Download or read book The Lubec Gold Scam written by Marybeth Hagaman and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of gold in seawater in 1872, created a kind of gold rush - or gold slosh, perhaps. "The ocean is a goldmine," the newspapers crowed. Even with an estimated gold content of less than 1 grain per tonne of water that meant a lot of precious metal just there for the taking. Prescott Jernegan's Electrolytic Marine Salts Company promised gold from the sea, and the town of Lubec, Maine, boomed as the company's gold-accumulating machines got to work, apparently very successfully. You can probably imagine what happened next. In 1897, a stranger named Reverend Prescott Jernegan arrived in Lubec and made a bold claim: he could extract gold from seawater. To do so, he used so-called accumulators of electrically charged rods in iron pots. Fooling many, he hid the gold beneath a wharf in the Bay of Fundy during the night. He and his accomplice, Charles Fisher, preached with fervent enthusiasm as they built their factory and encouraged inspections, which reversed doubters to greedy high-stakes investors
Download or read book New England Gold Hoax Of 1898 written by Willie Wieger and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of gold in seawater in 1872, created a kind of gold rush - or gold slosh, perhaps. "The ocean is a goldmine," the newspapers crowed. Even with an estimated gold content of less than 1 grain per tonne of water that meant a lot of precious metal just there for the taking. Prescott Jernegan's Electrolytic Marine Salts Company promised gold from the sea, and the town of Lubec, Maine, boomed as the company's gold-accumulating machines got to work, apparently very successfully. You can probably imagine what happened next. In 1897, a stranger named Reverend Prescott Jernegan arrived in Lubec and made a bold claim: he could extract gold from seawater. To do so, he used so-called accumulators of electrically charged rods in iron pots. Fooling many, he hid the gold beneath a wharf in the Bay of Fundy during the night. He and his accomplice, Charles Fisher, preached with fervent enthusiasm as they built their factory and encouraged inspections, which reversed doubters to greedy high-stakes investors
Download or read book The Great Gold Swindle of Lubec Maine written by Carrie C. Bangs and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1897, a stranger named Reverend Prescott Jernegan arrived in Lubec and made a bold claim: he could extract gold from seawater. To do so, he used so-called accumulators of electrically charged rods in iron pots. Fooling many, he actually hid the gold beneath a wharf in the Bay of Fundy during the night. He and his accomplice, Charles Fisher, preached with fervent enthusiasm as they built their factory and encouraged inspections, which reversed doubters to greedy high-stakes investors. Hundreds of laborers accelerated factory expansion until July 1897, when Jernegan and Fisher fled. Although residents of Lubec attempted civil and criminal action, both men relocated, and fantasies of gold wealth flowed away. Relive the excitement, disappointment and anger of turn-of-the-century Mainers in this collection of accounts about the Lubec gold hoax.
Download or read book Great Frauds In History written by Parker Wolanski and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The discovery of gold in seawater in 1872, created a kind of gold rush - or gold slosh, perhaps. "The ocean is a goldmine," the newspapers crowed. Even with an estimated gold content of less than 1 grain per tonne of water that meant a lot of precious metal just there for the taking. Prescott Jernegan's Electrolytic Marine Salts Company promised gold from the sea, and the town of Lubec, Maine, boomed as the company's gold-accumulating machines got to work, apparently very successfully. You can probably imagine what happened next. In 1897, a stranger named Reverend Prescott Jernegan arrived in Lubec and made a bold claim: he could extract gold from seawater. To do so, he used so-called accumulators of electrically charged rods in iron pots. Fooling many, he hid the gold beneath a wharf in the Bay of Fundy during the night. He and his accomplice, Charles Fisher, preached with fervent enthusiasm as they built their factory and encouraged inspections, which reversed doubters to greedy high-stakes investors
Download or read book The Great Gold Swindle of Lubec Maine written by Ronald Pesha and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1897, a stranger named Reverend Prescott Jernegan arrived in Lubec and made a bold claim: he could extract gold from seawater. To do so, he used so-called accumulators of electrically charged rods in iron pots. Fooling many, he actually hid the gold beneath a wharf in the Bay of Fundy during the night. He and his accomplice, Charles Fisher, preached with fervent enthusiasm as they built their factory and encouraged inspections, which reversed doubters to greedy high-stakes investors. Hundreds of laborers accelerated factory expansion until July 1897, when Jernegan and Fisher fled. Although residents of Lubec attempted civil and criminal action, both men relocated, and fantasies of gold wealth flowed away. Relive the excitement, disappointment and anger of turn-of-the-century Mainers in this collection of accounts about the Lubec gold hoax.
