Seems amazing that someone would even believe in this. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/20/alchemy_sentence/
When I read " a copper at the scene" I thought this story some sort of joke but it appears to be true. I do hope they commit the man and someone gets him a good psychiatrist.
Every village has one, it seems.Myself, I think the lead-into-gold myth started when some alchemist used acids to squeeze out a little gold from some slatish gold-bearing ore that looked like lead. That's the kind of ore that was paydirt for the Hemo mine in northern Ontario. While it lasted, it was a monster.