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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1936)
, 00 -Nn t-rf O to -&J, i u I 1. I ryvciye. m m V I Despite the fact that he wu Impriioned for two years In France and then exiled, Zlblncw Dunlkow. akl, aclentlat and chemist, elalma he la again making gold from earth and Atones to prove to France In par ticular and the world in general that , he waa no fraud and waa wrongful! convicted. Hla frienda eay he haa discovered a new ray which ia used in the formula of converting or dinary earth Into the pre cious metal By Katharine Moos APOLI8H oliemlJt'i curious mania for transforming pebble and the dirt that he finds on hla path Into little shining particles of pure gold cost him a 3,000.000-frono suit, two yeari in Jail and expulsion from France, . Re has served bis Jail sentence, he Is In hiding and producing more gold and some day hopes to prove to the world that he Is right and that Prance waa wrong In declaring him guilty of fraud and Imposing the heavy sentence upon him. Re answers amiably any questions posed to him. He speaks slowly with a warm oonvictlon.. But If you listen to the exposition of his method with the mere suggestion of skeptically raised eyebrow, he takes you gently by the arm, leads you Into his kitchen and Invites you yourself to put Into his strange little machine the handful of dirt that you have picked up on the way. Half an hour later, after a series of manipulations, he hands you, with per fect slmpllolty, a little round globule of sparkling gold. You have understood,' naturally, less than nothing. But you are sure that no trick has been possible, and you leave with a souvenir which to conclusive proof thnt you have not been dreaming This man Is called Zlblnew Dunlkow ski. With patience and confidence ha Is waiting today, after a two-year prison sentence, for his acquittal and exonera tion In the eyes of the world. In the meantime, living somewhere Incognito In the Maritime Alps, he la quietly occu pying himself with his favorite pastime, with the development of a curious new Industry, with the fabrication of real gold. ' The only person who knows where Dunlkowskl Is hiding Is the famous French lawyer, Jean-Charles Legrand, who has been devoting himself for the last four years to the defense and re establishment of the unfortunate In ventor. "He has left Italy and Is working se cretly now In a completely new little factory which treats from one to two tons of earth each day." I all Legrand will divulge. "He Is making gold, but he Is making It discreetly In order to avoid the obvious danger of a lowering of the rate." IUN1K0W8K1 is no longer In Italy He cannot return to Frerw. And where, then, la this strange man who finds means to manufacture gold with out exciting the curiosity of his neigh bors? At the extremity of the frontier, on the shore of the Mediterranean, between France and Italy, there Is a country In miniature, a country smaller than a city, where the sun shine (rum the first of January to the thlrty-flm of December where no one pay taxes and over which reigns a man debonair, the Prince of Monaco Monaco It must be that Dunl kowskl has chosen, but he has managed to keep himself euccessfully hidden from Inquisitive Journalists and unscrupulous fortune hunters since he deserted, lew PAGE TWO Paris, weeks ago, hii kitchen-laboratory In San J5.. Remo, With the mysterious maohlne of Dunl kowskl, consisting of a small wooden box with dial-like devices In ebonite, supported by four legs which rest on a large sheet of red copper, the manufac ture of gold becomes as simple as the preserving of crabapple Jelly or the mixing of a cocktail. Take any desired quantity of earth, grind It Into a One powder, tie It up In a cellophane bag and place carefully under the maohlne on the copper plate. Turn the dial to submit substance to the wonder-working seta-ray. A quarter of an hour later turn the second dial and the Intensified humming sound will Indicate the Increased power of the Irra diation. After five minutes mors In the miraculous machine, put substance Into a crucible and submit to Intense heat, Remove from Ore with pincers and pour Incandescent contents onto a plate of steel. Cool, wash with hydroohlorlo add to eliminate limestone and base metal, wash again at the tap and mix Anally with a small quantity of mercury. At this stage, if the directions have been