Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-10-07
TRAP PIRATES
BY CHEMISTRY.
How Science Was Used to Run
Platinum Thieves to Earth, !
SKATER STORY OF SUSPECT.
Bureau. of Chemistry, Industrial
Plants and Universities hampered
by Stealing Of Their Platinum, In,
trinslca'Iy Worth -Four Times lts
Weight In Gold-MetaI Stolen and
Mercury Substituted by Chemist.


Weight In Gold-Metal Stolen and
Mercury Substituted by Chemist.
How chemical analysis aided Off
Gals In the pursuit of platinum pirates
has just become known here. The
links of evidence were skIlfully
wrought by the United States bureau
of standards. as revealed IN a report
furnished by the bureau to the Jour-
nal of Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry of the American Chemical
society.
The bureau, as well as Industrial
plants and universities. had been much
hampered by the stealing of its plat
mum, worth intrinsirally four times
Its weight in gold, to say nothing OF
Its importance in scientific work. Two
men. giving their names as Robert
f.. Carter and Joseph FreGericks, were
arrested last April while attempting
to dispose of 2So troy ounces of plat
mum sponge" the porous state Of the
metal, They had left small lots with
two different firms who, having cir
culars concerning various thefts, no.
titled the authorities. The remainder
of the sponge was found in two rub
Der hOt-water bottles, which the men
had been carrying in satchels.
Immediately on learning Of the ar
rests, the bureau assigned Or. e.
Wichers of Its staff to assist the Unit
ed States attorney general and the
department of Justice. Doctor Wich-
ers concluded that there must have
been still larger losses than had been
reported, judging by the amount Of
the element in the possession of the
prisoners. The bureau itself last
March had lost 70 ounces In the form
Of laboratory ware and valued at near
ly $1,000, while in December, 1919.
the Roessler & Hasslacher company
of Perth Amboy had missed 5000
worth of the metal in the form Of
sponge. The Universities of Missouri
and of Louisiana had complained Of
platinum thefts also. But the grand
total was less than the amount found
In the luggage of the suspected men. !
A general roundup was therefore
ordered and Inventories Of all govern
ment platinum used in the several bu-
reaus and In munitions manufacture
were made.
Traced by Chemistry.
The exact composition of definite
consignments Of platinum Is fairly
well known to chemists. The slight
variations are due to traces Of other
substances, such as iridium.
Chemical analysis indicated that the
seized supply had come neither from
the New Jersey plant nor from the
laboratory Of the bureau of standards.
The government agents did not believe
the story of Carter, that he and anoth-
er man named Brooks" had obtained
the metal by placer mining about 100
miles north of Parry Sound, Ontario.
because there had never been any Of
1t found there.
In It's quality, the captured consien-
ment closely resembled the stocks at
the war department at Nitro West
Virginia, where the inventory showed
tIl6Te SIlOulu Dc O,oOo OuhScS Va Spoh6Ct
and also the stock of 1880 ounces at
government military plant at jack
sonville, Tenn. AS some of the plat
mum at Nitro was known to contain
large percentage Of palladium, that
In the satchel seemed to come from
Jacksonville.
Carter, although he said that he
was Canadian, spoke with a marked
Southern drawl, which suggested
that he had been born not far from
the Blue Ridge. Through letter
from a prisoner in the Tombs prison
in New York, the government authori-
ties learned that Carter had worked
In the Old Hickory powder plant at
Jacksonville as a salvage foreman.
The accused man disappeared from
there on March 81 last without leave,
and In April was discharged because
of his unexplained absence. Then
followed the arrest Of FL. e. Crone, a
chemist at the Old Hickory plant. be-
cause, 1t is asserted in the bureau OF
standards report, Carter confessed
that the platinum in his possession
was obtained from Crone, who he de-
clared had stolen it from the reserve
stock of platinum at the plant.
Mercury Substituted.
The metal which Carter had proved,
like that at the Old Hickory plant
to be of exceptional purity, as 1t con-
tanned 99.58 per cent Of platinum, with
slight traces of iridium, rhodium and
iron. It's texture was uniform ex-
cept that here and there were Jumps
Of a yellowish brown substance, which
on ignition yielded platinum sponge,
and gave off fumes of chlorine, It
was learned that an order had been
given to Crone at the Old Hickory
plant to turn back large quantities OF
platinum chloride into sponge. Then
came a thorough search. In Sc cans
In the safe at Old Hickory was found
a substance supposed to be platinum,
which on examination proved to be
mixture of mercury with ordinary
moist dirt.
Experts say that The elaborate. In
vestigatfon of the theft at the plant
at Jacksonville will do much to check
platinum piracy throughout the Unit-s
al Ctataa