Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-05
THE STEALING OF PLATINUM
Bv FREDERIC J. HASKIN

WASHINGTON, D. c.. July 81
Recent platinum losses and sensa-
tionaI recoveries have attracted at
tention to the fact that platinum
stealing is being conducted as an
extensive business throughout the
United States.
Two men are held now for con-
nection with thefts of platinum val
ued at nearly 100000, and while one
of these men is regarded as mas
ter mind Of the game, it is believed
possible that other men equally dar-
ing and methodical are at large, con-
cealing stolen metal which they dare
not offer for sale at present.
Platinum is a fairly easy ma
teriaI to steal, and up to now it has
not been very difficult to dispose Of:
jewelers. use about Is per cent. of
the platinum produced, and dentists
20 per cent. The rest is absorbed
by industries and laboratories, and
these are the sources which have
been tapped by the thieves recently.
Chemical laboratories, however
meagerly financed, find it necessary
to have some platinum retortS and
crucibles, because the platinum re-
sists acids and melts only at an ex-
tremely high temperature. The yes.
mum sells these days. This is Prise
tically the value of the platinum con=
tanned, as the workmanship is of
negligible expense.
When platinum containers cost
only one-fifth as much as now, that
is before the war, chemists left them
unprotected on their work tables. In
fact, it is only since thefts became
so alarmingly numerous that pre-
cautions have been taken. Most
laboratory workers now take care
that all platinum in the form OF
IL
locked in a safe when the shop is
closed.
Uncle Sam a Victim
The trusting dispositions of the
bureau of standards chemists were
first awakened to the need for spe-
cial safeguards for platinumWare
when $1,000 worth disappeared in
March. The department of justice is
still working on the case, but II 1T
has any clues it has not mentioned
them.
Yet there is a fair chance that this
metal will be located eventually.
Platinum now sells at around $500
an ounce. 1t is five times as val
liable as gold, and compared with
gold and other metals there is not
great deal of it in the country: The
location of large amounts of the
say offices, chemists and manufac-
turers, who use platinum, so that
when a stranger drops in on a big
firm and offers to sell 200 or 800
ounces Of highly refined platinum,
the official approached is more apt to
call in. defective than to jump at
robberies an unidentified vender of
even small amounts Of platinum
would almost anywhere be regarded
with distrust.
The platinum thief is clever, but
to continue successful he needs, be-
sides, cleverness, knowledge of
mum production and of the market.
If he makes the slightest slip, be-
traying ignorance of the business,
be is under suspicion.
The master mind, referred to
earlier in this story, who is now
held in Nashville, Tenn, was caught
by, such q slip which led to in
as Carter and tried to sell 280
ounces of platinum to New Jer-
sey firm. The firms suspicious were
aroused, and it called in detectives
How Carter Was Caught
Carriers story was that he had
obtained the metal by mining an un-
registered claim in Ontario. He said
he was a Canadian. and he gave
the name of his hotel near the mine
1ulS aCCOuIlL lacked the ring OF
truth, because Carter's voice and
manner were southern, he wore a
belt with the initials H. H. B. on
it, and no hotel of the name he gave
was found in Ontario.
But all of these were minor dis
crepancies. The condemning item
of his account was that he got $50
ounces of platinum from a placer
mine in Canada. Canada only pro-
duces some twenty-five ounces of
platinum in year, none of it in On
tario.
Here science and the government
took a hand. 1t was thought posi-
BILE that part of the ESQ ounces taken
the stolen government platinum.
Analysis showed, however, that Car
ter's metal was Of a higher degree
of purity than the government labora-
tory ware.
The next step was to find the
owner Of the ESQ ounces. In the
past fifteen months 585 ounces, rep
resenting eleven thefts, have disap-
peared from college and government
al laboratories, and have never been
recovered. But none of these lots of
platinum seemed to fit in with the
mysterious 280 ounces, so far as
analysis could determine, and Carter
stuck to his Canadian myth. AS the
government holds large amount of
platinum for use in manufacturing
sulphuric acid, it was suggested that
a census of the metal at government
munition plants be taken. The CEN
suS revealed no losses.
1t was discovered about that time