from within foghorn distance of the sea. And
this gives me an opportunity to tell you a
down east tale that should serve as a warning
to every investor: Maine's Great Gold Swindle.
I'm not talking about central banks, or
manipulation of today's markets. I'm talking
about something from Maine's history that
proves the old lesson, "When something looks
too good to be true, it is!"
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Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, or EMS.
Jernegan and Fisher sold their "secret
formula" to their new company in exchange
for 45% of sales of company stock. According
to Jernegan, the formula was the end result
of over 200 experiments using electricity
and chemistry.
Both Jernegan and Fisher came from respected
Martha's Vineyard families. Jernegan was a
Baptist minister. His workmen were required
to participate in regular Sunday prayer services.
EMS poured money into the project, installing
the town's first telephone and electric systems.
The company even paid for half the cost of a
new steel bridge. The bridge would be used for
hauling away the tons of gold EMS would harvest.
Jernegan was also a born salesman, with impressive
communication skills. As the old timers in Maine
say, "He could sell a werewolf a flea collar."
Still, why did people believe him? Well, there
IS gold in seawater. It is in very low concentrations
- about one to two parts per 10 billion. Jernegan
and Fisher said their revolutionary process could
get around that.
Curious would-be investors came to Lubec. Jernegan
led them down some stairs and into a room beneath
a wharf. There they saw 250 boxes, each containing
a battery, some mercury, and a secret recipe of
chemicals that would make Colonel Sanders green
with envy. These boxes, called "accumulators,"
were then lowered deep, deep into the tide-churned
salt water. Visitors saw the boxes go down. And
they saw other boxes brought up after a 24-hour
accumulation period. Cracked open like clams,
the boxes revealed their treasure - small but
valuable deposits of gold and silver.
A Secret Skill!
Jernegan was doing all the hard work of selling,
right? So what did Fischer have to do with the
scheme? Fischer had a special skill of his own
... one that very few knew about. He was a
trained deep-sea diver! In other words, Fisher
could descend through the inky depths of the
nighttime sea and put gold in the accumulator
boxes! As one local folklorist recalls, "The
next day when it was low tide, they'd take
these accumulators out and low and behold,
there was gold!"
A Page Right Out Of Bernie's Book!
On May 11, 1898, a local newspaper reported:
"Nine shipments have been made from the works
of the Electrolytic Marine Salts Mining Co.
of East Lubec to date. They are said to have
averaged about $1,000 apiece in value." Of
course, Jernegan and Fisher were seeding the
press stories just like they were seeding the
accumulator boxes. But investors fell for it
hook, line and sinker, especially because they
heard that Plant Number Two would have 5,000
more magic accumulator boxes. By the end of
May, the locals - many of whom now had jobs
at EMS - were won over. The Lubec Herald gave
Jernegan and Fisher a ringing endorsement,
saying, "We believe that time will prove these
gentlemen of the EMS Co. to be staunch friends
and people who will take a warm interest in
the town."
Locals pressed their hard-earned cash on
Jernegan and Fisher, eager to get in on the
initial offering of EMS shares. But that
local Lubec money was small potatoes for
the EMS boys. They aimed to hook the big-
money speculators. And man, did they land
some whales! EMS stock was offered at $1
per share. The first offering of 350,000
shares sold out in three days. By July,
2.4 million shares had been sold to investors
all over the East Coast, as 800 workers raced
to put the finishing touches on Plant Number One.
In July, Fisher left on business. A few days
later, locals noticed that Jernegan was also
missing. Concerned, some workers went to his
home, where they found the entire family had
vanished, taking their furniture with them.
Mysteriously, all of the company books and
ledgers had disappeared as well. Overnight,
the EMS gold-from-seawater venture quickly
turned into a major debacle. The July 29
Hartford Courant ran a banner headline:
"The Bubble Burst." And EMS stock imploded.
Warrants for Jernegan and Fisher were quickly
issued, but both men had fled the country,
their bags stuffed with cash. One Lubec local
described the affair as "the biggest swindling
scheme we ever had in Maine."
Fisher was never seen again, but most reports
suggest he died in Australia. Jernegan was
discovered living in France. Upon discovery,
Jernegan insisted he was trying to locate Fisher,
"the real culprit." The paperwork for Jernegan's
arrest warrant didn't come through in time for
French authorities to arrest him, and he slipped
away, reportedly to the Philippines.
At this point, you may be asking what has this
got to do with today? Fisher and Jernegan may
be gone, but their soulmates live on down to
this very day:
Gold Counterfeiting Goes Viral: 10 Tungsten-
Filled Gold Bars Are Discovered In Manhattan!
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bars — made up mostly of relatively worthless
tungsten — were sold recently to unsuspecting
dealers in Manhattan’s Midtown Diamond District
(very conspicuous with Jews). The 10-oz. gold
bars are hugely popular with Main Street investors,
and it is not known how many of the fake gold
bars were sold to dealers — or if any fake bars
were purchased by the public.
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