followed carefully, the substance should have the color and consistency of ordinary mud. Mix well, and when the quicksilver has had time to amalga mate with the gold, wash again at the tap to carry away all the mudlike resi due. Next drain the mercury Into a chamois cloth, which will retain only tha amalgam In the form of a small globule. Heat this with a blow-pipe The flam will chase the mercury and the pure gold will remain. A few drops of plcrlo acid will suffice to give It the traditional shining aspect and the dish Is ready. THE dish Is ready and the whole mone tary system of the world la In danger of being shaken on It foundation. It Is time, Indeed, for a serious Investiga tion of Dunlkowskl's secret, his "new body" and his seta-ray. Charlatan or scientist, crook, maniac or genius, it I no longer safe tc Ignore his claims or to dismiss them with skeptical and super cllllous smile. Dunlkowskl ha never pretended that n Is capable of manufacturing gold out of the thin air: he simply contend that h has discoverer process whereby he can obtain substantial quantities of the precious metal from feebly auriferous earth which, submitted to any other existing method, I absolutely valueless Alongside of the atoms of gold, or of any other metal, exist what he call the mlneralltlM which must on day arrive at the state of perfect metal and which, up to now, have escaped all ordinary means of extraction His machine, by Irradiating the earth with a new body, the seta-ray, simply force the mlnerall tlM to evolve In a few tntrrute uutssd of awaiting the slow work of centuries or son. What b Is doing today with gold he coulr do equally well with platinum, tor example; and with hi secret, which he Is how only utilising on a small scale, he claims he could enable the mines Polish Chemist, ylLil ' jauea ana men - sr Exiled From France, Is Now In Secret Hiding Place, Where He Is Again Using Secret Formula and Zeta-Ray; Hopes to Recoup Standing throughout the world to Increase their actual output a hundredfold. And why, with a secret worth millions, has Dunlkowskl had such a struggle? Why was he condemned and dishonored by the French courts? Why was he driven out of the country? The an swers are to be found In an understand ing of the man, his life and the true motives of the suit carried on against him. PHYSICALLY Oils modern alchemist inherits the worst features of his calling. His pale, thin face, his stooped and meager figure and the slightly Mephlstophellan expression of hi Mrangely blu eye all tend to evoke a vogue apprehension and misgiving. For a man launched out on new paths, far from his native country and alone sgalnst the powerful coalition of Inter est which h threaten and envies, which he excite, these simple fact of appearance may have a very real im portance. Add to this a total absence of any practical sens and a characteristic dis dain far contingencies, and It will be obvious why Dunlkowskl. (Tom the be ginning of his contact with the outside world, has laid himself open to calumny and exploitation. All hi life, haunted by his dream, he tuts devoted every effort to advance hi researches. Son, pupil and collaborator of a celebrated professor of the Univer sity of Lwow, who was a specialist In the treatment of precious metal, he commenced by devouring a considerable persona) fortune in the hope ot develop ing the practical application ot the mysterious "new body" Isolated for the ' first time by his lather. In 1928, poverty stricken, sick, over worked and oharged with a wile and family to care for, he found himself stranded In Monte Carlo. The Bocrd of Director of the Muse Oceonographlque consented to allow him to. continue his experiment In their laboratory, and soon Dunlkowskl and his Invention be csms the msln topic ot conversation In the fashionable parlors ot the rich Journalist arrived to Interview him and spread exaggerated rumor through the Casino. The curiosity and envy of the fortune hunter wis aroused: Dunlkow skl looked Ilk a good bet I The Polish Count Sobanskl was ths first of the long line of promoters or sleeping pt.rtner. A half a million franca of hi fortune were devoured by the ovens, and th rest squandered over the rou lette wheel. Ruined, be was followed by a Dutchman, Mi. ran Heust Th com pany, salvaged, took th name ot th "Soelete du Laboratotra Kectro-Chem-ique" and a Mi. Attall was named di rector. Fire hundred thousand