A GOLD-STEALER'S CONFESSIONS.

NZ Truth, Issue 76, 1 December 1906, Page 8

A GOLD-STEALER'S CONFESSIONS.

REMARKABLE REVELATIONS. Fortunes Filched from Mines and Mills.

Before breaking! iiito. any\ fresh matter I had better giye-r you; some more, instances of amalgam stealing. Of course, there - have been hundreds, if not thousands, of these, and all. I mean to tell ybu is the : best of them that I happen to know.^ I dare say s"ou have heard of Mr W. D.. Casey ? He is one of the biggest shareholders m the Queen Cross, the company whose mill was recently blown up. I. think Mr Casey is now -in;. Sydney, and I would; not: be at all., surprised to hear that it. was. he .who had "inspired" the speculations which appeared m the Sydney ••Bulletin," a few weeks ago,- respecting " • THE EXPLOSION hAT THE^MIIiL. At the time of Twhici^.l ; .ani! sp^akitig,. Mr } Casey, . wtipf • -ft**? good m ,the- way-pf ),helpiti& relatives, and friends, was largely interested m the Brilliant v and.' St. "George. A friend or relative of his, who had just arrived from, the other side of the world, went to him one day at the Tpwers, and asked him if lie could do anything for him, Mr Casey got* him into the Brilliant and St. George mill, where, m the way of beY ter billets , he advanced vjery. , Rapidly. After putting m iabout tHree- years there altogether, the fellow left again —for where I do not knpwV Then it, tiranspired that he had taken 'with him about £5000. He never did any /Spe-' culatino:. He hadn l^- brains enojigh; for that — or, it may, be, he had top m_uch. At any rate, there could be no inis■take as to the sourre of > the /wealth he had accumulated. Of course, ..Mr Casev cannot m any way beheld responsible for what the fellow did. Then there was the young relative of a very, ' v ■■'. . WELL-KNOWN IDENTITY , ' i on . the Towers, m political no less than m mining circles,' .who, for some years, had considerable influence m securing good billets for those he wished to see m them. "Cherry" is the name by which I may indicate this, very desirable/friend. In this case, Cherry started his friend,; "then a boy, at one of the mills, and pushed him along until m a few years lie was getting £4 -10s or £5 a week. But the young fellow then - began cutting it too strong— taking trips to the south every six ' months, running horses, and all the rest of it. •' , '■ ' ' ■ V • ... • • . . _ v • At lasft after returning from one of these visits/ the manager told him that he was. finished with him. The young fellow then became the subject of considerable sport among all wha knew him. "Billy" was not his name; but this I shall call him . "H\illoar;BiHy! Aren't you working now, Billy t"r-"What did you get the - sacic*lo^:B^J^??^W! would '.beyas,keti by^almbst every second person he met. Even Cherry-:- who had watched ayer^ Billy so carefully, did not TELL HIM WHY the manager 'had got rid of him. They met m the streets,- m hotels, and pther public places, saluted each other with a friendly "Good-day, Cherry," "Goad-day, Billy," and passed on. Finally, Billy bbwled into his friend's office one day, sayrogy "What did I get the sack for, Cherry? They are all asking me, and I want to knpw what I am to tell them." "Tell them what you like, Billy," replied Cherry, quietly and evasively.

