The Dillon tribune. [volume] (Dillon, Mont.) 1881-1941, 1884-01-05
jim MURPHY's FOOT.rRACKS.
story Of = Crime In Secret Gulch, en- +.
Mining Camp.

story Of a Crime In Secret Gulch, IN. To-
Mining Camp.
Correspondence Of Philadelphia Press.
Murders there are which have gone un
solved for centuries, but seldom is it that a
known murderer lives in the midst Of a
community which is acquainted with the
dreadful details Of his crime, and yet does
not 40 much as accuse him. Yet such is
the case here, and the guilty man Is one ot
the main mine-owners and business bull.
warks Of this camp. The history Of
his crimes no man can tell, tor no man save
himself knows. There is a bloody memo.
~, however, from the golden days Of the
Argonauts. away back to '49, which still to
the tina .ination stains the sands OF the Sac
ra'nento river and brands Jim Murphy
rs l may call him-as a murderer and rob-
Der. The old crimson halo, would not, how.
ever, Of itself command the attention Of
the world to-day. This is pre.eminently
the age OF contemporary interest, and the
shadows Of mouldy crimes do not curdle
the every day blood There has Just been
Al in II :a.ion that fate. or Providence, or
spilled blood which cries aloud for ven.
geance, will not rest content without some
atonement. The circumstances were very
peculiar and Of more than ordinary inter.
est.
About three miles up the CANYON, just
outside the edge of great mass Of rock,
through which the tiume is cut stands what
Is now the wreck of an old CABIN, Blu. in the
placer excitement Of "a, and, until few
days ago, peaceably inhabited and standing
intact. Now it is being visited by scores OF
excited miners, for it has just been the
scene of the most my stcrious murder which
has marked the annals Of crime in Wester n
mining camps No, most mysterious save
one, for who ever knew how the old French
man was murdered and robbed in Cut
throat Flat, in ~? True, there are dark
whispers that the m who killed the
Frenchn an and carried away his gold was
the cause OF last nights awful tragedy
true, they do say that nobody in this camp,
or in tins region, would make ch cali Z
tracks as those found along the flume above
Dave Jones' cabin, or the place where Dave
crawled in last night, after hard days.
work in the tunnel up above and went to
sleep. But who could think Of arousing
"King" Murphy?
"Who is this Jim Murphy, any way?'
He was in California in ~, yet he does moi
look old. He had red whiskers and mus.
tache Their, and shaggy, red hair; now he
has jet blnck hair and whiskers and no
mustachc. lie had "snaggled' teeth then
now he has beautiful and complete set OF
new worries. lie had cringing, snaky
look then out Of his grecnish gray eyes
now he has defiant snaky look out OF his
grayish green eyes. lie was little fellow
not more than five feet four then, with a
shutting gait; he wears very high.heeled
boots, with insoles and cork toes, now
walks very straight, with head slightly
thrown back and is at least five feet eight
inches high now. He was a shabbily
dressed, poverty stricken miner then; he
wears broadc'oth and diagonal now, jaunty
but queer looking caliskin 4ots and stove.
pipe hat. Yet, with all this, 1t is the same
Jim Murphy who killed the Frenchman In
Cut.throat Flat, California. in 4o, and who
is now suspected Of having been the death
of Dave Jones last night in tho cabin in
Silver Bow Canyon. There has been q
vigilance committee here for a long time
but they never accused Jim of the French
mans murder, nor asked him to give an
account Of himself, nor give him two
hours to leave the town. o., no, Jim Is q
member Of the committee himself! Be.
sides, Jim is more Sheriff than the Sheriff
himself and when Jim says shoot, the
Sheriff will shoot. But all these miners
knew the poor, cut, disfgured body lying
yonder ON his own cabin Aoor-now al
that is left Of poor Dave Jones.
Dave had been working his tunnel 70,
nearly three months under lease fiom Jim
Murphy. giving him the privilege OF pur
chase for trifie within ninety days. He
never had recorded his lease, but said bu,
little about it, and as the time Tor It to ex
pire drew rear worked from early morn
ing until far into the night in fit Of des
perati n. Until day or two ago he had
taken out waste or decomposed rock worth
nothing. not even enough to pay for 1T
working. Yesterday he had struck It rich
and uncovered two feet Of chlorides run
ming up into the thousands, and giving him
. fortune at once. The mine could be sold
without another stroke Of the pick for a
thousand times as much rs he could buy 1t
for to-day from Jim Murphy, under the