Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1873 — A Summary Account of the Origin and Development of the Recent Great Diamond Fraud. [ARTICLE]

A Summary Account of the Origin and Development of the Recent Great Diamond Fraud.

The San Francisco Bulletin of a .recent date gives the following succinct history of the great California diamond swindle: "Arnold, Slack, and J. B. Cooper are practical miners of much experience, And fn the summter of 18.1 they were cm ployed by Harpending to go to the Burri BUrri mine, owned by him, in New Mexico, forty miles from the Arizona line. Harpending desiredto eflect a sale of the mine to English capitalists, and he made use cf the practical knowledge of Arnold, Slack and Cooper to enable him to make favorable representations concerning the mine prior to its sale. “In September, I**7l, Ilarpcnding left for London, and the three mining experts started on -their journey to San Francisco. On reaching Fort Defiance they stopped to prospect in the vicinity, having heard of the finding of valuable stones in that region, Their search was crowned with success. They foufid a large number of stohes, of whose value they were ignorant, the ruby business being at that time out of their line. They concluded, howey»r, to oring the stones tn San Francisco. On their arrival here they learned, quite to their surprise, that some of the stones were garnets, some sapphires, and probably some rubies, with some black atones resembling the black diamond. They thought of taking, steps to secure possession of the country in which the stones were found, but had not capital to carry out the plan unaided; and it was finally determined to sell an interest, meantime keeping the location a secret. Wflilh endeavoring to •’Bgntiate a Sale, findinc many difficulties in the way, and losing confidence in the value of the stones, they concluded to change theirplans. They determined, to sell out their discovery, and, to get a good price, they set about devising means to make it appear valuable. “The character or the discovery must be changed from a fuby id a diamond field. This idea was suggested by the remarks of experts and jewelers, -who told them that if they had diamonds instead of garnets they would have something Worth tnohey, ahd they could not see why diamonds, in New Mexico w ould not be as reasonable a story as diamonds in Africa.— . - _ _ “ Finally some one, it is Said, proposed to obtain some diamonds of little value from the Diamond Drill Company, and mix them with the stones. The proposition was accepted, and the small diamonds, worthless except for drills and other diamond-pointed instruments, yet genuine, gave, therefore, sufficient foundation for hope of more valuable stones still unsound. After mixing these with the stones found in New Mexico, they submitted the lot to Frontier, Bellmere & Co., which firm gave them a certificate that the lot contained genuine diamonds, “The plot had now progressed far enough to enable them to make definite proposals to capitalists. Arnold sought out G. D. Roberts, meeting him on the street, as if casually, ahd hinting to him that he had a “good thing.” After rousing Roberts’ curiosity, he explained to him the difficulty under which the discoverers labored, and offered to sell an interest; On no account, however, Arnold said, would they sell the whole; they only wanted, means to secure title and prosecute the work. Arnold proposed to organize. a company, and sell a limited quantity of stock. Roberts said he would write to Harpending, and have him join in the enterprise. He did so, and Harpetiding wrote back that he would be in New York in, a' few weeks, on his return, and wanted some of the stones sent there to be tested prior to his arrival. -

“Accordingly, Arnold and Slack, with a bag full of stones,, went to New Yorkin March last, and deposited the stones with Tiffany & Co., whose experts selected some of the diamonds for examination, and pronounced them genuine. When Harpending arrived from Europe, he brought with him Wm. M. Lent and an Englishman named Rubery, who came from Europe on a tour. Lent at once became interested in the statements made bytTiffany’s experts, and the stories of vast quantities of stones in their native beds, located on United Staten soil, and in a region the title of which could- be se< cured before outsiders could jump the claim. “Tiffany & Co. valued the bag of stones at $150,000, and on their assurance Mr. Lent placed such reliance thathe immediately determined to join in the enterprise. Harpending, also, was anxious to go in, but Arnold now began to play shy, and utterly refused to state the location of the field, though Slack pretended that he was willing to reveal the location, with Arnold’s consent, and that he, Slack, would Sell his interest—one third—for SIOO,OOO. .According to the statement of one informant, this sum was actually paid to Slack,and afterward divided between Arnold, Slack and Cooper, the last-named keeping in the background. Arnold and SlacK agreed ’fo go and point out the ground as sooilas the weather would permit, which would allow them two months in which to perfect their plans. ‘ ‘Knowing that the Fort Defiance region would yield no diamonds, and that if they took the agents of Lent & Co., they would have tc ‘salt’ the claim, they dgcidea to procure African diamonds for t hat purpose, and Arno 1 dvisitedLondon, with the result already known. After' his return, it was concluded that as they must salt any way, they might .as well salt a more accessible field, so they determined on the location in Colorado, and Arnold went again to Fort Defiance and purchased a large quantity of stones from the Indians. With these and the diamonds purchased in London, they prepared the ground visited by Janin.”