Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-12-25

UUoUGlIvoI DyUoo!
The fate q the disoovsssEs Of the
gFoatest mine On earth vos nearly the
same. sOid Virginia" flames T0ni-
rore, but nearly always sallsd Rinuey)
Vas thrown from . backing muetanR b
was trying to ride ard killed at Dayton,
July, 1851. He vas native Of Virginia
State and lsft t3e00. Nobody Knows
Who his relatives Wore. InaaWuch - his
deeds were signed Finney, while bis
real name vas Finnimore, have often
wondered IL he really parted legally
With his property. He was much al
dicted to drink and not responsible Of
ten when he signed his name. Az An
evidence Of this the parties who bought
his claim 70 Ophir could never get from
him his original notice Of location. It
vas matter Of speculation where his
claim began and where il eoded- One
day they took Old Virginia and locked
him up in . big tunnel With an
iron gate, and swore they would
never let him ont until he told where
his original certificate of location was.
Next morning Old Virginia was dry,
GROSS and sober. He said if they would
les him out and give him drink he
would get the certificate. They gave
him q tumbler of whisky, and then be
marched up the hill, lifted up q stone
and from beneath it drew forth the
original notice of location, dry and
snugiy folded away. They seized the
coveted document and Old virginia's
last right 70 the greatest mine on the
earth faded away.
Patrick Mclaughlin, part owner of
A. N>-k>~L - 1ac& .
cosk in California. Peter ORilsy, who
got $4,000 for his share, went crazy.
The spirits showed him . mountain In
which there vas greater mine than
the Comst0ck. He dag and dug with
out o sign Of ore. At last the mine
eavsd in on him and nearly killed him.
They dug him out and pot him into an
insane asylum. where be soon aftsrward
died in poverty.
Henry Thomas Paige Constock, the
great leading spirit Of the Comstock
lode, committed suicide near Bszeman,
n. r., September "a, 1870, BY shooting
himself through the head with a revolt
ver. He vas on his way 70 the Big
Horn Montana, where be said there
vas moro silver than in Nevada. He
had bro0ded much over his losses and
vas no doubt of unsound mind when he
shot hiusslf. Comstock left paper in
bis own handwriting, giving q complete
account Of tho discovery of the Com
stock lode. In this paper he says:
! have five claims-Ophir, Savage.
Gould j. Curry, Hale & Nofcr0ss and
Virginia. ! got old Daddy Curry to
come down, and put him in possession.
kept NorcrOss at work for a year on
that mine. owned the principal part
of Gold Hill. and leased il to Walsh Il
Woodruff. Now, ! will tell you how /
sold those mines. IRavs Sandy Bowers
bis claim, twenty feet on Gold Hill,
and gave Billy Knight his claim. To
Joe Plato l also gave his claim. Poor
Joe is dead, bat the claim has made his
widow very rich.
Twas working on the Ophir and tax
ing ont good deal Of ore, but did no.
know it's value, for was in the wilder
ness. sent several tons of the ore by
OK teams through the mountains to
California. and Judge Walsh was my
agent and helped me. took ont q
large gold and silves specimen, weigh
ing twelve pounds, and sent il in a box to
Washington City. l instructed John
1usser, lawyer at Washoe, to send it.
don't know il he did or not, but l
wanted Congress and the President to
see 1t, for 1t was the first gold and sill
YER ore mixed ever found in the United
States.
/ vent on working and Judge Walsh
and Woodruff were there every day for
two months, trying to buy me out.
did not know what l had. Ny health
was bad, 30 finally sold out to them on
these terms: Twas to get $lO,OOO-und
did get IL, at last l was to receive
one eleventh Of all that ever came out
Of my claim during my natural life
time, and at my death it was to 90 to
whoever willed it. was also to re-
ceive 800 per month. That was the
contract and two men. Elder Bennett
and Many Penrsd, witnessed it. But
my health was bad, and before had
the contract recorded Woodruff and
Walsh sold It out. Having taken no
lien on the property, never got dol
lar from that day to this, except what
was at frst paid. 1 am the son of old
Noah Comstock. Of Cleveland, O.. and
my relatives live there. | was born in
Gambia and am now 20 years old. /
have q wife, but no children.
This paper was written at Butte City,
M. r., In 1870.
Speaking Of Old Virginia, Comstock
gives q strange history Of how Virginia
City received its name.
1T was first called Pleasant Hill
then Mount Pleasant Point and in
August. 1859, designated AZ 'Ophir,' and
Ia September AZ 'Ophir Diggiucs.' In
October the place was first known as
Virginia, and got its name in this way:
Old Virginia and lot Of the boys we're
ont on drunk, when Old Virginia fell
down and broke his bottle, and when
he got up he poured out the balance of
the whisky on the ground and said, Il
baptize this ground Virginia. Attempts
we're made to change the name of the
TO va to Winnomucca, for the old Piute
Chief, but Virginia stack, and Virginia
It is to this day"
OF the vast fortunes decided away by
Comstock aud his friends one NAV gain
some idea bv looking at the returns of
the mines. In 1873 the yie'd 1T the
Comstock mines vas *2l $40. 123 81. and
in 1874, @2.242.274 IS. In Ii years
600 O.OsO was taken from the Com
stock lode, an average annual yield of
$l3, 10000. stood by his grave,
he once the owner of these uutold
millions, and there he Law, alone, un-
cared for, without even q stone to tell
whose dust mouldered below.
JAMES s. BRrsBIS.
NE mad heard MIN.
A hard-featured man. dressed in new
suit Of very cheap black, called at the