francs were allowed for Dunlkowskl to realise his dream In setting up at Cap-Martin a little factory well equipped and capable of treating three tons ot larth a day In June, 1830, It was ready to function but the company was bankrupt. This time high International finance entered Into play, "La Soelete Flnlndus," ema nation of ths Austrian bank "8pltter," opened to begin with (after a careful examination of Dunlkowskl's claims by Spltxer' expert) a new credit of 400,000 francs. FOLLOWINO th Polish Count, the Dutch banker and the Austrian bank, the next to Intervene was the "City" of London. A certain Mr. Oor den Lelght became Interested In the affair. Th expert he sent. Mr Leonard Levy, a man of high reputation, com menced by being extremely skeptical, but. In hi turn, after operating the machine himself and testing the sam ples In London, he proclaimed himself convinced. It looked as though Dunl kowskl was out of trouble. He was given all the necessary means to develop his Invention and establish It on a large ana practical scale but there was a hitch. He signed a contract which he be lieved was robbing him of his secret for a perfectly ridiculous price. When he decided that ha was being exploited It was too lata. His signature waa on the dotted line and the deal was closed. This contract was responsible for all th succeeding drama and all tha trou ble in the law courts. He vainly tried to hava it modified and, balked at every turn, he simply absented himself so often that Anally, on the 31st of October, 1931. a suit wo Med against him In Paris. Dunlkowskl was not formally accused of swindling or of fraudulently obtaining money, but merely of refusing to work after signing a contract, thereby Implying that hi secret was probably nonexistent In other words, th power behind the thron bad spoken. Dunlkowskl fait that then were but two alternative open to him: to hand over hi secret of go to prison. A summons was sent out and with an unheard-of alacrity Dunlkowskl I In carcerated. His apparatus and labora tory are confiscated. But too late. Tin Inventor, mistrustful of the whole pro ceeding, had already hidden th essential parts of the equipment. Dunlkowskl was condemned to two years In prison, 100 francs Ane and the restitution of a total sum of. 2,702,000 franca. His sentence served, sick, with only one lung and at the end of bis resources, he was expelled from France and took: refuge In San Remo, on the Italian Ri viera. The plaintiff were-content; al though forced to renounce all hopes of getting back their money, they at least hod the satisfaction of believing Dunl kowskl to be ruined. TDUT it takes more than a lawsuit and a couple of years In prison to anni hilate an ambitious man In the possession of a gold-making secret. Arrived In San Remo, Dunlkowskl Immediately set up a laboratory In his kitchen and com menced work anew. For almost a year he lived content with bis wife and four children In a small two-room flat over looking ths blue Mediterranean. Each day, from about 400 pounds ot earth, ha would extract six to ten grams ot gold which he would sell each evening to ths varlons Jewelers of th vicinity. Lost February Albert Bonn, th tech nical expert and former director of tha Lille Municipal Laboratory, recognized Dunlkowskl's method as efficacious After experiments In collaboration with the Inventor and examination of the samples In Paris, he announced that there was no fraud In the Pole's discovery and that his machine produced a larger amount of gold from auriferous earth than would be possible by methods now In use. And now, within the month, Dunl kowskl quietly packed up his blow-pipes snd test tubes and disappeared from Italy. Today he Is working with richer earth which is being sent to hla in all probability from Southern Franca The machine of his new little factory are already functioning and extracting, from one to two tons of earth, fifty to a hun dred grams of gold each day. Th work an Invention of Dunlkow tkf hava awakened again on of ths oldest aspiration of humanity, that of Glauber, of Albert L Orand and of Roger Bacon. Today, in an age when modem science has managed to pro duce synthetically everything from dia monds to manure, it may bs that th dream of the men has ben realised, that electro-chemistry has taken th plsc of alchemy and that th philoso phers' stone is nothing mors m less than Dunlkowskl's wonder-working leta-ray.
