The year was 1872. It was the year of the Great Diamond Hoax and the beginning of the end for one of the most powerful men in California. William C. Ralston, financial wizard and head of the prestigious Bank of California would see his empire collapse around him as a result of the Great Diamond Hoax.
Ralston was only one of several prominent men duped by the two con artists, John Slack and Philip Arnold. By the time it was over, a number of fortunes had been lost, the reputations of a geologist and famous jeweler had been compromised, and William C. Ralston would be dead of an apparent suicide.
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