He meandered into town and stopped at a friendly looking
establishment called O'Sullivan's Pub. He knew he had to keep his
wits about him and ordered a beer that he planned to savor for an
hour or so. He found the local watering holes were the best place to
plant the seeds for his latest schemes. Rufus congratulated himself
on his good luck at arriving at the tavern just as the railroad
workers were ending their shift. He wasted no time in displaying a
handful of gold nuggets to the bartender. Within just a few minutes,
every man in the room was hovering over his shoulders trying to get
a glimpse of the sparkling gold pieces.
Rufus put on his best smile and started his scheme in motion. All
eyes and ears were on Rufus as he whispered about his find in the
river just outside of town.
“One Hundred years ago, an old miser lived on the top of that there
mountain just west of Camden Corners. He spent his youth in South
America in a place called Columbia. The story goes he fell in love
with a beautiful senorita but her heart belonged to another. He
packed up all his gold and sailed the ocean to the new land. He
found his way to this part of the country and buried his treasure in
the mountain's peak. Through the years, the mountain has been
wearing away and gold pieces have been falling down the mountain
along with the melting snow. My employer has authorized me to
collect those pieces and bring them to him. I found these just an
hour ago.”
He held out his hand with several shiny gold nuggets.
“There will be too much gold for me to find it all myself so I am
willing to rent a portion of the river to anyone who is interested in
becoming rich for a measly $3 a day. My employer will pay you 50
cents for each gold nugget you find. I'm holding 8 nuggets in my
hand which would be a profit of $1 for 15 minutes of work.”
The
men, who had been working for 12 hours that day couldn't wait to hand
over their hard earned money to Rufus to rent a portion of the river.
They all followed Rufus out the door and to the camp he had set up
just out of town. Each man stood in line and handed over their rent
money to Rufus who would then give them a torn piece of a map marking
off their individual spaces. Earlier Rufus had placed 5 nuggets
throughout a small stretch of the river. As Rufus was counting his
money, $45 in all, word was spreading through town about the huge
buckets of gold being lifted
from the river that very afternoon.
Rufus had a hard time keeping up with the demands for river rentals.
By nightfall, all five pieces of gold had been found and each
prospector had received 50 cents as promised. By the third day Rufus
thought maybe he had better drop a few more pieces into the river.
He could afford the expense since he was now bringing in close to
$200 in rent fees each day.
Tony was still taking pictures of everything and everyone he could
find. His younger brother Giorgio had caught the photography bug too
and wherever Tony and his camera were, Giorgio was right there with
them.
Just after dark one night, the boys thought about experimenting with
nighttime photography. Up until that point all of Tony's photos were
taken during the day. The moon was exceptionally bright that night
and was shining brightly on the river. Tony and Giorgio rode their
bicycles to the river with Tony's trusted camera and he started
snapping pictures. They spotted a figure walking along the river.
He appeared to be throwing something in the water. Maybe a stone or
pebble. They walked behind and stayed back far enough so the
stranger couldn't see them. He was whistling and singing about how
he had duped a whole town of fools. Tony's instinct made him start
photographing the man as he tossed another nugget in the river. The
boys followed him to the camp he'd set up and took more pictures.
They went back to the restaurant and developed the photos. They
weren't as clear as daytime ones but they were clear enough.
Eduardo was relaxing after a busy night with some cronies at one of
the dining tables. Most of the crowd had gone home but a few of the
older men in town lingered since they didn't have anyone to go home
to. The boys showed the pictures to the men.
Alvin Sweeney recognized the stranger. He had heard tell that gold
was being found in the river. Alvin knew the mountains like the back
of his hand and had explored every inch of them.
“There is no gold in those hills” he laughed.
Darnell Webb told of his neighbor who had given this fellow twelve
of his hard earned dollars and had found one piece of gold that he
was paid 50 cents for. His wife was about ready to wring his neck
along with her chickens if he didn't stop throwing their money away.
Eduardo thought it might be a good idea to ask Sheriff Mendenhall to
investigate this stranger.
The next morning, Eduardo, Tony and Giorgio went to see the Sheriff
with the photos in hand. Sheriff Mendenhall as it turned out was
visiting his sister and her family in Greensboro for the week and
Deputy Arnie Pfeiff was in charge. Arnie was a pretty nice guy but
not much of a lawman so Eduardo decided he would ask the Crowley boys
what they could do legally to check this fellow out.
Robert was in his office and was very interested to hear about this
scam.
“Dad would love to be involved.” he said and he was right.
Oscar went straight home to put on some old clothes and met Eduardo,
Wally Wallace, Chris Pringle and Isaac Nichols at the Trattoria.
They wended their way to Rufus's camp and found him counting his
money with a big, happy smile on his face. After each of the men
paid their $3 rental fee, they were given a map of their space to
search. Deputy Pfeiff who had been standing out of sight appeared
with a set of handcuffs and the photos Tony had taken. Oscar
informed Mr. Melville that it was quite illegal to rent portions of
property that was owned by the State of New York. Rufus was kicking
himself. He had planned to leave town two days ago but he was
enjoying the fall weather and relaxing by the river as he counted his
money.
He agreed to give back all of the money to all of the people who fell
for his get rich scheme. Everyone who had invested in the gold
scheme was invited to come back and claim their money. All of the
prospectors were honest and only took what they had given Rufus.
They were too embarrassed about being duped to exaggerate how much
they had surrendered to him. Anyone who had found the gold nuggets
and sold them back to Rufus was invited to keep their 50 cents.
The gold nuggets as it turned out, were nothing more than jagged
stones painted bright gold. Rufus sat in jail until Sheriff
Mendenhall returned. He was given a stern warning about taking
advantage of people. The Sheriff asked young Tony to take some
photos of Mr. Rufus Melville so that he could send his picture to
every county in the state.
Tony continued taking photographs throughout town. He was especially
busy that Christmas. Everyone wanted photos of their families around
the Christmas tree. Tony wouldn't accept payment for any of the
photos as he had been so grateful to Mr. Weston and his gift. The
whole town got together and presented Tony with genuine gold nuggets.
Mr. Travers at the bank put them in the vault for safe keeping until
Tony was old enough to go to journalism school and become an
investigative reporter and photographer which is exactly what he did.
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