THE ALLEGED ROBBERY BY A GOLD SMELTER AT THE GREY.

West Coast Times, Issue 176, 12 April 1866, Page 7

THE ALLEGED ROBBERY BY A GOLD SMELTER AT THE GREY.

(Prom the Grey River Argus,) [In the Resident Magistrate's Court, Greymouth, on 20th ulc.,] Alfred Williams, a German, and Frederick Duprez, both in the employ of Mr Christenson, a jeweller and gold retorter, carrying on business in Greymouth, were broHght up charged with misappropriating six or seven ounces of gold belonging to Daniel Driscoll, a miner working on the Darkies' Terrace, North Beach, under the following circumstances : — luspector James, in charge of the police force at Greymouth, having been duly sworn, deposed as follows : On Saturday afternoon, the 10th instant, prosecutor Driscoll came to me at; the Camp and said he had just had some gold retorted at Mr Christenson's, on Mawhera Quay, and believed that about six or seven ounces had been by some means extracted during the operation of refining it. I immediately accompanied him to Mr Christenson's shop, and saw the prisoner Duprez in the front shop. I told him that I had, at tho request of prosecutor, come to make enquiries relative to some gold he said he said he had lost*, upon which Duprez asked me whether I accused him of stealing it, and said I had better go through into the back shop and see the man who had retorted it. Driscoll and I then passed through into the work shop, where he (Driscoll) at once pointed out the prisoner Williams, who was engaged at the furnace at the time, as being the man who had smelted his gold. I was in uniform at the time, and cautioned Williams in the usual way, and told him that Driscoll had lodged an information with me that he had lost a certain quantity of gold while it was in the prisoner's hands, and could ascertain nothing satisfactory about it. Williams said it was quite impossible for any gold to have been lost, as the crucibles used for smelting were perfectly sound, at the same time producing the particular one in which Driscoll's gold had been smelted, and asking me to examine it. 1 did so, and found that to all appearance it was so. Driscoll said, " oh, you will not find the missing gold in the crucible," as he suspected it was either in the fire or in the furnance, as he had, during the operation, noticed several specs of gold on the retort. He asked whether he might put out the fire, arid no objection was offered by Williams, who lifted the top part of the charcoal out of the furnace, and placed it in a dish. Driscoll then took charge of it, and commenced pulverising it with the intention of washing it. The prisoner Williams said he would find no gold there, as if there was any gold lost it would be at the bottom. They then both cleared the furnace out to the very bottom, and when near the bottom prosecutor found the pieces of gold produced, which to all appearance had been in a liquid state. In my presence Driscoll afterwards washed the ashes, and found several fine specs, something like small shot, and a great deal of quicksilver, amongst the ashes. Whilst Driscoll was searching in the manner I have described, the prisoner Duprez came in front of his shop and said that if we detained Williams from his work, and did not find any gold we would have to pay the expenses for loss of time, &c. Driscoll said he suspected there was gold underneath the furnace which had run through, as he noticed that the water which had been used to extinguish the fire had disappeared. At my suggestion he then went into the front shop and asked the prisoner Duprez if he would allow him to remove the furnace altogether, and he went into the shop for that purpose, but I did not hear the conversation that took place between him and Duprez while there. Discroll returned in a few minutes and said that Duprez had refused to allow him to move the furnace, and that he would go to a magistrate. I omitted to state that while Driscoll was searching for his gold the prisoner remarked that he had retorted some gold for another man during the time Driscoll was absent at the police camp, and Driscoll said that could not be the case, as a man named Burns, whom he had left in the workshop, had remained there ,811 the time he was away, and must necessarily have known if he bad done so. further than that, Driscoll said he had evidently not been absent long enough even for him to retort Burn's gold, which was on the fire when we first went into the shop. 1 could not see, however, in what state Burns' gold was, as the retort was covered up. We remained in the workshop about ten minutes when the prisoner Williams lighted a candle and asked me to look at tho bottom of the furnace and see if I could discover any hole or crevice. I have since seen the furnace taken out of the bed, and it had no appearance of having been removed since the 10th instant, when I had 1 previously seen it. It was resting on a bed of hard sand. I arrested both prisoners on the 15th inst., by virtue of* warrant issued on, (he information of

