Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-03-12
MINING ShARPS.
Western Story Tellers That Assayers Have
to Deal with-Two Big Liars.

Some big liars come to an assayer'S
office once in 4 WHILE" q downtown
assayer said incidentally in talk about
min ne property. 'but l think the two
biggest liars l have ever seen came into
my Office last summer. not together,
thank goodness. for if they had would
have kicked them out for supposing
that l might be an eternal fool. In
stead. | listened to each, and then gave
him piece of my mind. The first was
about forty-iiye years of age, sharp
featured. long-haired, and with the APP
pearance of Western miner. He care
lessly unwrapped newspaper from a
lump of silver ore, and asked in BUSH
ne>s-like way to have it assayed. 1
picked up the lump and said of-hand:
There's 10 need of having that as
saved. Its seventy-five per cent. silver
at first glance And it was II was
about as rich Il specimen as l had seen
in some time. 1t was worth at least
$4,000 ton.
but | want it assayed,' he said.
I've got drift of ore like that six feet
wide. and l want to sell it. don't
want TO lie about it, and l want to
know Just what it is worth.
That's my business. and. of course.
/ knocked off piece of the lump. L
charged him more than 1 would any
body else. because l knew he intended
to swindle somebody. [ ground the
piece of ore into dust. and put in bot
tie. Then took Il little and assayed
ii. 1t turned out inst what | thought
il would. As usual l made record of
the assay, and waited for the man to
return.
About four days after the assay four
or five respectable old gentlemen came
into the Office together, and one of them
unwrapped u piece of ore and said:
will you please assay this for us? We
are thinking of buying 4 silver mine,
and this is some of the ore. What do
YOU think it is WORTH
Il looked at it closely and discovered
that 1t was from the lump my Western
man had brought in.
Excuse me, but | have assayed this
ore within five days / said.
..'Y-e-e-s,' the spokesman of the
party said, hesitatingly. We under
stand that it has been assayed, but We
thought it would be safer to have it
assayed for us particularly. How much
did you make it out to be worth"
Twelve or fifteen thousand dollars
Il ton l said, not wishing to be too
low. nt II
While Twas looking over my record
book | noticed the gentlemen looking
knowingly at one another.
1T was S1S,000.' | remarked. turn
in~ toward them. 1t didn't startle them
bit.
That's pretty riclr, isn't it?'
Decidedly so. Where's the mine?'
| asked
=. In Colorado. We have drift
there six feet vide
= Colorado" | exclaimed. That ore
never has s,Sn Colorado. That's from
some MeNicafH mime.
Il knew what / was talking about
when said that, because | can pick out
Colorado ore from two thousand speci-
mems. | can pick out ore from the
Comstock ode anywhere you put it.
After getting Il few more particulars
about the man who wanted to sell the
mine, | said Gentlemen, | don't
want to have YOU taken in by anybody,
and especially by one of those West
ern mining sharps. Instead of taking
my word for this assay, gotO somebody
else, and I've no doubt you II find many
who will be as honest with YOU as in
tend to be, and have your ore assayed.
Take some of this dust with you and see
if it be like your ore.
SO But we can buy this mine for only
$4,000 the first speaker said.
So Ii you can find mine where the
ore is all like that l said. III find
men who will give you S50,O0O.OOO for
it. That isn't true specimen, and,
besides, it isn't from Colorado. It's
rich find from some old mine i'm Mex
ico.'
They looked rather glum and went
out. l really pitied them. The next
day the Western man came in to see
me. gave it to him hot. Look here,
l said, we have just about enough of
such fellows as you around here. When
YOU cOHlc Oh mere I'd sell Il HllIle, uOH
try to palm off Mexican ore for Colo
RADIO ore. Take my advice, and don't
show chat lump to any miner. because
he'll know it in minute. Now skip.
~ have never seen the old gem
tlemen since. | guess .they found
somebody who told them the truth As 1
did
THE other chap was a short, dumpy
fellow. He wanted to have everything
very secret. He had piece of ore that
/ knew was Mexican, and it was long
time before could get anything out of
him. At length he said: Pm 4 COM
mercial traveller. and while | was in
Mexico this summer l struck an old
trail over the mountains that, l thought,
would take me by short cut to where
l wanted to 90. | took it. but it was
the toughest ground l ever struck.
About noon was almost overcome, and
l dropped off my mule near shady
place to catch nap and rest. My mule.
that was wandering about, awoke me
after awhile by nearly stepping on me.
In pulling my blanket off that served
as pillow. noticed that the rock
sparkled Ii struck me all at once that
it was silver. and l looked around to
600 if thar. xxsrt. ay,s- othn,. rocks Ike