Download or read book Gold of Bre X written by Alfred Lenarciak and published by Book Venture Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1994 and 1997, Canadian company Bre-X Minerals, sponsored and promoted to listings on the TSX and NASDAQ by JPMorgan, Lehman, BMO, and others, was exploring for gold on the Busang property on the Indonesian island of Borneo. Bre-X’s efforts bore the discovery of a lifetime: a mammoth deposit estimated to contain over 200 million ounces of easily extractable gold. The company’s stock exploded from 25 cents to over $270, effectively valuing Bre-X at over $6 billion and attracting the interest of major mining companies. Barrick, Placer Dome, and Freeport McMorran, all the major players at the time, started competing to develop the largest gold deposit ever discovered. In early 1997, Indonesian President Suharto and his government took control of the deposit by force and commissioned Freeport to build a mega mine. In the ensuing months, due diligence revealed that the deposit was a gigantic hoax! There was no gold in Busang. The principals of Bre-X were accused, but never convicted, of salting samples before sending them to labs. Michael de Guzman, a Filipino geologist who served as the project manager, allegedly committed suicide by jumping from a helicopter into the abyss of Borneo’s jungle. Minorca Resources of Toronto were the financial partners of the Haji Sayakarani group of companies that owned Busang; Alfred Lenarciak was the chairman of Minorca at the time. In a strange twist of fate, in February 2012, Alfred had a chance encounter in Rome with a man by the name of Akiro Guzzo, who shared with him an amazing story about the life and death of Michael de Guzman, the creator of a fake gold mega deposit. Is this really a dead man’s story?
Download or read book Fools Gold written by Brian Hutchinson and published by Vintage Books Canada. This book was released on 1999-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fool's Gold is a hard hitting account of how and why the biggest mining fraud ever perpetrated by a Canadian company was allowed to happen and -- most shockingly -- how it could happen again. Bruce Hutchinson charts the unholy alliance which exists in Canada among penny-stock promoters and investment analysts, and he reveals how the financial instruments used by companies to raise money have been seriously abused. He shows also how regulatory agencies -- agencies that exist to protect investors -- are reluctant to enforce their own rules, while irresponsible promotion is rampant; and how Canadian mining interests have aligned with brutal political regimes to produce environmental degradation and deadly social unrest.
Download or read book Bre X written by Jennifer Wells and published by Orion Business. This book was released on 1998 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was hailed as the biggest gold discovery in the world this century, worth more than #15 billion, but it turned out to be the greatest mining scandal of all time. This is the astonishing account of the how Bre-X Minerals shot to fame after announcing the discovery of gold on Borneo.
Download or read book The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 written by Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-09-17 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts of the hoax written by victims and newspapers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "[T]he most gigantic and barefaced swindle of the age." - The San Francisco Chronicle's description of the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 It's only natural that people have always been attracted to get-rich-quick schemes, and in spite of their best efforts, almost everyone has been tempted at one time or another by a promise of riches that can be obtained with little or no work. The attraction is even stronger during periods when ordinary people have indeed struck it rich, particularly the California Gold Rush and the Yukon Gold Rush in the mid-19th century and late 19th century respectively. Having heard stories of men who went west with nothing and returned as millionaires, people were more inclined than ever before to believe that "there's gold (or silver or diamonds) in them thar hills." It would take decades of research to fully understand that most of the miners in the West did not strike it rich, and that those who fared best were mining companies and those who sold goods to miners. But regardless, fraudsters also understood that the best way to make a profit off the gold rush was to fleece the people trying to find the gold, and before long a large number of shysters hoped to make their own pot of riches in a far less honorable way. As Patricia O'Toole, author of Money and Morals in America: A History, noted, "I see the Diamond Hoax as one in a long line of scams made possible by the fact that the United States truly was a land of opportunity. Many a legitimate fortune seemed to be made overnight, so it was particularly easy for a con artist to convince a gullible American that he too could wake up a millionaire." There were many schemes carried out in the 19th century, and even professional con men like Soapy Smith, but perhaps no fraud in the region was as infamous as the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872. It began with a major, legitimate diamond strike in South Africa. From there, the fever quickly spread to America, spurred on by tall tales told by trappers from Jim Bridger to Kit Carson of diamonds and other precious gems that could be picked up by the side of the road as one walked through the deserts of the West. Most of these men told these stories as harmless tall tales for the amusement of their audiences, but there were a few that had bigger and, at least in the own minds, better ideas. They decided to use the rumors to line their own pockets. That is where two cousins entered the picture. With the help of a friend, cousins Philip Arnold and John Slack managed to take otherwise sensible people, including highly successful businessmen and politicians like former Civil War General George McClellan, for nearly half a million dollars. They accomplished this by playing the long game, reinvesting initial sums of money to salt the ground they claimed was rich in minerals with enough diamonds and other gemstones to convince a few respected experts that they really had struck it big. They then sold shares in the land to investors before skipping town with their ill-gotten gains. In the end, the scam was only discovered because of a coincidental meeting on a train, one that sent a renowned geologist back to their claim, where he quickly determined it to be a fraud. Of course, by then the cousins had their money, and thanks to the embarrassment that most of their victims felt, Arnold and Slack were able to keep the money. There were hearings and lawsuits both in the United States and England, but in the end, almost no one got back any of the money they had invested under false pretenses. The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872: The History of 19th Century America's Most Notorious Fraud chronicles the story of one of the most infamous scams in the history of the United States.
