5 noted men are swindled by 2 uneducated miners.
A man buys a few dollars worth of brass for 3,000 dollars.
The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred.
Can you imagine that?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is Lindsay McCarrie back again with another assortment
of odd facts and news items with which to regale you for the next few moments.
Until we return to prove those statements, we hope you'll wait around for us just a moment
or two, will you?
Thank you.
I will later.
Can you imagine this? Listen. The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred. And that is correct.
The Battle of Bunker Hill never occurred. Why? Well, the fact is that during the War
of the American Revolution on the evening of June 16, 1775, colonial forces under the
command of Major General Israel Putnam and Colonel William Prescott started to entrench
on an elevation north of Boston known as Bunker Hill. But probably because the soil was hard
and unmanageable, they retired to another hill known as Breeds Hill. And there they
dug in their trenches and waited for the British forces under the command of General Thomas
Gage. At length the two armies met with considerable loss on both sides. Not on Bunker Hill, but
on Breeds Hill. And so today the famed Bunker Hill monument is really completely misnamed.
Well, here's a very interesting story that proves how the first flush of an exciting
discovery may blind everyone to the use of common ordinary horse sense. It was in the
summer of 1871 that two tanned leathery skinned prospectors showed up at the Bank of California
in San Francisco. Slouching up to the teller's window, the spokesman for the two prospectors
asked, Hey, me and my partner here, we'd like to know if we could store some cash away
some valuables in this here bank. Valuables? Oh, I suppose so. You could rent a safety
deposit box and put the valuables in it, but it'll cost money. And so? Well, I didn't
expect to get nothing for nothing here. All right, we can pay for it. Very well. Your
name, please? My name is John Slack. This is my partner, Philip Arnold. How do you do?
And the valuables? Right here in this sack. Here, I'll dump them out for you. There you
are, son. Lock them till we get back. And, hey, what are you standing there with your
mouth wide open for? Ain't you ever seen diamonds, rubies and emeralds before? I've never seen
that many in one place. Well, lock them up and give me the key. Me and my partner's got
to get back to our diggings to get some more of these toys. Come on, Philip. And leaving
the bank clerk staring after them, the two miners slouched off. Immediately the clerk
rushed to the head of the bank, William C. Ralston, a shrewd, intelligent man with a
flair for speculation. Ralston found the two miners, talked with them and offered to buy
a half share in their discovery. But Ralston didn't do it before he heard the reports of
geologists, one of whom said, Mr. Ralston, I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Why, those stones are up there ready for anyone to pick them up. And they're real, no fakes.
It's amazing. Why, do you realize that we've barely begun to dig out the wealth from the
earth? This mine and this region will soon rival South Africa as a diamond producing
center. And San Francisco can become greater than Amsterdam as a cutting and polishing
center. With that report ringing in his ears, William C. Ralston got together men like
Horace Greeley, General George B. McClellan, Charles Louis Tiffany, founder of the famed
Tiffany's in New York, and Wonder of Wonders, Baron Rothschild, head of the far-famed banking
house. The men were enthusiastic and they met the two miners, Slack and Arnold.
Mr. Slack, Mr. Arnold, my partners and I are prepared to offer you a top price of $700,000
for your half interest in your mines. Now that's reasonable considering that you're
the share in the final profits. And we put up the money for developments, equipment and
labor. Now what do you say?
Well, I ain't hankering to let go of it for so little. Your experts told you them stones
are worth close to a million. And we brung in another bag full of diamonds worth easy
that much.
Yeah, but $700,000 is as high as we'll go. And you'll realize greater profits from your
half interest when we start to work the mines.
Well, all right. I reckon you're playing fair. We'll take it.
And take the $700,000? They did. Ralston and his associates organized a company with a
capital of $10 million. Gorgeous offices were opened. Then it was announced that San Francisco
would soon replace Amsterdam as the center of the diamond industry of the world. Then
when things were running along smoothly, two government geologists got a little suspicious.
They went to the mine and...
Take a look at this. This stone shows the marks of a lapidary's tool. It's been cut.
There aren't any stones in nature that you'll find already cut. It's too good.
Yeah. And I found diamonds and rubies and emeralds in the same matrix, in the same mother
stone. And that just doesn't happen in nature. Boy, somebody's been taken to the tune of
plenty of money. Why, these stones aren't worth over $10,000 at the most. They're all
second rate.
What happened? How did a man of Ralston's ability happen to be taken in on such an old
dodge as a salted mine? Well, remember that it happened in the days when the United States
was in a fever of excitement over nature's wealth buried under the ground. Gold and silver
had been found in vast quantities. Why not diamonds, emeralds, and rubies? At any rate,
it remains as one of the most gigantic swindles in the history of confidence games. Ralston
and his associates repaid all the money advanced, but for a long time they were accosted on
the streets by rude persons who asked...
