of the orig
inal secret so 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 w
some mysterious machinery.
On Narragansett bay was an old halt
dismantled wharf. and at the sea end
of this the two erected a cheap frame
shanty about s by 10 in size. with
square hole cut through the floor and
looking directly down into about fifteen
feet of water An electric wire from
/ small battery was run along the pill
ing of the wharf and attached to Il
4 mysterious box, with heavy iron
clamps and holes all through to per
/ init of free passage of the water bacs
/ and forth
Finally the great secret was divul@ed
These two men had discovered way
I of taking all the gold they wanted from
the salt water at a cost so tri1ine
i that it was ridiculous to mention ii
Two wealthy persons. one a Proyi
/ dence jeweler and the other New
York florist. We're approached by Jer
negan with what seemed to be such
trustful and childlike proposal that
they both embraced it eagerly. 1t was
that, all his apparatus being ready foI
experiment, they would come to the
shanty on the wharf prepared to &C
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 tbs
shanty, two chemists, friends of tbs
capitalists, bringing their own mercury
with them The box was lowered Il
the bottom. and then the party of five
began their wait. Soon after daylight
Jernegan announced that it was tins
to draw the box up again. This wa
done. and the whole party eagerly Sc
, to work to find out whether any gol'
had been received. When the chemist
announced that gold to the value 0
| $14 was found mixed with the quick
J silver all were stunned by the diseoY
cry and realized at once the vast pos
J sibilities in more extensive operations
the original experiment having bee
, practically made with toy apparatus
The story spread like wildfre, an
the modest Jernegan was prevaile
upon to organize a company Stoc
p was sold. and after getting possession
> | of thousands of dollars the promote
7 sailed away to Europe. The success
y the great experiment was eXplalne
. afterward. Fisher, the diver, had gon
7 out from the shore in his diving sui
opened the box and. taking out tn
mercury that had been brought by th
chemists, substituted vial of his ow
that had been strongly impregnate
with gold.
Both before and since the Jernega
a fraud many attempts have been mad
+ to extract COLA from salt water, som
Z of them fraudulent, some genuine an
based on scientific grounds that hay
from time to time appealed even
deep students. But all so far hay
l. failed dismally. Though traces of go
y are to be found in salt water, cor
q mercial application is practically In
). possible.-New York Press.