Morning journal and courier., 1882-06-21
Another Mine SIumps.
And Many Washington People are Taken
 

And Many washingto Peo pie are Taken
 In.
 Washington Letter to Boston Herald.l
 There is nothing more interesting in Wash ington just now than the affairs of tine Ivan- hoe mine. and may as well tell you about it. The Ivanhoe mine is Bob Ingersoll's mine. That is, Robert is the heaviest owner in it at present, and it begins to look as If he were the heaviest loser iu it also. All com panies organized for the mining of precious metals in this country may be divided into two classes. The dishonest and swindIinR enterprises form one class and the ridiculous and absurd infations the other class. We do not exactly know yet which class the Ivanhoe belongs to; but probably it is the latter. The beautifully printed chromo of the Ivan- hoe Mining company informs the proprietor thereof that the mine Is located in Colorado, that there are POO, 000 shares of stock in the company, that the par value of these shares is S25, and that the company has certain off cers, whose names do not just now remem- Der. Of course do not know whether there is any such mine rot, but, If there is such a mine, it was bought by few individuals here. The principal movers were IngersoIl and firm of lawyers, Halbert E Payne and Grafton, and Senator Plumb Of Kansas. A WashiL gton banking firm was also interested The property is said to have cost S60, 900, and therefore the shares of stock cost the original holders and issuers thereof thirty cents apiece! The company was formed about year and half ago, and soon after it was formed the most astounding stories of the wealth of the mine began to circulate all over Washington I forget how many mil lions of dollars worth of ore were always in sight in the mine None of it was ever taken out, but it was stated te be there. and a good many honest people got to believe that it was there After while the able originators of the mine began to let some of their friends into this good and beautiful thing at the rate of about s share. There seemed to be quite demand for it at this figure. and, consequently, the price was advanced to s a share, and then the demand for it in- creased. The company held meeting and set apart quantity of stock to be sold at B a share to be used to develop the mine. The reports of fresh millions of ore heaying in sight as the explorers advanced rapidly un- derneath the surface of the State of Cobra do continued to arrive in Washington, and some of the originators of the mine put faith in them. Mir. Ingersoll himself became convinced that the mine was such bonanza that he thought 1t great pity that the com panys stock should go of at the low rate of S5 a share. So he went and put all the mon ey he could rake and scrape into it, and his friends generally did the same. One gentle man know, who had nothing but bis faith in Ingersoll to guide him, invested $3s 900 in the stock at St and s a share Somehow tnciS scSHcd hO Oc h sOOd dOai oA sFONA Aodt- ing about, and, after while, it began to sink little, and then it sank good deal, and last week heard of a fellow buying 1, 900 shares at ten cents a share Ingersoll has paid something over S500 600 for what he could now buy for about $, GOO He is able to bear the loss, because he can get S1, 900 a night whenever he chooses to lecture in Chi cago, New York or Boston, but some of the other sufferers are not as well able to bear it l in fact the Ivanhoe mine has blaun a sort of simeon of poverty over Washington There l was regular craze about the stock last year, and people who had not much ready money even mortgaged their houses to buy 1t at S a share. The secret of the little affair was
 of course, that while Ingersoll and his friends were buying, Plumb, Grafton and their friends were selling, and the mine had been absurdly inflated and oyerstocked before it was really known whether there was anything in it. A few people profess to have faith in | it yet, but these few are confined to those with whom the wish is father to the thought.