|
 “Crazy
Jake” Jacob was a man who could sell any idea if
given the proper opportunity, setting and enough
time. Jacob was known as the man with the golden
tongue when it came to the Superstition Mountain
region, and he accumulated millions of dollars
before his death in 1993.
Robert Simpson Jacob was born in Kearney, New Jersey
on December 17, 1928. As a youth he moved to Hooker,
Pennsylvania, and later worked at a variety of jobs
in the automotive industry in the Pennsylvania area.
Jacob served eleven years in the United States Army
from December 20, 1945 to November 19, 1956, and was
a veteran of the Korean Police Action. Jacob was in
and out of trouble after the Army but his life
changed completely in 1964.
One day while perusing a copy of Life magazine in
the Hooker Library, a photograph caught his eye. It
was a photograph of the alleged Peralta Stone Maps.
When Jacob arrived in Arizona he was convinced he
had a new lucrative means of income. Upon his
arrival he began his search for the Lost Dutchman
Mine.
I first chatted with Jacob along First Water Road in
November of 1964. He was full of questions that day,
but I believed that he, like others, would soon
become discouraged with their search. I was
certainly wrong about that.
For almost three decades he talked some smart people
out of their life savings to search for gold in the
Superstition Mountains. He was a man who had
grandiose dreams and a great imagination. I doubt to
this day that anyone knows for sure if Jacob himself
believed in the lost gold of Superstition Mountain.
 Jacob
was unique because of his success in accumulating
such a large fortune of other people’s money. The
Arizona Attorney General’s Office estimated Jacob
scammed more than thirty million dollars during a
five-year period, however they could only account
for nine million dollars. To this day there is no
sound explanation or accounting for that money.
Jacob pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to
several years in prison. He died in the summer of
1993 leaving no information or even a confession as
to how he cheated his investors out of their money.
Since “The Old Dutchman” Jacob Waltz died in 1891,
there have been many attempts to defraud people out
of their life savings with stories of lost gold
mines in the Superstition Mountains. You can prevent
yourself from becoming a victim. Here are some
hints: Don’t give anyone cash for any kind of an
investment unless you have a witness or a signed
contract with a witness you know. Check all
investment groups out with the Better Business
Bureau or the Arizona State Attorney General’s fraud
division. A brief phone call can save you an
enormous amount of grief later. Don’t make any kind
of deals without a witness who will back you up in a
courtroom if need be.
Many years ago a handicapped man approached me in a
class I was teaching asking me to help him get an
investment back. He explained that the federal,
state, county and city authorities would not assist
him. I soon found out why.
He had given a local prospector (con artist) five
thousand dollars in a paper sack expecting a return
of twenty-five thousand dollars within thirty days.
What he thought he was purchasing was gold bullion
for half the price of spot. Of course the local
prospector didn’t deliver and the man demanded his
money back. The prospector claimed he never received
any money. If there is no paperwork or witnesses, it
boils down to a case of one man’s word against
another’s. Sadly, the gentlemen lost his five
thousand dollars.
My friends, this can happen every day when it comes
to lost gold and treasure stories. The stories are
always shrouded in total secrecy. The perpetrator
reminds the investor not to tell his best friends,
his children or anyone because it could endanger the
lives of the men removing the treasure or lost gold.
Several years ago the Attorney Generals of Arizona,
Utah, New Mexico and Colorado met to discuss the
problems of treasure and lost gold fraud. The four
states’ legal representatives estimated
approximately two hundred million dollars annually
was lost to this kind of scam.
Most people laugh and say this can’t happen to them.
I agree it can’t, however when somebody produces a
considerable amount of gold and claims they have a
rich mine in the Superstitions and the government
won’t let them mine it legally, but they will sell
their gold at half of spot with cash up front. A
proposal like this can be quite tempting. It happens
in the East Valley area three to four times a year.
My advice is to be very cautious about giving any
cash in any kind of a gold deal. I would contact the
state fraud division or the local police and report
such activity. Anytime you can buy gold bullion for
half the spot price it is too good to be true. And
if it’s too good to be true, it usually is. |
