Jacob Bartholomew
From Kook Science
| Jacob Bartholomew | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1823 Ohio |
| Died | 9 June 1906 (82) Pueblo, Pueblo Co., Colorado |
Jacob Bartholomew (December 1823 - June 9, 1906) was an American prospector and inventor of a gold-finding instrument referred to as an "indicator," this being a 10 inch (25.4 cm) flat steel spring fitted into the neck of a hermetically sealed vial containing a mystery liquid, this being a mixture of "fifteen different chemicals," none identified in press accounts.
Press Coverage
- "HAS STRUCK IT RICH. Mr. Jacob Bartholomew Returns From the Mountains A Rich Man.", The Opinion-Tribune (Glenwood, IA): 6, 18 Nov. 1897, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123530285/has-struck-it-rich-mr-jacob/, "To cut a long story short, he has an 'indicator,' an instrument for finding gold that never misses. It is a sure shot on a gold mine every time and all that is necessary to be done is to turn the machine loose and the gold mine is immediately located."
- "A Gold Finder.", Chaffee County Record (Salida, CO): 2, 12 Aug. 1898, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/cgi-bin/colorado?a=d&d=CCE18980812-01.2.22&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA--------0------
- "A Mysterious Instrument.", Opinion-Tribune (Glenwood, IA): 18, 13 Oct. 1898, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123529847/a-mysterious-instrument/, "The wizzard's wand which he carries is a very simple looking affair, consisting only of a bit of flat steel spring about ten inches long, on one end of which is a small vial, the spring being inserted in the neck of the vial and the opening then hermetically sealed. The mystery is hidden within the vial. Mr. Bartholomew says there is but one man besides himself in all the world who knows all the ingredients that go to make up the liquid contents. He defies detection by analysis, claiming that chemists are baffled in the attempt to specify all the ingredients. He keeps his strange secret strictly to himself but never hesitates to put his invention to test when asked to do so[...] He makes a flat denial to the theory that there is no magnetic attraction in gold and silver, and seems to prove it to the satisfaction of many in the use of the little steel spring and vial with its strange compound. He claims that it requires the combined effects of the electricity of the human body and the influence of the compound in the vial to produce the required effects."
- "A Pueblo Invention Seems to Detect the Location of Denver's Old City Hall Safe.", Pueblo Chieftain (Puelo, CO): 1, 24 Mar. 1900, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=CFT19000324-01.2.5&srpos=4&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22Jacob+Bartholomew%22-------0------, "Denver, Colo., March 23. — J . D. Rapp of Pueblo informed Mayor Johnson today that he had located the long lost city hall safe in the bed of Cherry creek. Though there is no reward for its recovery, he asked permission to dig for the old iron strong box and obtained it. A very small vial, filled with fifteen different chemicals, and attached to a small steel wire about one foot long constitute the instrument with which Rapp claims to have made the discovery. It is the Invention of Jacob Bartholomew, 73 years of age, who resides in Pueblo, who has been working on this 'Indicator,' as he calls it for thirty years. Gold, sliver and iron attract the vial as it is held on the end of the steel rod and sway it up and down, eventually pointing in the direction of the greatest attraction. The safe was lost in the flood of 1864, which carried away the old city hall."