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Show GOLD BRICKS DEPOSED. Time was when the . sale of, "gold bricks" was one of New- York's leading lead-ing industries. Barely did Hiram Hayseed Hay-seed of Utica go to the metropolis but that ho parted with the fruits of his year 's labors in' exchange for a glittering glit-tering ingot of "gold." ' But times, have changed. The "gold brick" is no longer preeminent in bun-coland. bun-coland. It has .been succeeded by the "silver brick." And tho "silver brick" is proving a worthy successor as a means of extracting real: money from the one that's born every minute. min-ute. With the continually advancing price of bar . silver,, .a - genuine silver brick is a thing of value itnd the' ''op-" portunity" to buy one cheap appeals strongly to him who' is eager to get rich quick. A "silver brick" swindle of considerable consid-erable proportions is ' reported from Texas., A Laredo business maa recently recent-ly received- 4wo bricks, apparently of silver, from a person in Matehuala, Mexico, with instructions to sell them on commission at $16 a pound. The Laredo man engaged some one else to peddle the bricks for him, and a sale to a firm of , Mexican - commission men there was negotiated, they paying $535 for the bricks, which they believed to be of pure silver and which wero sold to them in good faith. Forthwith the commission men sent tho silver bricks to a trust company in New York with instructions to sell them at the present market price of silver. A few days ago a telegram was received by the unfortunate Mexican firm stating that the supposed silver bricks had been sent to the mint and returned with the information that ,they were worthless. , The denouement is: The man in Matehuala has his money, the Laredo man has his, while the members of the commission firm have two bTicks, and are minus express charges. Thus does history repeat itself. |