“GOLD FROM SALT”

Southland Times, Issue 20012, 28 October 1926, Page 8

“GOLD FROM SALT”

LITTLE SPECKS OF BRASS. AMUSING GERMAN HOAX. Munich, the pleasant capital of Bavaria, is just recovering from the excitement of a “gold rush” of its own. It was announced, that an inventor had discovered a wonderful method of producing gold; and quite a number of people flocked to that city, glad that they had not to brave the hardships of travel to some distant inhospitable land. There were no claims to be pegged out; it was merely a question of buying, or buying shares in, a mysterious and wonderful machine which produced the precious metal out of—salt! The gold-seekers—standing at a respectable distance—were permitted to see the miracle performed before their very eyes. Why, it meant that every household salt-cellar would be a gold-mine! The inventor was Herr Hans Unruh. At the demonstrations he simply took an ordinary salt-cellar from his dining-room cruet, sprinkled some salt on a steel plate, covered the .plate with a great lampshade and turned powerful electric rays on the humble mineral. Then, lo and behold, says a correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, when the lamp shade was lifted, little particles of gold glittered in thfe midst of the silvery salt! AN INFLUX OF MONEY. Thereupon, numerous people were ready to put their money into the hands of the inventor. A Prussian merchant handed over 53,000 marks (at present worth £2,600) for a share in the gold-producing concern which was to be set up. A more humble individual scraped 1,700 marks together. A third had 10,000 marks ready and a fourth 11,000 marks. Finally, an architect paid in 2000 marks. This sum of 77,700 marks was entrusted to Herr Unruh in order that he might construct a much larger machine, which would produce gold on a commercial basis. The subscribers’ funds were to rank as specially privileged founders’ shares. Then Herr Unruh went a little farther. He gathered together a number of wealthy and influential personages and entertained them lavishly, either at his big flat in Berlin or in his permanently-engaged suite of rooms at the first hotel in Munich. They agreed to form a syndicate with a capital of 1,000,000 marks, half of which was to go into the concern as soon as the large machine was ready. Herr Unruh said the machine would cost 27,000 marks to construct, and the syndicate immediately handed that sum over to him. A VERY BRAZEN TRICK. For a while, no more was heard of the n atter, until Herr Hans Unruh, whq lived extravagantly had run through the 100,000 marks which had been entrusted to him. He-- wanted more money, and, when that was not forthcoming, he frankly and callously admitted that the whole thing 'was a fraud. He had simply put little specks of brass in his salt-cellar before performing his trick. He did not attempt to escape; he boldly faced the music in court and was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison with five years loss of all civil rights. The case shows how easy it is still in Germany for the man with a “get-rich-quick” swindle to reap a considerable harvest from the wealthy as well as the simple. It is all the more curious in that the name “Unruh” did not arouse a single suspicion in the minds of the persons with whom Hans Unruh had to do; for he is the brother of Herr Willi Unruh, whose gigantic swindle was the talk of Germany and other countries hardly six years ago! Herr Willi Unruh announced that he had solved the mystery of perpetual motion in such a way that he could, by means of a wonderful apparatus, produce electricity for next to nothing. He interested hosts of experts in his “U-Generator,” as he called the machine. Professors and scientists examined it, and saw it work—powerful electric lights were kept blazing in a glass case with no apparent connection with outside. HERR WILLI IN PRISON. For a while the experts thought that, scientifically, Germany had “done it again.” Some financiers were on the spot from half-a-dozen countries, waiting for Herr Willi to name his price. The representatives of two powerful British syndicates, with hundreds of thousands of pounds behind them, were among the competitors. Then one day, when a visitor called to see him, his servant whispered that Herr Willi was in gaol! He had done something irregular with. cheques and loans, and the sorry truth about his “U-Generator” came ,out as a result.