Download or read book Fever written by Jennifer Wells and published by Viking Books. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fifty Scams and Hoaxes written by Martin Fone and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty Scams and Hoaxes is a light-hearted investigation into some of the worst examples of financial skulduggery, medical quackery and ingenious hoaxing from history. Along the way we will come across a Pope advocating a drink based on cocaine, a pill to avoid hangovers, a woman who gave birth to rabbits, the man who broke the bank twice, the first examples of insurance fraud and scam emails and much more. Author Martin Fone explores the psychology and methodology deployed by the scammers and shows what can happen when avarice preys on credulity and gullibility. The key characteristics he unearths amongst his despicable gallery of scammers includes; incredible claims, creative use of advertising, playing on people’s fears and aspirations, unscrupulous business practices and, when it all goes wrong as it often does, a propensity to flee the scene and leave others to pick up the pieces. Well-paced, fascinating, entertaining and informative, this book will delight the general reader as well as providing food for thought for the more serious student of the foibles of human nature.
Download or read book It Happened in Maine written by Gail Underwood Parker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It Happened in Maine takes readers on a rollicking, behind-the-scenes look at some of the characters and episodes from the Pine Tree State's storied past. Including both famous tales, and famous names--and little-known heroes, heroines, and happenings.
Download or read book IT HAPPENED IN MAINE REMARKABLE E 2ED written by Gail Underwood Parker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It Happened in Maine takes readers on a rollicking, behind-the-scenes look at some of the characters and episodes from the Pine Tree State's storied past. Including both famous tales, and famous names--and little-known heroes, heroines, and happenings.
Download or read book Forgotten Tales of Down East Maine written by Jim Harnedy and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-13 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maine has a collection of unique characters and tales that has helped to shape its identity. Meet the Artist Who Played Robin Hood, the Hermit of North Pond and the Mysterious Billy Smith. Uncover the state's hidden gems with stories like the Midas Scam in Lubec, which left investors with little but salt water to show for their investment. From the tragedy of the Wreck of the Circus Ship to the uplifting story of the Schoolgirl Ambassador, Maine author and veteran storyteller Jim Harnedy brings out the offbeat characters and events that have made the Pine Tree State so unique.
Download or read book A History of Ambition in 50 Hoaxes History in 50 written by Gale Eaton and published by Tilbury House Publishers and Cadent Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do the Trojan Horse, Piltdown Man, Keely Motor Company, and Ponzi Scheme have in common? They were all famous hoaxes, carefully designed and bolstered with false evidence. The con artists in this book pursued a variety of ambitions—making money, winning wars, mocking authority, finding fame, trading an ordinary life for a glamorous one—but they all chose the lowest, fastest road to get there. Every hoax is a curtain, and behind it is a deceiver operating levers and smoke machines to make us see what is not there and miss what is. As P.T. Barnum knew, you can short-circuit critical thinking in any century by telling people what they want to hear. Most scams operate on a personal scale, but some have shaped the balance of world power, inspired explorers to sail uncharted seas, derailed scientific progress, or caused terrible massacres. A HISTORY OF AMBITION IN 50 HOAXES guides us through a rogue’s gallery of hustlers, liars, swindlers, imposters, scammers, pretenders, and cheats. In Gale Eaton’s wide-ranging synthesis, the history of deception is a colorful tour, with surprising insights behind every curtain. Fountas & Pinnell Level Z+
Download or read book The enterprise written by Hugh Ronald Conyngton and published by . This book was released on 1923 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
