The Ex-Geologist's Con Game
Former State Geologist George A. Bethune allegedly swindles Los Angeles investors in a fraudulent gold mine deal.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
John M. Burke, a well-known mining man of Wardner, is in receipt of a letter from Walter S. Maxwell of Los Angeles, announcing that ex-State Geologist George A. Bethune and Carleton Kemp had recently bunkoed him out of considerable money. Posing as representatives of Burke, they attempted to purchase the Good Hope gold property. After conducting a fake mill test, Bethune borrowed $300 from one of the owners and kept a bar of gold derived from the test before disappearing. Burke confirmed that neither man had any authority to represent him, stating the suspicion that his associates had been bunkoed is correct.
“Bethune borrowed $300 from one of the owners, and also kept a bar of gold that he secured from a mill test of the ore.”
Mining scams were endemic to the growth-obsessed culture of the Pacific Northwest in the 1890s. The 'get-rich-quick' promise often led to elaborate impersonation schemes that mirrored the speculative bubbles of the era.
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