ADVENTURES OF "CHEVALIER" PARAF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7383, 18 July 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADVENTURES OF "CHEVALIER" PARAF.

CHEMIST, MILLIONAIRE, AND SCOUNDREL.

The story of "Chevalier" Alfred Paraf, who died in Lima, Peru, of pneumonia, on April 1, is a roma,iic3 of adventures such as is seldom unfolded in real life, and to match which in a novel would require the imagination of a Duinas. Although seircely 40 year old, Paraf had successfully swindled the people of two continents, and in a little over ten ycares he had squandered over £-100,1)00, which he had drawn from the pockets of : his gullible vietin:s. Unlike the ordinary swindler, Paraf selected his dupes from among ttie wealthiest and presumably the most intelligent citizens of all lauds, and the manner in which his work was done showed him to bo a man of great natural genius. Paraf was born of wealthy parents in Muihaus, province of Alsace, in 1815, and received a liberal educatiou. Wlien out of school he went to Glasgow, Scotland, and prevailed upon a wealthy manufacturer to purchase an alleged patent dyeing process for £4000. The dye waa certaialy new and cheap, but it waa not durable, and the manufacturer was just £4000 out of pocket, as he found eoon after when his goods begau to come back to him. He then returned to Paris to his old master, Dr. Schutezenberg, and the two chemists together discovered the principle of the aniline dyes which have become such an important factor in calico printing. Paraf took tho invention to Leeds and other English manufacturing towns and disposed of licenses to make and use tho dyes to a great number of print works. Soon after he paid a visit to his uncle, of the firm of Parat, Javal, and Co., Paris, and 3old him a " new colour" which he had discovered for £2000. With this money he set Bail for New York, and was well across tbo Atlantic before his uncle found that hie new colour had been invented and patented by a friend of hie nephew, from whom the latter had deliberately stolon it. Paraf landed in New York iu 1867. He was then only twenty-two years old, very engaging iu his manner, and gifted with a ready tongue. He professed to have discovered an " aniline black" superior to anything in the market, and with tins discovery he travelled through tho manufacturing towns of New England, selling licenses at from £400 to £600. The result of this campaign was a fortune of £12,000 iu cash, with which Paraf returned to I\ew fork and began a life of elegant pleasure. He absolutely threw his i>oid away. Any fncud who desirod a loan of £"200 or £400 had only to ask it, and the money was his without the formality of giving a note or any other security. It is told ot him that ho would drive to the hotel early in the evening and leave the carriage standing at the door all night. He was too indolent to send down an order for its dismissal, but ho would cheerfully pay the driver £5 or £b' in tho morning for Hitting on his box all night. VV'heu taking a bath, which he did daily, he would pour £4 worth of otto of roses into the water, and lie and enjoy the fragrance in true Oriental style for an hour or two at a time. He gave olegant dinner parties at Delmonico's old Fourteenth-street place, and at these he entertained royally scientists, lawyers, aud society men. When his money was all gone he made a bold stroke by which ho victimised ex-Governor Sprague, of Rhode .Island, and made that then wealthy gentleman pay for his luxurious tastes for more than a year. Governor Sprague was on a business visit to New York, when Paraf called on him at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, with tho air of a man who had millions to give away. He told the Governor that he had discovered a new method of employing the extract of madder ia calico printing at cheaper rates than that in ordinary use. By his facile speech and cunning artifice he succeeded in convincing Governor Sprague that there were millions in the new discovery, and Paraf went to Providence with his victim, where he performed his deceptive experiments in such a manner as to satisfy the Governor. The result was Paraf received £15,000 cash for hie invention, and a promise of a part of the prospective profits derived from its use. On the basis of this fraud the erection of extensive madder works was begun ia Providence, and a new offioe was opened in 42, Broad-street, New York, with coetly figures, and a half-score of well*

dressed clerks and book-keepers. It was found that Paraf's wonderful discovery was not applicable to operations on an extended scale, and Governor Sprague awoke to the tact that he had beeu swindled to the tune of a cool £100,000. In the spring of 1872, however, Paraf came to the front again as a capitalist and spendthrift. This time he appeared as the inventor of " oleomargarine." This substitute for butter was really invented by a French chemist named Mego Mourier, during the eeige of Paris by the Germans, when the French Government offered a reward to any person who would produce a substitute for butter. Paraf stole the process from his couutrymaa, but he was undoubtedly the first man to introduce it to America. A stock company was formed with a capital of £100,000, and a factory was built for the manufacture of the article. In 1873 he went to San Francisco to establish a factory there, and while he was absent his fellow-stockholdors discovered that he was not the inventor of oleomargarine. He accused the company of hawing swindled him, and the stockholders threatened to have him arrested for fraud, but nothing came of the threat, and finally Paraf shook the duat of New York off his feet forever. The wealthy landowners and capitalists of Chile were an attractive bait, and he started for South America to secure the wherewithal to supply his deficiencies. It was hero that he embarked in the most stupendous scheme wbidi hia fertile mind has ever evolved, and the execution of which shows the gullibility of human nature to an astonishing degree. Paraf went to Santiago, where he assumed the character of a man of wealth, and soon ingratiated himsolf with the Dons of that rich city by his elegant entertainments and pleasing manners. A gigantic scheme for extracting gold from copper ore was the means chosen to penetrate the coffers of the rich Spaniards. Paraf- professed to have discovered a method of doing this, and the simple gentleman of Santiago swallowed the gold-tipped hook eagerly. A joint stock company was launched with a capital of £250,000, immense, smelting works were erected at Higueras de Zapata, and assays of copper were made by Aarai in the presence of the officials of the compauy, which returned a large percentage of gold. The Chileans went fairly wild over tuc great "discovery," and Paraf was hailed as a second Midas, whose touch had transformed their base metals into gold. The production of this magic gold continued until one day Don Aldaricio Prado, who had invested £30,000 in the scheme, had his suspicions aroused from the fact that the assays never yielded more than £20 a day ; and ia the absence of Paraf he made an easay of copper ore himself. It is neodless to say that he secured no gold. An investigation followed, and it was found that Paraf and his servant, who was a chemist in disguise, j were accustomed to piece hyposulphide of soda and gold in crucibles in which the copper was smelted, and that the gold found was precipitated from this and not from the copper. This discovery was made in November, 1877, and the excitement throughout Chile was intense. Paraf was in danger of beiug lynohed by his angry dupes. He published a card in the papers in which he tried to stem the tide of indignation by stating that the negative result obtained by Prado was owiug to his not being in possession of the secret procese of smelting which he (Paraf) employed. His dupes, however, could no longer be imposed upon. The Chevalier was arrested, convicted of swindling, and sentenced to a term in prison, the first and last which he ever served.