"But what did LgeOhe sack for, Cherry?" persisted Billy; . "Look here, Billy," said Cherry, looking him full m the face. . "Do you really want to know why you got' the sack? Because, if you do, I will tell'- you." .Billy . did not, with the result that .he vanished, both from Cherry's office, and. the field, and very .little "more . .was ever heard of him. Billy's reason for. thus familiarly ad-dressing-Cherry whenever he met him publicly, as, -.well as-.for .<? BEARDING; HIM IN • HIS OFFICE, was to keep . up appearances with the outside public, and to check, as far as lie. could, .those who knew the facts of $he case and were disposed to gig hiniL' aboiit th.em. jL', afterwards heard Cherry , and the^ mariagex^ declare that they; '•■': did •> not laiow what they, had been 1 doing, the one any less than the other, to let Billy have his fling so long. ' There were two brothers who also had a remarkably good innings. They got on as pan-feeders, and stuck to their billets — one for 15 months and the other for 18; Several who knew them, intimately told me that between them they must have put away something like £2€oo. From what I had to do with them myself, I can quite believe, this. I know, for a fact, that they were running two ponies for some time, and 'the keeper of „ ■. A TWO-UP SCHOOL -,i assured me that he had seen the elder brother lose as much as £20 m one night. In the end they did. m, like many otljers, every penny of their nYpijey; and one of jthem, m leaving for West Australia, about 12 months ago, found it'- ..a11' , he . could do, to borrow his fare there. , The other brother is still m the Towers district." He is as ratty as they make them .m regard to all forms of "gambling, and the result; is that he is never likely to' be able to command anything more than he has at the present moment-^-a bare billet., , • •■■• • . . Before it is retorted, the amalgam is slippery, watery stuff. By those stealing it it is usually carried m a sock, well tied, m the pocket. Sometimesthe precious compound slips its moorings, and some good yarns are related m this connection. I knew a pretty elderly man, who never did any work, and who, nevertheless, was 1 ALWAYS IN FUfITDS. The fact is that he was a sort of intermediary between the steaiers and the buyers . I met him • between 6 and 7 o'clock one night 'outside -alahbp m Mossman-street, near Sydeiaham's Exchange Hotel. 13e \vas a little %ipsj\ ajid m feeling for his handkerchief m one of the .pockets of his coat he dreiy out 3b. and; ' 40 ounces .of, amalganiv In trying to replace iM& sock: ebntainieg, it he^let^ltvifalV^tq; the footbath, ; where it burst, Yand the'' stuff, getting loose, glided and glittered fpr some feet around. I helped him to piolr it -up and stow *it away m his l handkerchief. There were a good many people about, and I endeavored to let as few as possible see what had happened. Still, "I. suppose a dozen- must have seen it, and were fully aware of what it "all meant. He insisted on my having a drink with him. We then -went into, the Exchange Hotel, where he drew | out the handkerchief, with the amal^ earn, and SLAMMED IT DOWN on the bar counter. The result was

I hat the handkerchief opened, the amalgam spread over the counter, and was thus exposed to the barmaids and others m the bar. The barmaids looked at it curiously,' not knowing what it was. and as soon as I could I cathered it up. and put it back m his pocket once more. A person who witnessed the second mishap m the bar, where he was drinking at the time it occurred, followed us out, and. calling me aside, -said* he was "-going to have that amalgam." I did not wish to be involved m any trouble, and so I concluded that the best thine I could do was to merely stand aside and watch developments. , . * • • " '' I The owner of the amalgam went through the Towers Stock Exchange, which almost adjoins the hotel, to the water-closet at 1 the back of it. He entered it, locked the door, and j remained there so long that I knew he was safe. As a matter of fact, he had. as I susnected, dropped off to sleep. The result was that when he came out half an hour later, he was pretty, well sobered up. and quite capable of looking after himself. I have seen several cases where the amalgam thus came to light, more or less to the discomfiture of those m possession of it. In . one instance it was with regard to . A MANAGES HIMSELF. He was riding down Gill-street, when his 'hpirse shied/ throwing him, and letting Ipo^ frpip. -his ; pbekets a considerable riuantity .of amalgam . Fortunately for himself he was not hurt. Consequently he was able to .pick, up most of the stuff, and to prevent the incident having . the serious conseciuences for him-r-in the event of the directors "etting to hear of it— which it otherwise might have had. The same 'individual, however, did not reign many years longer. He is on the Towers to-day.' „ : J might ijemark here -that' it was jjuite a common thing some time.ago. for .the pan-feeders and others on their way home at night to call m at a certain hotel, and, m the hearing of all,: ask one another 1 how they had g-ot on. "What" did you get to-. nin-ht'? 1 ' one of them, for example; would ask the other. "Oh, 10oz.". the person addressed would possiMy reply. "I did tetter than that." the first speaker might put m; "I got 400z." And so on, and so forth.. AT THE PONY RACING ■•> r I have . often heard the bookmakern call out, half jokingly and half ' seriously, when there was very little money about for the first event, "Oh, it will be all right directly— when th? amalgamators get here." Rufe Naylor. well known m betting circles m Brisbane, was credited at the time he left the Towers for West Australia, a little while back, with having made | from £1000 to £1500 out of hor-f;-raciner and footrunning during the six months he was there. How much of that ''sum, I would like to know, went into his bag through the amalgamators ? By far the most o£ it, I am sure. Some of . .■ THE AMALGAM STEALERS retort their gold m the hush, som-e miles from the town, and when leaving they give it but that they are •going shooting, or fishing' or picnicking: A party of, this kind, pretend- ] ing that it was. on a shooting expedition, left the Towers early one j Sunday morning. ~At the site selected, for its •operations it arranged its guns in v sucti a way -thai it might Ije tiakeh by anybody cbmingV along fos. noth> •a^gV/iftprei^liattv'a:: ;shop^^iP,ari«sf;thav-A ing a spell. ' ' "■ ' ■ / ■ "•'..' '• ' ■ • •' * ■■■ ,■ •,-•,' - Shortly after it, had settled down a e^riujne shooting party, with a fine haul of ducks, put m an appearance. These the -first party bought, if for no other purpose than to complete the pretence it was itself setting up. Having sold their birds, the- visitors went on, none the wiselr as to the real intentions of those who had purchased . the birds. The ducks were hung out along lines, and a very IMPOSING ARRAY they thus presented. Later m the day some picnickers from the field