Say, I got some diamonds here I'd like you to take a look at.
And thus ended the gigantic diamond swindle of 1871 when two famous bankers, a leading
artist, a noted soldier, and the man who founded one of the leading jewelry concerns of the
world were all taken in by two leathery-skinned, rough-talking miners.
And here's another case in the American Southland where the principal character learned that
all is not gold that glisters. And by the way, that's the way Shakespeare said it originally,
all is not gold that glisters, not glitters. Anyway, it was on February 21, 1939 that three
men walked into the malt shop of Herbert Siegel of Los Angeles. One of them, a rather tall,
elegant-looking gent wearing a monocle, remarked...
Say, I'd like to settle down here and own a little shop like this. I imagine you do
a pretty good business.
Oh, it's not so bad.
What would you take for it?
Well, I really don't know.
Well, how about $2,000? I'll offer you that.
$2,000?
Mm-hmm.
Well, I hadn't thought about selling, but that's a pretty fair price, all right. If
you're anxious to buy, I'll sell for that.
The elegant gentleman wearing the monocle had only $1,000 in cash on his person, so
said his partner to Mr. Siegel.
Tell you what, I've got a box here with dental gold in it. The gold's worth $5,300.
Whew, $5,300? Say, isn't it pretty dangerous to carry that around?
Oh, no, but I'll tell you what we'll do. My friend here will give you the thousand he
has in cash. I'll give you this gold, and you give me $3,000 for the gold, and we'll
come back later with the sales forms, and I'll buy back my gold.
Let me see the gold.
All right, here you are.
Well, it looks like a lot of gold. All right, it's a deal.
Mr. Siegel paid $3,000 for the gold. The men left with the money and left Mr. Siegel holding
not the bag, but the box filled with dental gold. Mr. Siegel waited and waited and waited.
Then he went to the police who told him,
Mr. Siegel, you've been swindled.
Swindled?
These aren't gold dental fillings. They're brass, and you paid $3,000 for them.
And so Mr. Herbert Siegel of Los Angeles, his eyes blinded momentarily by the flagrant
flash of brass, paid $3,000 for a few dollars worth of junk. Can you imagine that?
Well, well, well, what's this? Oh, it's the annual banquet of my lodge. Yowza, some fun,
huh? There'll be speeches, jokes, paper hats, many cigars, and then the annual election
of officers. And when that's all over and the new president is announced, the whole
gang will rise and sing.
Well he's a jolly good fellow, For he's a jolly good fellow
Which nobody can deny, Which nobody can deny, which nobody can deny
For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow, Which nobody can deny
We won't go home until morning, We won't go home until morning,
We won't go home until morning, till daylight does appear.
Till daylight does appear, till daylight does appear.
We won't go home until morning, we won't go home until morning.
We won't go home until morning, till daylight does appear.
Yes, sir, for he is a jolly good fellow.
I have no doubt that you've sung that very same song many, many times in your days.
But where did it come from?
Well, that I'm afraid is more or less of a mystery.
One thing's sure, it's very, very old.
Older than any student of the history of music can vouch for.
For instance, one source I found says that this tune, known to us today as
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow or We Won't Get Home Until Morning,
has been known for many centuries by the Arabs of Egypt as Malbruk Safur Leel Harbi.
Another source reveals that there is a possibility that the tune was carried into the land of the heathen
by Christian crusaders.
And still another authority claims that that song commemorates the unsuccessful attempts of
John Churchill, first Duke of Malboro, to undermine the monarchy of Louis XIV of France.
At any rate, the tune is certainly an old one.
And the oldest lyrics we've been able to find seem to bear out the latter story of the Duke of Malboro.
Here we have our male quartet singing an English translation of ancient verses
to the original of the melody we know today as For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.
To fight the foe in battles
Merito, mirito, might程
To fight the foe in battles
Sir Malboro has gone
To fight the foe in battles
Merito, mirito, might程
To fight the foe in battles
Sir Malboro has gone
He will return at Easter
Merito, mirito, might程
He will return at Easter
When all the wars are done
He will return at Easter, mi-re-to, mi-re-to mi-re-te-ne.
He will return at Easter when all the wars are done.
Sirmale Raine fell in battle, mi-re-to, mi-re-to mi-re-te-ne.
Sirmale Raine fell in battle and now is in the grave.
And now is in the grave.
And despite the story in that song, the words,
Mirito, Mirito, Miritena, have absolutely no meaning.
Can you imagine that?
Well, I guess it's about time once more to turn you over to your own announcer,
and until we meet again on another session of Can You Imagine That,
this is Lindsay McCary saying, goodbye now.
Can You Imagine That?