Driscoll, the prosecutor, On searching Williams I found a bank draft for L6O, some articles of jewellery, and the gold I now produce wrapped up in paper (seV'ei'al nieces ok retorted gold Were here produced m Court). The prisoner Williams asked me whether I intended to produce the property found 011 him, in Courts and I said yes. I identify this gold as the three largo pieces that were found by the prosecutor i)riscoll, in the furnace, in my presence.' They were found in the dshes ; and I can say, that the smaller pieces are also similar to those that were found at the time. I don't know the value of the gold produced, as it has not been weighed. By Duprcz : The man Burns, whose gold was on the surface when I entered the workshop, is not connected with the prosecutor in this case. By Williams : I cannot say what motive you have for asking whether the things I fouud on you would be produced in Court. Daniel Driscoll having been sworn deposed as follows : I am a miner working at the terrace on the North Beach. I remember the 10th inst. I had 31oz 7dwts of amalgam, which I brought into town to get it retorted and smelted. I took it to Christenson's, on Mawhera Quay, and the prisoner Duprez, who was in the tront shop behind the counter, weighed it. It then weighed 82oz 1 2dwts 5 that was including some other pieces (produced), which weighed loz odwts. A man named James Mitchell was present when it was weighed. Dupres; asked me whether I wanted it retorted, and I said, " Yes." We then went into the back shop, and I handed the amalgam to the prisoner Williams, who retorted it. Two other strangers were present, and a man named Burns and myself also witnessed a part of the operation. I saw the prisoner Williams place the amalgam into an iron pot on the table, where it stood a few minutes, and it is possible that some of it might have been extracted while it stood there, without my seeing it done, as we were talking and yarning at the time at the other end of the room. I did not take notice whether there was the same quantity of stuff in the pot when the prisoner Williams placed it on the fire as there was when I gave it to him ; and under the circumstances I should not have missed it if some of it had been taken away in the meantime. I saw Williams fasten up the retort and put it on the fire ; and, after the quicksilver had evaporated, and the retort opened, I saw some of the gold sticking to the clay that had been placed pound the retort when it was put on the fire. I called the attention of the prisoner Williams to this fact, and he blew of all the dry clay, and collected all the gold that could be seen — a few grains, I suppose. Williams then put the gold into a crucible, which he placed on the fire. The mouth of the crucible was closed up Although present, I did not see everything that went on while the process of smelting was going on, as the crucible containing the gold, while being converted into a liquid state, could not bo seen by anyone in the room, excepting the workman Williams. A kind of chimney covered it up in front, and there is no possible opportunity of anyone in the room seeing either the gold or crucible during the process of smelting. Some of the gold could have been easily tilted out of the crucible while it was on the fire without my knowledge, I afterwards saw the crucible taken off the fire, and was present when the gold was placed in the mould to cool. I have since examined the crucible, but can dißcover no crack or flaw in it. The prisoner showed it to me, and I cannot positively, hut have no doubt in my mind that it was the same crucible that my gold was smelted in. It was shown to me after I went for the police. The weight of the return of gold to me was 7 pz. 4 dwt. 1 1 grs. It was in one cake, and I produce a receipt from the Bank of New Zealand, to whom I sold it. It waa weighed in Christenson's shop, before I left, by the prisoner Duprez, and it weighed the same as when I took it to the bank. I made a remark to both Duprez and Williams that I was dissatisfied, and that I had not got so much gold out of my " stuff " as I expected, and Williams said there was none of the gold lost, but that he had lost a little quicksilver of mine, and that he would replace it' He then brought some silver in and offered it to me ; but at first 1 would not take it, although I afterwards took about half a I)ound of it from him, in place of what he lad lost of mine. I did not weigh it, but the Ayhole quantity of silver that I had has since weighed 21 oz, including the bottle, which weighs above 7 oz. As J became more angry at the loss of my gold, and made more noise, the prisoner Williams gave me some more quicksilver. I gave both my gold and my quicksilver over to Burns, who was standing in the workshop, to take charge of while I went for the for the police. When the Inspector returned with me, Williams was at work in the back shop, and Burns still there. Burns' gold was then in the retort on the fire. The prisoner Williams then made a remark that he had retorted some gold for another man during my absence, and I told him I did not believe it, as I had not been long enough away for him to do so, if I could judge by the time he took to retort gold for myself and other parties. The man Burns, who had been standing there all the time, also said that he had not retorted 'any gold for anyone during my absence, and that nobody had been in the place while I was away. I saw the prisoner Williams hand the crucible to Inspector James, and both ho and myself examined it, but found neither crevice or crack. I asked to he allowed to search the furnace, and with the assistance of Williams I did so. He assisted me in putting out the fire, and when the fire was nearly clear, and we were close to the bottom, I found some gold. I afterwards washed the ashes, and found the fine gold produced. When I found the large pieces of gold the prisoner Williams was present. The prisoner Duprez was not willing for mo to search for the gold, and threatened to make me pay all the expenses, &c. After finding the gold I hade produced, I asked Duprez if he would allow me to search underneath the furnace, as I thought it not unlikely that the gold, being in a liquid state at the time, might have run down where the water had gone. The water that was poured on to the fire to extinguish it disappeared immediately. lam positive that the prisoner Williams and myself poured at least a gallon of water on the fire, and it all disap peared all at once. The furnace was about eighteen inches deep. I put my hand into the water up to my wrists to scrape up the ashes from the bottom, and while I was doing bo the water disappeared, I noticed

