Dodgy gold and crooks aplenty
Colonial goldfields were breeding grounds for crimes of every description – bushranging, hotel holdups, burglary, thuggery, murder and, of course, blatant and successful confidence trickery.
The goldfields attracted diggers from all over the world and it was not surprising that this vast migration of men also contained certain criminal elements. There were no national boundaries as far as these types of people were concerned. They came from Germany, Britain, South Africa, South America, China and a host of other countries. Having arrived on the various goldfields in their thousands, the Chinese, for example, were generally hard working and honest men who often laboured under terrible conditions in order to make even a modest living. Highly respected by some for their industry, they were reviled by many and largely shunned by the white communities. Yet there were those among them who found great difficulty in making a decent living on the goldfields and who, instead, turned to a life of crime and subterfuge. In many instances their activities brought them very significant rewards. Perhaps one of the more rewarding of these subterfuges was the manufacture of spurious gold, that is, gold nuggets that had all the appearances of being genuine but which were later found to be manufactured from various elements, including a small amount of gold but largely from metals of far less value. A gang of Chinese spurious gold manufacturers operated at Mia Mia Flat rear Talbot, Victoria, in 1862. Apparently they had been selling their counterfeit gold for some time but their operations were finally discovered by a storekeeper at Mia Mia named Mr Crump, who informed the police. Accordingly, a detachment of police officers including a Detective Lloyd, Senior Constable Boyle and Constable Bain, went to Crump’s store where the Chinese counterfeiters were expected to put in an appearance. Crump had been caught out with a parcel of spurious gold and was determined to have the criminals arrested when next they came to sell him their false nuggets.
DENSE TANGLE OF BUSHES
When they arrived at the store, Constable Bain hid himself in a dense tangle of bushes near the building while his two fellow officers went inside to hide in one of the rear rooms. Soon afterwards a Chinese digger was seen approaching the store but when this man saw one of the police horses, he became suspicious and beat a hasty retreat. Detective Lloyd ran from the store, mounted his horse and went after the fleeing figure. He was in time to see him enter one of the many Chinese diggers’ tents in the area. Meanwhile another Chinese gang member had also arrived at the store. He was permitted to enter and, unsuspecting, sold some ‘gold’ to the storekeeper. When Detective Lloyd returned, the transaction had just been completed. Lloyd asked the Chinaman what he was selling and the man said “good gold, got in Back Creek and belong to four men.” Crump had handed over more than £10 for the gold (knowing that the police would soon pounce and retrieve his money), and, having received this money for his spurious gold, the Chinese man was now open to arrest. This Lloyd quickly did, slamming closed the front door of the store. Lloyd placed the man under arrest for selling ‘bad gold’. The counterfeiter insisted that all his gold was good but Detective Lloyd ignored the protestations and searched his prisoner. In the man’s pockets the police officer discovered, in addition to the money paid to him by Mr Crump, “...two spurious nuggets one weighing about half an ounce and the other about one pennyweight; there was also a parcel of beautiful looking spurious nuggets, in all about four ounces.”
Taking this man with them, the police officers then made for the Chinese camp on the diggings where about 400 or so Chinese diggers lived and worked. There they entered the prisoner’s tent and found four Chinese nationals busily manufacturing spurious nuggets with a crucible and bellows. The press later reported: “These rascals were at once arrested and, after being handcuffed, the police searched the tent and found several ounces of spurious gold in addition to the implements with which it is made. The five prisoners were then placed in a cart that started for the police camp at Talbot.” The real gold that the counterfeiters used to manufacture their false nuggets was actually bought at the Alma field where they paid about four pounds an ounce for it. Apparently the colour of the gold from the Alma region was slightly darker and therefore more easily disguised.
It was hard enough to make a living on the goldfields but the diggers and gold buyers were also plagued by conmen
POSED AS BEGGARS
There were also, occasionally, men who posed as beggars on the goldfields hoping no doubt to generate sympathy from those who had been fortunate enough to win some gold from their claims. For example, in 1862 a man who gave his name as Sam Kong, was operating just such a deception at Emerald Hill, Victoria. He actually started posing as a beggar on Christmas Day 1862. The colonial press subsequently reported, “...to ensure success he got himself up in true mendicant fashion and appeared with a bandaged arm and limbs so weak as to require the support of crutches.” However, his ruse was suspected and the police were called. The officers of the law soon found a ready cure for his infirmities. The bandages were removed, the crutches were confiscated and, like a wondrous cure, it was discovered that Sam Kong had no further infirmities. When searched it was discovered that he had managed to beg the incredible sum of £12 pounds 10 shillings in just a few days of ‘malpractice’. The ‘beggar’ was arrested and taken to Melbourne for punishment. In October 1863, a Chinese digger called at the store owned by a Mr Alderson at Wesley Hill, Forest Creek. Alderson knew the Chinese digger as he had conducted a number of previous transactions with him and therefore had no reason to suspect him of any kind of skullduggery. The Chinaman informed Alderson that he wished to purchase 20 ounces of gold. Alderson told him that he had only 13 ounces on hand and said that if the man would call a few days later, he would have the full 20 ounces ready for him. On the evening of the arranged day, the Chinaman returned to the store to complete the transaction. Alderson greeted him warmly and showed him the full 20 ounces of gold dust. They negotiated and agreed upon a price for the gold, and then the Chinese digger produced a piece of paper and told Alderson that he would wrap the gold in it. To this Alderson readily agreed and he watched carefully as the gold was wrapped into the twist of paper. When he had the parcel ready the Chinaman looked up at Alderson and asked for a piece of string with which to secure the top of the parcel. Alderson nodded agreement, turned his back for a moment, took a short length of string from a shelf and handed it to his customer. The digger took the string and, with great care, secured the top of the paper parcel. When this was done, he took one more step to safeguard the contents. Asking Alderson for some sealing wax and a candle with which to heat it, he proceeded to seal each of the four corners of the parcel to ensure that it could not be tampered with. Into each molten seal he wrote the word ‘Wong’. Having thus secured his gold he gave Alderson a one pound note as a deposit and handed the parcel back to Alderson saying that he would collect it in a few days when he would also pay the balance of the money.
TOOK THE DEPOSIT
Alderson agreed to this arrangement. He took the deposit and the parcel and the Chinaman left the shop. Come the following week the customer had still not returned for his gold but Alderson was not concerned because he had the one pound deposit and also the gold so there was no problem. Except one. During those few days the price of gold on the goldfields had started to drop and Alderson became concerned that if he were stuck with the gold he would have to sell it for less money than he had actually paid for it. When another businessman arrived at his store and expressed a wish to purchase some gold, Alderson had no qualms about selling this new customer the 20 ounces of gold he had reserved for the Chinaman. Taking the gold from his safe he carefully broke each seal in turn, undid the tightly knotted string and opened the crackling paper. To his horror, Alderson found that the gold had been substituted for 20 ounces of lead shot. Apparently the Chinaman had prepared the parcel of lead shot beforehand and when Alderson had turned his back to get the piece of string, the Chinese digger had switched it with the real parcel of gold. It was he who had brought the paper into the store in which to wrap the gold and so the two pieces of paper were identical. It only then remained for the Chinaman to tie the top of the parcel and seal it completely before handing the lead shot to the storekeeper. What became of the Chinese digger is not known. He was never arrested for the crime and as a ship sailed shortly after for Hong Kong, it was believed he had returned home with his ill-gotten gains.