Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1898 — GOLD FROM SEA WATER. [ARTICLE]

GOLD FROM SEA WATER.

Scheme by Which Easterners Were “Done” for $2,400,000. The Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, organized for the purpose of extracting gold from sea water, which has been brought into great prominence on account of the alleged course of its vicepresident and general manager, Rev. P. F. Jernagan, in buying thousands of dollars’ worth of Government securities Just previous to his departure for Europe, has suspended operations. Its force of 600 men has been discharged, and no one about the place can tell anything as to the future. The company was organized last year, and it is claimed that 2,400,000 share* of the stock had been disposed of at $1 a share. Jernagan, the originator of the scheme, is a Baptist minister, and he sailed with several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of United States bonds, purchased with the funds of the duped stockholders.