hove suddenly m sight— so suddenly,] indeed/that the amalgamators scarce- I lv had time to conceal the traces jof their rinGriminatine;, paraßhiernalia, ' A portion of the tent they' had with ' them . however, was hurriedly' thrown over the improvised retort, and everything got into fairly presentable order. '■■•,■■' • • v •'■ • The visitors, it was .Wind, when thejv came up, included—Great Scott ! —the, manager of the very lnine where the party was workincr. But the presence of the ducks threw the newcomers completely off the scent. Indeed. . they seemed lost m admiration at these,' and so capital a display was it; voted to be ihat a snap-shotter,, who was with the manager, and who' had his camera with him, decided to M; a plate of it: As a; matter of fact, ... • ; . „ :;''■;. THE REStJLTANT PIGTURE , faas subsequently repiroduced in^acer-" ■.-, ,s?. B^^^bA,;; general, readers of y'the publication the representation was taken for what it appeared to be to the manager's party —•that of a hiehlv succes^iul shooting I exnedition, illustrative of the plenti- ; fulness pf game m the -district— and ••"■ ?T v a few it was never known that the putnose of these m the surprised camp was something/ of a much more definite and lucrative character than the pursuit of wild ducks. Even co-operation m amalgam stealing has been tried ; but the working of 'the principle has riot proved uniformly successful to the experimenters m this direction. For example, there were three younp- fellows who decided to

throw m together— to work like this —-till one, of the number . .-'■-.. ■.■' . * GOT THE SACK, . - ' and' to then divide equally.- The arrangement was adhered to. for some months, when the discovery was sudden)" made that /the person who proposed the idea had levanted, with absolutely the whole, of. 'he treasure. I knew a young fellow who, after he had been m a mill some months, built a house. He then started another: This, however, was, too much fqr the . observant rnanaeer, who forthwith irbt.r-id of the fellow. As showing the magnitude of some of the thefts I might mention that I was working at the Briliant at a time wh?n the difference between sdw.t and loz lOdwt m every ton . out of a parcel of 500 tons was appropriated somewhere m the mill. I remember the circumstances of.' the whole thins:, very well. .Tberfe was a lot of stuff 1 ike brown thousands qft^ns. m fact— tyhich Ijad been,^tpw•ed awS^. v - 'One I day, r: W&*\ niana'cet 'isaid ; he was • froin£"to ' nut a trial crushing of it through the battery. The . return was Rdwt to the. ton for 500 ton"? wilh the result, that nothing further was done with the stuff. SOME YEARS LATRR it was tried a second time, when ' it <*aye loz lOdwt to the ton. It waa nrecisely the same stuff, treated m • ousel v the same way, and the return m the first instance, therefore, hi to have been just what it was m the .second. As a result there can be no doubt as to someone or other havin- irpt away with the difference, between the two retiuns,- representing from £1500 to £2000 worth of Eold, at the time the 500 tons was put throuph-the mi11.., I have explained .that there is not now am'thinc like the stealing m the stone that thp'T used to ne, for the • Pas n that there are not to-day the opportunities tiieie were, .some -years a»-o. and I also wish to explain that there has been almost a similar decrease m the stealini? from the mills-. The;; explanation is Ifoat *he mills are beine worked differently. - Focekamnle • THE WIFLEY CONCENTRATORS are being used instead of the Berdan pans, the effect of which is to do away ■.with the pan-feeders, aM to restrict the handling of the sold to a few where before.it was handled by many. Consequently the stealing altogether is nothing like what it was, , and the ■erson who 1 thinks it is still open for. him tp ' go to the Towers and get away; with hauls similar to those I have indicated is entirely .mistaken. Gold-stealing m both respects is still to be' done there— in fact, is still being -done there. But the opportunities for it, are. confined to a few indiviI duals'; and even these have to be 'nretty smart m making use of them. I suppose' you have heard of. stamp collectors ? There are a lot qt these on the Towers. I have met a number of- ; persotis, engaged' m this ', •whom-;" those who knew tJtiehV best, their tastes' and their habits,, would never m the ordinary course of aßa.irs even suspect of having leanings towards philately ■. There are, however, ve.rV: MATERIAL- ADVANTAGES m the business, advantages entirely unknown to the stamp collectors of other places, and before concluding I will deal with this phase of the matter—for a phase of the gold-stealing, so far as the Towers is concerned, it undoubtedly is— in a way that will surprise you.