there was a soft spot in 1 one corner of the furnace, but the sides were quije hard. I tried to break them with my fingers, but could not. 1 1 have retorted amalgam siim lnr to that which I took to Chnstenson'a shop myself, in Otago, and did it with a nhovOl on the fire. It then yielded about half gold. 'I believe that in the -affair whioh caused me to take these proceedings I lost at least 5 ozs. of gold. I expected to get a return of 12 or 13 ozs. instead of 7 ozs. I have never seen amalgam retorted by anyone like the prisoners did it By Dnprcz : The bag containing the amalgam tv'ria not opened in your presence when you weighed ifr in the front shop. You came in and out of the back shop several times, while it was being retorted. 1 don't know whether you saw the gold after you weighed it until I brought it back. Yoii did not remark to me that if there was any gold short it must either be in the fire or in the crucible, but that you had some there (in the shop), and did not believe any of tho gold waa missing. I don't recolleot you calling Williams into the front shop, while I was complaining, and asking him if he c'oiild' account for the short weight of my gold. Tho prisoner Williams declined to put any questions to the prosecutor. John Burns was sworn, and said ho was in Mr Christenson's shop, and saw Driscoll's amalgam weighed, and remarked that it was fine stuff and he should get a return of 10 or 11 ounces. He said he was an old digger, and had invariably got the same weight of gold and quicksilver together, in return for the amalgam, or within a fraction, He had heard of there being a deficiency of an ounce weight, but had never known it himself. He believed Driscoll was working on the terrace on the North Beach, and the return for the stuff found there was generally greater than from the flat. lie saw the amalgam given to the prisoner Duprcz, and it weighed 32 ounces some few pennyweights. James Mitchell, another miner, was examined, and corroborated in every particular the evidence of the prosecutor Driscoll. The Magistrate did not consider there was any case against Duprez: ho was, therefore discharged* The evidence against Williams, however, was far more conclusive ; and he would, therefore, be committed for trial at the next Criminal Sessions.